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INTRODUCTIO
I N
Arctic Ocean, smallest of the four world oceans. The Arctic Ocean extends south from the North Pole
to the shores of Europe, Asia, and North America.
BOUNDARIES AND
II SIZE
STRUCTURAL
III FEATURES
Approximately one-third of the Arctic Ocean is underlain by continental shelf, which includes a
broad shelf north of Eurasia and the narrower shelves of North America and Greenland. Seaward of
the continental shelves lies the Arctic Basin proper, which is subdivided into a set of three parallel
ridges and four basins (also known as deeps). These features were discovered and explored
beginning in the late 1940s. The Lomonosov Ridge, the major ridge, cuts the Arctic Basin almost in
half, extending as a submarine bridge 1,800 km (1,100 mi) from Siberia to the northwestern tip of
Greenland. Parallel to it are two shorter ridges: the Alpha Ridge on the North American side,
defining the Canada and Makarov basins, and the Arctic Mid-Ocean Ridge on the Eurasian side,
defining the Nansen and Amundsen basins. The average depth of the Arctic Ocean is only 1,300 m
(4,300 ft) because of the vast shallow expanses on the continental shelves. The deepest point in
the Arctic Ocean is 5,450 m (17,880 ft).
ISLAND
IV S
The islands of the Arctic Ocean lie on the continental shelves. To the northeast of Norway lies the
archipelago of Svalbard (formerly known as Spitsbergen); to the east are Franz Josef Land, Novaya
Zemlya, Severnaya Zemlya, the New Siberian Islands, and Wrangel Island, all of which are located
north of Russia. The numerous islands of the Canadian Arctic Archipelago extend north and east
from the Canadian mainland to Greenland, the largest island of the Arctic Ocean.
V ICE
Three forms of ice are found in the Arctic Ocean: land ice, river ice, and sea ice. Land ice enters the
ocean in the form of icebergs, which are created when pieces of glaciers break off. In the Arctic
Ocean, icebergs are created primarily along the coasts of Greenland. The freezing of fresh water,
and its subsequent transport into the ocean by rivers, produces nearshore concentrations of river
ice over small areas of the Siberian and North American shelves. Sea ice is formed by the freezing
of seawater. It is the most extensive form of ice in the Arctic Ocean. In winter a permanent cap of
sea ice covers all of the ocean surface, except for the area northeast of Iceland and north of
Scandinavia. In summer the ice cover shrinks to expose narrow bands of relatively open water
along the coasts of most of Siberia, Alaska, and Canada. The ice cap is composed of pack ice—that
is, pieces of ice that pile up and are pressed in ridges or hummocks that may be more than 10 m
(30 ft) in depth.
RESOURCE
VI S
Fish, in commercially exploitable quantities, are found only in the warmer marginal seas of the
Arctic Ocean, notably in the Barents Sea (primarily cod). Sea mammals, including various species of
seal and whale, were hunted to near extinction before being protected by quotas set during the
1900s. Tin is actively mined off the coast of eastern Siberia, and petroleum and natural gas are
extracted north of Alaska and Canada.