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.
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