Coastline of the southern ocean. Southern or Antarctic Ocean

South ocean also referred to as the Antarctic Ocean. Its waters surround Antarctica and it is the fourth largest of the world's five oceans.

The Southern Ocean covers an area of ​​about 35 million square kilometers. The boundaries of the Southern Ocean are not specifically defined. Exists a large number of controversy over whether the Southern Ocean even exists.


Some geographers believe that the waters of the Southern Ocean are really only extensions of the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans.

The southern ocean was originally searched for because they believed in the existence of a continent that balances the northern continents, the so-called Terra Australis.

The Southern Ocean spans the South Pole and contains 14 seas

During winter, half of the Southern Ocean is covered with icebergs and ice. Some ice and icebergs move away from the Antarctic ice sheet and float in the waters of the Southern Ocean.

The world's largest penguin species emperor penguin, lives on the ice of the Southern Ocean and on the continent of Antarctica.

Wandering albatrosses also make their home in the Southern Ocean.

Antarctica is home to 90% of the world's ice reserves. This continent is windy, dry and the coldest continent in the world. Antarctica is considered a desert due to the fact that there is very little moisture. The Sahara Desert receives more rainfall than Antarctica. Most of its moisture falls in the form of snow.

The summer season in the Southern Ocean lasts from October to February, the winter season lasts from March to September.

Sea water under the ice surface has a temperature of -2°C to +10°C.
Krill, tiny shrimp, live in icy water under the ice in Antarctica.
Military operations in the Southern Ocean are limited, in accordance with the scientific research treaty.
The first child born on the Antarctic mainland was Emilio Marcos de Palma on January 7th, 1978. He was also the first in history to be born this far south.
In 1953, the Southern Ocean was marked by the boundaries of the oceans and seas, marked by the boundaries of the world's main waters.
In 2000, the International Hydrographic Organization designated the Southern Ocean as its own ocean.

• The deepest part of the Southern Ocean is the southern end of the Sandwich Trench South, which is 23,737 feet deep.
• Average depth The Southern Ocean is between 13,100 and 16,400 feet.

The South Pole was not conquered by man until 1911.

Temperatures can drop even below -100 degrees Fahrenheit here. The coldest temperature recorded on Earth was recorded in Antarctica. It was -128.6 degrees Fahrenheit. It is believed that if the ice sheet in the Southern Ocean melts, then the oceans around the world will grow by as much as 65 meters.

The Southern Ocean is a part of the World Ocean, covering the waters of the Pacific, Indian and surrounding Antarctica.
The Southern Ocean formed about 30 million years ago when South America separated from Antarctica to form the Drake Passage.

In the Southern Ocean, there is a huge amount of plankton and krill - the main elements of the diet of whales. One of the most common whale species in the Southern Ocean, the humpback whale is also one of the most agile whales that loves to perform spectacular acrobatic stunts by jumping high out of the water.
On most nautical charts, there is no such thing as the Southern Ocean at all. Mariners also do not use it for practical purposes. Moreover, there is no agreement in the scientific community regarding exact definition its boundaries.
The boundaries of this ocean are extremely conditional because the very definition of the location of the ocean is in question. As a separate ocean, it was marked on maps as early as 1650 by the geographer of German-Dutch origin Bernhard Waren, also called Bernhardus Varenius (1622-1650). IN Last year During the life of Varenius, his main work “Universal Geography: a General Scientific Systematized Description of the Earth's Surface” was published, in which Varenius tried to collect all the geographical knowledge accumulated by that time by mankind.
The reason why Varenius combined the Antarctic regions of the three oceans into one - the Southern - is that at that time it had not yet been discovered, as well as all other regions above the Antarctic Circle.
In 1845 the Royal geographical society in London tried to introduce the name "South Arctic Ocean', but it didn't stick.
The Southern Ocean was present on geographical maps until the beginning of the 20th century. In 1937, the International Hydrographic Organization used the name "Southern Ocean" in a number of publications. Moreover, many editions of geographical atlases referred to the Southern Ocean and the territory of the ice-covered continent of Antarctica. At the same time, the latitude of the Antarctic Circle (66°33"44"" S) was considered the boundary of the Southern Ocean.
By the beginning of the XX century. southern regions three oceans have already been sufficiently studied, and disputes have begun in the scientific community regarding the boundary of the Southern Ocean. Each science considered its own way of determining the boundaries of the ocean to be the only true one. Hydrologists and climatologists drew the boundary of the Southern Ocean on the basis of the circulation of water and the atmosphere: 35 ° S. sh. Marine geologists, having studied the nature of the bottom, insisted on drawing a boundary along 60 ° S. sh. When compiling the Atlas of the Antarctic in 1969, oceanologists of the USSR drew the boundary of the Southern Ocean at 55 ° S. sh. - the northern border of the Antarctic Convergence Zone (the zone of convergence of northern, relatively warmer, and southern, cold surface waters).
In 2000, the International Hydrographic Organization adopted a division into five oceans, but this decision has not been finally ratified.
Because practical value there was no separate ocean, the issue of the Southern Ocean gradually disappeared from the practice of navigation, it ceased to be mentioned in marine manuals. Currently, the topic of the Southern Ocean is sometimes raised by scientists specializing in very narrow branches of oceanology.
The question of the boundary of the Southern Ocean has remained controversial, but as a compromise, most experts draw the northern boundary at 60 ° N. sh., and the southern - along the coast of Antarctica. In accordance with this, the Southern Ocean can be considered the fourth largest.

Geography

The Southern Ocean is located in the South Polar Region of the Earth. Most often, this is the name given to the southern parts of the Atlantic, Indian and Pacific Oceans adjacent to Antarctica. Behind southern border Ocean is considered to be the coast of Antarctica, the northern boundary is conventionally drawn approximately along the parallel of 60 ° S. sh. Here (more precisely, up to 55 ° S. latitude) is the northern boundary of the Antarctic surface waters (Antarctic circumpolar current).
The sailors called the "roaring forties" the oceanic space between 40 ° and 50 ° latitude in the southern hemisphere of the Earth, where strong and steady winds constantly blow. westerly winds causing frequent storms.
A distinctive feature of the Southern Ocean is atmospheric circulation air masses moving a considerable distance over open ocean, nowhere encountering obstacles in the form of mountains or large areas of flat land.
Over the water area of ​​the Southern Ocean, intense cyclonic activity is extremely developed. Most cyclones move from west to east. This zone is included in the area between the 60th and 70th parallels of south latitude, called the “howling sixties” due to the strongest wind that constantly prevails in this region, reaching a speed of 145 km / h and raising waves 15 m high and higher.
One more distinguishing feature Southern Ocean - the course of the Western winds, which spreads throughout the entire thickness of the waters and carries them to eastbound. To the south of this current, the Western Coastal Current is formed. The cold and dense water masses formed here move from the shores of Antarctica along the ocean floor far to the north.
It is here, in the Southern Ocean, that the largest icebergs are formed, constantly breaking off from the Antarctic ice sheet. At the same time, there are more than 200 thousand icebergs in the Southern Ocean. Average length iceberg - about 500 m, but colossal ice floes up to 180 km long and several tens of kilometers wide come across. Currents carry icebergs to the north, and they can even reach 35-40 ° S. sh .: a significant mass melts under the sun for a long time. Average duration the existence of an iceberg in the Southern Ocean - 6 years, but there are also "veterans" aged 12-15 years.

