The Indian Ocean

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The Indian Ocean is the third largest of the world's oceanic divisions, covering aproximately 20% of the water on the Earth's surface.[1] It is bounded on the north by the Indian subcontinent; on the west by East Africa; on the east by Indochina, the Sunda Islands, and Australia; and on the south by the Southern Ocean (or, depending on definition, by Antarctica). It is the only ocean to be named after a country, i.e., India.[2][3][4]

As one component of the interconnected global ocean, the Indian Ocean is delineated from the Atlantic Ocean by the 20° east meridian running south from Cape Agulhas, and from the Pacific by the meridian of 146°55' east[5]. The northernmost extent of the Indian Ocean is approximately 30° north in the Persian Gulf. The Indian Ocean has asymmetric ocean circulation[citation needed]. This ocean is nearly 10,000 kilometres (6,200 mi) wide at the southern tips of Africa and Australia; its area is 73,556,000 square kilometres (28,350,000 sq mi),[6] including the Red Sea and the Persian Gulf.

The ocean's volume is estimated to be 292,131,000 cubic kilometres (70,086,000 mi3).[7] Small islands dot the continental rims. Island nations within the ocean are Madagascar, the world's fourth largest island; Reunion Island; Comoros; Seychelles; Maldives; Mauritius; and Sri Lanka. The archipelago of Indonesia borders the ocean on the east.