"South Ocean" redirects here. For the racehorse, see South Ocean (horse).
Not to be confused with South Seas.
The Antarctic Ocean, as delineated by the draft 4th edition of the International Hydrographic Organization's Limits of Oceans and Seas (2002)A general delineation of the Antarctic Convergence, sometimes used by scientists as the demarcation of the Southern Ocean
Earth's ocean, showing common divisions
Earth's thermohaline circulation seawater flow
Map with five-oceans (approximate boundaries)
Earth's ocean
Main five oceans division:
Antarctic/Southern
Arctic
Atlantic
Indian
Pacific
Further subdivision:
Marginal seas
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t
e
The Southern Ocean, also known as the Antarctic Ocean,[1][note 4] comprises the southernmost waters of the world ocean, generally taken to be south of 60° S latitude and encircling Antarctica.[5] With a size of 20,327,000 km2 (7,848,000 sq mi), it is regarded as the second-smallest of the five principal oceanic divisions: smaller than the Pacific, Atlantic, and Indian oceans but larger than the Arctic Ocean.[6]
The maximum depth of the Southern Ocean, using the definition that it lies south of 60th parallel, was surveyed by the Five Deeps Expedition in early February 2019. The expedition's multibeam sonar team identified the deepest point at 60° 28' 46"S, 025° 32' 32"W, with a depth of 7,434 metres (24,390 ft). The expedition leader and chief submersible pilot Victor Vescovo, has proposed naming this deepest point in the Southern Ocean the "Factorian Deep", based on the name of the crewed submersible DSV Limiting Factor, in which he successfully visited the bottom for the first time on February 3, 2019.[7]
By way of his voyages in the 1770s, James Cook proved that waters encompassed the southern latitudes of the globe. Yet, geographers have often disagreed on whether the Southern Ocean should be defined as a body of water bound by the seasonally fluctuating Antarctic Convergence - an oceanic zone where cold, northward flowing waters from the Antarctic mix with warmer Subantarctic waters,[8] or not defined at all, with its waters instead treated as the southern limits of the Pacific, Atlantic, and Indian oceans. The International Hydrographic Organization (IHO) finally settled the debate after the full importance of Southern Ocean overturning circulation had been ascertained, and the term Southern Ocean now defines the body of water which lies south of the northern limit of that circulation.[9]
The Southern Ocean overturning circulation is important because it makes up the second half of the global thermohaline circulation, with the other half being the much-better known Atlantic meridional overturning circulation (AMOC).[10] Much like AMOC, it has also been substantially affected by climate change, in ways that have increased ocean stratification,[11] and which may also result in the circulation substantially slowing or even passing a tipping point and collapsing outright. The latter would have adverse impacts on global weather and the functioning of marine ecosystems in the Southern Ocean which would unfold over centuries.[12][13] Further, the ongoing warming is already changing marine ecosystems in the Southern Ocean.[14]
^EB (1878).
^ abSherwood, Mary Martha (1823), An Introduction to Geography, Intended for Little Children, 3rd ed., Wellington: F. Houlston & Son, p. 10
^Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Great Southern Ocean" . Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 12 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 422.
^Hooker, Joseph Dalton (1843), Flora Antarctica: The Botany of the Antarctic Voyage, London: Reeve
^"Geography – Southern Ocean". CIA Factbook. Retrieved 16 July 2012. ... the Southern Ocean has the unique distinction of being a large circumpolar body of water totally encircling the continent of Antarctica; this ring of water lies between 60 degrees south latitude and the coast of Antarctica and encompasses 360 degrees of longitude.
^"Introduction – Southern Ocean". CIA Factbook. Retrieved 16 July 2012. ...As such, the Southern Ocean is now the fourth largest of the world's five oceans (after the Pacific Ocean, Atlantic Ocean, and Indian Ocean, but larger than the Arctic Ocean).
^"Explorer completes another historic submersible dive". For The Win. 6 February 2019. Retrieved 16 February 2019.
^Pyne, Stephen J. (1986). The Ice: A Journey to Antarctica. University of Washington Press.
^"Do You Know the World's Newest Ocean?". ThoughtCo.
^"NOAA Scientists Detect a Reshaping of the Meridional Overturning Circulation in the Southern Ocean". NOAA. 29 March 2023.
^Haumann, F. Alexander; Gruber, Nicolas; Münnich, Matthias; Frenger, Ivy; Kern, Stefan (September 2016). "Sea-ice transport driving Southern Ocean salinity and its recent trends". Nature. 537 (7618): 89–92. Bibcode:2016Natur.537...89H. doi:10.1038/nature19101. hdl:20.500.11850/120143. ISSN 1476-4687. PMID 27582222. S2CID 205250191.
^Lenton, T. M.; Armstrong McKay, D.I.; Loriani, S.; Abrams, J.F.; Lade, S.J.; Donges, J.F.; Milkoreit, M.; Powell, T.; Smith, S.R.; Zimm, C.; Buxton, J.E.; Daube, Bruce C.; Krummel, Paul B.; Loh, Zoë; Luijkx, Ingrid T. (2023). The Global Tipping Points Report 2023 (Report). University of Exeter.
