Sea · Australia, Indonesia, Papua New Guinea
Arafura Sea
The Arafura Sea lies between the north coast of Australia and the island of New Guinea. It is very shallow: in most places the water is only 50 to 80 metres deep.
Picture credit: SuWiRe (CC BY-SA 4.0) · Will Kemp (CC BY-SA 4.0) · Wikimedia Commons
Where is Arafura Sea?
Part of: Pacific Ocean.
Countries on its coasts: Australia, Indonesia, Papua New Guinea.
The story behind it
The sea is about 1 700 km long and 600 km wide. Its name probably comes from the Harrafora, a local name meaning “the people of the mountains” in the Moluccas islands. During the last ice age, the sea level was much lower. Then the flat seabed here, together with the Gulf of Carpentaria and the Torres Strait, was dry land: a wide land bridge joined Australia and New Guinea. Towards the west the sea gets deeper, and next to the Aru Islands lies a deep trench, the Aru Trough. In the clear, calm waters around these islands, people have gathered pearls for a long time. Fishers catch barramundi, groupers and prawns. In the east, the Torres Strait leads on to the Coral Sea. Sailors must be careful there, because the passage is dangerous and the sea hides many shallow spots that are not on any map.
Find it on the globe
Arafura Sea is there as a name written across its water — tap the water and its card opens. From far away the planet is only a blue ball; detail arrives as you zoom in, and this one appears once you are close enough. Open it on the globe.
Questions children ask
How big is the Arafura Sea?
The Arafura Sea covers about 650 000 km². Some sources give a bigger number of about 1 million km², depending on where its borders are drawn.
Was the Arafura Sea once dry land?
Why is sailing in the Arafura Sea tricky?
The sea hides many shallow spots that are not on any map. The Torres Strait in the east is known as a dangerous passage for ships.
Where these numbers come from
Every figure on this page was checked against public reference sources before publication. Where sources genuinely disagree, the text says so.
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