| Geography | Arctic Ocean |
 = Fields  = World Records  = Dictionary  = Bar graph  = Distribution map  = Fields History  = Definitions |
|
|
|
|
|
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 |
Land boundaries:
|
void |
Coastline:
|
45,389 km |
Maritime claims:
|
void |
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) |
Land use:
|
void |
Irrigated land:
|
void |
Total renewable water resources:
|
void |
Freshwater withdrawal (domestic/industrial/agricultural):
|
void |
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 |
Environment - international agreements:
|
void |
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 |
|
= Fields = World Records = Dictionary = Bar graph = Distribution map = Fields History = Definitions |
|
Home 
Geographic Names
Chiefs of State
Intl. Organizations
Intl. Environmental Agree.
Other References
