Java Sea

Java Sea is a continental shelf with a depth of about 40m and is mainly controlled by monsoon cycles throughout the year. It is a large sea made of shallow waters and is bordered by Borneo to the north, Java to the south, Sumatra to the west, and Sulawesi to the east. The Java Sea has formed due to the ice flow and has a rich and long history like any other geographical structure. It has a maximum length of about 1450 km and a width of around 386 km. The southern part of the Java Sea is majorly covered by the Sunda shelf. It is a shallow sea and its mean depth is 150 feet. It is believed that the Java sea formation took place during the last ice age when the sea levels rose.

The Java Sea

The Java Sea and Its Importance

i) Bed of Treasure

The Java Sea has around 3000 species of flora and fauna. There are many remains of ships and airplanes still in the java sea, which makes this place site of exploration for historians. These wrecks provide a new habitat for the fish and the coral reefs.

ii) Economy

For many people living near the Java Sea, the source of income is fishing. Further, every year thousands of tourists are attracted to the Java Sea. Scuba diving is a popular activity done here by almost every tourist. The variety of species of fish and coral reefs is the main reason for which scuba diving is done.

iii) Rich Heritage

Apart from the coral reefs and the fishes, it is believed that there are a lot of oil and gas fields present under the java sea. Many scientists and researchers have launched programs in which the Java Sea will be explored, and the various petroleum and gas fields which are believed to exist will be discovered.

iv) Sunda Shelf

It is a continental shelf that is submerged under the seas like Java, South China Sea, Gulf of Thailand. Scientists carried deep research on the Sunda shelf and came to the conclusion that these are eroded metamorphic remains; and many years ago, these islands were above sea level, but when the period of the last ice age came, the sea level rose high and the Sunda Shelf and its adjoining areas submerged in the sea. In 1845 G.W Earl first reported the existence of the Sunda shelf.

Let us know briefly about the famous Java Sea Battle.

Battle of Java Sea

The Java Sea is mainly popular because of the famous battle known as The Java Sea Battle. This battle was fought in 1942 when the American-British-Dutch-Australian (ABDA) naval command tried to stop the Japanese invasion of Java. This battle was won by the Japanese in about seven hours. This battle resulted in a massive loss of the Allies as five ships of the ABDA naval command were lost. On the other side, only one Japanese destroyer was damaged. Among all the battles which took place during World War II, the battle of java is known as one of the costliest battles. The java sea and its adjoining areas have a long history of airplanes crashing, which has taken hundreds of lives till now.

Below are some of the incidents which resulted in huge loss of lives:

i) Flight 8501

The Air Asia flight was scheduled flight from Surabaya, Java to Singapore on 14th December 2014. The flight had 162 passengers on the board, along with the crew members. The flight crashed in the Java Sea due to a failure in the rudder limiter system. The airplane crashed in the Java Sea, and no one on the flight survived. The search team, after a few days, found 116 bodies out of 162.

ii) Flight 610

On 29th October 2018, the Boeing scheduled from Soekarno (in Jakarta) to Pagkal Pinang crashed in the Java Sea after about 14 minutes after the takeoff. It was carrying 189 passengers and were reported dead later.

iii) Sriwijaya Air Flight 182

It was a domestic passenger flight that was scheduled from Jakarta to Pontianak, Indonesia. Five minutes after takeoff, the flight experienced upset and crashed in the Java Sea, which took the life of 62 passengers on board.