Flora and fauna

Climatic conditions for the flora and fauna of the Southern Ocean only seem harsh. On the contrary, plants and animals have perfectly adapted to use the cold as a protective element. The Southern Ocean is distinguished by giant accumulations of phyto- and zooplankton, krill, many species of sponges and echinoderms live on the bottom. There are several families of fish here, but nototheniids predominate.
Birds are very peculiar: the southern giant petrel, black-browed albatross, skuas are able to travel long distances through the air, and the flightless penguin can walk on ice. The abundance of food explains the exceptional species diversity of whales ( blue whale, fin whale, sei whale, humpback whale) and seals (Weddell seal, crabeater seal, leopard seal, fur seal). Industrial fishing for cetaceans has seriously reduced their numbers, and now whaling is prohibited. Among other dangers that threaten the number of local fauna are poachers overfishing, breeding of rats on the Antarctic islands, where the number of bird nests is very high.

Population

On the islands and the continental coast South Sea the population is unstable and not numerous: it is primarily polar explorers. Other settlers in accordance with the Convention on Antarctica cannot be there, since the continent and islands located south of 60 ° S. sh., cannot belong to any state, and only scientific activity. Unfortunately, this does not mean that the states - parties to the convention have no territorial claims: very large territories on the continent, Great Britain, Norway, Australia are considered their own, since 1908 Great Britain claims to be, since 1940 - Chile, since 1943 - Argentina. The US and Russia also have their sights set on them. Since 1929, Norway has laid claim to the island of Peter I. There are a number of disputed islands in the Southern Ocean, but there is no permanent population on all of them, only in summer the islands are visited by scientific expeditions.

general information

Seas: Atlantic Ocean (Lazarev, Riiser-Larsen, Skosha,), Indian (Davis, Cosmonauts, Mawson, Commonwealth), Pacific (Amundsen, Bellingshausen, Durville, Somov).

Geographic boundaries: northern - 60 ° S sh., southern - the coast of Antarctica.

Largest islands: Ross, Adelaide, archipelagos: Palmer South Shetland Islands, South Orkney Islands, including the largest islands of Antarctica completely surrounded by shelf ice: Alexander I Land, Berkner, Thurston.

Numbers

Average depth: 3500 m.

Max Depth: South Sandwich Trench (Atlantic Ocean, 8428 m).

Depth of the Antarctic shelf: up to 500 m.

Ice cover area in September-October: 1819 million km 2, in January-February - 2-3 million km 2.

■ Natural: Ross Ice Shelf, Una Peaks (Le Mer Canal), Bunger Oasis ( West Side Wilkes Lands), tabular icebergs, bird colonies.

Curious facts

■ The 60th parallel of south latitude is not only the northern boundary of the Southern Ocean, but also the northern boundary of the demilitarized zone free from nuclear weapons(Antarctic Treaty 1959).

■ In the Northern Hemisphere of the Earth, 61% of its surface is occupied by water, and in the Southern - 81%.

■ Sectors are distinguished in the Southern Ocean: the Atlantic - between the northern tip of the Antarctic Peninsula and the meridian of the Cape of Good Hope, the Indian - between the meridian of the Cape of Good Hope and the meridian of the South East Cape on the island of Tasmania, and the Pacific - between the meridian of the South East Cape on the island of Tasmania and the northern tip of the Antarctic Peninsula.

■ The South Sandwich Trench is not only the deepest in the Southern Ocean, but also the second deepest in Atlantic Ocean- after the Puerto Rico trench (8742 m).

■ Most of the southern ocean species of fauna that live at water temperatures close to freezing (up to -1.9 ° C) have in their blood and other body fluids a similarity to an automobile “anti-freeze”: glycoproteins are a special combination of sugars with proteins that prevents the formation of ice in organism.

■ The grey-headed albatross is listed in the Guinness Book of Records as the bird with the fastest horizontal flight: 127 km/h, the speed that the albatross kept for more than 8 hours, returning to the nest on South Georgia Island. The wandering albatross living there has the largest wingspan among birds: up to 325 cm.

■ Another Antarctic bird record holder, the Falkland Islands gentoo penguin, at 36 km/h underwater, is the fastest of all penguins.

In particular, it is signed in the 3rd edition of the fundamental Atlas of the world and in other atlases published already in the 21st century.

Encyclopedic YouTube

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  14 seas stand out off the coast of Antarctica: Weddell, Scotia, Bellingshausen, Ross, Amundsen, Davis, Lazarev, Riiser-Larsen, King Haakon VII, Cosmonauts, Commonwealth, Mawson, D'Urville, Somov. The most important islands of the Southern Ocean: Kerguelen, South Shetland, South Orkney. The Antarctic shelf is submerged to a depth of 500 meters.

  All the seas washing Antarctica, except for the Scotia and Weddell Seas, are marginal. In the tradition accepted in most countries, they divide its coast into sectors as follows:

  Seas of the Southern Ocean

  Name	Sector	In whose honor is it named
  .
  Sea Lazareva	0-14° in. d.
  Sea Riser-Larsen	14-34° in. d.
  Sea Cosmonauts	34-45° in. d.
  Sea Commonwealth	70-87° in. d.	The international cooperation in Antarctica
  Sea Davis	87-98° in. d.
  Sea Mawson	98-113° in. d.
  Sea Durville	136-148° in. d.
  Sea Somova	148-170° in. d.
  Sea Rossa	170° in. - 158°W d.
  Sea Amundsen	100-123°W d.
  Sea Bellingshausen	70-100°W d.
  Sea Scotia	30-50°W 55-60°S sh.
  Sea Weddell	10-60°W d., 78-60°S sh.
  Sea King Hawkon VII	20° in. 67°S sh.
  .

  Southern Ocean in cartography

  The Southern Ocean was first identified in 1650 by the Dutch geographer Bernhard Varenius and included both the “southern mainland” not yet discovered by Europeans, and all areas above the southern polar circle.

  Currently, the ocean itself continues to be considered water mass, which is mostly surrounded by land. In 2000, the International Hydrographic Organization adopted a division into five oceans, but this decision was never ratified. The current definition of oceans from 1953 does not include the Southern Ocean.

  In the Soviet tradition (1969), the approximate boundary of the conditional "Southern Ocean" was considered the zone of the Antarctic convergence (the northern boundary of the Antarctic surface waters), near 55 ° south latitude. In other countries, the border is also blurred - the latitude is south of Cape Horn, the border floating ice, zone of the Antarctic Convention (area south of 60 parallel south latitude) . The Australian Government considers the "Southern Ocean" to be the waters immediately south of the Australian continent.

  The name "Southern Ocean" was included in atlases and geographical maps until the first quarter of the 20th century. IN Soviet time this term was not used ], however, since the end of the 20th century, he began to sign on maps published by Roskartografiya.

  History of Southern Ocean exploration

  XVI-XIX centuries

  The first ship to cross the border of the Southern Ocean belonged to the Dutch; it was commanded by Dirk Geeritz, who sailed in the squadron of Jacob Magyu. In 1559, in the Strait of Magellan, Geeritz's ship, after a storm, lost sight of the squadron and went south. Having descended to 64 ° south latitude, it saw high ground- possibly the South Orkney Islands. In 1671, Anthony de la Rocher discovered South Georgia; in 1739 the island of Bouvet was discovered; in 1772 French Marine officer Kerguelen discovered an island in the Indian Ocean named after him.

  Almost simultaneously with the sailing of Kerguelen from England, James Cook set off on his first journey to the southern hemisphere, and already in January 1773, his ships Adventure and Resolution crossed the Antarctic Circle on meridian 37 33" east longitude. After a hard struggle with the ice, he reached 67 ° 15" south latitude, where he was forced to turn north. In December of the same year, Cook again went to the Southern Ocean, on December 8 he crossed the Antarctic Circle at 150 ° 6 "West longitude and at the parallel of 67 ° 5" S. latitude was covered with ice, freed from which, went further south and, in late January 1774, reached 71°15" south latitude, 109°14" west longitude, southwest of Tierra del Fuego. Here an impenetrable wall of ice prevented him from going further. On his second voyage in the Southern Ocean, Cook crossed the Antarctic Circle twice. During both voyages, he became convinced that the abundance of ice mountains indicates the existence of a significant Antarctic continent. The difficulties of polar navigation were described by him in such a way that only whalers continued to visit these latitudes and the southern polar scientific expeditions ceased for a long time.

