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The Southern Ocean is a new Ocean, declared in the year 2000. With a total area of 20.327 million sq km, the Southern Ocean is the fourth largest ocean in the world. The coastline of the Southern Ocean measures 17,968 km. The area of the Southern Ocean includes the Amundsen Sea, Bellingshausen Sea, part of the Drake Passage, Ross Sea, a small part of the Scotia Sea and the Weddell Sea. The Southern Ocean is very deep, with very limited areas of shallow water. The average depth measures around -4000m. The deepest point is the southern end of the South Sandwich Trench at a depth of -7235m. Natural hazards include iceberg. The Antarctic Circumpolar Current can be located within the Southern Ocean and is the world's largest ocean current, distributing 130 million cubic meters of water per second. That is 100 times greater than the flow of all the world's rivers. The fauna of the Southern Ocean includes squid, whales and seals. |
