visits by the Royal Australian Navy and Royal Australian Air Force % @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 (Germany), Helsinki (Finland), Las Palmas (Canary Islands, Spain), Le Havre (France), Saint Petersburg (formerly 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 Saint Lawrence Seaway are two important waterways % @Australia *Geography #_Total area: 7,686,850 km2; land area: 7,617,930 km2; includes Macquarie Island
_#_Comparative area: slightly smaller than the US
_#_Land boundaries: none
_#_Coastline: 25,760 km
_#_Maritime claims:
Contiguous zone: 12 nm;
Continental shelf: 200 m (depth) or to depth of exploitation;
Exclusive fishing zone: 200 nm;
Territorial sea: 3 nm
_#_Disputes: territorial claim in Antarctica (Australian Antarctic Territory)
_#_Climate: generally arid to semiarid; temperate in south and east; tropical in north
_#_Terrain: mostly low plateau with deserts; fertile plain in southeast
_#_Natural resources: bauxite, coal, iron ore, copper, tin, silver, uranium, nickel, tungsten, mineral sands, lead, zinc, diamonds, natural gas, crude oil
_#_Land use: arable land 6%; permanent crops NEGL%; meadows and pastures 58%; forest and woodland 14%; other 22%; includes irrigated NEGL%
_#_Environment: subject to severe droughts and floods; cyclones along coast; limited freshwater availability; irrigated soil degradation; regular, tropical, invigorating, sea breeze known as the doctor occurs along west coast in summer; desertification
_#_Note: world's smallest continent but sixth-largest country
_*People #_Population: 17,288,044 (July 1991), growth rate 1.5% (1991)
_#_Birth rate: 15 births/1,000 population (1991)
_#_Death rate: 7 deaths/1,000 population (1991)
_#_Net migration rate: 7 migrants/1,000 population (1991)
_#_Infant mortality rate: 8 deaths/1,000 live births (1991)
_#_Life expectancy at birth: 74 years male, 80 years female (1991)
_#_Total fertility rate: 1.8 children born/woman (1991)
_#_Nationality: noun—Australian(s); adjective—Australian
_#_Ethnic divisions: Caucasian 95%, Asian 4%, Aboriginal and other 1%
_#_Religion: Anglican 26.1%, Roman Catholic 26.0%, other Christian 24.3%
_#_Language: English, native languages
_#_Literacy: 100% (male 100%, female 100%) age 15 and over can read and write (1980 est.)
_#_Labor force: 7,700,000; finance and services 33.8%, public and community services 22.3%, wholesale and retail trade 20.1%, manufacturing and industry 16.2%, agriculture 6.1% (1987)
_#_Organized labor: 42% of labor force (1988)
_*Government #_Long-form name: Commonwealth of Australia
_#_Type: federal parliamentary state
_#_Capital: Canberra
_#_Administrative divisions: 6 states and 2 territories*; Australian Capital Territory*, New South Wales, Northern Territory*, Queensland, South Australia, Tasmania, Victoria, Western Australia
_#_Dependent areas: Ashmore and Cartier Islands, Christmas Island, Cocos (Keeling) Islands, Coral Sea Islands, Heard Island and McDonald Islands, Norfolk Island
_#_Independence: 1 January 1901 (federation of UK colonies)
_#_Constitution: 9 July 1900, effective 1 January 1901
_#_Legal system:
