Maritime Continent

Maritime Continent is the term meteorologists and oceanographers use for the archipelago region between the Indian and Pacific Oceans that includes Indonesia, the Philippines and Papua New Guinea, and in some usage the Malay Peninsula. It is a patchwork of islands, peninsulas and shallow seas set within the Tropical Warm Pool, the warmest large expanse of ocean on Earth. The mix of high mountains and very warm water drives frequent afternoon thunderstorms that lift enormous amounts of heat and moisture into the upper atmosphere, making the area a major energy source for the global circulation. Colin Ramage coined the name in 1968 by joining two climate terms that are normally opposites, maritime and continental.