"Arctic Sea" redirects here. For the cargo ship, see MV Arctic Sea.
The Arctic Ocean, with borders as delineated by the International Hydrographic Organization (IHO), including Hudson Bay (some of which is south of 57°N latitude, off the map) and all other marginal seas.
Earth's ocean, showing common divisions
Earth's thermohaline circulation seawater flow
Map with five-oceans (approximate boundaries)
Earth's ocean
Main five oceans division:
Antarctic/Southern
Arctic
Atlantic
Indian
Pacific
Further subdivision:
Marginal seas
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t
e
The Arctic Ocean is the smallest and shallowest of the world's five major oceans.[1] It spans an area of approximately 14,060,000 km2 (5,430,000 sq mi) and is known as one of the coldest of oceans. The International Hydrographic Organization (IHO) recognizes it as an ocean, although some oceanographers call it the Arctic Mediterranean Sea.[2] It has also been described as an estuary of the Atlantic Ocean.[3][4] It is also seen as the northernmost part of the all-encompassing World Ocean.
The Arctic Ocean includes the North Pole region in the middle of the Northern Hemisphere and extends south to about 60°N. The Arctic Ocean is surrounded by Eurasia and North America, and the borders follow topographic features: the Bering Strait on the Pacific side and the Greenland Scotland Ridge on the Atlantic side. It is mostly covered by sea ice throughout the year and almost completely in winter. The Arctic Ocean's surface temperature and salinity vary seasonally as the ice cover melts and freezes;[5] its salinity is the lowest on average of the five major oceans, due to low evaporation, heavy fresh water 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, showing a continuous decline in sea ice extent.[6] In September 2012, the Arctic ice extent reached a new record minimum. Compared to the average extent (1979–2000), the sea ice had diminished by 49%.[7]
Decrease of old Arctic Sea ice 1982–2007
^ abPidwirny, Michael (2006). "Introduction to the Oceans". physicalgeography.net. Archived from the original on 9 December 2006. Retrieved 7 December 2006.
^General oceanography : an introduction (2nd ed.). New York: Wiley. 1980. p. 501. ISBN 0471021024. OCLC 6200221.
^Tomczak, Matthias; Godfrey, J. Stuart (2003). Regional Oceanography: an Introduction (2nd ed.). Delhi: Daya Publishing House. ISBN 978-81-7035-306-5. Archived from the original on 30 June 2007. Retrieved 22 April 2006.
^"'Arctic Ocean' – Encyclopædia Britannica". Encyclopedia Britannica. Retrieved 2 July 2012. As an approximation, the Arctic Ocean may be regarded as an estuary of the Atlantic Ocean.
^Some Thoughts on the Freezing and Melting of Sea Ice and Their Effects on the Ocean Archived 8 November 2017 at the Wayback Machine K. Aagaard and R. A. Woodgate, Polar Science Center, Applied Physics Laboratory University of Washington, January 2001. Retrieved 7 December 2006.
^"Arctic Sea Ice News and Analysis | Sea ice data updated daily with one-day lag". Retrieved 1 September 2020.
^"Understanding the Arctic sea ice: Polar Portal". polarportal.dk. Retrieved 1 September 2020.
The ArcticOcean is the smallest and shallowest of the world's five major oceans. It spans an area of approximately 14,060,000 km2 (5,430,000 sq mi) and...
Iceland (Grímsey and Kolbeinsey), along with the ArcticOcean and adjacent seas. Land within the Arctic region has seasonally varying snow and ice cover...
continue. The ArcticOcean is the mass of water positioned approximately above latitude 65° N. Arctic Sea Ice refers to the area of the ArcticOcean covered...
the five oceans are the Pacific Ocean, Atlantic Ocean, Indian Ocean, Southern (Antarctic) Ocean, and ArcticOcean. Smaller regions of the oceans are called...
