As a Maritime Country, Indonesia has 3.257.483 km2 width water territorial. Beside that, Indonesia is one of the biggest islands country which lies from Sabang to Marauke and becomes one of countries located between 2 oceans; Pacific Ocean and Indian Ocean. Cluster of islands make Indonesia to have a lot of water territory especially seas.
Each seas in Indonesia have different depth and characteristic. Generally, seas are classified into 2 types, those are deep and shallow seas. Deep sea is a sea with more than 200 meters depth. One of the deepest sea in Indonesia is Sulawesi Sea with 6.1 km depth below the sea surface. While shallow sea is the one with 0 – 200 meters below the sea surface. One of shallow sea in Indonesia is Java Sea.
Maybe, some of us haven’t known yet what Java Sea is. Beside as shallow sea, Java Sea has it’s own characteristic and uniqueness compared with other shallow seas in Indonesia. Not only that, Java Sea also has some facts on it. This time we will completely discuss about Java Sea and the facts on it.
Characteristic and Geography of Java Sea
As it’s name, Java Sea lies near Java Island, exactly in the north of Java Island and in the south of Kalimantan Island. Different from water territory in the south of Java Island called South Sea, Java Sea mostly have small wave and calm. While the South Sea has high wave and it is part of Indian Ocean. However, in some seasons, the waves on Java Sea may reach the highest level when the monsoon breeze comes. West monsoon breeze happens around in the end of December till early January. And at the time, the wind blows from the west to the east.So, no wonder if Java Sea wave depends on the wind blow.
As mentioned before, Java Sea is classified as shallow sea with 310.000 km2. When we notice geographically, Java Sea is not surrounded by Java Island only, but also Kalimantan Island and some of Sulawesi Island. According to the experts, Java Sea is early made sea which was formed in the end of ice era or around 12.000 years before century. at the time, there were 2 rivers that flow together. java Sea also border with Karimata Strait in the west side then connected to South China Sea.
Java Sea may reach 380 km width and 1.600 km maximum length. As a shallow sea, Java Sea has 46 meters depth below water surface. No wonder if Java Sea has a lot of beautiful marine biota and becomes popular tourist object. This is because the sunlight goes through the water so that we can find a lot of kinds of fishes and coral reefs. That’s why around Java Sea there are a lot of national park that protect many species of fishes, like the one we can find in Kepulauan Seribu National Park and Karimun Jawa National Park.
Facts on Java Sea
There are some unique facts that we need to know about Java Sea. Those are:
- Java Sea is classified as shallow sea with 46 meters depth. Java Sea can be 603 times boarder than the land of Singapore.
- Based on the experts, Java Sea is part of Pacific Ocean in the west side and border with Kalimantan island in the north side, Sumatera island in the west side and Java island in the south side. Beside being connected Chine Sea through Karimata Ocean, Java Sea is also connected to Indian Ocean through Sunda strait which lies between Java and Sumatera islands.
- Territory around Java Sea is influenced by monsoon climate especially west monsoon. During rainy season which normally happen in December till March, the wave of Java Sea normally get higher. This is because the wind blows hard and the rain falls almost every day. While during dry season, the wave mostly calm and not too high. It happens in July to September.
- On the Java Sea bottom, we can find a lot of sunken ships which are predicted from the second world war. Those sunken ships now become popular tourist spot for divers who want to enjoy the beauty of under sea.
- Many accidents either ships or planes on Java Sea. In 1981 a passenger ship called Tampomas II was burnt till finally sink in Java Sea exactly near Masalembo Islands. At the time, Tampomas ship belonged to Pelni was on the trip to Jakarta from Sulawesi. In 2006 a ferry that brought passengers also sink and approximately 400 people dead in the incident. On the first of January 2007 Adam Air plane that flew from Surabaya to Manado got lost in Java Sea. and the latest, on 29 of October 2018 Lion Air plane with flying route from Jakarta to Pangkal Pinang fall down around Karawang territory. Lion Air plane type Boeing 737-8 max with passenger 178 adults, 1 child, 2 babies, 5 flight attendants and 2 pilots. The plane took off from Jakarta at 06.10 am and supposed to arrive in Pangkal Pinang at 07.10 am. However, it lost contact at 06.33 am.
That’s all the explanation about Java Sea and the facts on it. Hopefully, this article is useful for you.