The Timor Sea is an arm of the Indian Ocean situated between the island of Timor, now split between the states of Indonesia and East Timor and the Northern Territory of Australia.
The waters to the east are known as the Arafura Sea, technically an arm of the Pacific Ocean. The Timor Sea has two substantial inlets on the north Australian coast, the Joseph Bonaparte Gulf and the Van Diemen Gulf. The Australian city of Darwin is the only large city to adjoin the sea.
The sea is about 480 km (300 statute miles) wide, covering an area of about 610,000 square km (235,000 square miles). Its deepest point is the Timor Trough in the northern part of the sea, which reaches a depth of 3,300 metres (10,800 feet). The remainder of the sea is much shallower, much of it averaging less than 200 metres (650 feet) deep, as it overlies the Sahul Shelf, part of the Australian continental shelf. The sea is a major breeding ground for tropical storms and typhoons.
A number of significant islands are located in the sea, notably Melville Island off Australia and the Australian-governed Ashmore and Cartier Islands. It is thought that early humans reached Australia by "island-hopping" across the Timor Sea.
Beneath the Timor Sea lie considerable reserves of oil and gas. The Greater Sunrise gas field is the largest in the Timor Sea.
Australia and East Timor have had a lengthy dispute over exploitation rights in an area known as the Timor Gap. Australia's territorial claim extends to the bathymetric axis (the line of greatest sea-bed depth) at the Timor Trough. It overlaps East Timor's own territorial claim, which follows the former colonial power Portugal in claiming that the dividing line should be midway between the two countries.
