Investigator Shoal, also known as ms, Terumbu Peninjau, lit=; Pawikan Shoal ( tl, Kulumpol ng Pawikan, lit=Cluster of Sea Turtle); vi, bãi Thám Hiểm;
Mandarin , is located in the SW of
Dangerous Ground in the
Spratly Islands
The Spratly Islands ( fil, Kapuluan ng Kalayaan; zh, c=南沙群島/南沙群岛, s=, t=, p=Nánshā Qúndǎo; Malay, id, Kepulauan Spratly; vi, Quần đảo Trường Sa) are a disputed archipelago in the South China Sea. Composed ...
of the
South China Sea
The South China Sea is a marginal sea of the Western Pacific Ocean. It is bounded in the north by the shores of South China (hence the name), in the west by the Indochinese Peninsula, in the east by the islands of Taiwan and northwestern Ph ...
.
It is an
atoll
An atoll () is a ring-shaped island, including a coral rim that encircles a lagoon partially or completely. There may be coral islands or cays on the rim. Atolls are located in warm tropical or subtropical oceans and seas where corals can gro ...
above water at low tide; some large rocks at the western end might be visible at high water. The atoll has a total length of and is up to 10.6 km wide. The total area of the atoll is . The
lagoon
A lagoon is a shallow body of water separated from a larger body of water by a narrow landform, such as reefs, barrier islands, barrier peninsulas, or isthmuses. Lagoons are commonly divided into '' coastal lagoons'' (or ''barrier lagoons ...
is up to 45 meters deep.
It is one of the areas in the Spratly Islands occupied by
Malaysia
Malaysia ( ; ) is a country in Southeast Asia. The federal constitutional monarchy consists of thirteen states and three federal territories, separated by the South China Sea into two regions: Peninsular Malaysia and Borneo's East Mal ...
. The
Royal Malaysian Navy
The Royal Malaysian Navy (RMN, ms, Tentera Laut Diraja Malaysia; TLDM; Jawi: ) is the naval arm of the Malaysian Armed Forces. RMN is the main agency responsible for the country's maritime surveillance and defense operations. RMN's area of op ...
has maintained an
"offshore naval station" there called "Station Papa" since 1999.
References
External links
Asia Maritime Transparency Initiative Island Tracker
Shoals of the Spratly Islands
{{Malaysia-stub