Indian Ocean

The Indian Ocean is the third largest of the world's five oceans after the Pacific Ocean and Atlantic Ocean. The Indian Ocean covers 68,536,000 square kilometers which equals about a 20% of the world's ocean surface. The Indian Ocean touches Asia, Africa, Australia and Antarctica. The Indian Ocean has a unique climate pattern based on seasonal exchange of air masses between land and sea. This pattern is called the monsoon which came from the Arabic word mawsim. During winter, the warmer air masses over the ocean pull in dry air masses from Asia, and the wind blows from the northeast. The tropical monsoon climate, combined with natural links across land and sea, made the Indian Ocean a place rich in plants and animals unique to this part of the world. Spices, tropical fruits, rare jungle