<P> By way of his voyages in the 1770s , Captain James Cook proved that waters encompassed the southern latitudes of the globe . Since then , geographers have disagreed on the Southern Ocean 's northern boundary or even existence , considering the waters as various parts of the Pacific , Atlantic , and Indian Oceans , instead . However , according to Commodore John Leech of the International Hydrographic Organization ( IHO ) , this situation has no scientific sense since it has different ecosystem and life from the three oceans mentioned before and is located on a southern portion of Earth , hence the name of an ocean . 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 . Others regard the seasonally - fluctuating Antarctic Convergence as the natural boundary . </P>
<P> By way of his voyages in the 1770s , Captain James Cook proved that waters encompassed the southern latitudes of the globe . Since then , geographers have disagreed on the Southern Ocean 's northern boundary or even existence , considering the waters as various parts of the Pacific , Atlantic , and Indian Oceans , instead . However , according to Commodore John Leech of the International Hydrographic Organization ( IHO ) , this situation has no scientific sense since it has different ecosystem and life from the three oceans mentioned before and is located on a southern portion of Earth , hence the name of an ocean . 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 . Others regard the seasonally - fluctuating Antarctic Convergence as the natural boundary . </P>
when did the southern ocean become a thing
when did the southern ocean become a thing
the 1770s
the 1770s