Timor Sea
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The Timor Sea (Indonesian: Laut Timor; Portuguese: Mar Timor) is an arm of the Indian Ocean situated between the islands of Rote and Timor, now split between the states of Indonesia and East Timor, and the Northern Territory of Australia.
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[edit] Geography
The waters to the east are known as the Arafura Sea, technically an arm of the Pacific Ocean.[citation needed] The Timor Sea has two substantial inlets on the north Australian coast, the Joseph Bonaparte Gulf and the Van Diemen Gulf. The Australian city of Darwin is the only large city to adjoin the sea.
The sea is about 480 km (300 statute miles) wide, covering an area of about 610,000 km². (235,000 square miles). Its deepest point is the Timor Trough in the northern part of the sea, which reaches a depth of 3,300 m (10,800 ft). The remainder of the sea is much shallower, much of it averaging less than 200 m (650 ft) deep, as it overlies the Sahul Shelf, part of the Australian continental shelf.
[edit] Reefs and islands
A number of significant islands are located in the sea, notably Melville Island, part of the Tiwi Islands, off Australia and the Australian-governed Ashmore and Cartier Islands. It is thought that early humans reached Australia by "island-hopping" across the Timor Sea.
Scott and Seringapatam Reefs formed in the area and to the west on the same underwater platform is the Rowley Shoals.
[edit] Hydrocarbon reserves
Beneath the Timor Sea lie considerable reserves of oil and gas. A number of offshore oil project operate here. The Greater Sunrise gas field, discovered in 1974, is the largest in the sea and is expected to earn East Timor a total of $4 billion.
The AED Oil owns the large oil project at Puffin oilfield and Woodside Petroleum is producing oil at the Laminaria oilfield.
The sea is a major breeding ground for tropical storms and cyclones. In February 2005, Tropical Cyclone Vivienne disrupted oil and gas production facilities in the area, and the next month, Severe Tropical Cyclone Willy interrupted production.[citation needed]
Australia and East Timor have had a lengthy dispute over exploitation rights in an area known as the Timor Gap. Australia's territorial claim extends to the bathymetric axis (the line of greatest sea-bed depth) at the Timor Trough. It overlaps East Timor's own territorial claim, which follows the former colonial power Portugal in claiming that the dividing line should be midway between the two countries.
[edit] Timor Sea Treaty
The Timor Sea Treaty, which was signed on the 20 May 2002, led to the establishment of the Timor Sea Designated Authority (TSDA). This organisation is responsible for the administration of all petroleum-related activities in a part of the Timor Sea known as the Joint Petroleum Development Area.[1]
[edit] World War II
During the 1940s the Japanese navy conducted air raids on Australia from ships in the Timor Sea. On the 19 February 1942 the Japanese aircraft carrier Kaga with other vessels, launched air strikes against Darwin, Australia, sinking nine ships, including the USS Peary. This bombing marked the beginning of the Battle of Timor in the Pacific theatre of World War II.
[edit] See also
[edit] References
- ^ Joint Petroleum Development Area Fact sheet. Retrieved on 2008-01-29.
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This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding reliable references. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (January 2008) |
[edit] External links
- Khamsi, Kathryn (2005). "A Settlement to the Timor Sea Dispute?". Harvard Asia Quarterly 9 (1) 6-23.
- East Timor is protective of oil, gas industry
