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 Match 11   DB Rec# - 7,463  Dataset-WOFACT

Title         :Arctic Ocean 
Text          : 
                                  Arctic Ocean 
 
                                    Geography 
 
Location: 
    body of water mostly north of the Arctic Circle 
Map references: 
    Arctic Region 
Area: 
  total area: 
    14.056 million sq km 
  comparative area: 
    slightly more than 1.5 times the size of the US; smallest of the world's 
    four oceans (after Pacific Ocean, Atlantic Ocean, and Indian Ocean) 
  note: 
    includes Baffin Bay, Barents Sea, Beaufort Sea, Chukchi Sea, East Siberian 
    Sea, Greenland Sea, Hudson Bay, Hudson Strait, Kara Sea, Laptev Sea, 
    Northwest Passage, and other tributary water bodies 
Coastline: 
    45,389 km 
International disputes: 
    some maritime disputes (see littoral states); Svalbard is the focus of a 
    maritime boundary dispute between Norway and Russia 
Climate: 
    polar climate characterized by persistent cold and relatively narrow annual 
    temperature ranges; winters characterized by continuous darkness, cold and 
    stable weather conditions, and clear skies; summers characterized by 
    continuous daylight, damp and foggy weather, and weak cyclones with rain or 
    snow 
Terrain: 
    central surface covered by a perennial drifting polar icepack that averages 
    about 3 meters in thickness, although pressure ridges may be three times 


    that size; clockwise drift pattern in the Beaufort Gyral Stream, but nearly 
    straight line movement from the New Siberian Islands (Russia) to Denmark 
    Strait (between Greenland and Iceland); the ice pack is surrounded by open 
    seas during the summer, but more than doubles in size during the winter and 
    extends to the encircling land masses; the ocean floor is about 50% 
    continental shelf (highest percentage of any ocean) with the remainder a 
    central basin interrupted by three submarine ridges (Alpha Cordillera, 
    Nansen Cordillera, and Lomonsov Ridge); maximum depth is 4,665 meters in the
 
    Fram Basin 
Natural resources: 
    sand and gravel aggregates, placer deposits, polymetallic nodules, oil and 
    gas fields, fish, marine mammals (seals and whales) 
Environment: 
  current issues: 
    endangered marine species include walruses and whales; fragile ecosystem 
    slow to change and slow to recover from disruptions or damage 
  natural hazards: 
    ice islands occasionally break away from northern Ellesmere Island; icebergs
 
    calved from glaciers in western Greenland and extreme northeastern Canada; 
    permafrost in islands; virtually icelocked from October to June; ships 
    subject to superstructure icing from October to May 
  international agreements: 
    NA 
Note: 
    major chokepoint is the southern Chukchi Sea (northern access to the Pacific
 
    Ocean via the Bering Strait); strategic location between North America and 
    Russia; shortest marine link between the extremes of eastern and western 
    Russia, floating research stations operated by the US and Russia; maximum 
    snow cover in March or April about 20 to 50 centimeters over the frozen 
    ocean and lasts about 10 months 
 
                                   Government 
 
Digraph: 
    XQ 
 
                                     Economy 
 
Overview: 
    Economic activity is limited to the exploitation of natural resources, 
    including petroleum, natural gas, fish, and seals. 
 
                                 Transportation 
 
Ports: 
    Churchill (Canada), Murmansk (Russia), Prudhoe Bay (US) 
Note: 
    sparse network of air, ocean, river, and land routes; the Northwest Passage 
    (North America) and Northern Sea Route (Eurasia) are important seasonal 
    waterways 
 
                                 Communications 
 
Telephone system: 
  international: 
    no submarine cables 

This publication is also available online from the CIA (http://www.odci.gov/cia) as 1995 World Factbook (http://www.odci.gov/cia/publications/95fact/index.html).

The printed version of this item can be found under the title:
The World Factbook 1995,
SuDoc No: PREX 3.15:995

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Updated: March 12, 1996