[[File:Atlantic Ocean to Africa.ogv|thumb|This video was taken by the crew of [[Expedition 29]] on board the [[International Space Station|ISS]]. The pass starts from just northeast of the island of [[Newfoundland (island)|Newfoundland]] over the North Atlantic Ocean to central Africa, over [[South Sudan]].]]
The '''Atlantic Ocean''' is the second largest of the world's [[ocean]]s with a total area of about {{convert|106,460,000|km2|sqmi|sp=us|abbr=off}}.<ref name="NOAA-how-big">{{Harvnb|NOAA: How big is the Atlantic Ocean?}}</ref><ref name="Atlantic Ocean - Britannica">{{cite web |url=https://www.britannica.com/place/Atlantic-Ocean |title=Atlantic Ocean |publisher=Encyclopædia Britannica |accessdate=December 20, 2016 |deadurl=no |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20170215072935/https://www.britannica.com/place/Atlantic-Ocean |archivedate=15 February 2017 |df=dmy-all }}</ref> It covers approximately 20 percent of the [[Earth's surface]] and about 29 percent of its water surface area. It separates the "[[Old World]]" from the "[[New World]]".
The Atlantic Ocean occupies an elongated, S-shaped basin extending longitudinally between [[Eurasia]] and [[Africa]] to the east, and the [[Americas]] to the west. As one component of the interconnected [[global ocean]], it is connected in the north to the [[Arctic Ocean]], to the [[Pacific Ocean]] in the southwest, the [[Indian Ocean]] in the southeast, and the [[Southern Ocean]] in the south (other definitions describe the Atlantic as extending southward to [[Antarctica]]). The [[Equatorial Counter Current]] subdivides it into the '''North Atlantic Ocean''' and the '''South Atlantic Ocean''' at about [[8th parallel north|8°N]].<ref name="USN-2001" />
Scientific explorations of the Atlantic include the [[Challenger expedition]], the [[German Meteor expedition]], [[Columbia University]]'s [[Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory]] and the [[United States Navy Hydrographic Office]].<ref name="USN-2001" />