  In 1819, the Russian navigator Bellingshausen, commanding the warships Vostok and Mirny, visited South Georgia and tried to penetrate deep into the Southern Ocean; for the first time, in January 1820, almost on the Greenwich meridian, he reached 69 ° 21 "south latitude; then, having gone beyond the limits of the southern polar circle, Bellingshausen passed along it to the east to 19 ° east longitude, where he crossed it again and reached in February again almost the same latitude (69°6"). Further east, it rose only to 62 ° parallel and continued its journey along the margin of the floating ice, then, on the meridian of the Balleny Islands, it reached 64 ° 55 ", in December 1820, at 161 ° west longitude, passed the Antarctic Circle and reached 67 ° 15 "south latitude, and in January 1821, between the meridians 99 ° and 92 ° west longitude, reached 69 ° 53" south latitude; then, almost on the meridian 81 °, opened in 68 ° 40 "south latitude, a high coast islands Peter I, and going even to the east, inside the southern polar circle - the coast of the Earth Alexander I. Thus, Bellingshausen was the first to make a full voyage around the South Arctic continent, discovered by him, almost all the time between latitudes 60 ° - 70 °, on small sailing ships.

  At the end of 1837, a French expedition, under the command of Dumont-Durville, consisting of two steam ships - Astrolabe (L'Astrolabe) and Zele (La Zélée), set off to explore Oceania, to verify information Veddel and others. In January 1838, Dumont-D'Urville took the path of Weddel, but ice blocked his path at the parallel of 63 ° south latitude. South of the South Shetland Islands, he saw a high coast called Louis Philippe Land; later it turned out that this land is an island, the western shores of which are called Trinity Land and Palmer Land. After wintering in Tasmania, on the way to the south, Dumont-D'Urville met the first ice and after a difficult navigation between them, on January 9, 1840, in latitudes 66 ° - 67 °, almost on the Arctic Circle, and 141 ° E. D. saw a high mountainous coast. Dumont-Durville traced this land, called the Land of Adélie, along the Arctic Circle to the meridian of 134 ° east longitude On January 17, at 65 ° south latitude and 131 ° east longitude, another coast was discovered, called the Clary Coast.

  An American expedition, consisting of three ships: "Vincennes", "Peacock" and "Porpoise", under the command of Lieutenant Willis, set out from the Tierra del Fuego archipelago in February 1839 in order to try to pass the Weddel route to the south, but she was met with the same insurmountable obstacles , like Dumont-Durville, and she was forced to return without any special results to Chile (on the meridian of 103 ° west longitude, she reached almost 70 ° south latitude and then, as if, she saw the earth). In January 1840, the American explorer Charles Wilkes went almost due south along longitude 160° east. Already at the parallel of 64 ° 11 "S, the ice blocked his further path. Turning to the west and reaching the meridian 153 ° 6" East longitude, at 66 ° South latitude, he saw a mountain 120 km away, which was named by Ringold Knoll. Ross, who visited these places a little later, disputed Wilkes' discovery, but without foundation. The honor of discovering various parts of the Earth Wilks belongs in reality to each of the three navigators - Wilkes, Dumont-Durville and Ross - individually. During January and February 1840, Wilkes traveled a considerable distance along the margins of the Antarctic continent and reached the meridian 96° East. For all the time of the voyage, he did not manage to land on the shore anywhere.

  The third English expedition, under the command of James Clark Ross, on the steam ships Erebus (Erebus) and Terror (Erebus commander was Crozier), was equipped to explore the southern polar countries in general. In August 1840, Ross was in Tasmania, where he learned that Dumont-D'Urville had just discovered the coast of Adélie's Land; this prompted him to begin his explorations further east, on the meridian of the Balleny Islands. In December 1840, the expedition crossed the Antarctic Circle on the meridian 169 ° 40 "E. and soon began to fight the ice. After 10 days, the ice strip was passed, and on December 31 (old style) they saw the high coast of the Earth   Victoria, one of the highest mountain peaks which Ross named after the initiator of the expedition - Sabina, and the entire chain of mountains with a height of 2000 - 3000 m - the Admiralty ridge. All the valleys of this chain were littered with snow and huge glaciers descending to the sea. Behind Cape Adar, the coast turned south, remaining mountainous and impregnable Ross landed on one of the Possession Islands, at 71 ° 56 "south latitude and 171 ° 7" east longitude, completely devoid of vegetation and inhabited by a mass of penguins that covered its shores with a thick layer of guano. Continuing his navigation further south, Ross discovered the Kuhlman Islands and Franklin (the latter - at 76 ° 8 "south latitude) and saw the coast directly to the south and high mountain(Erebus volcano) with a height of 3794 meters, and a little to the east another volcano was seen, already extinct, called Terror, 3230 meters high. The further way to the south was blocked by the coast, turning to the east and bordered by a continuous vertical ice wall, up to 60 meters high above the water, which, according to Ross, descends to a depth of about 300 meters. This ice barrier was distinguished by the absence of any significant depressions, bays or capes; its nearly level, vertical wall stretched for a vast distance. Beyond the ice shore to the south were the peaks of a high mountain range, which went deep into the southern polar continent; it is named after Parry. Ross passed from Victoria Land to the east for about 840 km, and throughout this length the character of the ice coast remained unchanged. Finally, the late season forced Ross to return to Tasmania. On this voyage, he reached 78 ° 4 "south latitude, between meridians 173 ° -174 ° west longitude. On the second voyage, his ships on December 20, 1841, again crossed the Antarctic Circle and went south. At the beginning of February 1842, on meridian 165 ° west, they reached a more open sea and headed directly south, approaching the ice coast a little more east than in 1841. At 161 ° 27 "W they reached 78 ° 9" S, that is, they approached south pole closer than anyone so far. Further navigation to the east was blocked by solid ice (pak), and the expedition turned to the north. In December 1842, Ross made a third attempt to penetrate south; this time he chose the path of Weddel and headed for the Land of Louis-Philippe. Going east, Ross crossed the Arctic Circle on meridian 8° west and on February 21 reached 71°30" south latitude, 14°51 west longitude.

  Almost 30 years later, an expedition on the Challenger corvette visited, among other things, the southern polar countries. After visiting Kerguelen Island, the Challenger headed south and reached 65 ° 42 "south latitude. At 64 ° 18" south latitude and 94 ° 47 "east longitude, he determined a depth of 2380 meters, and although, according to the map of Wilkes, the coast should have been at a distance of only 30 kilometers, it was not visible.

  Climate and weather

  Sea temperatures vary from approximately −2 to 10 °C. The cyclonic movement of storms is eastward around the continent and often becomes intense due to the temperature contrast between the ice and the open ocean. The ocean region from 40 degrees south latitude to the Antarctic Circle has the strongest average winds on Earth. In winter, the ocean freezes to 65 degrees south latitude in the Pacific sector and 55 degrees south latitude in the Atlantic sector, dropping surface temperatures well below 0 °C; at some coastal points, persistent strong winds leave coastline ice-free during the winter.

  Icebergs can be found at any time of the year throughout the Southern Ocean. Some of them are capable of reaching several hundred meters; smaller icebergs, iceberg fragments and sea ice (typically 0.5 to 1 meter) also pose problems for ships. The icebergs encountered are 6-15 years old, which implies the simultaneous existence of more than 200,000 icebergs in the waters of the ocean, ranging in length from 500 meters to 180 km and a width of up to several tens of kilometers.

