area: 5 km2; land area: 5 km2; includes Ashmore Reef (West, Middle, and East Islets) and Cartier Island
Comparative area: about 8.5 times the size of The Mall in Washington, DC
Land boundaries: none
Coastline: 74.1 km
Maritime claims:
Contiguous zone: 12 nm;
Continental shelf: 200 meters or to depth of exploration;
Exclusive fishing zone: 200 nm;
Territorial sea: 3 nm
Climate: tropical
Terrain: low with sand and coral
Natural resources: fish
Land use: 0% arable land; 0% permanent crops; 0% meadows and pastures; 0% forest and woodland; 100% other—grass and sand
Environment: surrounded by shoals and reefs; Ashmore Reef National
Nature Reserve established in August 1983
Note: located in extreme eastern Indian Ocean between Australia and Indonesia 320 km off the northwest coast of Australia
- People
Population: no permanent inhabitants; seasonal caretakers
- Government
Long-form name: Territory of Ashmore and Cartier Islands
Type: territory of Australia administered by the Australian Ministry for Territories and Local Government
Administrative divisions: none (territory of Australia)
Legal system: relevant laws of the Northern Territory of Australia
Note: administered by the Australian Minister for Arts, Sports, the
Environment, Tourism, and Territories Graham Richardson
Diplomatic representation: none (territory of Australia)
- Economy
Overview: no economic activity
- Communications
Ports: none; offshore anchorage only
- Defense Forces
Note: defense is the responsibility of Australia; periodic
visits by the Royal Australian Navy and Royal Australian Air Force
——————————————————————————
Country: Atlantic Ocean
- Geography
Total area: 82,217,000 km2; includes Baltic Sea, Black Sea, Caribbean Sea,
Davis Strait, Denmark Strait, Drake Passage, Gulf of Mexico, Mediterranean Sea,
North Sea, Norwegian Sea, Weddell Sea, and other tributary water bodies
Comparative area: slightly less than nine times the size of the US; second-largest of the world's four oceans (after the Pacific Ocean, but larger than Indian Ocean or Arctic Ocean)
Coastline: 111,866 km
Climate: tropical cyclones (hurricanes) develop off the coast of Africa near Cape Verde and move westward into the Caribbean Sea; hurricanes can occur from May to December, but are most frequent from August to November
Terrain: surface usually covered with sea ice in Labrador Sea, Denmark Strait, and Baltic Sea from October to June; clockwise warm water gyre (broad, circular system of currents) in the north Atlantic, counterclockwise warm water gyre in the south Atlantic; the ocean floor is dominated by the Mid-Atlantic Ridge, a rugged north-south centerline for the entire Atlantic basin; maximum depth is 8,605 meters in the Puerto Rico Trench
Natural resources: oil and gas fields, fish, marine mammals (seals and whales), sand and gravel aggregates, placer deposits, polymetallic nodules, precious stones
Environment: endangered marine species include the manatee, seals, sea lions, turtles, and whales; municipal sludge pollution off eastern US, southern Brazil, and eastern Argentina; oil pollution in Caribbean Sea, Gulf of Mexico, Lake Maracaibo, Mediterranean Sea, and North Sea; industrial waste and municipal sewage pollution in Baltic Sea, North Sea, and Mediterranean Sea; icebergs common in Davis Strait, Denmark Strait, and the northwestern Atlantic from February to August and have been spotted as far south as Bermuda and the Madeira Islands; icebergs from Antarctica occur in the extreme southern Atlantic
Note: ships subject to superstructure icing in extreme north Atlantic from October to May and extreme south Atlantic from May to October; persistent fog can be a hazard to shipping from May to September; major choke points include the Dardanelles, Strait of Gibraltar, access to the Panama and Suez Canals; strategic straits include the Dover Strait, Straits of Florida, Mona Passage, The Sound (Oresund), and Windward Passage; north Atlantic shipping lanes subject to icebergs from February to August; the Equator divides the Atlantic Ocean into the North Atlantic Ocean and South Atlantic Ocean
- Economy Overview: Economic activity is limited to exploitation of natural resources, especially fish, dredging aragonite sands (The Bahamas), and crude oil and natural gas production (Caribbean Sea and North Sea).
- Communications
Ports: Alexandria (Egypt), Algiers (Algeria), Antwerp (Belgium),
Barcelona (Spain), Buenos Aires (Argentina), Casablanca (Morocco),
Colon (Panama), Copenhagen (Denmark), Dakar (Senegal), Gdansk (Poland),
Hamburg (FRG), Helsinki (Finland), Las Palmas (Canary Islands, Spain),
Le Havre (France), Leningrad (USSR), Lisbon (Portugal), London (UK),
Marseille (France), Montevideo (Uruguay), Montreal (Canada), Naples (Italy),
New Orleans (US), New York (US), Oran (Algeria), Oslo (Norway),
Piraeus (Greece), Rio de Janeiro (Brazil), Rotterdam (Netherlands),
Stockholm (Sweden)
Telecommunications: numerous submarine cables with most between continental Europe and the UK, North America and the UK, and in the Mediterranean; numerous direct links across Atlantic via INTELSAT satellite network
Note: Kiel Canal and St. Lawrence Seaway are two important waterways
——————————————————————————
Country: Australia
- Geography
Total area: 7,686,850 km2; land area: 7,617,930 km2; includes
Macquarie Island
Comparative
