Compare Indian Ocean (2008) - Heard Island and McDonald Islands (2008)

Compare Indian Ocean (2008) z Heard Island and McDonald Islands (2008)

	Indian Ocean (2008)	Heard Island and McDonald Islands (2008)

Area	total: 68.556 million sq km note: includes Andaman Sea, Arabian Sea, Bay of Bengal, Flores Sea, Great Australian Bight, Gulf of Aden, Gulf of Oman, Java Sea, Mozambique Channel, Persian Gulf, Red Sea, Savu Sea, Strait of Malacca, Timor Sea, and other tributary water bodies	total: 412 sq km land: 412 sq km water: 0 sq km
Area - comparative	about 5.5 times the size of the US	slightly more than two times the size of Washington, DC
Background	The Indian Ocean is the third largest of the world's five oceans (after the Pacific Ocean and Atlantic Ocean, but larger than the Southern Ocean and Arctic Ocean). Four critically important access waterways are the Suez Canal (Egypt), Bab el Mandeb (Djibouti-Yemen), Strait of Hormuz (Iran-Oman), and Strait of Malacca (Indonesia-Malaysia). The decision by the International Hydrographic Organization in the spring of 2000 to delimit a fifth ocean, the Southern Ocean, removed the portion of the Indian Ocean south of 60 degrees south latitude.	These uninhabited, barren, sub-Antarctic islands were transferred from the UK to Australia in 1947. Populated by large numbers of seal and bird species, the islands have been designated a nature preserve.
Climate	northeast monsoon (December to April), southwest monsoon (June to October); tropical cyclones occur during May/June and October/November in the northern Indian Ocean and January/February in the southern Indian Ocean	antarctic
Coastline	66,526 km	101.9 km
Country name	-	conventional long form: Territory of Heard Island and McDonald Islands conventional short form: Heard Island and McDonald Islands abbreviation: HIMI
Dependency status	-	territory of Australia; administered from Canberra by the Australian Antarctic Division of the Department of the Environment, Water, Heritage and the Arts
Diplomatic representation from the US	-	none (territory of Australia)
Diplomatic representation in the US	-	none (territory of Australia)
Disputes - international	some maritime disputes (see littoral states)	none
Economy - overview	The Indian Ocean provides major sea routes connecting the Middle East, Africa, and East Asia with Europe and the Americas. It carries a particularly heavy traffic of petroleum and petroleum products from the oilfields of the Persian Gulf and Indonesia. Its fish are of great and growing importance to the bordering countries for domestic consumption and export. Fishing fleets from Russia, Japan, South Korea, and Taiwan also exploit the Indian Ocean, mainly for shrimp and tuna. Large reserves of hydrocarbons are being tapped in the offshore areas of Saudi Arabia, Iran, India, and western Australia. An estimated 40% of the world's offshore oil production comes from the Indian Ocean. Beach sands rich in heavy minerals and offshore placer deposits are actively exploited by bordering countries, particularly India, South Africa, Indonesia, Sri Lanka, and Thailand.	The islands have no indigenous economic activity, but the Australian Government allows limited fishing in the surrounding waters.
Elevation extremes	lowest point: Java Trench -7,258 m highest point: sea level 0 m	lowest point: Indian Ocean 0 m highest point: Mawson Peak, on Big Ben 2,745 m
Environment - current issues	endangered marine species include the dugong, seals, turtles, and whales; oil pollution in the Arabian Sea, Persian Gulf, and Red Sea	NA
Flag description	-	the flag of Australia is used
Geographic coordinates	20 00 S, 80 00 E	53 06 S, 72 31 E
Geography - note	major chokepoints include Bab el Mandeb, Strait of Hormuz, Strait of Malacca, southern access to the Suez Canal, and the Lombok Strait	-
Irrigated land	-	0 sq km
Land boundaries	-	0 km
Land use	-	arable land: 0% permanent crops: 0% other: 100% (2005)
Legal system	-	the laws of Australia, where applicable, apply
Location	body of water between Africa, the Southern Ocean, Asia, and Australia	islands in the Indian Ocean, about two-thirds of the way from Madagascar to Antarctica
Map references	Political Map of the World	Antarctic Region
Maritime claims	-	territorial sea: 12 nm exclusive fishing zone: 200 nm
Military - note	-	defense is the responsibility of Australia; Australia conducts fisheries patrols
Natural hazards	occasional icebergs pose navigational hazard in southern reaches	Mawson Peak, an active volcano, is on Heard Island
Natural resources	oil and gas fields, fish, shrimp, sand and gravel aggregates, placer deposits, polymetallic nodules	fish
Population	-	uninhabited
Terrain	surface dominated by counterclockwise gyre (broad, circular system of currents) in the southern Indian Ocean; unique reversal of surface currents in the northern Indian Ocean; low atmospheric pressure over southwest Asia from hot, rising, summer air results in the southwest monsoon and southwest-to-northeast winds and currents, while high pressure over northern Asia from cold, falling, winter air results in the northeast monsoon and northeast-to-southwest winds and currents; ocean floor is dominated by the Mid-Indian Ocean Ridge and subdivided by the Southeast Indian Ocean Ridge, Southwest Indian Ocean Ridge, and Ninetyeast Ridge	Heard Island - 80% ice-covered, bleak and mountainous, dominated by a large massif (Big Ben) and an active volcano (Mawson Peak); McDonald Islands - small and rocky

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