Earth Day and what it means

APRIL 22 is celebrated every year as Earth Day in over 192 countries, to create awareness about our planet.

As part of the commemorations on Monday, hundreds of thousands of people across the world, including South Africa, will participate in cleaning up beaches and parks.

Keep a watch on this page every week as we explore different parts of the planet and why its important to keep it clean. This week: the ocean.

Ten facts cool about the ocean according to National Geographic for Kids:

1. Around 70% of the planet's surface is covered by oceans. In fact, the oceans hold about 96.5% of all water on Earth.

2. The largest ocean on Earth is the Pacific Ocean, covering around 30% of the Earth's surface.

3. The name “Pacific Ocean” comes form the Latin name Tepre Pacificum, “peaceful sea”.

4. The deepest known area of the Earth's oceans is the Mariana Trench.

It's deepest point is 11km down.

5. The world's oceans are home to incredible creatures.

6. The longest mountain range in the world is found under water. Stretching over 56 000km, the Mid-Oceanic Ridge is a mountain chain that runs along the centre of the ocean basins.

7. About 70% of the oxygen we breathe is produced by the oceans.

8. The sea is home to the world's largest living structure – the Great Barrier Reef. Measuring around 2 600km, it can even be seen from the moon.

9. We have only explored about 5% of the world's oceans. There's a lot more to be discovered.

10. The sea can be described as the planet's mega museum. There are more artefacts and remnants of history in the ocean than in all of the world's museums combined. Pretty amazing, huh?

| Armand Hough Independent Newspapers EARTH Day and the ocean.