The Atlantic Ocean is the second largest ocean in the world, covering about 20 percent of the earth's surface. It separates Europe and Africa to the east from North and South America to the west. Its name, which comes from the Greek, probably refers to Atlantis, the legendary island continent said to have been the site of a great civilization before the island suddenly disappeared.

The Atlantic extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to Antarctica in the south. It is over 16, 000 kilometers long and between 2, 900 kilometers and 8, 500 kilometers wide. The area of the Atlantic is about 106, 464, 000 square kilometers. Its average depth is around 3, 300 meters, and the maximum depth is 8, 380 meters in the Puerto Rico Trench, north of the island of Puerto Rico.

大西洋位于美洲之東，歐洲和非洲之西。大西洋的名字來源于希臘語，可能源于Atlantis島嶼，傳說該島位于大西洋，曾經(jīng)有過偉大的文明，后來突然消失。大西洋是世界上面積僅次于太平洋的第二大洋。大西洋及邊緣海域總面積為106，460，000平方公里，大約占地球總面積的五分之一。它的平均深度為3，300米，小于太平洋和印度洋的深度，這是因為其北部有廣闊的大陸架，并且它的邊緣海域較淺，這些海包括東部的挪威海、北海、波羅的海、地中海、黑海和西部的巴芬哈得孫灣、圣勞倫斯灣、墨西哥灣和加勒比海。赤道以南的大西洋更寬，兩岸皆為大陸，很少有島嶼。大西洋的最深處位于波多黎各島北部的波多黎各海溝，約有8，380米深。