The Arctic Ocean has the lowest salinity levels of all five major oceans. This page was last changed on 2 January 2021, at 13:27. It has an average depth of 1,295 meters. [37] Pacific water also exits along the west coast of Greenland and the Hudson Strait (1–2 Sv), providing nutrients to the Canadian Archipelago. Arctic Ocean consists of saltwater but its salinity is less than other oceans. He was probably describing loose sea ice known today as "growlers" or "bergy bits"; his "Thule" was probably Norway, though the Faroe Islands or Shetland have also been suggested.[10]. [38], Much of the Arctic Ocean is covered by sea ice that varies in extent and thickness seasonally. Additionally, this water forms the swiftest currents of the Arctic, with speed of around 0.3–0.6 m/s. The low shifts to center over the North Pole in the summer. Much of the Arctic ice pack is also covered in snow for about 10 months of the year. It is sometimes classified as an estuary of the Atlantic Ocean,[2][3] and it is also seen as the northernmost part of the all-encompassing World Ocean. [37] Arctic Bottom Water is critically important because of its outflow, which contributes to the formation of Atlantic Deep Water. In England and other European nations, the myth of an "Open Polar Sea" was persistent. The mass of sea ice that remains frozen year after year is called pack ice. The Atacama trench is also known as the Peru-Chile Trench is approximately 5,900km long with a mean width of … The Arctic Ocean is in a polar climate. According to Arctic Report Card, basin-wide sea surface temperatures across the Arctic Ocean have been warming by 0.5 degrees Fahrenheit (0.3 degrees Celsius) per decade. North of Alaska and Greenland the shelf is 60 to 120 miles wide, which is the normal width of continental shelves. With this dependence, the Arctic Ocean experiences variations due to seasonal changes in sea ice cover. The deepest place in the Arctic Ocean is the Eurasia Basin, with a depth of 17,881 feet. The total surface area of the Arctic Ocean is 6 million mi 2. The crystalline basement rocks of mountains around the Arctic Ocean were recrystallized or formed during the Ellesmerian orogeny, the regional phase of the larger Caledonian orogeny in the Paleozoic. Inactive Arctic glacier (left) and inactive Arctic glacier face (right). March 9, 2017. On the 17th and … 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 bodies of water. The average depth of the Arctic Ocean is 1,038 metes (3,406 feet). Arctic Ocean Circulation: Going Around at the Top of the World. The Barents Sea is a part of the Arctic Ocean, lies to the north of Norway and Russia. [46] Cyclones are only common on the Atlantic side. The South Atlantic's deepest part is located in the South Sandwich Trench at 27,651 feet. This outflow is about 9 Sv. In Greenland, the main port is at Nuuk (Nuuk Port and Harbour) (64°10′15″N 051°43′15″W / 64.17083°N 51.72083°W / 64.17083; -51.72083 (Nuuk Port and Harbour)). When our guides asked us if we wanted to get dropped off to photograph on one of the millions of icebergs, how could we say no! The North Pole sits in the middle of the Arctic Ocean, on water that is almost always covered with ice. This is the first time REV Ocean has opened the vessel and science equipment for public access. [72][73], Other environmental concerns relate to the radioactive contamination of the Arctic Ocean from, for example, Russian radioactive waste dump sites in the Kara Sea[74] Cold War nuclear test sites such as Novaya Zemlya,[75] Camp Century's contaminants in Greenland,[76] or radioactive contamination from Fukushima. Fridtjof Nansen was the first to make a nautical crossing of the Arctic Ocean, in 1896. Release of version 4 of the IBCAO. It has an average depth of 3,953 feet (1,205 m) and its deepest point is the Fram Basin at -15,305 feet (-4,665 m). 