Timor sea: geography, climate and human activity

Timor sea washes the Northern coast of Australia and is dominated by sub-Equatorial climate. In the waters, there are several major oil and gas fields. Many scientists consider him to a list of the richest, beautiful and interesting seas in the world. It will be discussed later in more detail.

Location on map

Mention Where is Timor sea, first of all, it should be noted that it is located in the Indian ocean. On the map it can be found between mainland Australia and the island of Timor, whose name is, in fact, was named. In the Eastern part it borders the Arafura sea and to the West gradually merges with the ocean. To the South is the large Bay, known as Joseph Bonaparte. An interesting feature is that Arafura and Timor sea have no pronounced natural boundary. They are about the same temperature and salinity level of water. Anyway, these are two completely different pond.

General description

The Total sea area of 432 square kilometres. Most of it is located on the Australian continental shelf, which explains a slight depth. Basically its value is not reaches to 200 meters. The deep spot is located in the Northern part of the Timor trough, which is the depth of 3310 meters. Passing through the waters of the same name for bears in the Indian ocean waters of the Pacific ocean. Moreover, the water area located in the heart of the split in the tectonic plates. All this combined has created optimal conditions for the emergence of a huge number of typhoons. Covered with quartz and calcareous sand bottom there are many atolls, coral reefs and shoals.

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Timor sea is characterized by a winding coastline with small bays and picturesque coves. As a rule, the shore is low. In the waters there are four fairly large Islands, two of which are Australian owned, and another two belong to the Tiwi. In the sea fed by many rivers of the mainland. The largest port is the city of Darwin which is the capital of Australia's Northern territory.

Development in

Many scientists suggest that the Australian continent was inhabited by man is through Timor sea. They believe that it happened in those days, when the water level here was significantly lower, which led to the emergence of people from the Indonesian archipelago. Local legend has it that they became the ancestors of the Australian aborigines. With regard to the first European settlers, they are sailors from the Netherlands, which after the exploration of the sea opened the Australian mainland.

Climate

Over the water area is dominated by sub-Equatorial monsoon climate. As noted above, there often occur strong typhoons. About ten years ago, several of them even led to a temporary suspension of work platforms for oil refinery and the evacuation of personnel by helicopter because of security reasons. One of the tropical typhoons in 1974, heavily destroyed the city of Darwin.

In the period from December to March over the area reigns the season of tropical rains. Despite this, even in winter the water temperature never drops below the mark of 25 degrees, and summer – up to about 30 degrees. Currents are seasonal in nature. In winter they move to the West, and in the summer – East. Not to mention the tides, which are quite high. They usually reach the level of 4 meters, and in small enclosed bays and gulfs – up to 9 meters.

Flora and fauna

If rich and varied flora Timor sea can not boast, it can not be said about the animal world. In particular, there are corals, molluscs of all known classes, marine worms, jellyfish, snakes, echinoderms, spiny lobsters, shrimp, crabs and many other fauna of the oceans. Not to mention the variety of fish, numbering more than three hundred species. Among them are several species of sharks, so swimming in the sea is possible only in certain places and very carefully.

Human Activity

Half a century ago Timor sea was not considered valuable to people, from the point of view of the use of natural resources. And the fishing here was very complicated due to unfavourable meteorological conditions. The situation has changed dramatically in the early seventies of the last century. Then on the shelf was discovered impressive oil reserves. The result has been the emergence of many disputes over the division of territorial waters. Australia is advantageous to divide the sea along the border of the continental shelf. This is not according to the government of East Timor, which has a policy of its former metropolis of Portugal, whose government believed that the waters should be divided in the middle. Anyway, these days there are a large number of projects concerning the development of oil and gas. Some of them are already under implementation.

It Should be noted that human activity sometimes has a detrimental effect on Timor sea. Photos oil-related man-made disaster, which occurred in September 2009 at the Montara field, is another proof of that. After an accident in the water daily flowed up to 400 barrels «black gold». After some investigation the culprit of the incident was named the owner of the wells, which were responsible for this.