Arctic Ocean

Pacific Ocean | Atlantic Ocean | Indian Ocean | Southern Ocean | Arctic Ocean

The Arctic Ocean which is located in the northern hemisphere and mostly in the Arctic north polar region, is the smallest and shallowest of the world's five oceans. It lies almost entirely above the Arctic Circle (66.5° N). Nearly totally surrounded by land, its only outlets are the Bering Strait between Alaska and Russia, Davis Strait between Greenland and Canada, and Denmark Strait and the Norwegian Sea between Greenland and Europe.

The International Hydrographic Organization (IHO) recognizes it as an ocean however, oceanographers sometimes call it the 'Arctic Mediterranean Sea' or simply the 'Arctic Sea', classifying it as one of the seas of the Atlantic Ocean. However, the Arctic Ocean is the northernmost location of the all-encompassing 'World Ocean'.

A majority of the Arctic Ocean is covered by sea ice, both during the colder months or all year round. The Arctic Ocean's temperature and saltiness vary seasonally as the ice cover melts and freezes it's saltiness is the lowest on average of the five major oceans. This is due to low evaporation, as well as limited outflow to surrounding waters with heavy freshwater inflow. The summer shrinking of the icepack has been quoted at 50%.

The Arctic Ocean occupies a roughly circular basin and covers an area of about 14,056,000 square km (5,440,000 sq miles), slightly less than one and a half times the size of the United States. The coastline length is 45,389 kilometres (28,203 miles). The average depth of the Arctic Ocean is 1,038 metres (3,407 feet). The deepest point is in the Eurasian Basin deepest point, at 5,450 metres (17,881 feet).

Nearly totally encircled by land mass, it is surrounded by Eurasia, North America, Greenland, and several islands. It includes 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.

The Arctic Ocean is divided into two basins, the Eurasian Basin, and the North American Basin, by the Lomonosov Ridge. There are also submarine ridges between the Arctic and Atlantic Oceans. It is also connected to the Pacific Ocean by the Bering Strait and to the Atlantic Ocean through the Greenland Sea and Labrador Sea. The greatest inflow of water comes from the Atlantic by way of the Norwegian Current, which then flows along the Eurasian coast.

The central part of the ocean is permanently covered in around ten feet of ice. Pressure ridges in the ice can sometimes reach three times that height (thirty feet). During the summer months, the icepack is surrounded by water and free-floating. During the winter, the icepack expands to nearly twice the size of its summer area, reaching the land on all sides. Due to the extremely cold temperatures, people thought that non-oceanic life did not exist in the Arctic. However, marine life is quite abundant in the open sea and on the ice mass: hares, polar bears, seals, gulls, and guillemots have been found as far north as 88°.

Endangered marine species include walruses and whales. The area has a fragile ecosystem which is slow to change and slow to recover from disruptions or damage.

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. Nutrients from rivers and the currents of the Atlantic and Pacific oceans provide food for the Arctic Phytoplankton. 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.

The Arctic is a major source of very cold air that inevitably moves toward the equator, meeting with warmer air in the middle latitudes and causing rain and snow.

The ocean is contained in a polar climate characterized by persistent cold and relatively narrow annual temperature ranges. Winters are characterized by continuous darkness, cold and stable weather conditions, and clear skies; summers are characterized by continuous daylight, damp and foggy weather, and weak cyclones with rain or snow.

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