Philippine Sea

The Philippine ( Philippine Sea) is a marginal sea of the Pacific Ocean, lies on the western edge of the Pacific. It corresponds in its expansion largely the Philippine plate. The surface area is about 5 million km ².

Geography

To the north, the Philippine Sea is bounded by the belonging to Japan Islands Ryukyu, Kyushu, Honshu and Shikoku, south of Palau and the east, the Mariana Islands, the Volcano Islands, the Bonin Islands and the Izu islands form the connection to open Pacific.

In the west it is bounded by Taiwan and the Philippine archipelago. South of Taiwan is 320 km wide Luzon Strait the transition to the South China Sea, in her are the archipelagos of Babuyan and Batanes. The Philippine main island of Luzon are preceded by a number of small island groups, such as the Polillo Archipelago, delineate the numerous large bays such as the Gulf of Lagonoy, the Gulf of Albay or the bay of Lamon. The San Bernardino Strait separates Luzon from the island of Samar and forms the transition in the Samar Sea. To the south of Samar is the island of Leyte and the famous Gulf of Leyte, this is across the street from Surigao, which forms the transition to the Mindanaosee. Further south, the island of Mindanao joins her precedes the 10,540 meter deep Galatheatief. South of Mindanao borders the Philippine Sea to the Celebes Sea, whose limit is the Sangihe Archipelago.

Among the islands that do not lie on the edge, but in the midst of the Philippine Sea, including the Daito Islands, as well as the centrally located Atoll Okinotorishima. A borderline case is the island Nishinoshima west of the Bonin Islands, which is partly due to the same Marine back as the volcanic islands, the Philippine Sea is limited in this area, however, of the 130 km further east, Bonin Islands.

The Philippine Sea is one of the deepest seas in the world. At its western edge it is traversed by up to 10,540 m-deep Philippine Trench, who had been held until 1970 for the lowest point on Earth's surface, as this is now a point in the Mariana Trench.

History

Reached in 1521 with the expedition of Ferdinand Magellan, the first Europeans the Philippine Sea.

During the Second World War a large Luft-/Seeschlacht between Japanese and American forces took place here in June 1944 in the Battle of the Philippine Sea.