Earth officially has a fifth ocean. No, a new body of water didn’t appear out of nowhere. But last June, the National Geographic Society (NGS) announced that it will recognize the body of water around Antarctica as the Southern Ocean. It is now labeled on NGS maps, along with the Atlantic, Pacific, Indian, and Arctic Oceans.
For decades, many scientists and mapmakers had debated whether the Southern Ocean had enough unique qualities to be considered an ocean. The NGS determined that it does. One thing that sets the Southern Ocean apart is a strong current that flows from west to east around Antarctica. The current makes the water much colder and far less salty than other oceans. But the Southern Ocean has something in common with those other four bodies of water.
“All the ocean waters on Earth are connected,” explains Alex Tait, a cartographer, or mapmaker, with the NGS.