The youngest and warmest ocean on the planet is the Indian. Most of its waters are located in the Southern Hemisphere, and in the North it literally crashes into the continent. For this reason, people consider it a huge sea, which is divided into many bays. The climate of the Indian Ocean is most suitable for a beach holiday. In this vast pond is a record number of islands that have long been chosen by tourists from all over the world. The climate characteristics of the Indian Ocean also make it the most striking and unique in terms of flora and fauna. Therefore, now we will not be distracted by epithets, but we will consider in detail all aspects of this amazing reservoir.
general information
Geography will help us deal with the position and parameters of the reservoir. The Indian Ocean is the third largest on the planet after the Pacific and Atlantic. It occupies about 20 percent of the Earth. Its area is 76.17 million square kilometers, and the volume reaches 282.65 kilometers cubic. The deepest point of the ocean is located in the Sunda Trench, and its depth is 7729 meters. From all sides of the world, the ocean touches the continents: in the West it is sultry Africa, in the North - Asia, in the East it borders on Australia, and in the South it reaches the shores of icy Antarctica (although some scientists believe that there it passes into the Southern Ocean). This position of the Indian Ocean determines its weather conditions and currents, most of which are warm.
History
Up to the era of the great geographical discoveries, the Indian Ocean was presented to people as one big sea, which washes the shores of the whole world. The first world civilizations, the first city-states, arose on its shores. In addition, the first ships and boats in the history of mankind were lowered precisely into the waters of this “sea”. From then until now, the climate of the Indian Ocean has not changed. Since it was very warm and calm over the centuries, in the 15th century it was in its waters that the so-called era of geographical discoveries began. The first expanses of the ocean began to explore Vasco da Gama, followed by James Cook and many others. The study of the bottom of this huge reservoir, its flora and fauna began only in the 19th century. Then, for the first time, researchers found that the local waters are warm, not only because the ocean is mainly in the tropics. Its bottom is streaked with fractures of the crust, from where the hot lava erupts. Thus, the warm air above the surface and the heat emanating from the earth's crust greatly heats the waters, making them favorable for both marine inhabitants and beach lovers.
Gulfs, seas, islands
Significant and very voluminous parts of the Indian Ocean are its numerous seas. In general, they occupy up to 15 percent of its water area and are located off the coast of adjacent continents, as well as between numerous archipelagos. Now we list all the seas and bays in a clockwise direction. Let's start with Red - the northernmost and most saline. It is followed by the Arabian Sea, or the Persian Gulf, the Laccadive Sea, the Bay of Bengal, the Andaman, Timor Sea, the Arafura Sea, or the Gulf of Carpentaria, the large Australian Bay, the sea of Mawson, Davis, the Commonwealth and the Cosmonauts. Such a number of adjacent reservoirs is caused not only by the rugged coastlines of the continents, but also by the islands. The largest of them is Madagascar. It is followed by Zanzibar, Sri Lanka, the Philippines, the Andaman archipelago, Socotra, Comoros, King, Seychelles, Maldives and many others.
Geological structure
The features of the Indian Ocean lie in its diverse relief, which is located under the water column. Its area accounts for a lot of tectonic faults, many places of connection of lithospheric plates. Due to this, in different parts of the ocean has a different bottom, which affects the weather, and the color of the water, and flora and fauna. There are three segments of the ocean, different from each other in structure:
- African part. There is a shelf and a pronounced continental slope. Due to this, the bottom is mostly flat, there are only small hills. Away from the coast are the oldest seamounts, many of which come to the surface in the form of extinct volcanoes and are overgrown with corals. The most famous of them are Seychelles.
- Indo-Australian part. In this segment, the shelf is very narrow, located near the coast of Asia and has a steep slope. This part of the ocean is the most extensive, and it consists of numerous ridges, elevations and depressions, presented in the form of cones. Some of them emerge to the surface, forming mainland islands (Christmas Island).
- Antarctic part. Off the coast of the coldest continent of the world, the ocean is cut by canyons through which the waters of the underground rivers of Antarctica flow. Near the coast of the mainland there is a deep foundation pit, which passes into a large plain
Climatic zones of a reservoir
In order to most accurately understand this issue, we need a map of the Indian Ocean. Based on its data, we see that most of the water lies in the Southern Hemisphere. In the North, the third largest ocean falls only in the tropical and subequatorial zones. Then it crosses the line of the equator itself - the hottest zone of the planet. In the Southern Hemisphere, the ocean is divided into sub-equatorial, tropical, subtropical, temperate, sub-Antarctic and Antarctic zones. It is worth noting that, starting from the temperate natural zone, ocean areas are significantly reduced. These water areas are conditionally referred to as rings that span Antarctica. They are all famous for cold currents and even frosts.
