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Geography and Climate

The island of New Guinea lies to the east of the Malay Archipelago, with which it is sometimes included as part of a greater Indo-Australian Archipelago. Geologically it is a part of the same tectonic plate as Australia. When world sea levels were low, the two shared shorelines (which now lie 100 to 140 metres below sea level), and combined with lands now inundated into the tectonic continent of Sahul, also known as Greater Australia. The two landmasses became separated when the area now known as the Torres Strait flooded after the end of the Last Glacial Period.

The province of Papua is located between 2 ° 25'LU – 9 ° S and 130 ° – 141 ° East. The total area of Papua is now 82,680.95 km (31,923.29 sq mi). Until its division in 2022 into four provinces, Papua Province was the province that had the largest area in Indonesia, with a total area of 312,816.35 km, or 19.33% of the total area of the Indonesian archipelago. The boundaries of Papua are: Pacific Ocean (North), Highland Papua (South), Central Papua (Southwest) and Papua New Guinea (East). Papua, like most parts of Indonesia, has two seasons, the dry season and the rainy season. From June to September the wind flows from Australia and does not contain much water vapor resulting in a dry season. On the other hand, from December to March, the wind currents contain a lot of water vapor originating from Asia and the Pacific Ocean so that the rainy season occurs. The average temperature in Papua ranges from 19 °C to 28 °C and humidity is between 80% and 89%. The average annual rainfall is between 1,500 mm and 7,500 mm. Snowfalls sometime occurs in the mountainous areas of New Guinea, especially the central highlands region.

Various other smaller mountain ranges occur both north and west of the central ranges. Except in high elevations, most areas possess a hot, humid climate throughout the year, with some seasonal variation associated with the northeast monsoon season.

Another major habitat feature is the vast northern lowlands. Stretching for hundreds of kilometers, these include lowland rainforests, extensive wetlands, savanna grasslands, and some of the largest expanses of mangrove forest in the world. The northern lowlands are drained principally by the province's largest river, the Mamberamo River and its tributaries on the western side, and by the Sepik on the eastern side. The result is a large area of lakes and rivers known as the Lakes Plains region.