Australasian Mediterranean Sea

Australasian Mediterranean Sea
Australasian Mediterranean Sea
Coordinates	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)

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.

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 km^2
2. Banda Sea - 695,000 km^2
3. Arafura Sea - 650,000 km^2
4. Timor Sea - 610,000 km^2
5. Java Sea - 320,000 km^2
6. Gulf of Thailand - 320,000 km^2
7. Gulf of Carpentaria - 300,000 km^2
8. Celebes Sea - 280,000 km^2
9. Sulu Sea - 260,000 km^2
10. Flores Sea - 240,000 km^2
11. Molucca Sea - 200,000 km^2
12. Gulf of Tonkin - 126,250 km^2
13. Halmahera Sea - 95,000 km^2
14. Bali Sea - 45,000 km^2
15. Savu Sea - 35,000 km^2
16. Joseph Bonaparte Gulf - 26,780 km^2
17. Seram Sea - 12,000 km^2
18. Straits of Johor
19. Riau Strait
20. Karimata Strait
21. Lombok Strait
22. Luzon Strait
23. Makassar Strait
24. Ombai Strait
25. Strait of Malacca
26. Qiongzhou Strait
27. Singapore Strait
28. Taiwan Strait
29. Sunda Strait
30. Gaspar Strait
31. Wetar 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 Islands, 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 Archived 2021-05-06 at the Wayback Machine, 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)