It ’s official ! National Geographichas now recognizedthe Southern Ocean as the world ’s 5th ocean . Theannouncementon June 8 – just in metre for World Ocean Day – set the end of decades of difference of opinion over the body of water surroundingAntarcticaand will , quite literally , put the Southern Ocean on the map .
Until now , only four oceans have been officially recognized – theAtlantic , Pacific , Indian , and Arctic Oceans . These are define by continent , making the Southern Ocean jolly of an anomaly – it is defined , instead , by current . The Antarctic Circumpolar Current ( ACC ) flows from east to west around Antarctica and was established34 million days ago . It is concentrate on at a parallel of latitude of 60 degrees to the south ( the northern bound of the Southern Ocean ) . The flow creates an unseeable ring around Antarctica , in which waters are colder and less piquant than those to the due north . However , it has long been debated by geographers whether the oceanic doughnut was merely an extension of the Pacific , Atlantic , and Indian Oceans , or whether it was an sea in its own right .
The U.S. Board of Geographic Names agnize the Southern Ocean and O.K. its name in 1999 . Theproposed boundarieswere presented to the International Hydrographic Organization ( IHO)in 2000 , but are still yet to be agreed on some 21 years later . Meanwhile , the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration ( NOAA ) has only recognized the Southern Ocean since February this yr .
“ The Southern Ocean has long been recognized by scientists , but because there was never agreement internationally , we never officially agnize it , ” National Geographic Society Geographer Alex Tait told the National Geographic .
The National Geographic Society has been do maps for over acenturyand has apply geographer to manage all changes made to every map bring out since the 1970s . They broadly speaking follow the IHO when it comes to marine nomenclature , hence this latest credit of the Southern Ocean marks a break from that tradition . It is hop-skip that the acknowledgment will raise awareness for the newfangled ocean and its ecologically discrete ecosystem , and also promote much - needed preservation try – industrial fishinghas been an issue in the Southern Ocean for eld .
As for the future tense of the world ’s " newest " sea , that remain uncertain . It is presently being studied what effect climate alteration may have : Antarctica ’s waters are warm and its ice sheets aremelting . How this affects the fledgling sea only time will narrate – we can only hope that its formative years run politic and that the Southern Ocean can make some wave .
