Arctic Ocean

"Arctic Sea" redirects here. For the cargo ship, see MV Arctic Sea.

Map of 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).

Earth's oceans

Arctic Atlantic Indian Pacific Southern
World Ocean

The Arctic Ocean (also known as the Northern Ocean), located in the Northern Hemisphere and mostly in the Arctic north polar region, is the smallest and shallowest of the world's five major oceanic divisions.^[1] The International Hydrographic Organization (IHO) recognizes it as an ocean, although some oceanographers call it the Arctic Mediterranean Sea or simply the Arctic Sea, classifying it a mediterranean sea or an estuary of the Atlantic Ocean.^[2]^[3] Alternatively, the Arctic Ocean can be seen as the northernmost part of the all-encompassing World Ocean.

Almost completely surrounded by Eurasia and North America, the Arctic Ocean is partly covered by sea ice throughout the year^[4] (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.

History

For much of European history, the north polar regions remained largely unexplored and their geography conjectural. Pytheas of Massilia recorded an account of a journey northward in 325 BC, to a land he called "Eschate Thule", where the Sun only set for three hours each day and the water was replaced by a congealed substance "on which one can neither walk nor sail". He was probably describing loose sea ice known today as "growlers" or "bergy bits"; his "Thule" was probably Norway, though the Faroe Islands or Shetland have also been suggested.^[6]

Emanuel Bowen's 1780s map of the Arctic features a "Northern Ocean".

Early cartographers were unsure whether to draw the region around the North Pole as land (as in Johannes Ruysch's map of 1507, or Gerardus Mercator's map of 1595) or water (as with Martin Waldseemüller's world map of 1507). The fervent desire of European merchants for a northern passage, the Northern Sea Route or the Northwest Passage, to "Cathay" (China) caused water to win out, and by 1723 mapmakers such as Johann Homann featured an extensive "Oceanus Septentrionalis" at the northern edge of their charts.

The few expeditions to penetrate much beyond the Arctic Circle in this era added only small islands, such as Novaya Zemlya (11th century) and Spitzbergen (1596), though since these were often surrounded by pack-ice, their northern limits were not so clear. The makers of navigational charts, more conservative than some of the more fanciful cartographers, tended to leave the region blank, with only fragments of known coastline sketched in.

This lack of knowledge of what lay north of the shifting barrier of ice gave rise to a number of conjectures. In England and other European nations, the myth of an "Open Polar Sea" was persistent. John Barrow, longtime Second Secretary of the British Admiralty, promoted exploration of the region from 1818 to 1845 in search of this.

In the United States in the 1850s and 1860s, the explorers Elisha Kane and Isaac Israel Hayes both claimed to have seen part of this elusive body of water. Even quite late in the century, the eminent authority Matthew Fontaine Maury included a description of the Open Polar Sea in his textbook The Physical Geography of the Sea (1883). Nevertheless, as all the explorers who travelled closer and closer to the pole reported, the polar ice cap is quite thick, and persists year-round.

Fridtjof Nansen was the first to make a nautical crossing of the Arctic Ocean, in 1896. The first surface crossing of the ocean was led by Wally Herbert in 1969, in a dog sled expedition from Alaska to Svalbard, with air support.^[7] The first nautical transit of the north pole was made in 1958 by the submarine USS Nautilus, and the first surface nautical transit occurred in 1977 by the icebreaker NS Arktika.

Since 1937, Soviet and Russian manned drifting ice stations have extensively monitored the Arctic Ocean. Scientific settlements were established on the drift ice and carried thousands of kilometres by ice floes.^[8]

In World War II the European region of the Arctic Ocean was heavily contested : the Allied commitment to resupply the Soviet Union via its northern ports was opposed by German naval and air forces.

Geography

A bathymetric/topographic map of the Arctic Ocean and the surrounding lands.

The Arctic region; of note, the region's southerly border on this map is depicted by a red isotherm, with all territory to the north having an average temperature of less than 10 °C (50 °F) in July.

The Arctic Ocean occupies a roughly circular basin and covers an area of about 14,056,000 km² (5,427,000 sq mi), almost the size of Antarctica.^[9]^[10] The coastline is 45,390 km (28,200 mi) long.^[9]^[11] It is surrounded by the land masses of Eurasia, North America, Greenland, and by several islands.

