Maritime Continent of which contribute to the development of the Tropical Warm Pool, which is the warmest large area of ocean on Earth. Coined by Colin Ramage in 1968, the name combines the terms "maritime" and "continent" normally used as opposites in the description of climate. Maritime air is humid, and continental air is dry. In the Southeast Asia region, land masses and bodies of water are, roughly-speaking, evenly distributed. Moreover, the land masses are characterized by high mountains, and the seas are among the warmest on the earth. This produces a widespread area of diurnal thunderstorms which pump huge quantities of
Australia (continent) Australia and New Guinea, and Bass Strait between mainland Australia and Tasmania. When sea levels were lower during the Pleistocene ice age, including the Last Glacial Maximum about 18,000 BC, they were connected by dry land. During the past 10,000 years, rising sea levels overflowed the lowlands and separated the continent into today's low-lying arid to semi-arid mainland and the two mountainous islands of New Guinea and Tasmania. The Australian continent, being part of the Indo-Australian plate, is the lowest, flattest, and oldest landmass on Earth and it has had a relatively stable geological history. New Zealand is not part