Why is the Southern Sea so rough?

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By southern sea, I mean all the sea between Antarctica and Africa/S America/Australia. The pacific ocean is equally vast but yet it’s milder. I was looking at global winds on a website and almost the entire Southern Sea perpetually faces 60+ kmph winds. There are even 3000+ km long stretches of continuous 80 kmph winds. Why?

In: 1893

16 Answers

Anonymous 0 Comments

Its called THe Roaring Forties because of the constant forty knot wind and fory foot high waves. Sailing ships used to travel from Australia to Europe along the roaring forties to shorten transit times. There are films on Youtube showing the last Windjammers doing the run in the 1920’s.

Anonymous 0 Comments

It’s to do with the global circulation. Look up the Hadley cell and the westerly belt to see why the wind is typically stronger at the mid latitudes which are are referring too

Anonymous 0 Comments

Katabatic winds coming off Antarctica’s interior can reach 150 MPH, add to that the Earth’s rotation at those latitudes AND the polar jet stream, and the ocean currents of a circular closed system, and you have chaos. Those are the most dangerous waters on this planet.

Anonymous 0 Comments

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Anonymous 0 Comments

People have mentioned the uninterrupted seas which allow for stronger winds. I’m curious, is the Coriolis effect stronger at larger latitudes, and does this make a significant difference? It seems, mathematically, that the strength of the effect would be much larger between 50 and 60 degrees latitude than it would between 0 and 10 degrees for example. Is this true and/or significant?

Anonymous 0 Comments

Everyone already answered your question with “nothing to stop it” but I recommend the book Endurance about an Antarctic expedition. It’s wild, and short.

Anonymous 0 Comments

Professional sailor here. In part it’s the ability for waves to circle the planet as swell (waves that have left the area they formed.). Waves and swells from the north also feed into the area. Everything true for the sea is true for the storms above. Without landmass to break up the wind it blows over longer distances creating a larger fetch (area where waves are generated). The Cape of Good Hope and Cape Horn in particular are areas where storms converge. Messy and chaotic seas to say the least.

Anonymous 0 Comments

The Sea is rough because of the wind. The Wind is strong because of the massive low pressure zones created by having ocean water present that is usually warmer than the air above. Significant winds are generated due to these massive air pressure differentials. Same thing happens in the northern hemisphere too which experiences the most severe pressure differentials in winter.

There are a lot of comments about currents but the southern ocean currents are slow and insignificant compared to equatorial currents, gulf stream etc.

Anonymous 0 Comments

How did sailors handle this 300-400 years ago?

Anonymous 0 Comments

Wind.

The entire circumference at that latitude is just ocean. Wind whips around the entirety of the Earth at the latitude and encounters no landmass to abate it.

This leads to incredible sea state