Arctic Ocean

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"Arctic Sea" redirects here. For the cargo ship, see MV Arctic Sea.

The Arctic Ocean

Earth's oceans

(World Ocean)

 Arctic

Ocean

 Atlantic

Ocean

 Indian Ocean

 Pacific

Ocean

 Southern
 Ocean

The Arctic Ocean, located in the Northern Hemisphere and mostly in the Arcticnorth polar region, is the smallest,

and shallowest of the world's five major oceanicdivisions.[1] The International Hydrographic Organization (IHO)

recognizes it as an ocean, although some oceanographers call it the Arctic Mediterranean Sea or simply the Arctic

Sea, classifying it as one of the mediterranean seas of the Atlantic Ocean.[2] Alternatively, the Arctic Ocean can be

seen as the northernmost part of the all-encompassing World Ocean.

Almost completely surrounded by Eurasia and North America, the Arctic Ocean is partly covered by sea

ice throughout the year[3] (and almost completely in winter). The Arctic

Ocean's temperature and salinity vary seasonally as the ice cover melts and freezes;[4] its salinity is the lowest on

average of the five major oceans, due to low evaporation, heavy freshwater inflow from rivers and streams, and

limited connection and outflow to surrounding oceanic waters with higher salinities. The summer shrinking of the ice

has been quoted at 50%.[1] The US National Snow and Ice Data Center (NSIDC) uses satellite data to provide a daily

record of Arctic sea ice cover and the rate of melting compared to an average period and specific past years.

Contents

[hide]

• 1 History

• 2 Geography

○ 2.1 Extent

○ 2.2 Underwater

features

○ 2.3 Water flow

○ 2.4 Salinity and

temperature

○ 2.5 Ice cap

○ 2.6 Shelves

○ 2.7 Natural

hazards

○ 2.8 Major ports

and harbors

• 3 Climate

• 4 Animal and plant life

 • 5 Natural resources

• 6 Environmental concerns

• 7 See also

• 8 References

• 9 Further reading

• 10 External links

History

An 1886 painting of Adolf Erik Nordenskiöld during his exploration of the Arctic regions, by Georg von Rosen

Further information: Open Polar Sea and Northwest Passage

For much of European history, the North Polar regions remained largely unexplored and

theirgeography conjectural. Pytheas of Massilia recorded an account of a journey northward in 325 BC, to a land he

called "Eschate Thule," where the Sun only set for three hours each day and the water was replaced by a congealed

substance "on which one can neither walk nor sail." He was probably describing loose sea ice known today as

"growlers", or "bergy bits." His "Thule" may have been Iceland, though Norway is more often suggested.[5]

Early cartographers were unsure whether to draw the region around the North Pole as land (as inJohannes

Ruysch's map of 1507, or Gerardus Mercator's map of 1595) or water (as with Martin Waldseemüller's world map of

1507). The fervent desire of European merchants for a northern passage to "Cathay" (China) caused water to win
out, and by 1723 mapmakers such as Johann Homann featured an extensive "Oceanus Septentrionalis" at the

northern edge of their charts.

The few expeditions to penetrate much beyond the Arctic Circle in this era added only small islands, such as Novaya

Zemlya (11th century) and Spitsbergen (1596), though since these were often surrounded by pack-ice their northern

limits were not so clear. The makers of navigational charts, more conservative than some of the more fanciful

cartographers, tended to leave the region blank, with only fragments of known coastline sketched in.

George Hubert Wilkins' 1926 Detroit Arctic Expedition

This lack of knowledge of what lay north of the shifting barrier of ice gave rise to a number of conjectures. In England

and other European nations, the myth of an "Open Polar Sea" was persistent. John Barrow, long time Second

Secretary of the BritishAdmiralty, promoted exploration of the region from 1818 to 1845 in search of this.

In the United States in the 1850s and '60s, the explorers Elisha Kane and Isaac Israel Hayes both claimed to have

seen part of this elusive body of water. Even quite late in the century, the eminent authority Matthew Fontaine

Maury included a description of the Open Polar Sea in his textbookThe Physical Geography of the Sea (1883).

Nevertheless, as all the explorers who travelled closer and closer to the pole reported, the polar ice cap is quite thick,

and persists year-round.

