Seas Around Australia: A Complete Inventory

Australia's 35,000+ km coastline borders a complex suite of seas and oceans. Here's the full list:

Named Seas (IHO)

• Arafura Sea — North: between Australia (Cape York) and New Guinea. Shallow, tropical, Torres Strait connection.
• Coral Sea — Northeast: Great Barrier Reef, Coral Sea Islands Territory. Deep basin, seamounts.
• Tasman Sea — Southeast: between Australia and New Zealand. "The Ditch." Deep, rough.

Gulfs & Bights

• Gulf of Carpentaria — North: large epicontinental sea (Arafura), seasonal river plumes.
• Great Australian Bight — South: wide-open Southern Ocean bay, high cliffs (Bunda), upwelling, great white sharks.
• Spencer Gulf / Gulf St Vincent — South Australia: inverse estuaries (hypersaline).
• Joseph Bonaparte Gulf — NW: Timor Sea connection.

Oceans

• Indian Ocean — West & South: Leeuwin Current, tropical to temperate.
• Pacific Ocean — East: via Coral/Tasman Seas.
• Southern (Antarctic) Ocean — South of 60°S (IHO) / Tasmania south coast: ACC, subantarctic islands (Macquarie).

Notable Exclusions

• Timor Sea — north of Australia, but usually grouped with Indonesian waters.
• Bismarck / Solomon Seas — north of Coral Sea, PNG/Solomon Islands.

Australia's marine jurisdiction (EEZ) covers 8.2M km² — 3rd largest globally — spanning tropical to subantarctic seas.