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 60th parallel south, 60° S latitude and encircling Antarctica. With a size of , it is the seco ...

, 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 (planets), longitude. It was first documented in western and eastern liter ...

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

, 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) (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, a Cooperation Sea to the east and a Riiser-Larsen Sea to the west. The Cosmonauts Sea, which was named in 1962 by the Soviet Antarctic Expedition in honor of the world's first cosmonauts and the beginning of the 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 of the 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'', 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 language, Russian (), whic ...

s have occurred in these waters, with the totally enclosed Cosmonaut polynya attaining its 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