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 Antarctica. The density of sea water, in contrast to fresh water, increases as it nears the freezing point and thus it tends to sink. The primary site of water export from the Arctic to the Atlantic Ocean is the Fram Strait, which has a sill depth of 2,600 meters (8,530 feet) and is located between Greenland and Spitsbergen. Early cartographers were unsure whether to draw the region around the North Pole as land (as in Johannes Ruysch's map of 1507, or Gerardus Mercator's map of 1595) or water (as with Martin Waldseemüller's world map of 1507). The Earth's oceans range in depth from the surface to more than 36,000 feet deep. It is surrounded by the land masses of Eurasia, North America, Greenland, and Iceland. Sunlight entering the water may travel about 1,000 meters (3,280 feet) into the ocean under the right conditions, but there is rarely any significant light beyond 200 meters (656 feet). Arctic Ocean (18,456 ft) (5,625 meters) South China Sea (16,456 ft) (5,016 meters) Bering Sea (15,659 ft) (4,773 meters) Mediterranean Sea (15,197 ft) (4,632 meters) Gulf of Mexico (12,425 ft) (3,787 meters) Ocean Sizes and more. The area has a fragile ecosystem. This shot was taken from a boat and Victoria was left to hang out on the iceberg as it floated along the ocean currents and collided … Arctic Ocean The Arctic Ocean is divided into the Eurasian and Canadian basins by the Lomonosov Ridge, a bathymetry feature that extends from Greenland past the North Pole to Siberia. The total area of the Arctic ocean is around 5.4 million square miles. For example, the Beaufort High—an extension of the Siberian High system—is a pressure system that drives the anticyclonic motion of the Beaufort Gyre. The Arctic Ocean's average depth, meanwhile, is much shallower — around 0.65 miles (1.04 kilometers), or 3,407 feet. Riesling Country Cottages. The summer shrinking of the ice has been quoted at 50%. The fervent desire of European merchants for a northern passage, the Northern Sea Route or the Northwest 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 central surface covered by ice about 3 metres (9.8 feet) thick. Without taking into consideration its connecting seas, the Atlantic Ocean has an additional average depth of almost 2,000 feet, measuring a total of 12,881 feet deep. There are oceanic basins farther north that are as much as 14,800 feet deep. Indian Ocean. 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. Size and Boundaries. [13][15] It is the only ocean smaller than Russia, which has a land area of 16,377,742 km2 (6,323,482 sq mi). The Arctic Ocean is not only ranked the smallest in size (it's 10 times smaller than the Pacific Ocean), it's also the shallowest. [70][71], Sea ice, and the cold conditions it sustains, serves to stabilize methane deposits on and near the shoreline,[72] preventing the clathrate breaking down and outgassing methane into the atmosphere, causing further warming. ... (1.5 feet… Location: 4500 from center of Australia, South Pacific Ocean. The ice is about 2-3 meters (6-10 feet) thick. This is one reason why the Arctic does not experience the extreme temperatures seen on the Antarctic continent. It is fed by the freshwater input of the big Siberian and Canadian streams (Ob, Yenisei, Lena, Mackenzie), the water of which quasi floats on the saltier, denser, deeper ocean water. The ocean's area is about 14.056 million km2, which is the smallest of the world's 5 oceans, and it has 45,389 kilometres (28,203 miles) of coastline. The climate of the Arctic region has varied significantly during the Earth's history. The most important feature of this water mass is a section referred to as the sub-surface layer. [39] It flows slowly, at about 0.02 m/s. The agreement calls for those nations to refrain from fishing there until there is better scientific knowledge about the marine resources and until a regulatory system is in place to protect those resources. It is generally taken to include Baffin Bay, Barents Sea, Beaufort Sea, Chukchi Sea, East Siberian Sea, Greenland Sea, Iceland Sea, Norwegian Sea, Hudson Bay, Hudson Strait, Kara Sea, Laptev Sea, White Sea and other tributary bodies of water. A final example of seasonal pressure system movement is the low pressure system that exists over the Nordic and Barents Seas. The average depth of the Canada Basin is 12,500 feet. The ocean's area is about 14.056 million km 2, which is the smallest of the world's 5 oceans, and it has 45,389 kilometres (28,203 miles) of coastline.The central surface covered