  == % of earths surface? ==  The Arctic Ocean takes up approximately 17% of the Earth's surface. The Pacific takes up about 32%, The Atlantic takes up close to 27%, and The Indian ocean takes up 24%.  if you add all those up: 17 + 32 + 27 + 24 = 100%. that seems to me to mean that it is referring only to the % of the Earth's water surface (whatever the correct phrase for that is), and not to the entire surface. Otherwise this statement seems to indicate that the entire surface of the planet is covered in Ocean. unless I'm missing something of course, which is entirely possible.  