We explain what the Indian Ocean is, the flora and fauna it presents and what its climate is like. Also, what are its characteristics and importance.
It ranges from southern Africa to western Australia. It borders Asia to the north, Africa to the west , Australia to the east, and the Southern Ocean to the south.
Due to its warm waters and exuberant coastal flora, it is a privileged destination for world tourism . In addition, it has historically been the obligatory step for contact between East and West .
Among its aquatic plants , the hydrilla verticillata stands out , with pale green leaves, and the water lilac, which is found in shallow areas. The rill (also called loosestrife) is found in the water near the shore, with reddish and purple flowers.
The Indian Ocean is home to a wide variety of fauna including the leatherback sea turtle, the world's largest reptile which is also the only sea turtle without a hard shell.Among its fauna there are some species that do not exist anywhere else in the world , such as the Chagos clownfish, which is characterized by its brown color, and the marine cowry nymph, a mollusk that lives in the regions near the Chagos Islands. .
In the southern hemisphere the winds are lighter, with the exception of summer storms .
The monsoons have a decisive influence on the currents of this ocean . In the northern hemisphere, a clockwise movement is found as the dominant current . In contrast, in the southern hemisphere the currents are directed in the opposite direction.The major rivers that flow into the Indian Ocean are the Zambezi, Shatt-al-Arab, Indus, Ganges, Brahmaputra, and Irrawaddy.
However, at the local level, this ocean is a source of a subsistence resource for the inhabitants of its coasts , through fishing. Although there is no industrial fishing in the area, it is exploited by the small towns that surround it.
In the Indian Ocean there are a large number of paradisiacal islands that are used for tourism thanks to their white sand beaches and the warm and transparent water that surrounds them.Among the famous islands as tourist destinations are the Maldives and the Seychelles , chosen for diving. Madagascar, the largest island in the world, is also located in this ocean.
Given the large number of nearby tourist attractions, it is usually a regular route for luxury cruise ships .
The average depth of this ocean is 3,700 m, but its deepest point is 7,258 m , and is called the Java Trench.
On its floor are submarine cliffs and ridges , including a 2,000-kilometer-long submarine plateau .
On December 26, 2004 , a magnitude 9.1 submarine earthquake originated in the Indian Ocean , north of the Simeulue Islands. Its recorded length was between 8.3 and 10 minutes, the third longest in history .Its impact was so great that it caused a series of tsunamis that affected Indonesia, Malaysia, Sri Lanka, India and Thailand, causing more than 275 thousand deaths.
For this reason, and thanks to the tranquility of its waters, since the invention of navigation (in the third millennium before Christ ) this ocean has been explored in areas close to the coast and it was one of the first maritime spaces (along with the Mediterranean ) to be used for trade .
The waters of this ocean have a salinity between 3.2 and 3.7% , with the highest points of salinity in the Arabian Sea.Its average surface temperature is 22 degrees, but it can exceed 28 degrees , due to its location near the equator.
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