Fridtjof Nansen was the first to make a nautical crossing of the Arctic Ocean, in 1896. The first surface crossing of the

ocean was led by Wally Herbert in 1969, in a dog sled expedition from Alaska to Svalbard with air support.[citation needed]

Since 1937, Soviet and Russian manned drifting ice stations have extensively monitored the Arctic Ocean. Scientific

settlements were established on the drift ice and carried thousands of kilometres by ice floes.[6]

Geography
Bathymetric/topographic map of the Arctic Ocean and the surrounding islands

The Arctic Ocean occupies a roughly circular basin and covers an area of about 14,056,000 km2 (5,427,000 sq mi),

almost the size of Russia.[7][8] The coastline is 45,390 km (28,200 mi) long.[7][9] It is surrounded by the land masses of

Eurasia, North America, Greenland, and by several islands.

It is generally taken to include Baffin Bay, Barents Sea, Beaufort Sea, Chukchi Sea,East Siberian Sea, Greenland

Sea, Hudson Bay, Hudson Strait, Kara Sea, Laptev Sea, White Sea and other tributary bodies of water. It is

connected to the Pacific Ocean by the Bering Strait and to the Atlantic Ocean through the Greenland
Seaand Labrador Sea.[1]

Extent
Main article: Borders of the oceans#Arctic Ocean
Arctic region

Underwater features

An underwater ridge, the Lomonosov Ridge, divides the deep sea North Polar Basininto two oceanic basins:

the Eurasian Basin, which is between 4,000 and 4,500 m (13,000 and 14,800 ft) deep, and the Amerasian

Basin (sometimes called the North American, or Hyperborean Basin), which is about 4,000 m (13,000 ft) deep.

Thebathymetry of the ocean bottom is marked by fault-block ridges, abyssal plains,ocean deeps, and basins. The
average depth of the Arctic Ocean is 1,038 m (3,406 ft).[10] The deepest point is in the Eurasian Basin, at 5,450 m

(17,880 ft).

The two major basins are further subdivided by ridges into the Canada Basin(between Alaska/Canada and the Alpha

Ridge), Makarov Basin (between the Alpha and Lomonosov Ridges), Fram Basin (between Lomonosov

and Gakkel ridges), andNansen Basin (Amundsen Basin) (between the Gakkel Ridge and the continental shelf that

includes the Franz Josef Land).

Water flow

The Arctic Ocean contains a major choke point in the southern Chukchi Sea,[11]which provides access to the Pacific

Ocean through the Bering Strait between Alaska and Eastern Siberia. Subject to ice conditions, the Arctic Ocean

provides the shortest marine link between the extremes of eastern and western Russia. There are several

floating research stations in the Arctic, operated by the US and Russia.

The greatest inflow of water comes from the Atlantic by way of the Norwegian Current, which then flows along the

Eurasian coast. Water also enters from the Pacific via the Bering Strait. The East Greenland Current carries the

major outflow.

Ice covers most of the ocean surface year-round, causing subfreezing air temperatures much of the time. The Arctic

is a major source of very cold air that moves toward the equator, meeting with warmer air at latitude 60°N and

causing rainand snow. This flow is the lower portion of the polar cell, the highest (by latitude) of the three principal

circulation cells of the Earth's atmosphere each spanning thirty degrees of latitude. Marine life abounds in open

areas, especially the more southerly waters. The ocean's major ports are the cities

of Murmansk, Arkhangelsk andPrudhoe Bay.[11]

Salinity and temperature

Plot of temperature and salinity in the Arctic Ocean at 85,18 north and 117,28 east dated Jan. 1, 2010.[12]

In large parts of the Arctic Ocean, the top layer (about 50 m) is of lower salinity and lower temperature than the rest. It

remains relatively stable, because the salinity effect on density is bigger than the temperature effect. It is fed by the

freshwater input of the big Siberian and Canadian streams (Ob, Yenissey, Lena, MacKenzie), the water of which

quasi floats on the saltier, denser, deeper ocean water. Between this lower salinity layer and the bulk of the ocean

lies the so called halocline, in which both salinity and temperature are rising with increasing depth.

Any convection eddies caused by the temperature difference between the cold ocean surface and the warmer depth

stop at this thermocline, leaving only heat conduction as upward heat transport mechanism, which is orders of

magnitude smaller. Without this insulation effect, there would be much less Arctic sea ice. The salinity and

temperature pattern of the Arctic Ocean can be quite complex, being dependent on the different flows into and out of

the Arctic region.[13] [14]

Ice cap
Main article: Arctic sea ice

Seasonal variation and long term decrease of arctic sea ice extent.[15]

Seasonal variation and long term decrease of Arctic sea ice volume.[16]

Much of the Arctic Ocean is covered by an ice "cap" which varies in extent and thickness seasonally. The mean

extent of the cap, which is composed of mostly contiguous sea ice, is decreasing since 1980 from the average winter

value of 15,600,000 km2 (6,023,200 sq mi) at a rate of 3% per decade. The seasonal variations are about 7,000,000

km2 (2,702,700 sq mi) with the maximum in April and minimum in September. The sea ice is affected by wind and

ocean currents which can move and rotate very large areas of ice. Zones of compression also arise, where the ice

piles up to form pack ice.[17][18]

Shelves

The Arctic Ocean is encompassed by the Arctic shelves, one of which, the Siberian Shelf, is the largest on Earth.

