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| Earth's five Oceans |
The Arctic Ocean, located entirely in the north polar region, is the smallest of the world's five oceans (after the Pacific Ocean, Atlantic Ocean, Indian Ocean, and Southern Ocean), and the shallowest.
It occupies a roughly circular basin and covers an area of about 14,090,000 km² (5,440,000 sq mi). Nearly landlocked, the ocean is surrounded by the land masses of Europe, Asia, North America, and Greenland and a number of islands, as well as by the Barents, Beaufort, Chukchi, Kara, Laptev, East SiberianEast Siberian Sea ( Russian: ) is a marginal sea in the Arctic Ocean. It is located between the Arctic cape in the North, the coast of Siberia in the South, the New Siberian islands in the West and Wrangel Island in the East, bordering on the Laptev Sea a, Lincoln , Wandel , Greenland , and NorwegianLocation The Norwegian Sea (Norwegian: Norskehavet is part of the North Atlantic Ocean northwest of Norway, located between the North Sea (i. north of Scotland) and the Greenland Sea. It adjoins the Iceland Sea to the west and the Barents Sea to the north seas. It is connected to the Pacific Ocean by the Bering StraitThe Bering Strait is a sea strait between Cape Dezhnev, the eastmost point of the Asian continent and Cape Prince of Wales, the westernmost point of the American continent, about 85 km in width, with a depth of 30 50 m. The strait connects the Chukchi Sea and to the Atlantic Ocean through the Greenland Sea.
An underwater ocean ridge, the Lomonosov ridge, divides the Arctic Ocean into two basins: the Eurasian, or Nansen, Basin, which is between 4,000 and 4,500 m (13,000 and 15,000 ft) deep, and the North American, or Hyperborean, Basin, which is about 4,000 m deep. The topography of the ocean bottom is marked by fault-block ridges, plains of the abyssal zone, ocean deeps, and basins.
The greatest inflow of water comes from the Atlantic by way of the Norwegian Current , which then flows along the Eurasian coast. Water also enters from the Pacific via the Bering Strait. The East Greenland CurrentThe East Greenland Current originates in the Arctic Ocean and brings cold flowing, low salinity, Southbound water along the East Coast of Greenland. It is one of the five main currents that make up the subpolar gyre, which provides a major outflow of cold carries the major outflow. Temperature and salinity vary seasonally as the ice cover melts and freezes. Ice covers most of the ocean surface year-round, causing subfreezing temperatures much of the time. 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. Little marine life exists where the ocean surface is covered with ice throughout the year. Marine life abounds in open areas, especially the more southerly waters. The ocean's major ports are the RussiaThe Russian Federation ( Russian: , transliteration: Rossiyskaya Federatsiya or Rossijskaja Federacija , or Russia (Russian: , transliteration: Rossiya or Rossija , is a country that stretches over a vast expanse of eastern Europe and northern Asia. Withn cities of MurmanskMurmansk is a city in the extreme northwest of Russia with a seaport on the Kola Gulf, 20 miles from the Barents Sea on the northern shore of the Kola Peninsula not far from Russia's borders with Norway and Finland. It has 308 100 inhabitants (2004) and i and ArkhangelskThe city of Arkhangelsk #x301 formerly in English Archangel lies on the Northern Dvina River #x301; ́ near its exit into the White Sea in the far north of European Russia. It is the capital of the Arkhangelsk Oblast. Population 355,500 ( 2002). Histo (Archangel). The Arctic Ocean is important as the shortest air route between the Pacific coast of North America and Europe.