Northern tropics
We will begin to consider the climate of the Indian Ocean from this natural zone, which is also the most visited by tourists. It is located off the coast of the Persian Gulf in the west and the Andaman Sea in the east, as well as in all territories adjacent to them. This area is a classic monsoon development area. In winter, they have a moderate speed, so over the region it is almost always cloudless and dry. In summer, their strength increases, as a result of which not only showers, but also tornadoes often occur. Note that the features of the Indian Ocean climate in this region are that the western part is much drier and more saline than the eastern one. Here record high temperatures rise (32-34 degrees Celsius), and at the same time only 500 mm of precipitation falls. In the east of the region, on the contrary, it rains more often, even in winter, due to which the salinity of many water bodies decreases.
Equatorial zone
The equator is the main latitude along which the Indian Ocean stretches. The photos, which often appear in various tourist brochures, were made in this region, and now we will figure out why. Firstly, in this zone there is a very lush vegetation, which was formed due to the huge amount of rainfall - up to 4000 mm. Secondly, in the region of the equator are the main oceanic ridges that form its relief. There are many atolls surrounded by blue lagoons - a typical "tropical paradise." In general, the climate of the Indian Ocean in the equatorial zone is many times wetter than in the tropical, but it is more stable. There is no sharp seasonal drop in temperature and humidity, but monsoons still happen often.
Southern tropics
Considering the features of the Indian Ocean, it is impossible to lose sight of this climate zone. It is considered the most calm and, at the same time, extensive. It is dominated by trade winds, which intensify in the winter, only occasionally creating storms, and weakening in the summer. Winter in this region lasts from May to September, and during this period a lot of clouds gather over the ocean. There is a huge amount of rainfall - up to 1500 mm, often there are fogs. In the summer (December-March) it is very dry here. Humidity drops to 300 mm, winds subside, clouds and mists are dispelled. Air temperature in winter is about 20 degrees Celsius, and in summer rises to 25.
Temperate south belt
For a more detailed discussion of this climate zone, we again need a map of the Indian Ocean. It is important that there are delimitation of water areas. According to this scheme, you can see that in the temperate zone, the Indian Ocean is part of the ring, which is located around Antarctica. Here it connects with the Pacific Ocean in the east and the Atlantic in the west. The region has sharp seasonal temperature changes. So, in the winter it drops to 10 or 15 degrees below zero, and in the summer it rises to 10-15 degrees of heat. This region is famous for low atmospheric pressure, because there are always fogs and clouds. In winter, westerly winds bring rainy cyclones, which causes storms. In summer, it is relatively sunny and calm.
Subantarctic belt
We mentioned above that the Indian Ocean is the warmest part of the world's waters, an area of the eternal sun and summer. Here at any time of the year you can enjoy the warm waves, hot sand and sunbathe every day. Now we look at how cold the Indian Ocean can be. Photos of its water areas that lie near Antarctica represent a typical icy sea landscape. Here, icebergs float year-round, they give away cold, clear blue of their purity blue, the air is filled with ozone. In winter, the Indian Ocean in the subpolar zone freezes, the level of water salinity rises to 34%. In summer, glaciers melt, due to which the concentration of salt in water decreases to 32%. The air temperature in winter is about 30 degrees below zero, and in summer it rises only to 2-3 degrees of heat.
Polar regions
The narrowest, most amazing and atypical part of the Indian Ocean is the coastal strip near Antarctica. Its width ranges from 50 to 100 km, and this entire zone is an eternal glacier that never melts. The local features of the Indian Ocean are, firstly, in the presence of numerous icebergs. They melt, only getting into warmer latitudes. There is no coastline as such, because there are no seas and bays here. In front of the shores of the eternal glaciers at the bottom of the Indian Ocean, there is a giant pit filled with wastewater and glaciers that melt in the summer. Above zero, the temperature here never rises. Precipitation is practically absent, since the air is maximally discharged, and the pressure is reduced to the limit.
Summarizing
We just briefly examined part of the course of the subject of geography, Grade 7. The Indian Ocean, on the one hand, is very easy to learn. It is small in its territory, its main part falls on hot latitudes, therefore the waters here are mostly warm. Much more complex is its geological structure. Scientists note that this ocean of all existing on the planet is the youngest, because the volcanic processes that occur under the thickness of its water still do not stop. For the same reason, there are so many islands in it that have arisen from the mountains, overgrown with corals. Many consider them as a great place to relax, but in fact, each such zone is seismically unstable and even dangerous.