Somov Sea () was a proposed name for 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 60th parallel south, 60° S latitude and encircling Antarctica. With a size of , it is the seco ...

. It would be located north of the easternmost part of the

Antarctic The Antarctic (, ; commonly ) is the polar regions of Earth, polar region of Earth that surrounds the South Pole, lying within the Antarctic Circle. It is antipodes, diametrically opposite of the Arctic region around the North Pole. The Antar ...

subcontinent East Antarctica, north of Oates Coast,

Victoria Land Victoria Land is a region in eastern Antarctica which fronts the western side of the Ross Sea and the Ross Ice Shelf, extending southward from about 70°30'S to 78th parallel south, 78°00'S, and westward from the Ross Sea to the edge of the Ant ...

, and of George V Coast, between 150° and 170° East. West of it would be the D'Urville Sea. East of Cape Adare, at 170°14' East, is the

Ross Sea The Ross Sea is a deep bay of the Southern Ocean in Antarctica, between Victoria Land and Marie Byrd Land and within the Ross Embayment, and is the southernmost sea on Earth. It derives its name from the British explorer James Clark Ross who ...

. The name was first proposed by the Russians for the 2002

International Hydrographic Organization The International Hydrographic Organization (IHO) (French: ''Organisation Hydrographique Internationale'') is an intergovernmental organization representing hydrography. the IHO comprised 102 member states. A principal aim of the IHO is to ...

(IHO) draft. This draft was never approved by the IHO (or any other organization), and the 1953 IHO document (which does not contain the name) 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, headquartered in Washington, D.C., United States, is one of the largest nonprofit scientific and educational organizations in the world. Founded in 1888, its interests include geography, archaeology, natural sc ...

and the 2014 12th edition of the British Times Atlas of the World. But Soviet and Russian-issued map do. The Somov Sea would have an area of 1,150,000 km² and be up to 3000 meters deep.Gazetteer «About countries»: Somow (sea)
/ref> The Balleny Islands are 240 km north of the mainland coast here. The Somov Sea would be named in honor of

Russia Russia, or the Russian Federation, is a country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia. It is the list of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the world, and extends across Time in Russia, eleven time zones, sharing Borders ...

n oceanologist and polar explorer Mikhail Somov (1908–1973), who between 1955 and 1957 was the commander of the first Soviet Antarctic Expedition.

References

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