The Cosmonauts Sea (, ''More Kosmonavtov''; sometimes misspelled ''Cosmonaut Sea'') was a proposed sea name as part of the

Southern Ocean The Southern Ocean, also known as the Antarctic Ocean, comprises the southernmost waters of the World Ocean, generally taken to be south of 60° S latitude and encircling Antarctica. With a size of , it is regarded as the second-small ...

, off the Prince Olav Coast and

Enderby Land Enderby Land is a projecting landmass of Antarctica. Its shore extends from Shinnan Glacier at about to William Scoresby Bay at , approximately of the earth's longitude. It was first documented in western and eastern literature in February 18 ...

Antarctica Antarctica () is Earth's southernmost and least-populated continent. Situated almost entirely south of the Antarctic Circle and surrounded by the Southern Ocean, it contains the geographic South Pole. Antarctica is the fifth-largest cont ...

, between about 30°E and 50°E. It would have an area of . It would be bordered by two other proposals from a 2002

International Hydrographic Organization The International Hydrographic Organization (IHO) is an intergovernmental organisation representing hydrography. , the IHO comprised 98 Member States. A principal aim of the IHO is to ensure that the world's seas, oceans and navigable waters a ...

(IHO) draft, a

Cooperation Sea Cooperation Sea, also called Commonwealth Sea (erratum) or Sodruzhestvo Sea (russian: Море Содружества), is a proposed sea name for part of the Southern Ocean, between Enderby Land (the eastern limit of which is 59°34'E) and West I ...

to the east, and to the west a

Riiser-Larsen Sea The Riiser-Larsen Sea is one of the marginal seas located in the Southern Ocean off East Antarctica and south of the Indian Ocean. It is delimited Astrid Ridge in the west and the Gunnerus Ridge and the Kainanmaru Bank in the east. It is border ...

. The Cosmonauts Sea , which was named in 1962 by the

Soviet Antarctic Expedition The Soviet Antarctic Expedition (SAE or SovAE) (russian: Советская антарктическая экспедиция, САЭ, ''Sovetskaya antarkticheskaya ekspeditsiya'') was part of the Arctic and Antarctic Research Institute of the S ...

in honor of the world's first

cosmonauts An astronaut (from the Ancient Greek (), meaning 'star', and (), meaning 'sailor') is a person trained, equipped, and deployed by a human spaceflight program to serve as a commander or crew member aboard a spacecraft. Although generally r ...

and the beginning of crewed space exploration era. The name first appeared as a Russian proposal to the IHO in the IHO 2002 draft. This draft was never approved by the IHO (or any other organization), and the 1953 IHO document remains currently in force. Leading geographic authorities and atlases do not use the name, including the 2014 10th edition World Atlas from the United States'

National Geographic Society The National Geographic Society (NGS), headquartered in Washington, D.C., United States, is one of the largest non-profit scientific and educational organizations in the world. Founded in 1888, its interests include geography, archaeology, an ...

and the 2014 12th edition of the British

Times Atlas of the World ''The Times Atlas of the World'', rebranded ''The Times Atlas of the World: Comprehensive Edition'' in its 11th edition and ''The Times Comprehensive Atlas of the World'' from its 12th edition, is a world atlas currently published by HarperCo ...

, though state-issued maps created by the Soviet Union and the Russian Federation do. The water here is close to freezing throughout the year and is mostly covered by ice. Between 1973 and 1986, several

polynya A polynya () is an area of open water surrounded by sea ice. It is now used as a geographical term for an area of unfrozen seawater within otherwise contiguous pack ice or fast ice. It is a loanword from the Russian полынья (), which r ...

s have occurred in these waters, with the totally enclosed Cosmonaut polynya attaining a maximum size on July 25, 1980, with an open water area of as much as 137,700 km2. This polynya lasted for several weeks before disappearing on August 16, 1980.

References

Seas of the Southern Ocean Antarctic region {{Marine-geo-stub