Which oceans wash Australia? How many of them?

Which ocean is washed by the mainland Australia? Or even what? This question is asked, probably, every schoolboy and even many adults. Everyone knows that Australia is the only mainland state, but few people can boast of knowing the geographical features of this country. Not everyone even correctly calls the capital of Australia, thinking that this is the largest city. But what kind of erudite can still correctly and unequivocally answer the question of which oceans are washed by Australia?

One ocean? Two? Or three?

The answer to the question of which oceans are washed by Australia, can vary depending on the approach. So, in many countries it is considered to be two - Indian and Quiet. But very few people know that there is another ocean that is washing Australia - the South. Its waters conditionally include parts of three oceans at the same time - Pacific, Atlantic and Indian. However, not all cartographers agree with this. Many people believe that the waters that wash Antarctica should not be isolated in a separate body of water, the borders of which, by the way, are very arbitrary.

Which oceans wash the coast of Australia

As already mentioned above, the continent Australia is washed by three oceans - Indian, Pacific and Southern. As for the first, everything is clear, it is in contact with the mainland in the north and east, and, respectively, the west and south of Australia are washed by the Indian Ocean. At least that's what most people think. But what about the third, with the Southern Ocean? It's all a bit confusing.

Once the ocean, two oceans, three oceans, four oceans ... all?

Now you know which oceans are washing Australia, but why is it accepted abroad that there are three of them? From the school course of geography, every schoolboy learns that there are four oceans in the world : the Arctic (the smallest, located between Eurasia and North America), the Quiet (the largest, located between Eurasia and Australia), the Atlantic (located between Iceland and Greenland) and , Finally, the Indian (washed at once Africa, Australia, Antarctica and Asia).

The ocean or not the ocean - that's the question

However, in 2000 a new ocean appeared. How? To the joy or, unfortunately, there is no magic involved. It was simply decided to allocate another ocean from the already existing world waters, although to date not everyone agrees with such a situation and the introduction of such innovations in geography. Nevertheless, it is commonly believed that it washes Antarctica, and its other end is the 60th parallel. This is the fourth ocean by area, which, unlike others, does not have a land border in the north.

Do we need the Southern Ocean

Why, apparently, to allocate a new ocean, if in fact its waters flow into three other oceans? Why not classify these waters as a continuation of the relevant sources? This leads to the fact that it is difficult for people to unequivocally answer the question about which oceans are washed by Australia.

One of the main reasons for this decision is the differences in water composition, which are provoked by the Antarctic current, which stimulates the circulation of water masses around Antarctica.

Reasoning on a free topic

Now that you know which oceans are washing Australia, you still need to think about how to deal with the South. Despite the fact that in some foreign countries it is customary to recognize the presence of the fifth ocean, in most of the CIS countries it is still ignored. It is difficult to say what this causes and will change sometime, but in reality this has little effect on the state of affairs, nothing depends on it either. Although if we take into account that the water composition in this region differs significantly from other oceans, separation of the Southern Ocean seems quite appropriate.