The National Geographic Society has recognised the Southern Ocean around Antarctica as the fifth ocean on the Earth. The four others already recognized oceans are: the Atlantic, Pacific, Indian and Arctic oceans.
- National Geographic began making maps in 1915, but the society had only formally recognized just four oceans, which they defined by the continents that bordered them. However, the Southern Ocean is defined not by the continents that surround it, but by the Antarctic Circumpolar Current (ACC) that flows from west to east.
- Scientists estimate that the Antarctic Circumpolar Current (ACC) was established roughly 34 million years ago, when Antarctica separated from South America.
- The Southern Ocean is the only ocean ‘to touch three other oceans and to completely embrace a continent rather than being embraced by them.
(Source: NGC)
