Post by Gator on Feb 13, 2019 2:48:53 GMT -5
The Southern Ocean (also known as the Great Southern Ocean, Antarctic Ocean, South Polar Ocean, and Austral Ocean) comprises the southernmost waters of the World Ocean, generally taken to be south of 60°S latitude and encircling Antarctica. As such, it is regarded as the fourth-largest of the five principal oceanic divisions (after the Pacific, Atlantic, and Indian Oceans, but larger than the Arctic Ocean). This ocean zone is where cold, northward flowing waters from the Antarctic mix with warmer subantarctic waters.
Geographers disagree on the Southern Ocean's northern boundary, and some even its existence—considering the waters part of the Pacific, Atlantic, and Indian Oceans instead. Others regard the Antarctic Convergence, an ocean zone which fluctuates seasonally, as separating the Southern Ocean from other oceans, rather than the 60th parallel. Australian authorities regard the Southern Ocean as lying immediately south of Australia.
The International Hydrographic Organization (IHO) has not yet formally published its 2000 draft definition of the existence of the ocean and of it being south of 60°S due to global 'areas of concern' such as the Sea of Japan. Its last formally published definition of oceans dates from 1953; this omits the Southern Ocean term, leaving hydrographic offices who use the term to decide their own northern limits. The 2000 IHO definition was circulated in a draft edition in 2002 and is used by some within the IHO and by some other organisations such as the US Central Intelligence Agency and Merriam-Webster (a subsidiary of Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.). The National Geographic Society currently does not depict the Southern Ocean term (except on occasion in a typeface different from the other world oceans), instead showing the Pacific, Atlantic, and Indian Oceans extending to Antarctica on both its print and on line maps, though some of its online news blogs do use the term. Map publishers using the term Southern Ocean on their maps include Hema Maps and GeoNova.
Geographers disagree on the Southern Ocean's northern boundary, and some even its existence—considering the waters part of the Pacific, Atlantic, and Indian Oceans instead. Others regard the Antarctic Convergence, an ocean zone which fluctuates seasonally, as separating the Southern Ocean from other oceans, rather than the 60th parallel. Australian authorities regard the Southern Ocean as lying immediately south of Australia.
The International Hydrographic Organization (IHO) has not yet formally published its 2000 draft definition of the existence of the ocean and of it being south of 60°S due to global 'areas of concern' such as the Sea of Japan. Its last formally published definition of oceans dates from 1953; this omits the Southern Ocean term, leaving hydrographic offices who use the term to decide their own northern limits. The 2000 IHO definition was circulated in a draft edition in 2002 and is used by some within the IHO and by some other organisations such as the US Central Intelligence Agency and Merriam-Webster (a subsidiary of Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.). The National Geographic Society currently does not depict the Southern Ocean term (except on occasion in a typeface different from the other world oceans), instead showing the Pacific, Atlantic, and Indian Oceans extending to Antarctica on both its print and on line maps, though some of its online news blogs do use the term. Map publishers using the term Southern Ocean on their maps include Hema Maps and GeoNova.