Arabian Sea

Arabian Sea

The Arabian Sea is a semi-enclosed sea, part of the Indian Ocean. It is bounded by the Arabian Peninsula in the west and the Hindustan Peninsula in the east. The area is 4832 thousand km². Depth – up to 5,803 meters.

General Information

The large Indus River flows into the Arabian Sea. The coasts are high, rocky, in some places low-lying deltaic; cut by bays and gulfs. The largest gulfs: Gulf of Aden in the West (connected by the Babel-Mandeb Strait to the Red Sea), Oman in the NW (connected by the Strait of Hormuz to the Persian Gulf), Kach and Kambey in the N-E There are few islands, all of them located near the coast; the largest islands – Socotra and Lakkadivsky.

The bottom topography is level, with a general slope from North to South. The Marri submarine ridge extends to the West, above which depths decrease to 349 and 1993 meters. The substrate is composed of biogenic silts, terrigenous sediments near the shores of the mainland, and coral sand near the coral islands.

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The climate of the Arabian Sea is monsoonal. In winter, northeasterly winds prevail, bringing clear, cool weather; in summer, southwesterly winds prevail, determining cloudy, humid weather. Typhoons are frequent in spring, summer and fall. Temperatures are 20-25°C in winter and 25-29°C in summer. Precipitation ranges from 23-125 mm per year in the West to 3,100 mm in the East with a maximum in the summer months.

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Surface currents are westward in winter and eastward in summer. Sea surface water temperature is 22-27°C in winter and 23-28°C in summer with a maximum of 29°C in May. Salinity is 35.8-36.5%. Tides are irregular, semidiurnal, their height up to 5.1 meters. Under the influence of the deep waters of the Red Sea and the Persian Gulf in the Arabian Sea at a depth of up to 1500 m, the temperature is above 5°C, salinity exceeds 35%. Fauna: dugong, flying fish, tuna, swordfish, southern herring, reef fish, sailfish, etc.

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Main ports: Colombo, Bombay, Karachi, Aden.