<Li> Strait of Bab - el - Mandeb connecting Arabian Sea </Li> <Li> Strait of Hormuz connecting Persian Gulf </Li> <P> The climate north of the equator is affected by a monsoon climate . Strong north - east winds blow from October until April; from May until October south and west winds prevail . In the Arabian Sea the violent Monsoon brings rain to the Indian subcontinent . In the southern hemisphere, the winds are generally milder, but summer storms near Mauritius can be severe . When the monsoon winds change, cyclones sometimes strike the shores of the Arabian Sea and the Bay of Bengal . </P> <P> The Indian Ocean is the warmest ocean in the world . Long - term ocean temperature records show a rapid, continuous warming in the Indian Ocean, at about 0.7--1.2 ° C (1.3--2.2 ° F) during 1901--2012 . Indian Ocean warming is the largest among the tropical oceans, and about 3 times faster than the warming observed in the Pacific . Research indicates that human induced greenhouse warming, and changes in the frequency and magnitude of El Niño events are a trigger to this strong warming in the Indian Ocean . </P>

The number of countries that 10 circles indian ocean