While covering the entire large space of the southern region of the Indian subcontinent, the Indian Ocean is a huge feature of the Earth’s geographic blue color. But this is not everything that makes interesting facts about the Indian Ocean. The Indian Ocean in Sanskrit means Ratnakara (“mine of gems”), while in Hindi it is referred to as Hind Mahasagar.
Find out some more amazing facts about the Indian Ocean.
- The Indian Ocean is the only ocean in the world whose name is named after the country.
- The warmest of all oceans is the Indian Ocean. The speed at which it warms the surroundings is also the fastest among the tropical oceans, which contributes to global warming indeed.
- The ocean covers an area of 73,440,000 square kilometers or 28,360,000 square miles.
- In all the countries that share the Indian Ocean, India has the longest coastline along with this ocean.
- The size of the Indian Ocean is the third largest body of water in the world, which estimates about one-fifth of the Earth’s surface.
- 16 countries from the African continent, 18 countries of the continent of Asia and 57 groups of islands connect with the Indian Ocean in totality.
- The Australian continent also shares its area with the Indian Ocean.
- The average depth of the ocean is 3,960 meters or 12,990 feet. When we consider the deepest point in the ocean, it is Java Trench’s Sunda Deep near the southern part of Java, which has a depth of 7,450 meters or 24,442 feet.
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- The warmest sea in the Indian Ocean is the Persian Gulf. The Red Sea is the second warmest sea. The Red Sea is amongst the most saline of all seas in the Indian Ocean.
- Every year, the area of Indian Ocean gets wider by approximately 20 centimeters because of the global warming effect resulting in the melting of polar ice caps.
- The ocean has an estimated volume of 292,131,000 cubic kilometers.
- All the 40% offshore oil production which is there in the world comes from the Indian Ocean.
- In the depths of the Indian Ocean, scientists recently found a “lost continent” and the name given to this unknown land mass is- “Mauritia” by the scientists.
- The minimum amount of oxygen level is found in this ocean in the whole world because of the connection of fast evaporation rate in the area Due to the closeness to the equator, and therefore it corresponds to limited sea life.
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- The lowest and highest water salinity levels were both found in the Indian Ocean as per records.
- The Indian Ocean holds the record of having the most complicated origin amongst the top three largest oceans in the world according to the scientists.
- The Indian Ocean connects four continents (Asia, Australia, Africa, and Antarctica).
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- The Indian Ocean comprises unique chemical properties of its own. Its water has a high concentration of hydrocarbons both in the form of dissolved and floating and a very high negative water balance.
- The ocean receives about 6000 km of water from various parts including rivers like Ganges and Brahmaputra- two of the largest rivers.
- The major Indian ports of this ocean include Mumbai, Kolkata, Chennai. Whereas, Colombo in Sri Lanka, Durban and Richards Bay in South Africa, Jakarta in Indonesia and Melbourne in Australia are the other important parts of this ocean.
- The Kerguelen Plateau is a newly discovered continent which is believed to be originated from volcanoes, that is submerged in the Indian Ocean in its southern part.
