The Big Breaker
Encyclopedia
The Big Breaker is the most northerly geographic feature in the Houtman Abrolhos
islands in the Indian Ocean
off the west coast of Australia
. It is located at the extreme tip of a reef
that extends about three kilometres north of North Island
. Its gazetted location is 28°15′56"S 113°35′13"E, but in fact it is located about 270 metres south-east of there, at 28°16′00"S 113°35′21"E. It is so named because it is a breaker
, a portion of submerged reef over which wave
s break.
Houtman Abrolhos
The Houtman Abrolhos is a chain of 122 islands, and associated coral reefs, in the Indian Ocean off the west coast of Australia. Nominally located at , it lies about eighty kilometres west of Geraldton, Western Australia...
islands in the Indian Ocean
Indian Ocean
The Indian Ocean is the third largest of the world's oceanic divisions, covering approximately 20% of the water on the Earth's surface. It is bounded on the north by the Indian Subcontinent and Arabian Peninsula ; on the west by eastern Africa; on the east by Indochina, the Sunda Islands, and...
off the west coast of Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
. It is located at the extreme tip of a reef
Reef
In nautical terminology, a reef is a rock, sandbar, or other feature lying beneath the surface of the water ....
that extends about three kilometres north of North Island
North Island (Houtman Abrolhos)
North Island is the northernmost island in the Houtman Abrolhos, a coral reef archipelago in the Indian Ocean off the coast of Mid West Western Australia. Located about 14 km from the nearest island group, it is one of the largest islands in the Houtman Abrolhos, and one of the few to support...
. Its gazetted location is 28°15′56"S 113°35′13"E, but in fact it is located about 270 metres south-east of there, at 28°16′00"S 113°35′21"E. It is so named because it is a breaker
Breaker (reef)
A breaker is a piece of reef against which waves break.This sense of the term is closely related to another sense, that of the breaking wave itself. In times past, when ocean navigation was relatively rudimentary, a line of breaking waves was a crucial indicator that a boat was bearing down upon an...
, a portion of submerged reef over which wave
Ocean surface wave
In fluid dynamics, wind waves or, more precisely, wind-generated waves are surface waves that occur on the free surface of oceans, seas, lakes, rivers, and canals or even on small puddles and ponds. They usually result from the wind blowing over a vast enough stretch of fluid surface. Waves in the...
s break.