Southern Ocean

The Southern Ocean is the ocean around Antarctica. It means the waters of the Atlantic, Pacific, and Indian Oceans around the continent of Antarctica. Since the 1770s geographers have discussed its limits. Nowadays, sixty degrees south latitude is often accepted. Some people call this ocean the Antarctic Ocean.

Earth's oceans (World Ocean)
Atlantic Ocean Arctic Ocean Indian Ocean Pacific Ocean Southern Ocean

Ice (white) in the Southern Ocean around Antarctica (light purple at bottom) grows and shrinks during the year

The total area is 20,327,000 km², and the coastline length is 17,968 km.

Southern Ocean Media

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  The Antarctic Ocean, as delineated by the draft 4th edition of the International Hydrographic Organization's Limits of Oceans and Seas (2002)

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  A general delineation of the Antarctic Convergence, sometimes used by scientists as the demarcation of the Southern Ocean

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  The International Hydrographic Organization's delineation of the "Southern Ocean" has moved steadily southwards since the original 1928 edition of its Limits of Oceans and Seas.

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  "Southern Ocean" as alternative to the Aethiopian Ocean, 18th century

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  Map accompanying first edition of IHO Publication Limits of Oceans and Seas, Special Publication 23.*The very end of the legend is the "Southern Ocean" (mers du Sud).

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  Map accompanying second edition (1937) of IHO Publication Limits of Oceans and Seas, Special Publication 23. *The legend includes the "Southern Ocean" (océan Austral).

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  Area inside the black line indicates the area constituting the Pacific Ocean prior to 2002; darker blue areas are its informal current borders following the recreation of the Southern Ocean and the reinclusion of marginal seas.

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  Continents and islands of the Southern Ocean

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  A map of Australia's official interpretation of the names and limits of oceans and seas around Australia

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  The 1564 Typus Orbis Terrarum, a map by Abraham Ortelius, showed the imagined link between the proposed continent of Antarctica and South America.

Other websites

• Oceanography Image of the Day, from the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution
• The CIA World Factbook's Archived 2017-02-13 at the Wayback Machine entry on the Southern Ocean
• The Fifth Ocean Archived 2008-09-06 at the Wayback Machine from Geography.About.com
• NOAA In-situ Ocean Data Viewer Archived 2006-02-11 at the Wayback Machine Plot and download ocean observations
• NOAA FAQ about the number of oceans Archived 2007-03-13 at the Wayback Machine