OCEAN · OCEANS & SEAS · INDIAN OCEAN

Great Australian Bight

The Great Australian Bight is a sea of the Indian Ocean, covering 1,326,209 km² — the #21 largest of the world's 101 named ocean and sea areas. Here's how it ranks, what borders it, and the live conditions at its centre right now.

GREAT AUSTRALIAN BIGHT · THE FACTS
Parent oceanIndian Ocean
Area1,326,209 km²
Size rank#21 of 101
Larger than80% of named seas

Boundaries & area: Marine Regions (VLIZ), IHO Sea Areas v3 — from the IHO “Limits of Oceans & Seas” (S-23). MRGID 4276.

AT THE HEART OF THE GREAT AUSTRALIAN BIGHT · RIGHT NOW
Sea temperature15.5°C / 59.9°F
Wave height2.5 m
Surface current0.9 km/h SE

Live from Open-Meteo Marine at -36.7°, 132.7° (the sea's representative centre). A near-real-time model estimate.

How deep is the Great Australian Bight?

The IHO sea-area dataset that draws this map records each sea's name, boundary and surface area — not its depth, which varies enormously from the shallow shelf at its edges to its deepest trench. Rather than quote a single misleading number, we measure the water column directly: the live ocean currents trace its motion, and the deep-ocean layers (Argo floats and the descend-here column, coming to the Ocean canvas) read real temperature and depth as you go down.

SEE IT ON THE MAP

See the Great Australian Bight coloured on the live oceans-&-seas map.

Open the seas map →