Mondo Knows Facts
The Drake Passage is renowned for having the roughest ocean waters
Connecting the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans between South America and Antarctica, winds blow unimpeded.
Stretching 800 kilometres between Cape Horn and the South Shetland Islands, the passage has no land barriers at its latitude to break strong westerly winds. Enormous ocean waves and powerful current flows converge through the choke point, creating famous maritime sailing hazards. Ships traveling to Antarctica routinely encounter stormy seas.
Where this comes from
Facts that can change over time are reviewed and updated. If something here looks wrong, Mondo would rather know than be confidently incorrect.
Go further
More facts like this
The Southern Ocean is defined by a continuous circulating ocean currentEncircling Antarctica south of 60 degrees latitude, it is the youngest recognized ocean basin.The Pacific Ocean covers more area than all landmasses combinedSpanning over 165 million square kilometres, the Pacific Ocean covers one third of Earth surface.The Atlantic Ocean is the saltiest of Earth major ocean basinsHigh atmospheric evaporation and limited freshwater runoff give the Atlantic elevated salt levels.The Arctic Ocean is the smallest and shallowest of Earth five oceansCentered around the North Pole, the Arctic Ocean covers roughly 14 million square kilometres.Canada has the longest total coastline of any nationCanada boasts a total coastline exceeding 202,000 kilometres including its thousands of Arctic islands.The Great Barrier Reef is visible from outer spaceStretching for over 2,300 kilometres off Australia northeastern coast, it is the world's largest living structure.
Tags: drake passage, cape horn, antarctica, oceans
The Drake Passage is renowned for having the roughest ocean waters: the short answers
- Where does this come from, and can I check it?
- Connecting the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans between South America and Antarctica, winds blow unimpeded. The figure is taken from National Geographic, which is linked in full on this page. Every fact on Mondo Knows names its source rather than repeating an unsourced claim.
- Is this really a world geography fact?
- Yes. It sits on the World Geography shelf, one of 1,090 sourced facts grouped into space, animals, the human body, history, science and more. Category pages collect every fact in the same field.
- What else can I read about it?
- The links under the fact point to a quiz, game, puzzle or calculator on the same subject, and the shelf below shows related facts. The wording here is original, and quoted phrases are marked as quotations.