The US National Geographic Society recognized the existence of the fifth ocean on Earth, called southern. Starting from June 8, 2021, the organization will begin to celebrate it on the maps. This is reported on the site National Geographic.
Although scientists have long used the term Southern Ocean to designate the seas surrounding Antarctica, there has not yet been an international agreement denoting the border of the fifth ocean. Experts discussed whether the water of Antarctica has unique characteristics, allowing them to give them their name, or even more correctly attribute them to the southern regions of the Indian, Atlantic and Pacific Oceans.
Now the term Southern Ocean belongs to the waters surrounding Antarctica and stretching up to 60 degrees southern latitude except for the shedding of Drake and the Sea of the Skins, belonging to the southern part of the Atlantic Ocean. Unlike the four other oceans, the borders of the Southern Ocean are determined not by the continents, but the Antarctic circumpolar flow (also known as the flow of Western winds), which comes from the West to the East around Antarctica. Water inside the flow is colder and slightly less salted than water located north of 60 degrees of southern latitude.
The flow of Western winds transfers more water than any other ocean flow, drawing into the water of three neighboring oceans, manages the global circulation system and contributes to carbon accumulation in the depths of the ocean. In addition, it retains the ecological isolation of Antarctic Waters, where thousands of unique species of living organisms live.
The International Hydrographic Organization recognized the Southern Ocean in its 1937 guidelines, but canceled this definition in 1953, referring to disagreements. However, the US Council on geographical names uses this name since 1999, and in February of this year, the National Ocean and Atmospheric Research officials officially recognized the Southern Ocean with a separate region.