It is generally taken to include 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. It is connected to the Pacific Ocean by the Bering Strait and to the Atlantic Ocean through the Greenland Sea and Labrador Sea.^[1]

Countries bordering the Arctic Ocean are: Russia, Norway, Iceland, Greenland, Canada and the United States.

Extent and major ports

Main article: Borders of the oceans § Arctic Ocean

There are several ports and harbors around the Arctic Ocean^[12]

Russia

In Russia, major ports sorted by the different sea areas are:

Murmansk (68°58′N 033°05′E / 68.967°N 33.083°E / 68.967; 33.083 (Murmansk)) in the Barents Sea
Arkhangelsk (64°32′N 040°32′E / 64.533°N 40.533°E / 64.533; 40.533 (Arkhangelsk)) in the White Sea
Labytnangi (66°39′26″N 066°25′06″E / 66.65722°N 66.41833°E / 66.65722; 66.41833 (Labytnangi)) Salekhard (66°32′N 066°36′E / 66.533°N 66.600°E / 66.533; 66.600 (Salekhard)), Dudinka (69°24′N 086°11′E / 69.400°N 86.183°E / 69.400; 86.183 (Dudinka)), Igarka (67°28′N 86°35′E / 67.467°N 86.583°E / 67.467; 86.583 (Igarka)) and Dikson (73°30′N 080°31′E / 73.500°N 80.517°E / 73.500; 80.517 (Dikson)) in the Kara Sea
Tiksi (71°38′N 128°52′E / 71.633°N 128.867°E / 71.633; 128.867 (Tiksi, city of the Polar Heros)) in the Laptev Sea
Pevek (69°42′N 170°17′E / 69.700°N 170.283°E / 69.700; 170.283 (Pevek)) in the East Siberian Sea

Arctic shelves

The ocean's Arctic shelf comprises a number of continental shelves, including the Canadian Arctic shelf, underlying the Canadian Arctic Archipelago, and the Russian continental shelf, which is sometimes simply called the "Arctic Shelf" because it is greater in extent. The Russian continental shelf consists of three separate, smaller shelves, the Barents Shelf, Chukchi Sea Shelf and Siberian Shelf. Of these three, the Siberian Shelf is the largest such shelf in the world. The Siberian Shelf holds large oil and gas reserves, and the Chukchi shelf forms the border between Russian and the United States as stated in the USSR–USA Maritime Boundary Agreement. The whole area is subject to international territorial claims.

Underwater features

An underwater ridge, the Lomonosov Ridge, divides the deep sea North Polar Basin into two oceanic basins: the Eurasian Basin, which is between 4,000 and 4,500 m (13,100 and 14,800 ft) deep, and the Amerasian Basin (sometimes called the North American, or Hyperborean Basin), which is about 4,000 m (13,000 ft) deep. The bathymetry of the ocean bottom is marked by fault block ridges, abyssal plains, ocean deeps, and basins. The average depth of the Arctic Ocean is 1,038 m (3,406 ft).^[14] The deepest point is Litke Deep in the Eurasian Basin, at 5,450 m (17,880 ft).

The two major basins are further subdivided by ridges into the Canada Basin (between Alaska/Canada and the Alpha Ridge), Makarov Basin (between the Alpha and Lomonosov Ridges), Nansen Basin (between Lomonosov and Gakkel ridges), and Nansen Basin (Amundsen Basin) (between the Gakkel Ridge and the continental shelf that includes the Franz Josef Land).

Oceanography

Water flow

Density structure of the upper 1,200 m (3,900 ft) in the Arctic Ocean. Profiles of temperature and salinity for the Amundsen Basin, the Canadian Basin and the Greenland Sea are sketched in this cartoon.

In large parts of the Arctic Ocean, the top layer (about 50 m (160 ft)) is of lower salinity and lower temperature than the rest. It remains relatively stable, because the salinity effect on density is bigger than the temperature effect. It is fed by the freshwater input of the big Siberian and Canadian streams (Ob, Yenisei, Lena, Mackenzie), the water of which quasi floats on the saltier, denser, deeper ocean water. Between this lower salinity layer and the bulk of the ocean lies the so-called halocline, in which both salinity and temperature are rising with increasing depth.

