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.
Geography
Indian Ocean
Location:
body of water between Africa, the Southern Ocean, Asia, and Australia
Geographic coordinates:
20 00 S, 80 00 E
Map references:
Political Map of the World
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