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Magnum One (Mid-American Digital) (Disc Manufacturing).iso
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314317.979
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1991-08-18
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82,217,000 km²; includes Baltic Sea, Black Sea, Caribbean Sea,
Davis Strait, Denmark Strait, Drake Passage, Gulf of Mexico, Mediterranean
Sea, North Sea, Norwegian Sea, Weddell Sea, and other tributary water bodies
Comparative area: slightly less than nine times the size of the US;
second-largest of the world's four oceans (after the Pacific Ocean, but
larger than Indian Ocean or Arctic Ocean)
Coastline: 111,866 km
Climate: tropical cyclones (hurricanes) develop off the coast of Africa
near Cape Verde and move westward into the Caribbean Sea; hurricanes can
occur from May to December, but are most frequent from August to November
Terrain: surface usually covered with sea ice in Labrador Sea, Denmark
Strait, and Baltic Sea from October to June; clockwise warm water gyre
(broad circular system of currents) in the north Atlantic, counterclockwise
warm water gyre in the south Atlantic; the ocean floor is dominated by the
Mid-Atlantic Ridge, a rugged north-south centerline for the entire Atlantic
basin; maximum depth is 8,605 meters in the Puerto Rico Trench
Natural resources: oil and gas fields, fish, marine mammals (seals and
whales), sand and gravel aggregates, placer deposits, polymetallic nodules,
precious stones
Environment: endangered marine species include the manatee, seals,
sea lions, turtles, and whales; municipal sludge pollution off eastern US,
southern Brazil, and eastern Argentina; oil pollution in Caribbean Sea,
Gulf of Mexico, Lake Maracaibo, Mediterranean Sea, and North Sea; industrial
waste and municipal sewage pollution in Baltic Sea, North Sea, and
Mediterranean Sea; icebergs common in Davis Strait, Denmark Strait, and the
northwestern Atlantic from February to August and have been spotted as far
south as Bermuda and the Madeira Islands; icebergs from Antarctica occur
in the extreme southern Atlantic
Note: ships subject to superstructure icing in extreme north Atlantic from
October to May and extreme south Atlantic from May to October persistent
fog can be a hazard to shipping from May to September; major choke points
include the Dardanelles, Strait of Gibraltar, access to the Panama and Suez
Canals; strategic straits include the Dover Strait, Straits of Florida,
Mona Passage, The Sound (Oresund), and Windward Passage; north Atlantic
shipping lanes subject to icebergs from February to August; the Equator
divides the Atlantic Ocean into the North Atlantic Ocean and South Atlantic
Ocean
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█ ≡ Economy ≡ █
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Overview: Economic activity is limited to exploitation of natural
resources, especially fish, dredging aragonite sands (The Bahamas), and
crude oil and natural gas production (Caribbean Sea and North Sea).
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█ ≡ Communications ≡ █
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Ports: Alexandria (Egypt), Algiers (Algeria), Antwerp (Belgium),
Barcelona (Spain), Buenos Aires (Argentina), Casablanca (Morocco),
Colon (Panama), Copenhagen (Denmark), Dakar (Senegal), Gdansk (Poland),
Hamburg (FRG), Helsinki (Finland), Las Palmas (Canary Islands, Spain),
Le Havre (France), Leningrad (USSR), Lisbon (Portugal), London (UK),
Marseille (France), Montevideo (Uruguay), Montreal (Canada), Naples (Italy),
New Orleans (US), New York (US), Oran (Algeria), Oslo (Norway),
Piraeus (Greece), Rio de Janeiro (Brazil), Rotterdam (Netherlands),
Stockholm (Sweden)
Telecommunications: numerous submarine cables with most between
continental Europe and the UK, North America and the UK, and in the
Mediterranean; numerous direct links across Atlantic via INTELSAT
satellite network
Note: Kiel Canal and St. Lawrence Seaway are two important waterways