| Summary: | The Southern Ocean (Figure 11.1) is a major component within the global ocean and climate system. It not only unites the Atlantic Ocean with the Indian and Pacific Oceans, but also connects low tropical latitudes with high polar latitudes. In addition, the Southern Ocean is also the origin of important teleconnections that link around the globe and across the equator into the northern hemisphere. Consequently, and given this unique global situation, there is now considerable concern that significant changes to the Southern Ocean (resulting from recent, rapid, regional warming) have occurred over the past 50 years (King, 1994; Smith et al., 1999; Levitus et al., 2000; Gille, 2002).
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