National Geographic recognizes new, 5th ocean

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National Geographic recognizes new, 5th ocean



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In honor of World Oceans Day, the world got a new ocean.

On Tuesday, the cartographers at National Geographic officially recognized the Southern Ocean — also known as the Antarctic or the Austral Ocean — as the world’s fifth and newest ocean. The Southern Ocean encompasses the waters surrounding Antarctica, with boundaries “roughly centered around a latitude of 60 degrees south,” according to the outlet.

The National Geographic Society notes, however, that the Southern Ocean had already been recognized by the U.S. Board on Geographic Names in 1999, and by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) earlier in 2021.

“We’ve always labeled it, but we labeled it slightly differently [than other oceans],” said Alex Tait, a geographer for the National Geographic Society, in an article published Tuesday, June 8, aka World Oceans Day. “This change was taking the last step and saying we want to recognize it because of its ecological separation.”

National Geographic decided to designate the Antarctic waters as its own ocean (instead of merely southern parts the Atlantic, Indian and Pacific) to bring awareness to, and promote conservation of the waters. But also because of its unique attributes, which scientists and geographers have long recognized

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