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.

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