5th Ocean

On the occasion of World Ocean Day on June 8 a new development has come up adding to our knowledge about the number of oceans surrounding Earth’s landmass.

We have known all these times the existence of the Atlantic, Pacific, Indian, and Arctic oceans as identified and recognized by the National Geography Society (NGS) which has been making maps since 1915.

But for the first time in the more than 100 years that the NGS has mapped the world’s ocean, it will recognize five of them. The ocean mappers announced, legitimately, that it will recognize the Southern Ocean, a body of water that encircles Antarctica, as the world’s fifth.  

Note that while the four other oceans are defined by the continents that surround them and are connected, the Southern Ocean’s border touch all of those except the Arctic. What makes it an ocean in itself is defined by the Antarctic Circumpolar Current (ACC), which makes the waters inside it colder and slightly less salty than its northern neighbors. The current pulls water from the Atlantic, Pacific, and Indian Oceans helping the global circulation of air currents.

Antarctica has been facing the brunt of climate change and rapid warming of the planet for decades and scientists are now studying its impact on the Southern Ocean, which is home to a delicate marine ecosystem that includes whales, penguins and seals.

Cameron conquers Mariana Trench

James Cameron and his Deepsea Challenger vehicle exploring Earth's last frontier.

Oscar- winning director James Cameron, who is known for blockbuster movies, like, Titanic, Avatar and the Abyss, has recently made history when he himself starred in a real drama scientific expedition by going down solo to the bottom of the Mariana Trench.

In collaboration with the National Geographic Society, Cameron went down in a high-tech vessel, the Deepsea Challenger, which he and a group of scientists and engineers constructed in Australia over the past eight years.

The conquered site called Challenger Deep is part of the Mariana Trench in the western Pacific Ocean that is said to be more than 10,900 meters (about 35,900 feet) and considered to be the deepest known point in the world’s ocean. The Mariana Trench is to ocean as what Mt. Everest is to land.

The descent, reportedly, took two hours and 36 minutes. Outfitted with special cameras and robotic arms, Deepsea Challenger is able to dive vertically at speeds of 500 to 700 feet per minute and can withstand immense pressure — up to 16,000 pounds per square inch.

Cameron then spent hours at the bottom of the trench collecting samples for research that will allow scientists around the world to learn about the habitat and life forms at that depth.

There have only been two other explorers that have reached the floor of the Mariana Trench. They are Jacques Piccard, a Swiss oceanographer and engineer, and retired U.S. Navy Capt. Don Walsh. Together, 52 years ago, they explored the deepest part of the world’s ocean in Piccard designed bathyscaphe, now named the Trieste.

Unlike Deepsea Challenger, the bathyscaphe carried no scientific equipment and no experiments were conducted; the mission’s purpose was merely to prove that the depth could be reached.