  Sailors of latitudes from 40 to 70 degrees south latitude, from the era of sailing ships, are known as the "Roaring forties", "Furious fifties" and "Shrill sixties" due to bad weather, stormy winds and big waves, formed due to the movement of air masses, which, flowing around Earth, do not encounter obstacles in the form of any noticeable land masses. Floating ice, especially between May and October, makes this area even more dangerous, and the remoteness of the region from the inhabited areas of the Earth makes search and rescue operations ineffective.

  A life

  Despite the harsh climate, the Southern Ocean is teeming with life.

  Due to the subpolar location of the Southern Ocean, there is a sharp seasonal dynamics of the most important condition for photosynthesis - solar radiation. Under such conditions, a large amplitude of quantitative changes is observed throughout the year.

  The Southern Ocean is, until recently, a conditionally distinguished water area surrounding Antarctica. In 2000, the international mapping organization decided to name the waters from Antarctica to 60 ° S. latitude. Southern Ocean. This version was supported by numerous studies by scientists who proved that this water area is unique in its geology, geophysics and natural world. But this decision was not ratified, although, starting from the 21st century, the term "Southern Ocean" is found on all maps of the world.

  Russian scientists define the boundary of the ocean along the boundary of the Antarctic surface waters. In a number of other countries, such a boundary is drawn along the latitude, beyond which floating ice and icebergs do not occur.

  Characteristics

  Area: 20.327 million sq. km

  Average depth: 3500 m, maximum - 42 m (South Sandwich Trench)

  Average temperature: -2°C to +10°C

  Currents of the Southern Ocean

  

  Western winds(or Antarctic Circumpolar) - the main current of the Southern Ocean, providing significant influence on water circulation, temperature changes and coastline formation. The current penetrates the entire water column, reaching the bottom. It moves around the globe in the region of 40 ° S. latitude. It is this current that becomes the "culprit" of the emergence of powerful hurricanes and typhoons. average speed currents - 30-35 cm / sec.

  Western coastal the current moves from east to west. Situated south of the current West winds, approximately in the region of 65 ° S.l. Average speed - 15-30 cm/sec.

  Underwater ocean world

  

  Despite the harsh climatic conditions characteristic of the Arctic and subarctic zones, the nature of the Southern Ocean is striking in its abundance and uniqueness.

  The flora is represented by a variety of phytoplankton, which has two flowering peaks in the Southern Ocean. Many diatoms, blue-green much less.

  

  The ocean is rich in zooplancons; a large number of species of echinoderms, sponges, and krill live in its waters. Of the fish family (more than 100 species), most of all are representatives of notothenia (blue and green notothenia, sculpins, toothfish, Antarctic silverfish trematomes).

  Birds: 44 species (petrels, skuas, arctic terns), colonies of penguins are especially numerous, of which there are 7 species here.

  

  Animals: whales, seals and seals. The largest predators are sea leopards. Since 1965, the waters of the Southern Ocean have become the center of whaling. Whaling has been banned since the 1980s. Since then, the Southern Ocean has become a fishing ground for krill and fish.

  Southern Ocean exploration

  The history of exploration of the Southern Ocean can be divided into three stages:

  1. From the Age of Discovery to the 19th century - geographical discoveries islands, seas, an attempt at research underwater world and depths.

  2. Early XIX century - the end of XX - the discovery of Antarctica, the beginning of scientific oceanographic research.

  3. XX century. - today - a comprehensive study of the ocean in all areas of oceanography.

  

  (I. Aivazovsky. "Ice Mountains in Antarctica" 1870)

  Important dates and openings:

  1559 - voyage of D. Geeritz, who was the first to cross the border of the ocean.

  1773 - "round the world" D. Cook, who reached the Antarctic Circle and suggested that the abundance of ice mountains indicates the presence of the mainland in the south.

  1819-1821 - F.F. Bellingshausen's round-the-world Antarctic expedition, discovery of Antarctica.

  1821-1839 - more than a dozen whaling ships, in search of a catch, reach the shores of Antarctica and discover islands along the way.

  1840 - Expedition of the Englishman D.K.

  

  Officially, Antarctica does not belong to any country, but many states have put forward their claims to own individual islands and parts of the continent. While the bottom line is, the Americans have already set up the issuance of the Antarctic currency: the Antarctic dollar.

  In 1956, the largest iceberg was discovered in the Southern Ocean, covering an area of ​​​​about 31 thousand square kilometers.

  The number of seals in the Southern Ocean is 65% of all pinnipeds in the world.

  The name "Antarctica" is translated from ancient Greek as "opposite the Arctic".

  Antarctica is the only continent that does not have time zones. The people who work here calculate the time according to the time of their country.

  14-34° in. d. Hjalmar Riiser-Larsen, major general, creator of the Norwegian Air Force Sea of ​​Cosmonauts 34-45° in. d. First cosmonauts (1961-1962) Commonwealth Sea 70-87° in. d. International cooperation in Antarctica Davis Sea 87-98° in. d. J. K. Davies, Captain of the Aurora, Mawson Expedition (1911-14) Mawson Sea 98-113° in. d. Douglas Mawson, geologist, leader of three expeditions Sea of ​​D'Urville 136-148° in. d. Jules Dumont-Durville, oceanographer, rear admiral Sea of ​​Somov 148-170°E Mikhail Somov, head of the first Soviet expedition (1955-57) Ross Sea 170° in. - 158°W d. James Ross, Rear Admiral, first crossed 78°S sh. Amundsen Sea 100-123°W d. Roald Amundsen, first to reach the south pole Bellingshausen Sea 70-100°W d. Thaddeus Bellingshausen, admiral, discoverer of Antarctica sea ​​scotia 30-50°W 55-60°S sh. "Skosha" (English) Scotia), ship of the Bruce expedition (1902-1904) Weddell Sea 10-60°W d., 78-60°S sh. James Weddell, whaler who explored the region in the 1820s .

  Southern Ocean in cartography

  The Southern Ocean was first identified in 1650 by the Dutch geographer Benhard Varenius and included both the "southern mainland" not yet discovered by Europeans, and all areas above the Antarctic Circle.

  At present, the ocean itself continues to be considered a water mass, which is mostly surrounded by land. In 2000, the International Hydrographic Organization adopted a five-ocean division, but this decision has never been ratified. The current 1953 definition of the oceans does not include the Southern Ocean.

  In the Soviet tradition (1969), the approximate boundary of the conditional "Southern Ocean" was considered the zone of the Antarctic convergence (the northern boundary of the Antarctic surface waters), near 55 ° south latitude. In other countries, the border is also blurred - the latitude south of Cape Horn, the border of floating ice, the Antarctic Convention zone (the area south of 60 parallel south latitude). The Australian Government considers the "Southern Ocean" to be the waters immediately south of the Australian continent.

  The name "Southern Ocean" was included in atlases and geographical maps until the first quarter of the 20th century. In Soviet times, this term was not used, but from the end of the 20th century it began to be signed on maps published by Roskartografiya.

  History of Southern Ocean exploration

  XVI-XIX centuries

  The first ship to cross the border of the Southern Ocean belonged to the Dutch; it was commanded by Dirk Geeritz, who sailed in the squadron of Jacob Magyu. In 1559, in the Strait of Magellan, the ship Geeritz, after a storm, lost sight of the squadron and went south. Descending to 64° south latitude, she saw high land - possibly the South Orkney Islands. In 1671, Anthony de la Roche discovered South Georgia; in 1739 Bouvet Island was discovered; In 1772, the French naval officer Kerguelen discovered an island in the Indian Ocean named after him.

