ANTARCTIC Ocean: location and characteristics

The Antarctic Ocean, also known as the Southern Ocean, Antarctic Glacial Sea, is located in the southernmost tip of the planet, bordering only Antarctica. In this lesson from a Teacher we should talk about the location of the Southern Ocean and characteristics.

Our planet is made up of a huge amount of water shapes, being this much more extensive and common than terrestrial areas. Therefore, it is very important and relevant to comment on the different oceans and seas that make up the Earth, counting the different characteristics that each one has.

Index

1. What is the Antarctic Ocean?
2. Where is the Antarctic Ocean? location and map
3. 11 features of the Southern Ocean

He Antartic Ocean, also know as Southern Ocean, Antarctic Sea Glacier or even Southern Ocean, is a part of the world ocean. It is considered to be the body of sea closest to Antarctica, bordering other large expanses of sea such as the Atlantic, the Peaceful and the Indian.

Within what is the expanse of the oceans, the Antarctic is one of the smallest, since it is the penultimate in extension, being only bigger than the Arctic Glacier. Although its extension is really a highly questioned issue, it is still a hot topic in the spheres of geographers. The person in charge of setting its extension is the International Hydrographic Organization and this is the one that established its extension at the beginning of the century, when the limits of the well-known Treaty were applied. Antarctic.

This decision had great problems and many geographers were not satisfied, until it was finally fully ratified in mid-2021, for having a unique ecosystem that differentiated them from others oceans.

Locating the oceans is a complicated task, since on many occasions they do not have fixed borders that can allow us to locate them in a reliable way, having on many occasions to use the coordinates to fix a position. Therefore, the exact location of the Indian Ocean begins from 60º of latitude, making a 360º tour, therefore going through a complete circle creating a kind of imaginary line on the planet. Regarding its limits, we must use other bodies of water to set them, since the ocean is born in Antarctica, but borders the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian oceans.

One of the most curious elements of this ocean, and very relevant to know its location, is that does not border any land area that is not Antarctica, since it is distanced from the rest of the lands by small seas. These small seas that are found around the Southern Ocean are the following:

• sea ​​of ​​sickles
• scotia sea
• weddell sea
• bellingshausen sea
• amundsen sea
• Sea King Haakon VII
• sea ​​of ​​lazarev
• Riiser Larsen Sea
• ross sea
• somov sea
• urville sea
• sea ​​of ​​cosmonauts
• sea ​​of ​​cooperation
• davis sea
• Mawson's Sea

In unProfesor we leave you a lesson with the names of the oceans of the world.

To continue this lesson on the Antarctic Ocean, we must talk about the main elements that define this body of water, being very interesting to know its particularities, and especially its differences with respect to other oceans. For all these reasons, we must now talk about the main characteristics of the Antarctic Ocean:

1. It has an extension of about 20.33 million square kilometers, being for this reason the second smallest ocean of all those that exist.
2. Regarding its depth, it has a average depth of about 3,200 meters, although its maximum depth is 7235 meters, in the area of ​​the South Sandwich Trench.
3. The flora of the Antarctic area is practically non-existent, since the low temperatures of the area make it impossible for any kind of vegetation to grow in the region. For this reason, the few plants that exist in the area are ferns, algae or fungi, existing in regions that do not have ice.
4. The ocean has an important fauna, ranging from small species such as mites or ticks, through medium-sized species size like the well-known macaroni penguins, and ending with gigantic species like the whale blue.
5. The region is made up of a large number of glaciers that have spread and are floating around the area adrift, being so common that they have even formed plateaus and large ice formations.
6. It is a region that suffers greatly from global warming, which has caused many of the ice caps that make up the region to have melted, being much more common but also smaller than before.
7. It is one of the least explored regions of the world, so we are not sure of the natural resources that are available on its seabed. It is thought that oil and natural gas may exist inside, but for now it remains free of human intervention.
8. The ice in the area is the largest freshwater reserve in the world, being almost 81% of the total.
9. The average temperature of the ocean remains between -2º C and 10º C, since the region is extremely cold and that causes the water to remain even in temperatures below zero.
10. It has a lot of rainfall, partly due to the temperature, but snowfalls are not common either, which is why it has only about 116 precipitations per year.
11. It is a disputed region, since there are many nations that considered that the ocean should be in their hands, although currently it does not belong to anyone. Disputes to seize the region are thought to last for decades, as many nations want to take advantage of its supposed resources.

If you want to read more articles similar to Southern Ocean: location and characteristics, we recommend that you enter our category of Geography.

• Fouga, H. F. JAMES COOK, THE SOUTH PACIFIC AND THE SOUTHERN OCEAN. Navy Magazine No., 7(97), 43.
• Ramacciotti de Cubas, B. (1986). The southern ocean within the framework of the Antarctic treaty and the new convention on the law of the sea. PUCP Law, 40, 131.
• Minster, J. F. (2009). The oceans. XXI century.