|
|
|
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 |
|
Coastline:
|
45,389 km
|
|
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, on average, is about 3 meters thick, although
pressure ridges may be three times that thickness;
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 terminals:
|
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) |
|
|
| |
|
|