Because of its relative isolation from other oceans, the Arctic Ocean has a uniquely complex system of water flow. It is classified as a mediterranean sea, which as “a part of the world ocean which has only limited communication with the major ocean basins (these being the Pacific, Atlantic, and Indian Oceans) and where the circulation is dominated by thermohaline forcing”.^[15] The Arctic Ocean has a total volume of 18.07×10⁶ km³, equal to about 1.3% of the World Ocean. Mean surface circulation is predominately cyclonic on the Eurasian side and anticyclonic in the Canadian Basin.^[16]

Water enters from both the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans and can be divided into three unique water masses. The deepest water mass is called Arctic Bottom Water and begins around 900 meters depth.^[15] It is composed of the densest water in the World Ocean and has two main sources: Arctic shelf water and Greenland Sea Deep Water. Water in the shelf region that begins as inflow from the Pacific passes through the narrow Bering Strait at an average rate of 0.8 Sverdrups and reaches the Chukchi Sea.^[17] During the winter, cold Alaskan winds blow over the Chukchi Sea, freezing the surface water and pushing this newly formed ice out to the Pacific. The speed of the ice drift is roughly 1–4 cm/s.^[16] This process leaves dense, salty waters in the sea that sink over the continental shelf into the western Arctic Ocean and create a halocline.^[18]

This water is met by Greenland Sea Deep Water, which forms during the passage of winter storms. As temperatures cool dramatically in the winter, ice forms and intense vertical convection allows the water to become dense enough to sink below the warm saline water below.^[15] Arctic Bottom Water is critically important because of its outflow, which contributes to the formation of Atlantic Deep Water. The overturning of this water plays a key role in global circulation and the moderation of climate.

In the depth range of 150–900 meters is a water mass referred to as Atlantic Water. Inflow from the North Atlantic Current enters through the Fram Strait, cooling and sinking to form the deepest layer of the halocline, where it circles the Arctic Basin counter-clockwise. This is the highest volumetric inflow to the Arctic Ocean, equaling about 10 times that of the Pacific inflow, and it creates the Arctic Ocean Boundary Current.^[17] It flows slowly, at about 0.02 m/s.^[15] Atlantic Water has the same salinity as Arctic Bottom Water but is much warmer (up to 3 °C). In fact, this water mass is actually warmer than the surface water, and remains submerged only due the role of salinity in density.^[15] When water reaches the basin it is pushed by strong winds into a large circular current called the Beaufort Gyre. Water in the Beaufort Gyre is far less saline than that of the Chukchi Sea due to inflow from large Canadian and Siberian rivers.^[18]

The final defined water mass in the Arctic Ocean is called Arctic Surface Water and is found from 150–200 meters. The most important feature of this water mass is a section referred to as the sub-surface layer. It is a product of Atlantic water that enters through canyons and is subjected to intense mixing on the Siberian Shelf.^[15] As it is entrained, it cools and acts a heat shield for the surface layer. This insulation keeps the warm Atlantic Water from melting the surface ice. Additionally, this water forms the swiftest currents of the Arctic, with speed of around 0.3-0.6 m/s.^[15] Complementing the water from the canyons, some Pacific water that does not sink to the shelf region after passing through the Bering Strait also contributes to this water mass.

Waters originating in the Pacific and Atlantic both exit through the Fram Strait between Greenland and Svalbard Island, which is about 2700 meters deep and 350 kilometers wide. This outflow is about 9 Sv.^[17] The width of the Fram Strait is what allows for both inflow and outflow on the Atlantic side of the Arctic Ocean. Because of this, it is influenced by the Coriolis force, which concentrates outflow to the East Greenland Current on the western side and inflow to the Norwegian Current on the eastern side.^[15] Pacific water also exits along the west coast of Greenland and the Hudson Strait (1-2 Sv), providing nutrients to the Canadian Archipelago.^[17]

As noted, the process of ice formation and movement is a key driver in Arctic Ocean circulation and the formation of water masses. With this dependence, the Arctic Ocean experiences variations due to seasonal changes in sea ice cover. Sea ice movement is the result of wind forcing, which is related to a number of meteorological conditions that the Arctic experiences throughout the year. For example, the Beaufort High—an extension of the Siberian High system—is a pressure system that drives the anticyclonic motion of the Beaufort Gyre.^[16] During the summer, this area of high pressure is pushed out closer to its Siberian and Canadian sides. In addition, there is a sea level pressure (SLP) ridge over Greenland that drives strong northerly winds through the Fram Strait, facilitating ice export. In the summer, the SLP contrast is smaller, producing weaker winds. A final example of seasonal pressure system movement is the low pressure system that exists over the Nordic and Barents Seas. It is an extension of the Icelandic Low, which creates cyclonic ocean circulation in this area. The low shifts to center over the North Pole in the summer. These variations in the Arctic all contribute to ice drift reaching its weakest point during the summer months. There is also evidence that the drift is associated with the phase of the Arctic Oscillation and Atlantic Multidecadal Oscillation.^[16]