^Logan, Tyne (29 March 2023). "Landmark study projects 'dramatic' changes to Southern Ocean by 2050". ABC News.
^Constable, Andrew J.; Melbourne‐Thomas, Jessica; Corney, Stuart P.; Arrigo, Kevin R.; Barbraud, Christophe; Barnes, David K. A.; Bindoff, Nathaniel L.; Boyd, Philip W.; Brandt, Angelika; Costa, Daniel P.; Davidson, Andrew T. (2014). "Climate change and Southern Ocean ecosystems I: how changes in physical habitats directly affect marine biota". Global Change Biology. 20 (10): 3004–3025. Bibcode:2014GCBio..20.3004C. doi:10.1111/gcb.12623. ISSN 1365-2486. PMID 24802817. S2CID 7584865.
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The SouthernOcean, also known as the Antarctic Ocean, comprises the southernmost waters of the world ocean, generally taken to be south of 60° S latitude...
south it is bounded by the SouthernOcean, or Antarctica, depending on the definition in use. Along its core, the Indian Ocean has large marginal, or regional...
ocean is conventionally divided. Distinct names are used to identify five different areas of the ocean: Pacific, Atlantic, Indian, Antarctic/Southern...
the five oceans are the Pacific Ocean, Atlantic Ocean, Indian Ocean, Southern (Antarctic) Ocean, and Arctic Ocean. Smaller regions of the oceans are called...
Ocean, it is connected in the north to the Arctic Ocean, to the Pacific Ocean in the southwest, the Indian Ocean in the southeast, and the Southern Ocean...
Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of the Earth's five oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the SouthernOcean (or,...
sunfish (Mola alexandrini), (also known as the Ramsay's sunfish, southern sunfish, southernocean sunfish, short sunfish or bump-head sunfish in various parts...
Asia) and four oceans (the whole SouthernOcean, the majority of the Indian Ocean, the South Atlantic Ocean, and the South Pacific Ocean), as well as New...
SouthernOcean overturning circulation (sometimes referred to as the Southern Meridional overturning circulation (SMOC) or Antarctic overturning circulation)...
hemisphere and counter-clockwise rotation in the southern hemisphere. In addition, the areas of surface ocean currents move somewhat with the seasons; this...
southwestern part of the Atlantic Ocean (Scotia Sea) with the southeastern part of the Pacific Ocean and extends into the SouthernOcean. The passage is named after...
This is a list of seas of the World Ocean, including marginal seas, areas of water, various gulfs, bights, bays, and straits. In many cases it is a matter...
south of the Antarctic Circle and surrounded by the SouthernOcean (also known as the Antarctic Ocean), it contains the geographic South Pole. Antarctica...
last landfall across the surface of the ocean and it remains an important scientific transect. The southern pole of inaccessibility is the point on the...
then flows into the ocean basins. While the bulk of it upwells in the SouthernOcean, the oldest waters (with a transit time of about 1000 years) upwell...
The islands of the Indian Ocean are part of either the eastern, western, or southern areas. Some prominently large islands include Madagascar, Sri Lanka...
year-round ice. Carbon sequestration in the highly stratified and productive SouthernOcean was essential in producing the LGM. The formation of an ice sheet or...
The SouthernOceanic languages are a linkage (rather than family) of Oceanic languages spoken in Vanuatu and New Caledonia. It was proposed by John Lynch...
are useful for tracing past climate changes in regions such as in the SouthernOcean, where few biogenic carbonates are preserved. The remains of diatoms...
North Atlantic gyre North Atlantic gyre North Atlantic gyre Indian Ocean gyre North Pacific gyre South Pacific gyre South Atlantic gyre In oceanography...
Seawater, or sea water, is water from a sea or ocean. On average, seawater in the world's oceans has a salinity of about 3.5% (35 g/L, 35 ppt, 600 mM)...
insights into SouthernOcean physical and biological processes revealed by instrumented elephant seals". Proceedings of OceanObs 09: Sustained Ocean Observations...
SouthernOcean. Although previously thought to be found in all oceans and seas, recent genetic analysis restricts S. lalandi proper to the Southern Hemisphere...
the Polar Circle in the Arctic or within the actual boundaries of the SouthernOcean, from land to land, excluding any use of sail, paddling on kayaks or...
Ocean rowing is the sport of rowing across oceans. Some ocean rowing boats can hold as many as fourteen rowers; however, the most common ocean rowboats...
includes the ice shelves, waters, and all the island territories in the SouthernOcean situated south of the Antarctic Convergence, a zone approximately 32...
named oceans, the Pacific, Atlantic, Indian, Southern, and Arctic. Countries which border on multiple oceans because of discontiguous regions are excluded...
mi2), Indian Ocean (68 million km2/ 26 million mi2) and Arctic Ocean (14 million km2/ 5.4 million mi2). Also recognized is the SouthernOcean (20 million...
The Antarctic and SouthernOcean Coalition (ASOC) is a global coalition of environmental non-governmental organizations with more than 150 members in 40...
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