Great Australian Bight - Extent

Extent

The International Hydrographic Organization defines the Great Australian Bight as part of the southeastern Indian Ocean, with the following limits:

On the North. The South coast of Australia.

On the South. A line joining West Cape Howe (35°08′S 117°37′E / 35.133°S 117.617°E / -35.133; 117.617) Australia to South West Cape, Tasmania.

On the East. A line from Cape Otway, Australia, to King Island and thence to Cape Grim, the Northwest extreme of Tasmania.

Another definition is that the Bight's boundaries are from Cape Pasley, Western Australia, to Cape Carnot, South Australia - a distance of 1,160 km or 720 miles.

The much more generally accepted name in Australia for the adjoining waterbody is the Southern Ocean rather than the Indian Ocean.

Much of the Bight lies due south of the expansive Nullarbor Plain, which straddles the two Australian states of South Australia and Western Australia. The Eyre Highway passes close to the cliffs of the Bight between the Head of the Bight and Eucla.

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