Natural hazards

Ice islands occasionally break away from northern Ellesmere Island, and icebergs are formed fromglaciers in western

Greenland and extreme northeastern Canada. Permafrost is found on most islands. The ocean is virtually icelocked

from October to June, and ships are subject tosuperstructure icing from October to May.[11] Before the advent of

modern icebreakers, ships sailing the Arctic Ocean risked being trapped or crushed by sea ice (although

the Baychimo drifted through the Arctic Ocean untended for decades despite these hazards).
Major ports and harbors

Arctic Ocean ports

Some notable ports and harbours from west to east include:

 United States

 Barrow, Alaska

 Prudhoe Bay, Alaska[11]

 Canada

 Churchill, Manitoba

 Inuvik, Northwest Territories

 Nanisivik, Nunavut[19]

 Tuktoyaktuk

 Norway

 Longyearbyen

 Kirkenes

 Vardø
  Russia

 Murmansk[11]

 Arkhangelsk

 Labytnangi/Salekhard

 Dudinka

 Igarka

 Dikson

 Tiksi

 Pevek

Climate

Extent of the Arctic ice- Extent of the Arctic ice-

pack during the month of pack during the month of

February, 1978–2002 September, 1978–2002

average. average.

Arctic mean annual sea surface temperature and September–March ice edge.

Under the influence of the present ice age, the Arctic Ocean is contained in a polar climatecharacterized by persistent

cold and relatively narrow annual temperature ranges. Winters are characterized by continuous darkness (polar

night), cold and stable weather conditions, and clear skies; summers are characterized by

continuous daylight (midnight sun), damp and foggy weather, and weak cyclones with rain or snow.

The temperature of the surface of the Arctic Ocean is fairly constant, near the freezing point ofseawater. Because the

Arctic Ocean consists of saltwater the temperature must reach −1.8°C before freezing occurs. The density of sea

water, in contrast to fresh water, increases as it nears the freezing point and thus it tends to sink. It is generally

necessary that the upper 100–150 meters of ocean water cools to the freezing point for sea ice to form.[20] In the
winter the relatively warm ocean water exerts a moderating influence, even when covered by ice. This is one reason

why the Arctic does not experience the extreme temperatures seen on the Antarctic continent.

Changes in ice between 1990–1999

There is considerable seasonal variation in how much pack ice of the Arctic ice pack covers the Arctic Ocean. Much

of the Arctic ice pack is also covered in snow for about 10 months of the year. The maximum snow cover is in March

or April — about 20 to 50 cm (7.9 to 20 in) over the frozen ocean.

The climate of the Arctic region has varied significantly in the past. As recently as 55 million years ago, during

thePaleocene–Eocene Thermal Maximum, the region reached an average annual temperature of 10–20 °C (50–

68 °F).[21] The surface waters of the northernmost[22]Arctic ocean warmed, seasonally at least, enough to support

tropical lifeforms[23] requiring surface temperatures of over 22 °C (72 °F).[24]

Animal and plant life

Polar bears

Endangered marine species in the Arctic Ocean include walruses and whales.[11] The area has a

fragile ecosystem which is slow to change and slow to recover from disruptions or damage.[11]Lion's mane jellyfish are

abundant in the waters of the Arctic, and the banded gunnel is the only species of gunnel that lives in the ocean.
The Arctic Ocean has relatively little plant life except for phytoplankton. Phytoplankton are a crucial part of the ocean

and there are massive amounts of them in the Arctic, where they feed on nutrients from rivers and the currents of the

Atlantic and Pacific oceans.[25] During summer, the Sun is out day and night, thus enabling the phytoplankton

to photosynthesize for long periods of time and reproduce quickly. However, the reverse is true in winter where they

struggle to get enough light to survive.[25]

Natural resources

See also: Territorial claims in the Arctic and Marine mammal

Petroleum and natural gas fields, placer deposits, polymetallic

nodules, sand and gravel aggregates, fish, seals and whales can all be found in abundance in the region.[11]

The political dead zone near the center of the sea is also the focus of a mounting dispute between the United States,

