Bali Strait is a stretch of water separating

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 mo ...

and

Bali Bali () is a province of Indonesia and the westernmost of the Lesser Sunda Islands. East of Java and west of Lombok, the province includes the island of Bali and a few smaller neighbouring islands, notably Nusa Penida, Nusa Lembongan, and ...

while connecting 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 ...

and the

Bali Sea The Bali Sea ( id, Laut Bali) is the body of water north of the island of Bali and south of Kangean Island in Indonesia. The sea forms the south-west part of the Flores Sea, and the Madura Strait opens into it from the west. Geography The Bali Se ...

. At its narrowest it is wide.

Geography

The Bali Strait is one of the bodies of water surrounding the island of Bali: Lombok Strait to the east, the

Badung Strait Badung Strait is a strait on the south east side of Bali in Indonesia. It lies between the islands of Bali and Nusa Penida. It is about 60 km long and 20 km wide. History In February 1942, the battle of Badung Strait was fought here ...

to the southeast, the Bali Sea to the north, the Indian Ocean to the southwest, and the Bali Strait to the west. Geologically the two islands of Bali and Java were joined until the end of the last ice age when the sea rose and cut the

land bridge In biogeography, a land bridge is an isthmus or wider land connection between otherwise separate areas, over which animals and plants are able to cross and colonize new lands. A land bridge can be created by marine regression, in which sea leve ...

. They both share part of the tectonic plate called the

Sunda shelf Geologically, the Sunda Shelf is a south-eastern extension of the continental shelf of Mainland Southeast Asia. Major landmasses on the shelf include the Bali, Borneo, Java, Madura, and Sumatra, as well as their surrounding smaller islands. I ...

Transportation

Bali-Strait Indonesia KMP-Sereia-do-mar-03

The Indonesian government has considered a bridge across the strait. The project is obstructed by economic hardships, as well as objections from certain locals in Bali. Currently there is no fixed link to Bali, only a

ferry A ferry is a ship, watercraft or amphibious vehicle used to carry passengers, and sometimes vehicles and cargo, across a body of water. A passenger ferry with many stops, such as in Venice, Italy, is sometimes called a water bus or water ta ...

between Ketapang in Java and Gilimanuk,

Jembrana Regency Jembrana Regency is a regency (''kabupaten'') in the southwest of Bali Bali () is a province of Indonesia and the westernmost of the Lesser Sunda Islands. East of Java and west of Lombok, the province includes the island of Bali and a few sm ...

, Bali.

History

On 28 January 1797 during the Bali Strait Incident a

French French (french: français(e), link=no) may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to France ** French language, which originated in France, and its various dialects and accents ** French people, a nation and ethnic group identified with Franc ...

squadron of six

frigates A frigate () is a type of warship. In different eras, the roles and capabilities of ships classified as frigates have varied somewhat. The name frigate in the 17th to early 18th centuries was given to any full-rigged ship built for speed and ...

encountered fleet of six British

East Indiaman East Indiaman was a general name for any sailing ship operating under charter or licence to any of the East India trading companies of the major European trading powers of the 17th through the 19th centuries. The term is used to refer to vesse ...

in the Bali Strait. Disguising themselves as

ships of the line A ship of the line was a type of naval warship constructed during the Age of Sail from the 17th century to the mid-19th century. The ship of the line was designed for the naval tactic known as the line of battle, which depended on the two colu ...

, the British merchant ships were able to intimidate the French into withdrawing.

Ecology

The temperature of the water in Bali Strait is subject to noticeable seasonal fluctuations, predetermined by the periods of

monsoons A monsoon () is traditionally a seasonal reversing wind accompanied by corresponding changes in precipitation but is now used to describe seasonal changes in atmospheric circulation and precipitation associated with annual latitudinal oscill ...

. During the period of the northwestern monsoon (January–March), average temperature is about 28–29 °C, whereas in the southeast (July–September) temperature drops to 26 °C. Regardless of the season, the water temperature in the northern part of the strait is 1–1.5 degrees lower than it is in the southern part. The level of

salinity Salinity () is the saltiness or amount of salt (chemistry), salt dissolved in a body of water, called saline water (see also soil salinity). It is usually measured in g/L or g/kg (grams of salt per liter/kilogram of water; the latter is dimensio ...

is more stable: about 33 ‰ in the season of the northwestern monsoons and about 34 ‰ in the southeast period. Sea currents in the strait have a very complex configuration, largely dependent on monsoon seasons: during the northwesterly winds, the northern vector predominates, while in the south-east it is the southern one. The maximum speed – up to 13 km / h – flows reach the northern, most narrow part of the strait.

Tidal Tidal is the adjectival form of tide. Tidal may also refer to: * ''Tidal'' (album), a 1996 album by Fiona Apple * Tidal (king), a king involved in the Battle of the Vale of Siddim * TidalCycles, a live coding environment for music * Tidal (servic ...

currents have a

semi-diurnal A diurnal cycle (or diel cycle) is any pattern that recurs every 24 hours as a result of one full rotation of the planet Earth around its axis. Earth's rotation causes surface temperature fluctuations throughout the day and night, as well as ...

amplitude. At the beginning of the 21st century, there were noticeable negative trends in the development of the ecological situation in the strait and on its shores, related to human economic activity. Numerous cases of water pollution with industrial wastes,

fertilizers A fertilizer (American English) or fertiliser (British English; see spelling differences) is any material of natural or synthetic origin that is applied to soil or to plant tissues to supply plant nutrients. Fertilizers may be distinct from ...

, as well as chemicals used in

gold mining Gold mining is the extraction of gold resources by mining. Historically, mining gold from alluvial deposits used manual separation processes, such as gold panning. However, with the expansion of gold mining to ores that are not on the surface, ...

on the Javanese shore are recorded.

References

{{Authority control Straits of Indonesia Landforms of Bali Landforms of Java Straits of the Indian Ocean Bali Strait