  Almost simultaneously with the sailing of Kerguelen from England, James Cook set off on his first journey to the southern hemisphere, and already in January 1773, his ships Adventure and Resolution crossed the Antarctic Circle at meridian 37 33" east longitude. After a hard struggle with the ice, he reached 67 ° 15" south latitude, where he was forced to turn north. In December of the same year, Cook again went to the Southern Ocean, on December 8 he crossed the Antarctic Circle at 150 ° 6 "West longitude and at the parallel of 67 ° 5" S. latitude was covered with ice, freed from which, went further south and, in late January 1774, reached 71°15" south latitude, at 109°14" west longitude, southwest of Tierra del Fuego. Here an impenetrable wall of ice prevented him from going further. On his second voyage in the Southern Ocean, Cook crossed the Antarctic Circle twice. During both voyages, he became convinced that the abundance of ice mountains indicates the existence of a significant Antarctic continent. The difficulties of polar navigation were described by him in such a way that only whalers continued to visit these latitudes and the southern polar scientific expeditions ceased for a long time.

  In 1819, the Russian navigator Bellingshausen, commanding the warships Vostok and Mirny, visited South Georgia and tried to penetrate deep into the Southern Ocean; for the first time, in January 1820, almost on the Greenwich meridian, he reached 69 ° 21 "south latitude; then, having gone beyond the limits of the southern polar circle, Bellingshausen passed along it to the east to 19 ° east longitude, where he crossed it again and reached in February again almost the same latitude (69°6"). Further east, it rose only to 62 ° parallel and continued its journey along the margin of the floating ice, then, on the meridian of the Balleny Islands, it reached 64 ° 55 ", in December 1820, at 161 ° west longitude, passed the southern polar circle and reached 67 ° 15 "south latitude, and in January 1821, between the meridians 99 ° and 92 ° west longitude, reached 69 ° 53" south latitude; then, almost on the meridian 81 °, opened in 68 ° 40 "south latitude, a high coast islands of Peter I, and passing even to the east, inside the southern polar circle - the coast of Alexander I Land. Thus, Bellingshausen was the first to make a full voyage around the South Arctic continent, discovered by him, almost all the time between latitudes 60 ° - 70 °, on small sailing ships.

  An American expedition, consisting of three ships: "Vincennes", "Peacock" and "Porpoise", under the command of Lieutenant Willis, set out from the Tierra del Fuego archipelago in February 1839 in order to try to pass the Weddel route to the south, but she was met with the same insurmountable obstacles , like Dumont-Durville, and she was forced to return without any special results to Chile (on the meridian of 103 ° west longitude, she reached almost 70 ° south latitude and then, as if, she saw the earth). In January 1840, the American explorer Charles Wilkes went almost due south along longitude 160° east. Already at the parallel of 64 ° 11 "S, the ice blocked his further path. Turning to the west and reaching the meridian 153 ° 6" East longitude, at 66 ° South latitude, he saw a mountain 120 km away, which was named by Ringold Knoll. Ross, who visited these places a little later, disputed Wilkes' discovery, but without foundation. The honor of discovering various parts of Wilkes Land actually belongs to each of the three navigators - Wilkes, Dumont-Durville and Ross - individually. During January and February 1840, Wilkes traveled a considerable distance along the margins of the Antarctic continent and reached the meridian 96° East. For all the time of the voyage, he did not manage to land on the shore anywhere.

  A third English expedition, under the command of James Clark Ross, on the steam ships Erebus (Erebus) and Terror (Erebus commander was Crozier), was equipped to explore the south polar countries in general. In August 1840, Ross was in Tasmania, where he learned that Dumont-D'Urville had just discovered the coast of Adélie's Land; this prompted him to begin his explorations further east, on the meridian of the Balleny Islands. In December 1840, the expedition crossed the Antarctic Circle on the meridian 169 ° 40 "E. and soon began to struggle with ice. After 10 days, the ice strip was passed, and on December 31 (old style) they saw the high coast of Victoria Land, one of the highest mountain peaks which Ross named after the initiator of the expedition - Sabina, and the entire chain of mountains with a height of 2000 - 3000 m - the Admiralty ridge. All the valleys of this chain were littered with snow and huge glaciers descending to the sea. Behind Cape Adar, the coast turned south, remaining mountainous and impregnable Ross landed on one of the Possession Islands, at 71 ° 56 "south latitude and 171 ° 7" east longitude, completely devoid of vegetation and inhabited by a mass of penguins that covered its shores with a thick layer of guano. Continuing his navigation further south, Ross discovered the Kuhlman Islands and Franklin (the latter - at 76 ° 8 "south latitude) and saw directly to the south the coast and a high mountain (Erebus volcano) 3794 meters high, and a little to the east another was seen in ulkan, already extinct, called Terror, 3230 meters high. The further way to the south was blocked by the coast, turning to the east and bordered by a continuous vertical ice wall, up to 60 meters high above the water, which, according to Ross, descends to a depth of about 300 meters. This ice barrier was distinguished by the absence of any significant depressions, bays or capes; its nearly level, vertical wall stretched for a vast distance. Outside the ice shore, to the south, the peaks of a high mountain range were visible, extending into the depths of the southern polar continent; it is named after Parry. Ross passed from Victoria Land to the east for about 840 km, and throughout this length the character of the ice coast remained unchanged. Finally, the late season forced Ross to return to Tasmania. On this voyage, he reached 78 ° 4 "south latitude, between meridians 173 ° -174 ° west longitude. On the second voyage, his ships crossed the Antarctic Circle again on December 20, 1841 and went south. In early February 1842, on meridian 165 ° west, they reached more open sea and headed due south, approaching the icy shore a little further east than in 1841. At 161°27" west longitude they reached 78°9" south latitude, that is, they came closer to the south pole than anyone hitherto. Further navigation to the east was blocked by solid ice (pak), and the expedition turned to the north. In December 1842, Ross made a third attempt to penetrate south; this time he chose the path of Weddel and headed for the Land of Louis-Philippe. Going east, Ross crossed the Arctic Circle on meridian 8° west and on February 21 reached 71°30" south latitude, 14°51 west longitude.

  Almost 30 years later, an expedition on the Challenger corvette visited, among other things, the southern polar countries. After visiting Kerguelen Island, the Challenger headed south and reached 65 ° 42 "south latitude. At 64 ° 18" south latitude and 94 ° 47 "east longitude, he determined a depth of 2380 meters, and although, according to the map of Wilkes, the coast should have been at a distance of only 30 kilometers, it was not visible.

  Climate and weather

  Sea temperatures vary from about −2 to 10 °C. The cyclonic movement of storms is eastward around the continent and often becomes intense due to the temperature contrast between the ice and the open ocean. The ocean region from 40 degrees south latitude to the Antarctic Circle has the strongest average winds on Earth. In winter, the ocean freezes to 65 degrees south latitude in the Pacific sector and 55 degrees south latitude in the Atlantic sector, dropping surface temperatures well below 0 °C; at some coastal points, persistent strong winds leave the coastline ice-free during the winter.

  Zooplankton in the waters of the Southern Ocean is represented by copepods (about 120 species), bipedals (about 80 species) and others. Of lesser importance are the chaetognaths, polychaetes, ostracods, appendicularians, and mollusks. In quantitative terms, copepods (copepods) are in the first place, accounting for almost 75% of the zooplankton biomass of the Pacific and Indian sectors of the ocean. There are few copepods in the Atlantic sector, but the Antarctic krill is widespread here.