Russia, Canada, Norway, and Denmark.[26] It is significant for the global energy market because it may hold 25% or

more of the world's undiscovered oil and gas resources.[27]

Environmental concerns

Sea cover in the Arctic Ocean, showing the median, 2005 and 2007 coverage

Decline of summer Arctic ice from 1979–2000 to 2002–05.[28]

Main articles: Arctic shrinkage and ozone depletion

The Arctic ice pack is thinning, and in many years there is also a seasonal hole in the ozone layer.[29]Reduction of the

area of Arctic sea ice reduces the planet's average albedo, possibly resulting in global warming in a positive feedback

mechanism.[30]Research shows that the Arctic may become ice free for the first time in human history between 2012

and 2040.[31]

Many scientists are presently concerned that warming temperatures in the Arctic may cause large amounts of

fresh meltwater to enter the North Atlantic, possibly disrupting global ocean current patterns. Potentially severe

changes in the Earth's climate might then ensue.[30]

Other environmental concerns relate to the radioactive contamination of the Arctic Ocean from, for example,

Russian radioactive waste dump sites in the Kara Sea[32] and Cold War nuclear test sites such as Novaya Zemlya.[33]

See also

Arctic portal

 Arctic Bridge

 Fauna of the Arctic

 Extreme points of the Arctic

 International Arctic Science Committee

 Nordicity

 North Atlantic Current

 Subarctic

 Explorers of the Arctic

 Arctic sea ice ecology and history

 Seven seas

 The Chukchi Cap

 Arctic Cooperation and Politics

References

1. ^ a b c Michael Pidwirny (2006). "Introduction to the

Oceans".www.physicalgeography.net. Retrieved 2006-12-07.

2. ^ Tomczak, Matthias; Godfrey, J. Stuart (2003). Regional Oceanography: an

Introduction (2 ed.). Delhi: Daya Publishing House. ISBN 81-7035-306-8

3. ^ Since the beginning of the 21st century, sea ice covers only 1/3 to 1/2 the surface of

the Arctic Ocean at the end of summer.

4. ^ Some Thoughts on the Freezing and Melting of Sea Ice and Their Effects on the

Ocean K. Aagaard and R. A. Woodgate, Polar Science Center, Applied Physics

Laboratory University of Washington, January 2001. Retrieved 7 December 2006.

5. ^ Pytheas Andre Engels. Retrieved 16 December 2006.

6. ^ North Pole drifting stations (1930s–1980s)

7. ^ a b Wright, John W. (ed.); Editors and reporters of The New York Times (2006). The

New York Times Almanac (2007 ed.). New York, New York: Penguin Books.

p. 455. ISBN 0-14-303820-6.

8. ^ "Oceans of the World". rst2.edu. Retrieved 2010-10-28.

9. ^ "Arctic Ocean Fast Facts". wwf.pandora.org (World Wildlife Foundation). Retrieved

2010-10-28.

10. ^ "The Mariana Trench – Oceanography".www.marianatrench.com. 2003-04-04.

Retrieved 2006-12-02.

11. ^ a b c d e f g h Arctic Ocean CIA World Factbook. 30 November 2006. Retrieved 7

December 2006.

12. ^ U.S. National Oceanographic Data Center: Global Temperature–Salinity Profile

Programme. June 2006. U.S. Department of Commerce, National Oceanic and

Atmospheric Administration, National Oceanographic Data Center, Silver Spring,

Maryland, 20910. Date of Access, <http://www.nodc.noaa.gov/GTSPP/>.

13. ^ P. Bourgain, J.C. Gascard, The Arctic Ocean Halocline variability over the past 20
years, Poster at Conference "State Of The Arctic", 16–19 March 2010,

<http://soa.arcus.org/sites/soa.arcus.org/files/sessions/2-1-observations-arctic-

change/pdf/bourgain.pdf>

14. ^ B. Rudels, E. P. Jones, U. Schauer and P. Eriksson, TWO SOURCES FOR THE
LOWER HALOCLINE IN THE ARCTIC OCEAN, ICES Annual Science Conference

2001 <http://www.ices.dk/products/CMdocs/2001/W/W1501.pdf>

15. ^ Fetterer, F., K. Knowles, W. Meier, and M. Savoie. 2002, updated 2009. Sea Ice
Index. Boulder, Colorado USA: National Snow and Ice Data Center. Digital media.

16. ^ Zhang, Jinlun; Rothrock, D. A. (2003). "Modeling Global Sea Ice with a Thickness
and Enthalpy Distribution Model in Generalized Curvilinear Coordinates". Monthly
 Weather Review 131 (5): 845.doi:10.1175/1520-

0493(2003)131<0845:MGSIWA>2.0.CO;2.ISSN 1520-0493.

