Difference between revisions of "Template:Westarctica.wiki:Today's featured article"

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[[File:Nuclearicebreakeryamal.jpg|300px|left]]
[[File:Southern Ocean Map.png|300px|left]]
An '''[[icebreaker]]''' is a special-purpose ship or boat designed to move and navigate through [[ice]]-covered waters, and provide safe waterways for other boats and ships. Although the term usually refers to ice-breaking ships, it may also refer to smaller vessels, such as the icebreaking boats that were once used on the canals of the United Kingdom.
The '''Southern Ocean''', also known as the '''Antarctic Ocean''' comprises the southernmost waters of the World Ocean, generally taken to be south of 60° S latitude and encircling the continent of [[Antarctica]]. As such, it is regarded as the fourth-largest of the five principal oceanic divisions: smaller than the Pacific, Atlantic, and Indian Oceans but larger than the Arctic Ocean. This ocean zone is where cold, northward flowing waters from the Antarctic mix with warmer subantarctic waters. The Southern Ocean, geologically the youngest of the oceans, was formed when [[Antarctica]] and South America moved apart, opening the [[Drake Passage]], roughly 30 million years ago. The separation of the continents allowed the formation of the [[Antarctic Circumpolar Current]].


For a ship to be considered an icebreaker, it requires three traits most normal ships lack: a strengthened hull, an ice-clearing shape, and the power to push through [[sea ice]]. Icebreakers clear paths by pushing straight into ice pockets. The bending strength of sea ice is so low that usually the ice breaks without noticeable change in the vessel's trim. In cases of very thick ice, an icebreaker can drive its bow onto the ice to break it under the weight of the ship. Because a buildup of broken ice in front of a ship can slow it down much more than the breaking of the ice itself, icebreakers have a specially designed hull to direct the broken ice around or under the vessel.
According to Commodore John Leech of the International Hydrographic Organization (IHO), recent oceanographic research has discovered the importance of Southern Circulation, and the term "Southern Ocean" has been used to define the body of water which lies south of the northern limit of that circulation. This remains the current official policy of the IHO, since a 2000 revision of its definitions including the Southern Ocean as the waters south of the 60th parallel has not yet been adopted.




'''([[Icebreaker|Full Article...]])'''
'''([[Southern Ocean|Full Article...]])'''

Revision as of 19:18, 9 March 2020

Southern Ocean Map.png

The Southern Ocean, also known as the Antarctic Ocean comprises the southernmost waters of the World Ocean, generally taken to be south of 60° S latitude and encircling the continent of Antarctica. As such, it is regarded as the fourth-largest of the five principal oceanic divisions: smaller than the Pacific, Atlantic, and Indian Oceans but larger than the Arctic Ocean. This ocean zone is where cold, northward flowing waters from the Antarctic mix with warmer subantarctic waters. The Southern Ocean, geologically the youngest of the oceans, was formed when Antarctica and South America moved apart, opening the Drake Passage, roughly 30 million years ago. The separation of the continents allowed the formation of the Antarctic Circumpolar Current.

According to Commodore John Leech of the International Hydrographic Organization (IHO), recent oceanographic research has discovered the importance of Southern Circulation, and the term "Southern Ocean" has been used to define the body of water which lies south of the northern limit of that circulation. This remains the current official policy of the IHO, since a 2000 revision of its definitions including the Southern Ocean as the waters south of the 60th parallel has not yet been adopted.


(Full Article...)