We all know the ocean can be a terrifying place, and from sinking ships to pirates, toothy monsters to unexplorable trenches, there's a lot out there to be scared of. There is a genuine fear of the ocean, with thalassophobia described as an intense fear of oceans, seas, large lakes, and other large bodies of water. Even if you don't have thalassophobia, chances are that you might do by the end of this article.
It's only when you remember that 71% of the Earth's surface is covered in water that you realize just how much of the planet is made up of ocean. Now, a Google Maps image is going viral, proving just how blue the Earth actually is.
When you tend to see images of Earth from space, it's typically a mass of land with bits of water dotted around. However, it's only when you look at our home from certain angles that the 71% statistic really comes into play.
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On the thalassophobia subreddit, on ocean-fearing traveler wrote: "If you look at earth on google maps just right. You realise how scary big the pacific truly is."
With an expanse of blue and land masses for Chile and New Zealand in the far corners, the Pacific Ocean is a massive and inhospitable place. Replying to the image, someone else said: "Having crossed it on a ship, I can confirm - it feels endless."
Another added: "When I see pics like this, I imagine some alien beings on a far away planet with their own version of the James Webb Space Telescope finding Earth and thinking it's nothing but water."
Some questioned whether the picture was legitimate, saying that the image doesn't accurately show the hundreds of islands from the likes of French Polynesia and the Cook Islands. Still, you get the point that the Pacific Ocean is almost incomprehensible in size.
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As the Pacific Ocean covers some 30% of the planet and is bigger than all of the world's continents combined, it's a jaw-dropping 155 million square kilometers (60 million square miles) wide. More than this, it's the world's deepest ocean and holds the Challenger Deep at 10,935 meters deep (35,876 feet) in the Mariana Trench.
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The Pacific Ocean is so big, it holds several points that are antipodal, meaning they're at exact opposite ends of the Earth to each other.
If you weren't scared enough of the Pacific Ocean, it's responsible for creating some of the world's biggest hurricanes, has a mass of rubbish known as the Great Pacific Garbage Patch, and sharks gather at a point known as the White Shark Café. Most scary is that the Pacific Ocean is also home to Point Nemo. If you make it to Point Nemo, the closest people to you would actually be aboard the International Space Station.
The ocean is a terrifying place, but only when you dig a little deeper do you realize just how terrifying that can be. And you wonder why some people have thalassophobia.