Forget what you were taught in school: geographers have recognized the existence of another ocean

In geography classes, we were taught that there are four oceans: the Atlantic, the Pacific, the Indian, and the Arctic. But it turned out that this information is not true and there is another ocean. Its existence has been talked about for a long time, but it has received official recognition only now.

The fifth ocean, the Southern Ocean, appeared on the maps only in 2021. It has been recognized by many reputable scientists and has already been described by the National Geographic channel – the main information mouthpiece of the National Geographic Society of the United States. The Southern Ocean was included in the list of independent geographical objects only recently – on June 8, 2021, although it has been debated in scientific circles since the beginning of the 20th century.

Despite everything, the unrecognized Southern Ocean appeared in the reports of the International Hydrographic Organization as early as 1937. But in 1953, the name was canceled to eliminate contradictions in scientific circles. In 99, the ocean reappeared in the official documents of the US Geographic Names Board.

This year, in February, the Southern Ocean was recognized as an independent geographical region by the National Office of Atmospheric and Oceanic Research, and this served as a prerequisite for its worldwide recognition. What is the new ocean, which we were not told about in geography lessons and which is not yet on most maps and globes?

The Southern Ocean is the waters that wash the shores of the coldest continent on the planet, Antarctica. In the dry language of geographical coordinates, this is the planetary surface up to the southern sixty-degree latitude, excluding the Scosha Sea and the Drake Strait.

The Southern Ocean differs from the other oceans in that it is not bounded on all sides by land. On the one hand, its coast is icy Antarctica, and on the other-its border is the oceanic current of the Westerly Winds, which has been moving water masses in the Southern Hemisphere for 34 million years. It is this current that keeps the temperature of Antarctic waters low, separating it from the warm waters of neighboring oceans.

It seems that the appearance of a new ocean should be the greatest event of our time, but scientists react to the innovation very restrained. For example, the famous geographer Alex Tate calls the situation around the new object "geographical boredom". He says that the existence of the Southern Ocean was long obvious to experts, but now an artificial excitement has been created around it.

Tate is confident that scientists will now begin to cross spears around the new ocean, challenging its boundaries, the impact on the climate and other important and not so important factors. Well, for us, ordinary people, not burdened with academic knowledge, the appearance of the Southern Ocean is still an important event.