Australia and the Southern Ocean edit
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The Southern Ocean is defined by Australia as all the ocean south of Australia, extending to Antarctica. Other countries describe some of that water as either the Indian Ocean or Pacific Ocean, with the Southern Ocean only the part closest to Antarctica (ie south of 60° S latitude).

Contents

Australia

Australia defines the open waters south of the continent as the Southern Ocean. Both Geoscience Australia1 and the Royal Australian Navy Hydrographic Service2 online gazetteers represent the Southern Ocean close to the mainland.

International Hydrographic Organisation

Since 2000, the International Hydrographic Organization (IHO) has defined the "Southern Ocean" as those waters surrounding Antarctica south of the 60° S circle of latitude, and this definition is widely applied to the name. Formally, however, the IHO do not yet recognise the name, as the 2000 decision to reinstate it is still awaiting ratification.3 Australia has lodged a reservation to the definition.4

CIA World Fact Book

The CIA World Fact Book mistakenly identified the water south of Australia as the South Pacific Ocean on one of its primary reference maps.5 Their world maps over the past five years and their primary "Oceania" - Australia map (produced in May 2007) instead place "Indian Ocean" below Australia and/or carefully place "Southern Ocean" only between 60 degrees south latitude and Antarctica.6

References

  1. ^ "Place Names Search Results: Southern Ocean". Geoscience Australia. Retrieved on 2007-09-26.
  2. ^ "MGA Search Results: Southern Ocean". Australian Hydrographic Service. Retrieved on 2007-09-26.
  3. ^ "Report of the International Hydrographic Organization to the Ninth United Nations Conference on the Standardization of Geographical Names". Retrieved on 2008-08-24.
  4. ^ "Canberra all at sea over position of Southern Ocean".
  5. ^ "Antarctic Region". The World Factbook. Central Intelligence Agency. Retrieved on 2007-09-26.
  6. ^ "Oceania and World". The World Factbook. Central Intelligence Agency. Retrieved on 2007-09-26.