What is the Southern Ocean marine ecoregion?
The Southern Ocean circles Antarctica with fierce winds, giant waves, and winter sea ice that doubles the continent’s size. It is full of life, with tiny shrimp-like krill feeding penguins, whales, seals, and seabirds. Its waters are linked by the strong Antarctic Circumpolar Current, a huge river of water moving around the globe. This ocean also stores carbon and helps regulate Earth’s climate.
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In context
What it is
The Southern Ocean circles Antarctica with fierce winds, giant waves, and winter sea ice that doubles the continent’s size. It is full of life, with tiny shrimp-like krill feeding penguins, whales, seals, and seabirds. Its waters are linked by the strong Antarctic Circumpolar Current, a huge river of water moving around the globe. This ocean also stores carbon and helps regulate Earth’s climate.
Why it matters
The Southern Ocean absorbs and redistributes large amounts of heat and carbon and helps ventilate the global deep ocean. It connects all major ocean basins and supports globally important populations of whales, seabirds, seals and fish. Changes here can affect climate, sea level and marine ecosystems worldwide.
FAQ
Why are nutrients abundant but plankton sometimes scarce?
Many Southern Ocean waters contain nitrate and other major nutrients, but phytoplankton may still be limited by iron, weak winter light or deep mixing. Blooms develop when light improves and iron becomes available near shelves, islands, melting ice or strong ocean fronts.
Why is Antarctic krill so important?
Krill graze on algae and are eaten by many fish, penguins, seabirds, seals and whales. Their faecal pellets, moults and sinking bodies also move carbon from surface waters toward the deep ocean, linking the food web with climate-related carbon storage.
Ocean Literacy Connections
This resource can be explored through One ocean, many features, Ocean and climate and Ocean makes life possible.
- How do different ocean places belong to one connected system?
- What ocean processes help shape weather and climate?
- How did the ocean help make Earth a place where life could thrive?
Explore and connect
Open the ecoregions view to compare regional boundaries, biodiversity context, and related ocean systems.
