The Coral Sea (French: Mer de Corail), the Southwest Pacific Ocean Sea, which stretches east to Australia and New Guinea, west to New Caledonia and the New Hebrides, and south to the Solomon Islands. The Coral Sea stretches over 2,000 kilometers (1,200 mi) along the northeast coast of Australia. The Coral Sea is home to a wide variety of geomorphic and oceanographic features, giving rise to various habitats and ecosystems, from 4,000 m deep abyssal seafloor to vegetated coral cays above the surface of the ocean. It is about 2,250 km (1,400 miles) north-south and 1,500 miles east-west, and occupies an area of 4,791,000 square km (1,849,800 square miles).
(Map showing the location of the Coral Sea)
The sea was the site of the Battle of the Coral Sea, a significant conflict between the navies of the Empire of Japan, the United States, and Australia during World War II. It merges with the Tasman Sea to the south, with the Solomon Sea to the north and the Pacific to the east; it is linked through the Torres Strait to the Arafura Sea (west). The sea incorporates numerous islands and reefs, in addition to the arena’s largest reef system, the Great Barrier Reef (GBR), which became declared a World Heritage Site via UNESCO in 1981. This area hosts crucial habitats and migration corridors that maintain specific assemblages of organisms. Most of the Coral Sea’s ecosystems and ecological techniques continue to be explored and defined through scientific studies.
The seafloor, north of latitude 20° S, is dominated by the Coral Sea Plateau, defined by the Osprey and Swain reefs north and south. The Coral Sea reefs and islands are especially rich in birds and aquatic life and are a popular national and international tourist destination. Toward the north of the level is the Coral Sea Basin. The South Solomon Trench arrives at profundities of 24,002 feet (7,316 m) and the New Hebrides Trench plunges to 25,134 feet. The Australian part of the Coral Sea has the Exclusive Economic Zone limit as its eastern fringe.
The sea is characterized by means of its warm and stable climate, with frequent rains and tropical cyclones. The sea was named for its several coral formations, highlighted by way of the incredible Barrier Reef, extending 1,200 miles (1,900 km) down the Australian northeast coast. The Coral Sea’s geological composition is characterized by an abyssal plain to the northeast, a sequence of plateaus and slopes etched by deep ocean trenches and undersea canyons, and the northern end of a volcanic seamount chain to the south. When the Queensland continental shelf was uplifted, creating the Great Dividing Range, and continental blocks subsided at the same time, the Coral Sea basin was formed between 58 million and 48 million years ago.
(Wind-wave at the Coral Sea)
By way of a channel 200 miles (320 km) east of the reef, ocean shipping between eastern Australia and the South Pacific Islands and China traverses the sea. The sea has a subtropical climate and, especially between January and April, tropical cyclones frequently reach it. In the regions south to 10 ° S, this range extends to November–May. The Coral Sea’s only terrestrial habitats have approximately 49 vegetated and unvegetated cays. Five eco-physical sub-regions cover the Coral Sea, each with distinct geomorphic characteristics, ocean currents, productivity motors, and ecological communities.
Winds in the Coral Sea can be arranged via season, longitude, and scope. Three significant surface flows overwhelm the Coral Sea district: The South Equatorial Current, the Hiri Current, and the East Australian Current. The islands of the GBR contain in excess of 2,000 plant species, and three of these are endemic. The northern islands have 300–350 plant species which will in general be woody, while the southern islands have 200 which are more herbaceous; the Whitsunday locale is the most different, supporting 1,141 species. The plants are spread by winged animals.
Coral Sea reefs are exposed to a high degree of disruption, with high tropical cyclone frequency exposure and humid, still, weather cycles that can lead to events of coral bleaching. Several species of anemones, sponges, worms (such as Spirobranchus giganteus), gastropods, lobsters, crayfish, prawns, and crabs are found in the sea. The beachfront plants comprising of just around 30–40 species and mangroves happen in the northern piece of the ocean. 400 coral species, both hard corals and delicate corals possess the reefs. There are in any event 30 types of whales, dolphins, and porpoises, including the diminutive person minke whale, Indo-Pacific humpback dolphin, humpback whale, and dugongs.
(Underwater view at the Coral Sea)
Coral organisms that are naturally more immune to the whitening of the recovering reef dominated tracts. At least 40,000 years ago, the coastal regions of the Coral Sea were inhabited by ancient people descending across the northern islands. The keystone plant species on coral cays are those which are abundant and durable enough to provide consistent habitat for other plant and animal species.
In October 2017, the Coral Sea Commonwealth Marine Reserve has renamed the Coral Sea Marine Park. Lying off the coast of Queensland, it occupies 989,836 square kilometers and is one of the largest marine parks in the world. The Coral Sea Marine Park has a different exhibit of natural surroundings, for example, coral reefs, sandy cays, remote ocean fields, and gullies. It is Australia’s biggest single marine park and is one of the world’s biggest secured zones.
Information Sources:
