La Geografia geopolitica
 
  

Arctic Ocean

 

Introduction 

 

Arctic Ocean                                more details                               

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.
Geography 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


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

Transportation Arctic Ocean
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

Transnational Issues Arctic Ocean
Disputes - international:
 some maritime disputes (see littoral states)

This page was last updated on 10 January, 2006