Southern Ocean

American  

[suhth-ern oh-shuhn] / ˈsʌð ərn ˈoʊ ʃən /

noun

1. the waters surrounding Antarctica, comprising the southernmost waters of the World Ocean, with its deepest section in the South Sandwich Trench. 8,478,800 square miles (21,960,000 square kilometers).

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Southern Ocean British  

noun

1. another name for the Antarctic Ocean

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Etymology

Origin of Southern Ocean

First recorded in 1660–70, referring to any southern sea; current sense dates from 1700–10

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Example Sentences

See Examples For:

Southern Ocean

Geographic isolation played a major role, along with the Antarctic Polar Front, a major boundary in the Southern Ocean where water temperature and salinity shift sharply.

From Science Daily ● Sep. 22, 2026

These materials allowed them to estimate past ocean temperatures and track movements of the Southern Ocean subtropical front toward the north or south.

From Science Daily ● Aug. 6, 2026

One of the great engines of that wider overturning lies far from the North Atlantic, in the Southern Ocean.

From BBC ● Jul. 14, 2026

The octopus appears to be the runt of the Megaleledonidae family, whose members are normally much larger and live in the Southern Ocean surrounding Antarctica.

From Barron's ● May 25, 2026

At sixteen he joined the merchant marine, and his first voyage took him around Cape Horn in the winter: it was his first experience of the Southern Ocean.

From "Shipwreck at the Bottom of the World" by Jennifer Armstrong

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