The Bali Sea ( id, Laut Bali) is the body of water north of the island of Bali and south of Kangean Island in

Indonesia Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania between the Indian and Pacific oceans. It consists of over 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, Java, Sulawesi, and parts of Borneo and New Guine ...

. The sea forms the south-west part of the Flores Sea, and the

Madura Strait Madura Strait is a stretch of water that separates the Indonesian islands of Java and Madura, in the province of East Java. The islands of Kambing, Giliraja, Genteng, and Ketapang lie in the Strait. The Suramadu Bridge, the longest in Indones ...

opens into it from the west.

Geography

The Bali Sea is sometimes grouped with the Flores Sea for

oceanographic Oceanography (), also known as oceanology and ocean science, is the scientific study of the oceans. It is an Earth science, which covers a wide range of topics, including ecosystem dynamics; ocean currents, waves, and geophysical fluid dynamic ...

purposes, however in some

nautical chart A nautical chart is a graphic representation of a sea area and adjacent coastal regions. Depending on the scale of the chart, it may show depths of water and heights of land ( topographic map), natural features of the seabed, details of the co ...

s, Bali Sea is written as a distinct sea for navigation. The sea has an area of and a maximum depth of .

Extent

The International Hydrographic Organization (IHO) defines the Bali Sea as being one of the waters of the

East Indian Archipelago The East Indian Archipelago is an area designated by the International Hydrographic Organization (IHO). It encompasses twelve seas, two gulfs, and one strait in the East Indies (Southeast Asia). Seas In draft 4 of the IHO's publication S-23 ''Li ...

. The IHO defines its limits as follows:

''On the North.'' A line from the Western Paternoster Island to the East point of Sepandjang and thence through this island to the West point of Gedeh Bay on the South coast of Kangean (). ''On the West.'' A line from the West point of Gedeh Bay, Kangean Island, to Tg Sedano, the Northeast extreme of
Java Java (; id, Jawa, ; jv, ꦗꦮ; su, ) is one of the Greater Sunda Islands in Indonesia. It is bordered by the Indian Ocean to the south and the Java Sea to the north. With a population of 151.6 million people, Java is the world's mos ...
and down the East coast to Tg Bantenan, the Southeast extreme of the island. ''On the South.'' A line from Tanjong Banenan through the Southern points of Balt and Noesa Islands to Tanjong Bt Gendang, the Southwest extreme of
Lombok Lombok is an island in West Nusa Tenggara province, Indonesia. It forms part of the chain of the Lesser Sunda Islands, with the Lombok Strait separating it from Bali to the west and the Alas Strait between it and Sumbawa to the east. It is ...
, and its South coast to Tanjong Ringgit the Southeast extreme, thence a line to Tanjong Mangkoen () the Southwest extreme of Soembawa. ''On the East.'' The West and North coasts of Soembawa as far East as Tanjong Sarokaja (), thence the Western limit of Flores Sea line from Tg Sarokaja to the Western Paternoster island ()

Circulation

The circulation and mass water properties in Bali Sea are a continuation from Flores Sea to the Java Sea in the north. In oceanographic, Bali Sea is concerned with the Indonesian Throughflow coming from

Pacific Ocean The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean (or, depending on definition, to Antarctica) in the south, and is bounded by the contin ...

to the

Indian Ocean The Indian Ocean is the third-largest of the world's five oceanic divisions, covering or ~19.8% of the water on Earth's surface. It is bounded by Asia to the north, Africa to the west and Australia to the east. To the south it is bounded by t ...

, the flow of which are mostly passing through

Bali Strait Bali Strait is a stretch of water separating Java and Bali while connecting the Indian Ocean and the Bali Sea. At its narrowest it is wide. Geography The Bali Strait is one of the bodies of water surrounding the island of Bali: Lombok Strait ...

and Lombok Strait.

Tsunamis

In a recorded

tsunami A tsunami ( ; from ja, 津波, lit=harbour wave, ) is a series of waves in a water body caused by the displacement of a large volume of water, generally in an ocean or a large lake. Earthquakes, volcanic eruptions and other underwater exp ...

history, Bali Sea observed several tsunamis. The 1815 Tambora eruption (scale 7 of Volcanic Explosivity Index) formed tsunamis on 22 September 1815 at coordinate and three years later (8 September 1818) from subsequent volcanic activities at coordinate . Two more tsunamis were recorded in 1857 and 1917 with maximum height of and respectively.

Accidents

2021

*On 21 April 2021, an Indonesian navy submarine called

KRI Nanggala (402) KRI ''Nanggala'' (402), also known as ''Nanggala II'', was one of two Type 209/1300 diesel-electric attack submarines of the Indonesian Navy. Ordered in 1977, ''Nanggala'' was launched in 1980 and commissioned in 1981. It conducted intellig ...

was reported as missing in waters about 95 km (51 nautical miles) north of Bali during its torpedo drill. Few days later, debris was found within 10 nmi (19 km; 12 mi) of the point of last contact and was believed to have come from the submarine. Nanggala was later declared sunk along with 53 people on board, including 49 crew members, 1 commander, and 3 weapons specialists.

References

{{Authority control Landforms of Bali Seas of Indonesia Landforms of East Java Landforms of Java