These islands of the ArcticOcean can be classified by the country that controls the territory. Arctic Archipelago Queen Elizabeth Islands Axel Heiberg...
North Pole and the region of the ArcticOcean surrounding it are not owned by any country. The five surrounding Arctic countries are limited to a territorial...
major water basins above the Polar Circle in the Arctic or within the actual boundaries of the Southern Ocean, from land to land, excluding any use of sail...
The Arctic Circle passes through the ArcticOcean, the Scandinavian Peninsula, North Asia, Northern America, and Greenland. The land within the Arctic Circle...
surface. The Arctic consists of ocean that is largely surrounded by land. As such, the climate of much of the Arctic is moderated by the ocean water, which...
500 km2 (550,000 sq mi), this group of 36,563 islands, surrounded by the ArcticOcean, comprises much of Northern Canada, predominately Nunavut and the Northwest...
The ArcticOcean covers an area of 14,056,000 square kilometers, and supports a diverse and important socioeconomic food web of organisms, despite its...
Antarctic/Southern, and Arctic. The ocean contains 97% of Earth's water and is the primary component of the Earth's hydrosphere, thus the ocean is essential to...
This list of Arctic expeditions is a timeline of historic Arctic exploration and explorers of the Arctic. 1472: Didrik Pining and Hans Pothorst mark the...
interconnected World Ocean, it is connected in the north to the ArcticOcean, to the Pacific Ocean in the southwest, the Indian Ocean in the southeast, and...
Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five oceanic divisions. It extends from the ArcticOcean in the north to the Southern Ocean (or, depending...
ArcticOcean Highway (Finnish: Jäämerentie, Swedish: Ishavsvägen, German: Eismeerstraße) was a 531 kilometre-long highway in Lapland, Finland connecting...
Northern pole of inaccessibility, sometimes known as the Arctic pole, is located on the ArcticOcean pack ice at a distance farthest from any landmass. The...
The inaugural ArcticOcean Conference was held in Ilulissat (Greenland) on 27-29 May 2008. Canada, Denmark, Norway, Russia and the United States discussed...
Currents of the ArcticOcean Baffin Island Current – ArcticOcean current Beaufort Gyre – Wind-driven ocean current in the ArcticOcean polar region East...
Arctic Council is a high-level intergovernmental forum that addresses issues faced by the Arctic governments and the indigenous people of the Arctic region...
watersheds that drain into the Pacific Ocean from those river systems that drain into the Atlantic and ArcticOcean, including those that drain into the...
The Arctic char or Arctic charr (Salvelinus alpinus) is a cold-water fish in the family Salmonidae, native to alpine lakes, as well as Arctic and subarctic...
Atlantic water in the Arctic. Warmer and saltier Atlantic water is extending its reach northward into the ArcticOcean. The ArcticOcean is becoming warmer...
principal oceanic divisions: smaller than the Pacific, Atlantic, and Indian oceans but larger than the ArcticOcean. The maximum depth of the Southern Ocean, using...
ArcticOcean overall speed record by 3,5 times. Polar Row I's triumph was the biggest record demolition in the history of Ocean Rowing. ArcticOcean overall...
Svalbard, Franz Josef Land, Severny Island and Severnaya Zemlya in the ArcticOcean, above 75 degrees north latitude. The region is covered with glaciers...
summer. The Arctic consists of ocean that is almost surrounded by landmasses like Russia and Canada. As such, the climate of much of the Arctic is moderated...
oceans, the Pacific, Atlantic, Indian, Southern, and Arctic. Countries which border on multiple oceans because of discontiguous regions are excluded here...
The ArcticOcean Flotilla (AOF) (Russian: Флотилия Северного Ледовитого океана, romanized: Flotiliya Severnogo Ledovitogo okeana), was a Russian military...
addition to the marginal seas listed in the three subsections below, the ArcticOcean itself is sometimes also considered a marginal sea of the Atlantic. Norwegian...
Global Information
