|
| Background: |
The Arctic
Ocean is the smallest of the world's five oceans (after
the Pacific Ocean, Atlantic Ocean, Indian Ocean, and the
recently delimited Southern Ocean). The Northwest Passage
(US and Canada) and Northern Sea Route (Norway and Russia)
are two important seasonal waterways. A sparse network of
air, ocean, river, and land routes circumscribes the
Arctic Ocean. |
| Location: |
body of water
between Europe, Asia, and North America, mostly north of
the Arctic Circle |
| Geographic
coordinates: |
90 00 N, 0 00 E |
| Map
references: |
Arctic Region |
| Area: |
total:
14.056 million sq km
note: includes Baffin Bay, Barents Sea,
Beaufort Sea, Chukchi Sea, East Siberian Sea, Greenland
Sea, Hudson Bay, Hudson Strait, Kara Sea, Laptev Sea,
Northwest Passage, and other tributary water bodies |
| Area
- comparative: |
slightly less
than 1.5 times the size of the US |
| Climate: |
polar climate
characterized by persistent cold and relatively narrow
annual temperature ranges; winters characterized by
continuous darkness, cold and stable weather conditions,
and clear skies; summers characterized by continuous
daylight, damp and foggy weather, and weak cyclones with
rain or snow |
| Terrain: |
central surface
covered by a perennial drifting polar icepack that
averages about 3 meters in thickness, although pressure
ridges may be three times that size; clockwise drift
pattern in the Beaufort Gyral Stream, but nearly
straight-line movement from the New Siberian Islands
(Russia) to Denmark Strait (between Greenland and
Iceland); the icepack is surrounded by open seas during
the summer, but more than doubles in size during the
winter and extends to the encircling landmasses; the ocean
floor is about 50% continental shelf (highest percentage
of any ocean) with the remainder a central basin
interrupted by three submarine ridges (Alpha Cordillera,
Nansen Cordillera, and Lomonosov Ridge) |
| Elevation
extremes: |
lowest
point: Fram Basin -4,665 m
highest point: sea level 0 m |
| Natural
resources: |
sand and gravel
aggregates, placer deposits, polymetallic nodules, oil and
gas fields, fish, marine mammals (seals and whales) |
| Natural
hazards: |
ice islands
occasionally break away from northern Ellesmere Island;
icebergs calved from glaciers in western Greenland and
extreme northeastern Canada; permafrost in islands;
virtually ice locked from October to June; ships subject
to superstructure icing from October to May |
| Environment
- current issues: |
endangered
marine species include walruses and whales; fragile
ecosystem slow to change and slow to recover from
disruptions or damage; thinning polar icepack |
| Geography
- note: |
major
chokepoint is the southern Chukchi Sea (northern access to
the Pacific Ocean via the Bering Strait); strategic
location between North America and Russia; shortest marine
link between the extremes of eastern and western Russia;
floating research stations operated by the US and Russia;
maximum snow cover in March or April about 20 to 50
centimeters over the frozen ocean; snow cover lasts about
10 months |
| Economy
- overview: |
Economic
activity is limited to the exploitation of natural
resources, including petroleum, natural gas, fish, and
seals. |
| Ports
and harbors: |
Churchill
(Canada), Murmansk (Russia), Prudhoe Bay (US) |
| Transportation
- note: |
sparse network
of air, ocean, river, and land routes; the Northwest
Passage (North America) and Northern Sea Route (Eurasia)
are important seasonal waterways |
| Disputes
- international: |
some maritime
disputes (see littoral states) |
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