  The Southern Ocean, especially for its Antarctic regions, is characterized by a massive accumulation of krill (Antarctic crustaceans). The biomass of krill in these areas reaches 2200 million tons, which makes it possible to catch up to 50-70 million tons of krill annually. Here, krill is the main food of toothless whales, seals, fish, cephalopods, penguins and tube-nosed birds. The crustaceans themselves feed on phytoplankton.

  The number of zooplankton during the year has two peaks. The first is associated with the rise of species that overwintered and is noted in surface waters. The second peak is characterized big amount zooplankton in the entire water column and is due to the birth of a new generation. This is the period of summer zooplankton bloom, when most of zooplankton passes into the upper layers and moves to the north, where its noticeable accumulation occurs in the Antarctic Convergence Zone. Both peaks appear as two latitudinal bands of zooplankton concentration.

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  Notes

  1. // Encyclopedic Dictionary of Brockhaus and Efron
  2. South ocean- article from the Great Soviet Encyclopedia.
  4. South ocean. Antarctica // Atlas of the World / comp. and prepare. to ed. PKO "Cartography" in 2009; ch. ed. G. V. Pozdnyak. - M. : PKO "Cartography": Onyx, 2010. - S. 201. - ISBN 978-5-85120-295-7 (Cartography). - ISBN 978-5-488-02609-4 (Onyx).
  6. Grushinsky, N.; Dralkin A.. - M.: Nedra, 1988. - 199 p. - ISBN 5-247-00090-0
  10. Antarctic // Great Soviet Encyclopedia (second edition), Vol. 2 (1950), pp. 484-485.

  Links

  • // Encyclopedic Dictionary of Brockhaus and Efron: in 86 volumes (82 volumes and 4 additional). - St. Petersburg. , 1890-1907.

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  North of 40°S sh. Roaring forties -50°S sh. Furious fifties -60°S sh.