Sea ice

Sea cover in the Arctic Ocean, showing the median, 2005 and 2007 coverage ^[19]

Main article: Arctic ice pack

Much of the Arctic Ocean is covered by sea ice that varies in extent and thickness seasonally. The mean extent of the ice has been decreasing since 1980 from the average winter value of 15,600,000 km² (6,023,200 sq mi) at a rate of 3% per decade. The seasonal variations are about 7,000,000 km² (2,702,700 sq mi) with the maximum in April and minimum in September. The sea ice is affected by wind and ocean currents, which can move and rotate very large areas of ice. Zones of compression also arise, where the ice piles up to form pack ice.^[20]^[21]^[22]

Icebergs occasionally break away from northern Ellesmere Island, and icebergs are formed from glaciers in western Greenland and extreme northeastern Canada. These icebergs pose a hazard to ships, of which the Titanic is one of the most famous. Permafrost is found on most islands. The ocean is virtually icelocked from October to June, and the superstructure of ships are subject to icing from October to May.^[12] Before the advent of modern icebreakers, ships sailing the Arctic Ocean risked being trapped or crushed by sea ice (although the Baychimo drifted through the Arctic Ocean untended for decades despite these hazards).

Climate

Animal and plant life

Three polar bears approach USS Honolulu near the North Pole.

Endangered marine species in the Arctic Ocean include walruses and whales. The area has a fragile ecosystem which is slow to change and slow to recover from disruptions or damage.^[12] Lion's mane jellyfish are abundant in the waters of the Arctic, and the banded gunnel is the only species of gunnel that lives in the ocean.

The Arctic Ocean has relatively little plant life except for phytoplankton.^[31] Phytoplankton are a crucial part of the ocean and there are massive amounts of them in the Arctic, where they feed on nutrients from rivers and the currents of the Atlantic and Pacific oceans.^[32] 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 when they struggle to get enough light to survive.^[32]

Natural resources

Petroleum and natural gas fields, placer deposits, polymetallic nodules, sand and gravel aggregates, fish, seals and whales can all be found in abundance in the region.^[12]^[22]

The political dead zone near the center of the sea is also the focus of a mounting dispute between the United States, Russia, Canada, Norway, and Denmark.^[33] It is significant for the global energy market because it may hold 25% or more of the world's undiscovered oil and gas resources.^[34]

Environmental concerns

Main articles: Climate change in the Arctic, ozone depletion and Pollution in the Arctic Ocean

The Arctic ice pack is thinning, and in many years there is also a seasonal hole in the ozone layer.^[35] Reduction of the area of Arctic sea ice reduces the planet's average albedo, possibly resulting in global warming in a positive feedback mechanism.^[22]^[36] Research shows that the Arctic may become ice free for the first time in human history by 2040.^[37]

Warming temperatures in the Arctic may cause large amounts of fresh meltwater to enter the north Atlantic, possibly disrupting global ocean current patterns. Potentially severe changes in the Earth's climate might then ensue.^[36]

As the extent of sea ice diminishes and sea level rises, the effect of storms such as the Great Arctic Cyclone of 2012 on open water increases, as does possible salt-water damage to vegetation on shore at locations such as the Mackenzie's river delta as stronger storm surges become more likely.^[38]

Other environmental concerns relate to the radioactive contamination of the Arctic Ocean from, for example, Russian radioactive waste dump sites in the Kara Sea^[39] and Cold War nuclear test sites such as Novaya Zemlya.^[40] In addition, Shell planned to drill exploratory wells in the Chukchi and Beaufort seas during the summer of 2012, which environmental groups filed a lawsuit about in an attempt to protect native communities, endangered wildlife, and the Arctic Ocean in the event of a major oil spill.^[41]

On July 16, 2015, five nations (United States of America, Russia, Canada, Norway, Denmark/Greenland) signed a declaration committing to keep their fishing vessels out of a 1.1 million square mile zone in the central Arctic Ocean near the North Pole. The agreement calls for those nations to refrain from fishing there until there is better scientific knowledge about the marine resources and until a regulatory system is in place to protect those resources.^[42]^[43]

