Southern ocean
The Southern Ocean is cold and windy with a short, warmer summer. Living things here have plenty of water but perhaps more salt than they need.
Animals that live in the air or on the land use the small islands in the area. There is frantic activity in the brief summer as they eat, mate and prepare for winter.
Things that live in the sea can rely on an environment with a constant temperature and salt level. Their main problems are finding food and each other in all that water!
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| Heading south on the Australian Antarctic supply ship Aurora Australis, near Heard Island.Photo: W Zeidler, 1990 |
Southern right whale and a calf at
the Head of the Bight, South Australia. Photo: J K Ling, ANPWS and South Australian Museum. |
Animals that live in the southern ocean have
- plenty of water
- plenty of salt
- very little land.
 Vegetation
Large tussock grasses, dwarf plants and mosses are common on Southern Ocean islands. Constant wind and low temperature prevents the growth of taller trees. Beds of kelp grow in the shallow waters surrounding the islands. The deeper ocean can only sustain microscopic, floating, single-celled plants called phytoplankton. |