"The Stormy Southern Ocean" by ISBN-13: 9780766040915

ISBN-13: 978076604091

The Stormy Southern Ocean is a lovely book for young readers about the Southern Ocean.  The Southern Ocean consists of waters that were once parts of the Atlantic, Pacific, and Indian Oceans.  In 2000 scientist renamed the water that flows around the Antarctic, the Southern Ocean.  The Southern Ocean extends north to 60° south latitude.  Part of the reason for renaming this region of ocean water is that the Southern Ocean is a circumpolar ocean; its waters flow around the Antarctic in currents that distribute water, heat, plankton, wild life, and many other resources.

The Southern Ocean is believed to have great resources of oil and gas, but in 1959 many countries signed a treaty that agreed to leave most of the resources there untouched.  Despite the incredibly cold water temperature of 28° F, there are many forms of life in the Southern Ocean.  Plankton, krill, many types of bottom dwelling fish, squid, whales, seal, penguins, and sea birds all make their homes there. 

The ocean bottom is not flat, but like many other parts of the ocean floor, the Southern Ocean’s floor consists of the continental shelf. The seafloor suddenly drops into the deep sea floor.  This steep drop is called the continental slope.  The deep floor has several wide, flat basins, but the deepest parts of the Southern Ocean are in the trenches, narrow channels which is 23,736 feet deep.

The last chapters of this extremely informative book chronicle the early explorers and scientists that courageously sailed to the extreme southern part of the world to explore the waters of the Southern Ocean and the Antarctic.  Current scientists caution us about how we may be harming the inhabitants of the Southern Ocean and Antarctic by global warming, using chemicals that destroy the ozone layer, and of course by over hunting and fishing.

This book is well written.  It contains a lot of information about a part of the world that most children and adults know relatively nothing about.  (rev. S.Fincannon)

DISCLOSURE:  A complimentary copy was provided by Enslow Publishing in exchange for our honest review. Opinions expressed are solely those of the reviewer. No compensation was received for this review.