Atlantic Ocean as the mid-19th century. During the Age of Discovery, the Atlantic was also known to English cartographers as the Great Western Ocean. The International Hydrographic Organization (IHO) defined the limits of the oceans and seas in 1953, but some of these definitions have been revised since then and some are not used by various authorities, institutions, and countries, see for example the CIA World Factbook. Correspondingly, the extent and number of oceans and seas varies. The Atlantic Ocean is bounded on the west by North and South America. It connects to the Arctic Ocean through the Denmark Strait, Greenland Sea,
Ocean area and volume – are defined in part by the continents, various archipelagos, and other criteria. Oceans are fringed by smaller, adjoining bodies of water such as seas, gulfs, bays, bights, and straits. The mid-ocean ridges of the world are connected and form a single global mid-oceanic ridge system that is part of every ocean and the longest mountain range in the world. The continuous mountain range is long (several times longer than the Andes, the longest continental mountain range). The total mass of the hydrosphere is about 1.4 quintillion metric tons ( long tons or short tons), which is