Date: Tue, 26 Oct 1999 18:36:37 -0400 From: "Guthridge, Guy G" To: "'dkarl@soest.hawaii.edu'" Cc: "'opp-all@nsf.gov'" Subject: "Southern Ocean" approved! Dave: Congratulations! As a result of the recommendation you formulated and submitted to the Advisory Committee on Antarctic Names (ACAN), the term Southern Ocean has been approved for U.S. Government use. In September 1998 ACAN had forwarded your recommendation, with ACAN endorsement, to the Foreign Names Committee, which has jurisdiction over the naming of ocean areas. This afternoon the Foreign Names Committee reported its decision to the full U.S. Board on Geographic Names. This information will be disseminated in the community, but I wanted you to be first to know. Give me a fax number, and I'll send you minutes from today's BGN meeting. The minutes contain this: "The Committee's most significant decision during the reporting period [April-October 1999] was the adoption of the term Southern Ocean as a standard name for the body of water surrounding the continent of Antarctica. . . . In a parallel activity, the International Hydrographic Organization has decided (through a referendum of its member states) to use the term Southern Ocean in the next draft of its Special Publication No. 23, Limits in the Oceans and Seas." Best regards, and many thanks, from Guy Guthridge