The paper examines the principal characteristics of the circulation of water in the Southern Ocean, including the presence of a strong Arctic Circumpolar Current, the existence of a well defined Antarctic Polar Front and the formation of cold bottom waters off Antarctica that then enter the meridional circulation of the World Ocean. An examination of the results of theoretical investigations, numerical experiments with models and observations in the ocean lead to a number of conclusions regarding the nature of the Antarctic Circumpolar Current and the Antarctic Polar Front, their variability, and the role of the meridional circulation in the dynamics of waters in the Southern Ocean.