arm of the Indian Ocean, lying southeast of the island of Timor, Indonesia, and northwest of Australia. Located at latitude 10° S and influenced alternately by the southeast trade winds and the monsoon belt, the area is well known for generating typhoons. About 300 miles (480 km) wide, it covers about 235,000 square miles (610,000 square km) and opens west into the Indian Ocean and east into the Arafura Sea of the Pacific Ocean. A maximum depth of more than 10,800 feet (3,300 metres) is reached in the Timor Trough in the north, but more than half of the sea has a depth of less than 650 feet (200 metres). Throughout the year, the sea experiences a southwesterly surface current, the Timor Current, averaging 0.5–1 mile (0.8–1.6 km) per hour. The Timor Sea is the site of an important oil field.