Arctic Ocean

§1. Arctic Ocean Introduction

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.

§2. Arctic Ocean Geography

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 kmē
  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

§3. Arctic Ocean Economy

Economy - overview:
  Economic activity is limited to the exploitation of natural resources,
  including petroleum, natural gas, fish, and seals.

§4. Arctic Ocean Transportation

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

§5. Arctic Ocean Transnational Issues

Disputes - international:
  some maritime disputes (see littoral states)


<Factbook 2006>
