Delimitations of the continent

Oceania is a group of several thousand islands (25,000), most of them small, scattered south of the equator, excluding a part of Micronesia and the Hawaiian Islands. It is not really a continent, the Oceania region is generally described as the insular land between southeast Asia and South America, it only includes insular territory that covers more than 500.000km². In the middle of the Pacific Ocean, it is composed of 16 states and about fifteen territories that are associated with other countries or with a large autonomy. 

Even though the classification is sometimes contested, it can easily be divided into 4 regions: Australasia with Australia and New Zeeland, Micronesia, an insular group of 4 independant states and 4 other states attached to the United States. As for Melanesia, it is composed of 7 states or territorial entities. Polynesia is bounded by a triangle made up of Hawaii, New Zealand and Easter Island. It is composed of 7 sovereign states and 13 territories depending from other countries.

The climate in Oceania

The climate of the oceanic archipelagos is influenced by the ocean and the sea that surrounding them. The overall mild climate is subject to the whims of the marine wind. However there are 5 different climatic models.

The climate in Australia is varied, from dry on both sides of the tropic, to a tropical climate in the north and an equatorial one in the northeast. New Zeeland has a temperate oceanic climate, some areas in the south are very humid but the mild weather prevails. 

The weather in Papua is tropical and humid all year round. The 118 islands of Polynesia enjoy a fairly mild climate although there are some variations in the south-eastern part, influenced by the trade winds. 

As for Hawaii, the 117 islands of the archipelago enjoy a tropical climate with temperature varying from 24° to 31° and never going below 18° during the winter season.