References

1 2 3 Michael Pidwirny (2006). "Introduction to the Oceans". www.physicalgeography.net. Archived from the original on 9 December 2006. Retrieved 2006-12-07.
↑ Tomczak, Matthias; Godfrey, J. Stuart (2003). Regional Oceanography: an Introduction (2 ed.). Delhi: Daya Publishing House. ISBN 81-7035-306-8.
↑ "'Arctic Ocean' - Encyclopædia Britannica". Retrieved 2012-07-02. As an approximation, the Arctic Ocean may be regarded as an estuary of the Atlantic Ocean.
↑ Since the beginning of the 21st century, sea ice covers only 1/3 to 1/2 the surface of the Arctic Ocean at the end of summer.
↑ Some Thoughts on the Freezing and Melting of Sea Ice and Their Effects on the Ocean K. Aagaard and R. A. Woodgate, Polar Science Center, Applied Physics Laboratory University of Washington, January 2001. Retrieved 7 December 2006.
↑ Pytheas Andre Engels. Retrieved 16 December 2006.
↑ Channel 4, "Sir Wally Herbert dies" 13 June 2007
↑ North Pole drifting stations (1930s–1980s)
1 2 Wright, John W., ed. (2006). The New York Times Almanac (2007 ed.). New York, New York: Penguin Books. p. 455. ISBN 0-14-303820-6.
↑ "Oceans of the World" (PDF). rst2.edu. Retrieved 2010-10-28.
↑ "Arctic Ocean Fast Facts". wwf.pandora.org (World Wildlife Foundation). Archived from the original on 29 October 2010. Retrieved 2010-10-28.
1 2 3 4 CIA World Fact Book: Arctic Ocean. Retrieved 11 November 2013.
↑ "Backgrounder – Expanding Canadian Forces Operations in the Arctic". Retrieved 2007-08-17. mirror
↑ "The Mariana Trench – Oceanography". www.marianatrench.com. 2003-04-04. Archived from the original on 7 December 2006. Retrieved 2006-12-02.
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 [Regional Oceanography: An Introduction. Tomczak, Godfrey. Retrieved 18 November 2013.]
1 2 3 4 [Descriptive Physical Oceanography. Talley, Pickard, Emery, Swift. Retrieved 2 November 2013.]
1 2 3 4 Arctic Ocean Circulation: Going Around at the Top of the World. Retrieved 2 November 2013.
1 2 Polar Discovery: Arctic Ocean Circulation. Retrieved 2 November 2013.
↑ Continued Sea Ice Decline in 2005 Robert Simmon, Earth Observatory, and Walt Meier, NSIDC. Retrieved 7 December 2006.
↑ Sea Ice Index. Nsidc.org. Retrieved on 2011-03-06.
↑ Polar Sea Ice Cap and Snow – Cryosphere Today. Arctic.atmos.uiuc.edu (2007-09-23). Retrieved on 2011-03-06.
1 2 3 Buixadé Farré, Albert; Stephenson, Scott R.; Chen, Linling; Czub, Michael; Dai, Ying; Demchev, Denis; Efimov, Yaroslav; Graczyk, Piotr; Grythe, Henrik; Keil, Kathrin; Kivekäs, Niku; Kumar, Naresh; Liu, Nengye; Matelenok, Igor; Myksvoll, Mari; O'Leary, Derek; Olsen, Julia; Pavithran .A.P., Sachin; Petersen, Edward; Raspotnik, Andreas; Ryzhov, Ivan; Solski, Jan; Suo, Lingling; Troein, Caroline; Valeeva, Vilena; van Rijckevorsel, Jaap; Wighting, Jonathan (16 October 2014). "Commercial Arctic shipping through the Northeast Passage: Routes, resources, governance, technology, and infrastructure". Polar Geography (Taylor & Francis). doi:10.1080/1088937X.2014.965769. Archived (PDF) from the original on December 5, 2015.
↑ Serreze, Mark C; Barry, Roger G (2014). The Arctic Climate System (2nd ed.). New York: Cambridge University Press. pp. 168–172. ISBN 978-1-107-03717-5.
1 2 Simmonds, Ian; Burke, Craig; Keay, Kevin (2008). "Arctic climate change as manifest in cyclone behavior". Journal of Climate 21. doi:10.1175/2008JCLI2366.1.
↑ Serreze, Mark C; Barry, Roger G (2014). The Arctic Climate System (2nd ed.). New York: Cambridge University Press. pp. 56–59. ISBN 978-1-107-03717-5.
↑ "NSIDC sea ice". Archived from the original on 17 January 2010. Retrieved 2010-02-10.
↑ Shellito, C.J.; Sloan, L.C.; Huber, M. (2003). "Climate model sensitivity to atmospheric CO₂ levels in the Early-Middle Paleogene". Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology 193 (1): 113–123. doi:10.1016/S0031-0182(02)00718-6.
↑ Drill cores were recovered from the Lomonosov Ridge, presently at 87°N
↑ the dinoflagellates Apectodinium augustum
↑ Sluijs, A.; Schouten, S.; Pagani, M.; Woltering, M.; Brinkhuis, H.; Damsté, J.S.S.; Dickens, G.R.; Huber, M.; Reichart, G.J.; Stein, R.; et al. (2006). "Subtropical Arctic Ocean temperatures during the Palaeocene/Eocene thermal maximum". Nature 441 (7093): 610–613. doi:10.1038/nature04668. PMID 16752441.
↑ Microbes flourish under Arctic sea ice; Scientists shocked to find phytoplankton thriving under frozen surface July 28th, 2012; Vol.182 #2 (p. 17) Science News
1 2 Physical Nutrients and Primary Productivity Professor Terry Whiteledge. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Retrieved 7 December 2006.
↑ The Arctic's New Gold Rush – BBC
↑ The Battle for the Next Energy Frontier: The Russian Polar Expedition and the Future of Arctic Hydrocarbons, by Shamil Yenikeyeff and Timothy Fenton Krysiek, Oxford Institute for Energy Studies, August 2007
↑ Clean Air Online – Linking Today into Tomorrow
1 2 Earth – melting in the heat? Richard Black, 7 October 2005. BBC News. Retrieved 7 December 2006.
↑ Russia the next climate recalcitrant Peter Wilson, 17 November 2008, The Australian. Retrieved 2 February 2009.
↑ Lauren Morello (March 5, 2013). "Warmer Arctic with Less Ice Increases Storm Surge". Climate Central. Retrieved March 8, 2013.
↑ 400 million cubic meters of radioactive waste threaten the Arctic area Thomas Nilsen, Bellona, 24 August 2001. Retrieved 7 December 2006.
↑ Plutonium in the Russian Arctic, or How We Learned to Love the Bomb Bradley Moran, John N. Smith. Retrieved 7 December 2006.
↑ Tim Phillips, "Alaska Natives Sue Federal Government for Approving Shell's Insufficient Clean-Up Plan for a Potential Oil Spill in the Arctic Ocean", Activist Defense, July 11, 2012.
↑ "Arctic deal bans North Pole fishing". BBC News. 16 July 2015. Retrieved 16 July 2015.
↑ Rosen, Yereth (16 July 2015). "5 nations sign declaration to protect Arctic 'donut hole' from unregulated fishing". Alaska Dispatch News. Retrieved 16 July 2015.

