QUESTION:  
How far out from the coast does the Antarctica Ocean extend? 
Where does it end and the other oceans begin?

          From Kathy Renfrew's class
and        
           
What is the Antarctic Convergence?
          From Ms. Schlachter's class
               Newington Forest ES
           

ANSWER from Dave Karl, Oceanographer, University of Hawaii
            Date: Tue, 4 Feb 1997 18:19:41 -1000 (HST)


Dear Students.

These are two fantastic questions that are so related to one another that
a single answer should suffice.

Although the ocean surrounding Antarctica is really made up of portions of
the South Atlantic, South Pacific and South Indian Oceans, oceanographers
have found it convenient to refer to this circumpolar body of water as a
single unit - sometimes called the "Southern Ocean" or the "Antarctic
Ocean."  This is why you may not have been able to locate it on your
charts or globe...sometimes it is not fully recognized as a "real" ocean. 
The zonation is based on the temperature and salinity characteristics of
the seawater.  A dominant feature is the existance of a semi-stationary
region, called the Antarctic Convergence zone (also called the polar
front) which defines the boundary between the cold waters to the south and
the warmer waters to the north.  The region is defined by rapidly changing
surface water temperatures over a very short distance, compared to the
regions north or south.  For most purposes, the waters south of the
Antarctic Convergence are called the Antarctic Ocean (or Southern Ocean). 
The latitude boundary is at about 55 degress south, although the precise
location varies depending on whether you are in the Atlantic, Pacific or
Indian Ocean sector.  The waters in the southern region (south of the
convergence) are moving, generally, to the north and tend to "converge" on
this region.  This is where the term Antarctic Convergence is derived. 

Wow....that is a somewhat long-winded answer to a very good question.  It
is all rather complicated and many scientists have spent their entire
careers trying to better understand the questions that you have raised.  

Dave Karl
University of Hawaii