Australasian Mediterranean Sea

The Australasian Mediterranean Sea is a mediterranean sea located in the area between Southeast Asia and Australasia.^[1] It connects the Indian and Pacific oceans.^[2] It has a maximum depth of 7,440 m^[3] and a surface area of 9.08 mil. km².

Australasian Mediterranean Sea
Australasian Mediterranean Sea
Coordinates	Coordinates: 6°30′S 123°54′E / 6.5°S 123.9°E / -6.5; 123.9
Type	Sea
Basin countries	List  Australia  Brunei  Cambodia  China  Indonesia  Malaysia  Palau  Papua New Guinea  Philippines  Singapore  Taiwan  Thailand  Timor-Leste  Vietnam
Surface area	9,080,000 km^2 (3,510,000 sq mi)
Max. depth	7,440 m (24,410 ft)

Geography

 

Australasian shoveler swimming

 

Australasian Gannet flying over sea

In contrast to the American Mediterranean Sea and Mediterranean Sea it is not surrounded by continents, only by islands and peninsulas.^{[clarification needed]} It includes the following seas:

1. South China Sea - 3.5 million km²
2. Banda Sea - 695,000 km²
3. Arafura sea - 650,000 km²
4. Timor Sea - 610,000 km²
5. Java Sea - 320,000 km²
6. Gulf of Thailand - 320,000 km²
7. Gulf of Carpentaria - 300,000 km²
8. Celebes Sea - 280,000 km²
9. Sulu Sea - 260,000 km²
10. Flores Sea - 240,000 km²
11. Molucca Sea - 200,000 km²
12. Gulf of Tonkin - 126,250 km²
13. Halmahera Sea - 95,000 km²
14. Bali Sea - 45,000 km²
15. Savu Sea - 35,000 km²
16. Joseph Bonaparte Gulf - 26,780 km²
17. Seram Sea - 12,000 km²
18. Straits of Johor
19. Lombok Strait
20. Luzon Strait
21. Makassar Strait
22. Strait of Malacca
23. Qiongzhou Strait
24. Singapore Strait
25. Taiwan Strait
26. Sunda Strait

States or territories with a coast on the Australasian Mediterranean Sea are: Australia, Brunei, China, Indonesia, Cambodia, Malaysia, Papua New Guinea, Philippines, Singapore, Taiwan, Thailand, Timor-Leste and Vietnam. It includes the straits of Malacca, Singapore and Luzon, and adjoins the peninsulas of Indochina and Malaysia. The following islands are located within it:

• Bathurst Island, Groote Eylandt, Hainan Dao, Phú Quốc, Ko Chang, Samui archipelago, Nang Yuan, Ko Phangan, Ko Samui, Ko Tao, Tioman, Melville islands, Maluka islands, New Guinea, Paracel Islands, Pratas Island, Philippines, Riau, Sangir Archipelago, Spratly Islands, Greater Sunda Islands (Borneo, Sumatra, Java, Sulawesi), Lesser Sunda Islands (Bali, Flores, Komodo Islands, Lombok, Sumba, Sumbawa, Timor), Taiwan, and Talaud Islands.

See also

• East Indian Archipelago
• Maritime Southeast Asia

References

1. Jochen Kämpf (2010). Advanced Ocean Modelling: Using Open-Source Software. Springer Science & Business Media. p. 138. ISBN 978-3-642-10610-1.
2. International Union for the Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources (IUCN). Global Marine and Polar Programme. (1 May 2015). Bridging the gap between ocean acidification impacts and economic valuation: Regional impacts of ocean acidification on fisheries and aquaculture. IUCN. p. 113. ISBN 978-2-8317-1723-4.
3. Tomczak, Matthias & J Stuart Godfrey (2003), Regional Oceanography: an Introduction, ch. 13 ("Adjacent seas of the Indian Ocean and the Australasian Mediterranean Sea (the Indonesian throughflow)", pp. 220-8. Daya Publishing House. ISBN 8170353068 (pdf)