Why is the Mozambique Channel important?
An important route for shipping in eastern Africa, it receives all major Madagascar rivers and has the ports of Mahajanga (Majunga) and Toliary (Tuléar) on the same coast. Along the opposite coast are the mouth of the Zambezi River and the ports of Maputo (formerly Lourenço Marques), Moçambique, and Beira.
How deep is the Mozambique Channel?
10,801′
Mozambique Channel/Max depth
Is Mozambique Channel a choke point?
Post-war independence movements reached the Mozambique Channel in 1960 when Madagascar separated from France. Yet today the Mozambique Channel is regaining its status as an important chokepoint, and the resulting maritime security challenges demand international attention.
How much is Mozambique water channel wider?
1. Introduction. [2] The Mozambique Channel reaches from Cape Amber at the northern tip of Madagascar to the southern tip at 26°S, a length of some 1600 km. At the narrows with the African continent the channel is about 430 km wide, while at 20°S it reaches a maximum width of about 1000 km.
What is unique about the Mozambique Channel?
It is considered to be an arm of the Indian Ocean, which stretches roughly 1,000 miles in length and varies in width from 300 to 600 miles at different spots. The Mozambique Channel’s average depth is 10,801 feet. Interesting Mozambique Channel Facts: All of Madagascar’s rivers flow into the Mozambique Channel.
Who owns the Mozambique Channel?
France has Indian Ocean territories, including Mayotte and Réunion, off the East African coast, and through Total a stake in Mozambique’s energy projects. Its naval assets in the region include two frigates and a small number of patrol and coastal combatants.
Which island separates Africa from Mozambique?
Madagascar
The Mozambique Channel, also known as Canal de Moçambique in Portuguese, is the Indian Ocean’s arm on the western portion. Spanning 1,600 km, it threads between Southeast African nations of Mozambique and Madagascar, separating the latter from mainland Africa to its west.
Is Madagascar visible from Mozambique?
Madagascar is the largest African island situated in the Indian Ocean, about 450 km (280 mi) east of the coast of Mozambique.
Which is the longest strait in Asia?
Strait of Malacca
The Strait of Malacca (Malay: Selat Melaka, Indonesian: Selat Malaka, Thai: ช่องแคบมะละกา, Tamil: மலாக்கா நீரிணை, Malākkā nīriṇai, Chinese: 馬六甲海峽/马六甲海峡) or Straits of Malacca is a narrow stretch of water, 580 mi (930 km) in length, between the Malay Peninsula (Peninsular Malaysia) and the Indonesian island of Sumatra.
What is off the coast of Mozambique?
Protected island The remote Bazaruto Archipelago lies off the coast of Mozambique. However, the splendor of Bazaruto has been intentionally protected. For decades the islands have formed part of a marine park that shields it from the country’s recent boom of offshore drilling for natural gas.
Is Madagascar part of Mozambique?
Madagascar is the largest African island situated in the Indian Ocean, about 450 km (280 mi) east of the coast of Mozambique. The fourth largest island in the world has been isolated for about 88 million years and many of its plants and animals are unique to the island.
What countries are in the Mozambique Channel?
Jurisdiction – the Mozambique channel is entirely within the EEZs of the neighbouring countries, which include Mozambique, Madagascar, the Comoros, Tanzania and France.
Is the Mozambique Channel part of the Indian Ocean?
Criterion viii – Geology and oceanography. The Mozambique channel is bounded by the oldest coastlines and seabed of the Indian Ocean, and marks the 1 st stages in the tectonic movements that created the ocean.
How does the Madagascar Plateau affect the Mozambique Channel?
Turbullent currents and upwelling waters from the Madagascar Plateau flow into the southern part of the Mozambique Channel, interact with the waters here (and hence may also influence channel dynamics farther north when carried north in eddies), and the two merge to form the Agulhas Current off South Africa.
How big are the eddies in the Mozambique Channel?
The oceanography of the Mozambique channel was unknown until ten years ago, when the existence of highly variable eddies several 100 km across, often in dipoles (an anticyclonic and cyclonic eddy pair) that formed in the region around the Comoros were discovered.