Update your atlas: Southern Ocean recognised as world’s fifth ocean by Nat Geo cartographers

Earth includes 71 per cent of water and people aware of geography know that there are 4 oceans surrounding the landmass. Four? No, now there are 5 oceans. The National Geography cartographers have now recognized the Southern Ocean because the fifth ocean on the planet.The growth comes on the event of World Oceans Day which was marked on June 8. The new ocean has been recognized by the National Geography Society which has been making maps since 1915 and had to date recognised the Atlantic, Pacific, Indian, and Arctic oceans.The Southern Ocean has additionally been recognised by the US Board on Geographic Names because the physique of water extending from the coast of Antarctica to the road of latitude at 60 levels South.Also Read: How monsoon is looking consideration to local weather change“Anyone who has been there will struggle to explain what’s so mesmerising about it, but they’ll all agree that the glaciers are bluer, the air colder, the mountains more intimidating, and the landscapes more captivating than anywhere else you can go,” National Geography quoted Seth Sykora-Bodie, a marine scientist on the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) as saying. The growth comes on the event of World Oceans Day which was marked on June 8. (Photo: National Geography)While the controversy had been long-ranging to establish the huge mass of water surrounding Antarctica as an ocean, the event got here when the necessity to put extra give attention to the area’s peril and the necessity for conservation grew to become imminent. The boundaries of the ocean had been first proposed in 2000, nevertheless, not all nations agree on it making it troublesome to be recognised by the International Hydrographic Organization (IHO).The National Geography in a report mentioned that, whereas different oceans are recognized by the area they encompass, the Southern Ocean is outlined by its present.Also Read: Endangered bamboo sharks given serving to hand in Gulf of ThailandScientists say that the Antarctic Circumpolar Current (ACC) that started circulating following Antarctica’s separation from South America, 34 million years in the past flows from west to east and is centred round a latitude of 60 levels south. The latitude now marks the boundary of the Southern Ocean, the place the water is colder and fewer salty. The present pulls water from the Atlantic, Pacific, and Indian Oceans serving to the worldwide circulation of air currents.Antarctica has been dealing with the brunt of local weather change and fast warming of the planet for many years and scientists at the moment are learning its affect on the Southern Ocean, which is house to a fragile marine ecosystem that features whales, penguins and seals.