Ocean Planet Exhibition Floorplan
Location: body of water mostly
north of the Arctic Circle
Map references: Arctic Region,
Asia, North America, Standard Time Zones of the World
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
international agreements NA
Note: major chokepoint is the southern Chukchi Sea (northern access
to the Pacific Ocean via the Bering Strait); ships subject to superstructure
icing from October to May; 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
Digraph: XQ
Overview: Economic activity is limited
to the exploitation of natural resources, including petroleum, natural gas,
fish, and seals.
Ports:
Churchill (Canada), Murmansk (Russia), Prudhoe Bay (US)
Telecommunications: no submarine cables
Note: sparse
network of air, ocean, river, and land routes; the Northwest Passage (North
America) and Northern Sea Route (Eurasia) are important seasonal waterways
Ocean Planet Exhibition Floorplan
gene carl feldman (gene@seawifs.gsfc.nasa.gov) (301) 286-9428