  An excerpt characterizing the Southern Ocean

  Soon after uncle, the door was opened, obviously a barefoot girl by the sound of her feet, and a fat, ruddy, beautiful woman of about 40 years old, with a double chin, and full, ruddy lips, entered the door with a large tray in her hands. She, with hospitable representativeness and attractiveness in her eyes and every movement, looked round at the guests and bowed respectfully to them with an affectionate smile. Despite the thickness of more than usual, forcing her to put forward her chest and stomach and hold her head back, this woman (uncle's housekeeper) stepped extremely lightly. She walked over to the table, set down the tray, and with her white, chubby hands deftly removed and arranged the bottles, snacks, and treats on the table. Having finished this, she moved away and stood at the door with a smile on her face. “Here she is and me! Do you understand your uncle now?” her appearance told Rostov. How not to understand: not only Rostov, but also Natasha understood the uncle and the meaning of frowned eyebrows, and the happy, self-satisfied smile that wrinkled his lips a little while Anisya Fyodorovna entered. On the tray were a herbalist, liqueurs, mushrooms, black flour cakes on yurag, honeycomb, boiled and effervescent honey, apples, raw and roasted nuts, and nuts in honey. Then Anisya Fyodorovna brought jam with honey and sugar, and ham, and chicken, freshly fried.
  All this was Anisya Fyodorovna's household, collection and jam. All this smelled and resonated and had the taste of Anisya Fyodorovna. Everything resonated with juiciness, purity, whiteness and a pleasant smile.
  “Eat, young lady countess,” she kept saying, giving Natasha one thing, then another. Natasha ate everything, and it seemed to her that she had never seen or eaten such cakes on yuraga, with such a bouquet of jams, nuts on honey, and such a chicken. Anisya Fyodorovna went out. Rostov and his uncle, washing down their dinner with cherry liqueur, talked about past and future hunting, about Rugai and the Ilaginsky dogs. Natasha, with sparkling eyes, sat straight up on the sofa, listening to them. Several times she tried to wake Petya to give him something to eat, but he said something incomprehensible, obviously not waking up. Natasha was so cheerful at heart, so happy in this new environment for her, that she was only afraid that the droshky would come for her too soon. After an accidental silence, as almost always happens with people who receive their acquaintances for the first time in their house, the uncle said, answering the thought that his guests had:
  “So I’m living out my life… If you die, it’s a pure march—nothing will be left.” What a sin then!
  Uncle's face was very significant and even beautiful when he said this. At the same time, Rostov involuntarily remembered everything that he had heard good things from his father and neighbors about his uncle. My uncle had a reputation throughout the whole neighborhood of the province as the noblest and most disinterested eccentric. He was called upon to judge family affairs, he was made an executor, secrets were trusted to him, he was elected to judges and other positions, but he stubbornly refused public service, spending autumn and spring in the fields on his brown gelding, sitting at home in winter, lying in his overgrown summer garden.
  - Why don't you serve, uncle?
  - He served, but quit. I'm not fit, it's a clean march, I can't make out anything. It's your business, and I'm not smart enough. As for hunting, it's another matter, it's a pure march! Open that door, he shouted. - What did they shut up! - The door at the end of the corridor (which uncle called the kolidor) led to an idle hunting room: that was the name of the human for hunters. Bare feet quickly slapped and an invisible hand opened the door to the hunting room. From the corridor, the sounds of a balalaika were clearly audible, which was apparently played by some kind of master of this business. Natasha had been listening to these sounds for a long time and now went out into the corridor to hear them more clearly.
  - This is my coachman Mitka ... I bought him a good balalaika, I love it, - said my uncle. - It was customary for my uncle that when he came home from hunting, Mitka would play the balalaika in the bachelor's hunting lodge. Uncle loved to listen to this music.
  “How good, really excellent,” said Nikolai with some involuntary disdain, as if he was ashamed to admit that these sounds were very pleasant to him.
  - How great? - Natasha said reproachfully, feeling the tone in which her brother said this. - Not great, but it's a charm, what is it! - Just like mushrooms, honey and uncle's liqueurs seemed to her the best in the world, so this song seemed to her at that moment the height of musical charm.
  “More, please, more,” Natasha said at the door, as soon as the balalaika fell silent. Mitka tuned in and again valiantly rattled the Lady with busts and interceptions. Uncle sat and listened, his head tilted to one side with a slight smile. The motif of the Lady was repeated a hundred times. The balalaika was tuned several times and the same sounds rattled again, and the listeners did not get bored, but only wanted to hear this game again and again. Anisya Fyodorovna came in and leaned her fat body against the lintel.
  “If you please listen,” she said to Natasha, with a smile very similar to her uncle’s smile. “He plays well with us,” she said.
  “He’s doing something wrong in this knee,” my uncle suddenly said with an energetic gesture. - Here it is necessary to scatter - a clean march - scatter ...
  – Do you know how? Natasha asked. Uncle smiled without answering.
  - Look, Anisyushka, that the strings are intact, or something, on the guitar? I haven’t taken it in my hands for a long time - it’s a pure march! abandoned.
  Anisya Fyodorovna willingly went with her light step to carry out her master's order and brought the guitar.
  Uncle, without looking at anyone, blew off the dust, tapped the lid of the guitar with his bony fingers, tuned it, and straightened himself in his chair. He took (with a somewhat theatrical gesture, leaving the elbow of his left hand) the guitar above the neck and, winking at Anisya Fyodorovna, began not the Lady, but took one sonorous, clear chord, and measuredly, calmly, but firmly began to finish the well-known song at a very quiet pace: and ice pavement. At the same time, in time with that sedate joy (the same that Anisya Fyodorovna's whole being breathed), the motive of the song sang in the soul of Nikolai and Natasha. Anisya Fyodorovna blushed and, covering herself with a handkerchief, laughingly left the room. Uncle continued to cleanly, diligently and energetically firmly finish the song, looking with a changed inspired look at the place from which Anisya Fyodorovna had left. A little bit something laughed in his face on one side under a gray mustache, especially laughed when the song dispersed further, the beat accelerated and something came off in places of busts.
  - Charm, charm, uncle; more, more, ”Natasha shouted as soon as he finished. She jumped up from her seat, hugged her uncle and kissed him. - Nikolenka, Nikolenka! she said, looking round at her brother and as if asking him: what is this?
  Nikolai also really liked the uncle's game. Uncle played the song a second time. The smiling face of Anisya Fyodorovna appeared again at the door, and from behind her there were still other faces ... "Behind the cold key, she shouts: wait a girl!" my uncle played, again made a deft enumeration, tore it off and moved his shoulders.
  “Well, well, my dear, uncle,” Natasha groaned in such an imploring voice, as if her life depended on it. Uncle stood up and as if there were two people in him - one of them smiled seriously at the merry fellow, and the merry fellow made a naive and neat trick before the dance.
  - Well, niece! - shouted the uncle, waving his hand to Natasha, tearing off the chord.
  Natasha threw off the handkerchief that was thrown over her, ran ahead of her uncle and, propping her hands on her hips, made a movement with her shoulders and stood.
  Where, how, when she sucked in herself from that Russian air that she breathed - this countess, brought up by a French emigrant, this spirit, where did she get these techniques that pas de chale should have long been forced out? But these spirits and methods were the same, inimitable, not studied, Russian, which her uncle expected from her. As soon as she stood up, she smiled solemnly, proudly and cunningly cheerfully, the first fear that gripped Nikolai and all those present, the fear that she would do something wrong, passed and they were already admiring her.
  She did the same thing, and did it so exactly, so quite exactly, that Anisya Fyodorovna, who immediately handed her the handkerchief necessary for her work, burst into tears through laughter, looking at this thin, graceful, so alien to her, educated countess in silk and velvet. who knew how to understand everything that was in Anisya, and in Anisya's father, and in her aunt, and in her mother, and in every Russian person.
  “Well, the countess is a pure march,” said the uncle, laughing joyfully, having finished the dance. - Oh yes, niece! If only you could choose a good fellow for you, - march is a clean business!
  “Already chosen,” said Nikolai smiling.
  - ABOUT? said the uncle in surprise, looking inquiringly at Natasha. Natasha nodded her head in the affirmative with a happy smile.
  - Another one! - she said. But as soon as she said this, another, new line of thoughts and feelings arose in her. What did Nikolai's smile mean when he said: "already chosen"? Is he happy about it or not? He seems to think that my Bolkonsky would not have approved, would not have understood our joy. No, he would understand. Where is he now? thought Natasha, and her face suddenly became serious. But it only lasted for one second. “Don’t think about it, don’t dare to think about it,” she said to herself, and smiling, she sat down again with her uncle, asking him to play something else.
  Uncle played another song and a waltz; then, after a pause, he cleared his throat and sang his favorite hunting song.
  Like powder from the evening
  Turned out good...
  Uncle sang the way the people sing, with that complete and naive conviction that in a song all meaning lies only in the words, that the melody comes by itself and that there is no separate melody, but that the melody is only for the warehouse. Because of this, this unconscious tune, like the song of a bird, was unusually good with my uncle. Natasha was delighted with her uncle's singing. She decided that she would no longer study the harp, but would only play the guitar. She asked her uncle for a guitar and immediately picked up the chords for the song.
  At ten o'clock a line, a droshky, and three riders arrived for Natasha and Petya, sent to look for them. The count and countess did not know where they were and were very worried, as the messenger said.
  Petya was taken down and laid like a dead body in a ruler; Natasha and Nikolai got into the droshky. Uncle wrapped up Natasha and said goodbye to her with a completely new tenderness. He escorted them on foot to the bridge, which had to be bypassed into a ford, and ordered the hunters to go ahead with lanterns.
  “Farewell, dear niece,” his voice shouted out of the darkness, not the one that Natasha had known before, but the one that sang: “Like powder since the evening.”
  The village we passed had red lights and a cheerful smell of smoke.
  - What a charm this uncle is! - said Natasha, when they drove out onto the main road.
  “Yes,” said Nikolai. - Are you cold?
  - No, I'm fine, fine. I feel so good, - Natasha even said with bewilderment. They were silent for a long time.
  The night was dark and damp. The horses were not visible; all you could hear was their paddling through the invisible mud.
  What was going on in this childish, receptive soul, which so greedily caught and assimilated all the most diverse impressions of life? How did it fit into her? But she was very happy. Already approaching the house, she suddenly sang the motive of the song: “Like powder from the evening,” a motive that she caught all the way and finally caught.
  - Got it? Nikolai said.
  “What are you thinking now, Nikolenka?” Natasha asked. They liked to ask each other that.
  - I? - said Nikolai remembering; - you see, at first I thought that Rugay, the red dog, looked like an uncle and that if he were a man, he would still keep the uncle with him, if not for the jump, then for the frets, he would keep everything. How good he is, uncle! Is not it? - Well, what about you?
  - I? Hold on, hold on. Yes, at first I thought that here we are going and we think that we are going home, and God knows where we are going in this darkness and suddenly we will arrive and see that we are not in Otradnoye, but in magical kingdom. And then I thought… No, nothing more.
  “I know, I was thinking about him right,” Nikolai said smiling, as Natasha recognized by the sound of his voice.
  “No,” answered Natasha, although at the same time she really thought both about Prince Andrei and about how he would like his uncle. “And I also repeat everything, I repeat all the way: how Anisyushka performed well, well ...” said Natasha. And Nikolai heard her sonorous, causeless, happy laughter.
  “You know,” she said suddenly, “I know that I will never be as happy and calm as I am now.
  “That’s nonsense, nonsense, lies,” said Nikolai and thought: “What a charm this Natasha of mine is! I don't have another friend like him and never will. Why should she get married, everyone would go with her!
  “What a charm this Nikolai is!” thought Natasha. - BUT! there’s still a fire in the living room,” she said, pointing to the windows of the house, which shone beautifully in the wet, velvet darkness of the night.