17. ^ Sea Ice Index. Nsidc.org. Retrieved on 2011-03-06.

18. ^ Polar Sea Ice Cap and Snow – Cryosphere Today. Arctic.atmos.uiuc.edu (2007-09-
23). Retrieved on 2011-03-06.

19. ^ "Backgrounder – Expanding Canadian Forces Operations in the Arctic". Retrieved

2007-08-17. mirror

20. ^ "NSIDC sea ice". Retrieved 2010-02-10.

21. ^ Shellito, C.J.; Sloan, L.C.; Huber, M. (2003). "Climate model sensitivity to
atmospheric CO2 levels in the Early-Middle Paleogene". Palaeogeography,

Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology193 (1): 113–123. doi:10.1016/S0031-

0182(02)00718-6.

22. ^ Drill cores were recovered from the Lomonosov Ridge, presently at 87°N

23. ^ the dinoflagellates Apectodinium augustum

24. ^ Sluijs, A.; Schouten, S.; Pagani, M.; Woltering, M.; Brinkhuis, H.; Damsté, J.S.S.;
Dickens, G.R.; Huber, M.; Reichart, G.J.; Stein, R.; Others, (2006). "Subtropical Arctic

Ocean temperatures during the Palaeocene/Eocene thermal

maximum". Nature 441 (7093): 610–613. doi:10.1038/nature04668. PMID 16752441.

25. ^ a b Physical Nutrients and Primary Productivity Professor Terry Whiteledge. National
Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Retrieved 7 December 2006.

26. ^ The Arctic's New Gold Rush – BBC

27. ^ The Battle for the Next Energy Frontier: The Russian Polar Expedition and the Future
of Arctic Hydrocarbons, by Shamil Midkhatovich Yenikeyeff and Timothy Fenton

Krysiek, Oxford Institute for Energy Studies, August 2007

28. ^ Continued Sea Ice Decline in 2005 Robert Simmon, Earth Observatory, and Walt
Meier, NSIDC. Retrieved 7 December 2006.

29. ^ Clean Air Online – Linking Today into Tomorrow

30. ^ a b Earth – melting in the heat? Richard Black, 7 October 2005. BBC News. Retrieved
7 December 2006.

31. ^ Russia the next climate recalcitrant Peter Wilson, 17 November 2008, The Australian.
Retrieved 2 February 2009.
 32. ^ 400 million cubic meters of radioactive waste threaten the Arctic area Thomas Nilsen,
Bellona, 24 August 2001. Retrieved 7 December 2006.

33. ^ Plutonium in the Russian Arctic, or How We Learned to Love the Bomb Bradley
Moran, John N. Smith. Retrieved 7 December 2006.

Further reading

 Neatby, Leslie H., Discovery in Russian and Siberian Waters 1973 ISBN 0-8214-

0124-6

 Ray, L., and bacon, B., eds., The Arctic Ocean 1982 ISBN 0-333-31017-9

 Thorén, Ragnar V. A., Picture Atlas of the Arctic 1969 ISBN 0-8214-0124-6

External links

Look up arctic

ocean inWiktionary, the free

dictionary.

Wikisource has original text

related to this article:

CIA World Fact Book,

2004/Arctic Ocean

[show]Map of all coordinates from Google

Map of all coordinates from Bing

 The Hidden Ocean Arctic 2005 Daily logs, photos and video from exploration

mission.

 Oceanography Image of the Day, from the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution

 Arctic Council

 The Northern Forum

 Arctic Environmental Atlas Interactive map

 NOAA Arctic Theme Page

 Arctic Ocean entry at The World Factbook

  Daily Arctic Ocean Rawinsonde Data from Soviet Drifting Ice Stations (1954–

1990) atNSIDC

 Arctic time series: The Unaami Data collection

 NOAA North Pole Web Cam Images from Web Cams deployed in spring on an ice

floe

 NOAA Near-realtime North Pole Weather Data Data from instruments deployed on

an ice floe

 Search for Arctic Life Heats Up by Stephen Leahy

 International Polar Foundation

 National Snow and Ice Data Center – Daily report of Arctic ice cover based on

satellite data

 Marine Biodiversity Wiki

[show]v · d · eRegions of the world

[show]v · d · eEarth's oceans and seas

[show]v · d · eArctic topics

[show]v · d · ePolar exploration

Coordinates: 90°N 0°E

Categories: Extreme points of Earth | Arctic Ocean

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