I know, you’ve always thought there were four oceans…the Atlantic, the Pacific, the Arctic and the Indian. Well, it turns out, in 2000, the International Hydrographic Organization decided to designate all the water surrounding Antarctica up to 60 degrees South the “Southern Ocean” The little thing’s only 20.327 million sq. km. You can come on over and say hi to it here… http://www.odci.gov/cia/publications/factbook/geos/oo.html
So join me in saying hi to the newest member of the Oceanic family.
Lame.
I declare a puddle in my lawn the “Tars Tarkas Ocean”
It’s from the CIA page? And you believe it?
I want to join the International Hydrographic Organization, just so I can tell people I belong to the International Hydrographic Organization.
Person: And what do you do in your spare time?
Me: I participate in the activities of the International Hydrographic Organization.
Person: Hmmm.
Well, the World Factbook is USUALLY pretty accurate.
Glad to see you Northerners have caught up – those of us down South having been calling it the Southern Ocean for years. The Aussie take on it provides a bit more data.
8 oceans now? “OH OH!!! That dog has a puffy tail!!! Here doggy doggy!!”
(There’s a simpsons quote for everything)
If the northern ocean is called the Arctic Ocean, why isn’t the Southern Ocean called the Antarctic Ocean?
They’ll have to stick my body in the cold, cold ground before I lose the Amundsen Sea to the [sub][sup]s[/sup][/sub]outhern Ocean.
Long live the Pacific!
No no no! It would go like this:
Person: And what do you do in your spare time?
Me: I’m a member of the I.H.O.
Person: Does this mean you have water on the brain? (loud guffaws)
In the 1950s and 1960s-era geography textbooks I grew up on, there was always an Antarctic Ocean. So they renamed it. “Southern Ocean” sounds fine to me.
What’s that to an Alaskan?