  Count Ilya Andreich resigned from the leaders because this post was too expensive. But things didn't get better for him. Often Natasha and Nikolai saw the secret, restless negotiations of their parents and heard rumors about the sale of a rich, ancestral Rostov house and a suburban one. Without leadership, it was not necessary to have such a large reception, and the life of congratulations was conducted more quietly than in previous years; but huge house and the wing was still full of people, they still sat at the table more people. All of these were people who had settled down in the house, almost members of the family, or those who, it seemed, had to live in the count's house. Such were Dimmler - a musician with his wife, Yogel - a dance teacher with his family, the old lady Belova, who lived in the house, and many others: Petya's teachers, the former governess of young ladies and just people who were better or more profitable to live with the count than at home. There was no such big visit as before, but the course of life was the same, without which the count and countess could not imagine life. There was the same, still increased by Nikolai, hunting, the same 50 horses and 15 coachmen at the stable, the same expensive gifts on name days, and solemn dinners for the whole county; the same count whists and bostons, behind which he, dissolving cards for everyone to see, allowed himself to be beaten every day by hundreds of neighbors who looked at the right to play the game of Count Ilya Andreich as the most profitable lease.
  The count, as if in huge snares, went about his business, trying not to believe that he was entangled, and with each step he became more and more entangled and feeling himself unable to either break the nets that entangled him, or carefully, patiently begin to unravel them. The Countess, with a loving heart, felt that her children were ruined, that the count was not to blame, that he could not be different from what he was, that he himself was suffering (although he hides it) from the consciousness of his own and children's ruin, and was looking for means to help the cause. With her female point only one means seemed to be visible - the marriage of Nicholas to a rich bride. She felt that this was the last hope, and that if Nikolai refused the party that she had found for him, she would have to say goodbye forever to the opportunity to improve things. This party was Julie Karagina, the daughter of a beautiful, virtuous mother and father, known from childhood to Rostov, and now a rich bride on the occasion of the death of the last of her brothers.
  The Countess wrote directly to Karagina in Moscow, offering her the marriage of her daughter to her son, and received a favorable response from her. Karagina replied that she, for her part, agreed that everything would depend on the inclination of her daughter. Karagina invited Nikolai to come to Moscow.
  Several times, with tears in her eyes, the Countess told her son that now that both her daughters were added, her only wish was to see him married. She said that she would lie down in the coffin calm, if that were the case. Then she said that she had a beautiful girl in mind and elicited his opinion about marriage.
  In other conversations, she praised Julie and advised Nikolai to go to Moscow for the holidays to have fun. Nikolai guessed what his mother's conversations were leading to, and in one of these conversations he called her to complete frankness. She told him that all the hope of getting things right was now based on his marriage to Karagina.
  - Well, if I loved a girl without a fortune, would you really demand, maman, that I sacrifice feeling and honor for a fortune? he asked his mother, not understanding the cruelty of his question and wishing only to show his nobility.
  “No, you didn’t understand me,” said the mother, not knowing how to justify herself. “You didn’t understand me, Nikolinka. I wish you happiness,” she added, and felt that she was telling a lie, that she was confused. She started crying.
  “Mamma, don’t cry, but just tell me that you want it, and you know that I will give my whole life, I will give everything so that you are calm,” said Nikolai. I will sacrifice everything for you, even my feelings.
  But the countess did not want to put the question that way: she did not want a sacrifice from her son, she herself would like to sacrifice to him.
  “No, you didn’t understand me, let’s not talk,” she said, wiping her tears.
  “Yes, maybe I love the poor girl,” Nikolai said to himself, well, should I sacrifice feeling and honor for the state? I wonder how my mother could tell me this. Because Sonya is poor, I can’t love her, he thought, I can’t respond to her faithful, devoted love. And I'll probably be happier with her than with some sort of Julie doll. I can always sacrifice my feelings for the good of my relatives, he said to himself, but I cannot command my feelings. If I love Sonya, then my feeling is stronger and higher than anything for me.
  Nikolai did not go to Moscow, the countess did not resume the conversation with him about marriage, and with sadness, and sometimes with anger, she saw signs of an ever greater rapprochement between her son and the dowryless Sonya. She reproached herself for that, but she could not help but grumble, find fault with Sonya, often stopping her for no reason, calling her "you" and "my dear." Most of all, the kind countess was angry with Sonya because this poor, black-eyed niece was so meek, so kind, so devotedly grateful to her benefactors, and so faithfully, unfailingly, selflessly in love with Nicholas that it was impossible to reproach her for anything. .
  Nikolai spent his vacation with his relatives. The 4th letter was received from the groom, Prince Andrei, from Rome, in which he wrote that he would have been on his way to Russia long ago if his wound had not suddenly opened in a warm climate, which makes him postpone his departure until the beginning of next year . Natasha was just as in love with her fiancé, just as reassured by this love, and just as receptive to all the joys of life; but at the end of the fourth month of separation from him, moments of sadness began to come over her, against which she could not fight. She felt sorry for herself, it was a pity that she had been lost for nothing, for no one, all this time, during which she felt herself so capable of loving and being loved.
  It was sad in the Rostovs' house.

  Christmas time came, and apart from the ceremonial mass, except for the solemn and boring congratulations from neighbors and courtyards, except for all the new dresses put on, there was nothing special commemorating Christmas time, but in a windless 20 degree frost, in a bright blinding sun during the day and in starry winter light at night, the need for some kind of commemoration of this time was felt.
  On the third day of the holiday, after dinner, all the households went to their rooms. It was the most boring time of the day. Nikolai, who went to the neighbors in the morning, fell asleep in the sofa room. The old count was resting in his study. Sonya was sitting at a round table in the living room, sketching a pattern. The Countess laid out the cards. Nastasya Ivanovna, with a sad face, was sitting at the window with two old ladies. Natasha entered the room, went up to Sonya, looked at what she was doing, then went up to her mother and silently stopped.
  - Why are you walking around like a homeless person? her mother told her. - What do you want?
  “I need him ... now, this minute I need him,” said Natasha, her eyes shining and not smiling. The Countess lifted her head and looked at her daughter intently.
  - Don't look at me. Mom, don't look, I'll cry now.
  “Sit down, sit with me,” said the countess.
  Mom, I need it. Why am I disappearing like this, mother? ... - Her voice broke off, tears splashed from her eyes, and in order to hide them, she quickly turned around and left the room. She went out into the sofa room, stood for a moment, thought, and went into the girls' room. There, the old maid grumbled at a young girl, out of breath, who had come running from the cold from the servants.
  “That will play,” said the old woman. - There is all the time.
  “Let her go, Kondratyevna,” said Natasha. - Go, Mavrusha, go.
  And releasing Mavrusha, Natasha went through the hall into the hall. The old man and two young footmen were playing cards. They interrupted the game and stood up at the entrance of the young lady. "What should I do with them?" thought Natasha. - Yes, Nikita, please go ... where can I send him? - Yes, go to the servants and bring a rooster please; yes, and you, Misha, bring oats.
  - Would you like some oats? Misha said cheerfully and willingly.
  “Go, go quickly,” said the old man.
  - Fedor, and you get me some chalk.
  Passing by the buffet, she ordered the samovar to be served, although it was not at all the time.
  Fok the barman was the most angry person in the whole house. Natasha loved to try her power over him. He did not believe her and went to ask if it was true?
  - Oh, this young lady! said Foka, feigning a frown at Natasha.
  No one in the house sent out so many people and gave them so much work as Natasha. She could not see people with indifference, so as not to send them somewhere. It was as if she was trying to see if she would get angry, if one of them would pout at her, but people did not like to fulfill anyone's orders as much as Natasha's. “What should I do? Where should I go? Natasha thought as she slowly walked down the corridor.
  - Nastasya Ivanovna, what will be born from me? she asked the jester, who, in his kutsaveyka, was walking towards her.
  - From you fleas, dragonflies, blacksmiths, - answered the jester.
  “My God, my God, it’s all the same. Ah, where should I go? What should I do with myself? - And she quickly, clattering her feet, ran up the stairs to Vogel, who lived with his wife on the top floor. Vogel had two governesses, on the table were plates of raisins, walnuts and almond nuts. The governesses talked about where it was cheaper to live, in Moscow or Odessa. Natasha sat down, listened to their conversation with a serious, thoughtful face, and stood up. “The island of Madagascar,” she said. “Ma da gas car,” she repeated each syllable distinctly, and without answering m me Schoss’s questions about what she was saying, she left the room. Petya, her brother, was also upstairs: he and his uncle arranged fireworks, which he intended to set off at night. - Peter! Petka! she shouted to him, “take me downstairs. c - Petya ran up to her and turned his back. She jumped on top of him, wrapping her arms around his neck, and he jumped up and ran with her. “No, no, it’s the island of Madagascar,” she said, and, jumping off it, went down.
  As if she had bypassed her kingdom, tested her power and made sure that everyone was submissive, but still boring, Natasha went into the hall, took a guitar, sat in a dark corner behind a cabinet and began to pluck the strings in the bass, making a phrase that she remembered from one opera heard in St. Petersburg together with Prince Andrei. For outside listeners, something on her guitar came out that had no meaning, but in her imagination, because of these sounds, a whole series of memories was resurrected. She sat at the cupboard, fixing her eyes on the streak of light falling from the pantry door, listening to herself and remembering. She was in a state of remembrance.