by ice about 3 metres (9.8 feet) thick.The biology there is quite special. By Jeff Berardelli August 12, 2020 / 12:32 PM / CBS News The Arctic Ocean is covered in masses of sea ice during most of the year, which can sometimes be hundreds of feet thick. Comparing of the September sea ice extent between simulation and SSM/I dataset, a consistent interannual variability is found between them. [1] It spans an area of approximately 14,060,000 km² and is also known as the coldest of all the oceans. The International Hydrographic Organization (IHO) recognizes it as an ocean, although some oceanographers call it the Arctic Mediterranean Sea. In addition, there is a sea level pressure (SLP) ridge over Greenland that drives strong northerly winds through the Fram Strait, facilitating ice export. The region does not experience much fluctuation throughout the year in terms of temperature, and temperatures during the long winter months remain very cold but stable. Its deepest point is the Eurasia Basin, one of the two basins created by the Lomonosov Ridge, which bisects this ocean. The new portrayal of the Arctic Ocean floor is in the form of a digital gridded database and comprises Version 4.0 of the International … The Arctic Ocean has a volume of 18,750,000 cubic kilometers (4,500,000 cubic miles). Ocean acidification is spreading rapidly in the western Arctic Ocean in both area and depth, potentially affecting shellfish, other marine species in the food web and communities that depend on these resources, according to new research published in Nature Climate Change by NOAA, Chinese marine scientists and other partners. The deepest part of the Arctic Ocean is 18,210 feet … They feed on nutrients from rivers and the currents of the Atlantic and Pacific oceans. [42] The seasonal variations are about 7,000,000 km2 (2,702,700 sq mi) with the maximum in April and minimum in September. Arctic Ocean surface water (0–200 meters or 0–650 feet) predominately flows counterclockwise in the Eurasian basin and clockwise in the Canadian basin. It’s coastline is 45,389 kilometers long. Scientific settlements were established on the drift ice and carried thousands of kilometers by ice floes.[12]. It is connected to the Pacific Ocean by the Bering Strait and to the Atlantic Ocean through the Greenland Sea and Labrador Sea. There is also evidence that the drift is associated with the phase of the Arctic Oscillation and Atlantic Multidecadal Oscillation. ", "Warmer Arctic with Less Ice Increases Storm Surge", "Arctic Russian Town Declares Polar Bear Invasion Emergency After 52 Wander In", "Watch: Polar bear in Russian archipelago peeks inside a house", "Polar bear invasion: Parents scared to send children to school in remote Russian archipelago", "A Storehouse of Greenhouse Gases Is Opening in Siberia", 400 million cubic meters of radioactive waste threaten the Arctic area, Plutonium in the Russian Arctic, or How We Learned to Love the Bomb, "A Top-Secret US Military Base Will Melt Out of the Greenland Ice Sheet", "Radioactive contamination from Fukushima found as far north as Alaska's Bering Strait", "5 nations sign declaration to protect Arctic 'donut hole' from unregulated fishing", Arctic Great Rivers Observatory (ArcticGRO), Daily Arctic Ocean Rawinsonde Data from Soviet Drifting Ice Stations (1954–1990), NOAA Near-realtime North Pole Weather Data, "Daily report of Arctic ice cover based on satellite data", Chief Directorate of the Northern Sea Route, United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, Effects of global warming on marine mammals, List of countries where Arabic is an official language, Lower Gangetic Plains moist deciduous forests, Northwestern Himalayan alpine shrub and meadows, Trans-Mexican Volcanic Belt pine–oak forests, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Arctic_Ocean&oldid=1004594438, Wikipedia indefinitely move-protected pages, Short description is different from Wikidata, All Wikipedia articles written in Canadian English, Wikipedia articles with WorldCat-VIAF identifiers, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License, This page was last edited on 3 February 2021, at 11:21. 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