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Ocean History Expeditions

Farthest North North Pole	Barentsz Hudson Marmaduke Carolus Parry North Magnetic Pole J. Ross J. C. Ross Kane Hayes Polaris Polaris C. F. Hall British Arctic Expedition HMS Alert Nares HMS Discovery Stephenson Markham Lady Franklin Bay Expedition Greely Lockwood Brainard 1st Fram expedition Fram Nansen Johansen Sverdrup Jason Amedeo F. Cook Peary Sedov Byrd Airship Norge Amundsen Nobile Wisting Riiser-Larsen Ellsworth Airship Italia Nautilus Wilkins ANT-25 Chkalov Baydukov Belyakov "North Pole" manned drifting ice stations NP-1 Papanin Shirshov E. Fyodorov Krenkel NP-36 NP-37 Sedov Badygin Wiese USS Nautilus USS Skate Plaisted Herbert NS Arktika Barneo Arktika 2007 Mir submersibles Sagalevich Chilingarov

Iceland Greenland	Pytheas Brendan Papar Vikings Naddodd Svavarsson Arnarson Norse colonization of the Americas Ulfsson Galti Erik the Red Christian IV's expeditions J. Hall Cunningham Lindenov C. Richardson Danish colonization Egede Scoresby Jason Nansen Sverdrup Peary Rasmussen

Northwest Passage Northern Canada	Cabot G. Corte-Real M. Corte-Real Frobisher Gilbert Davis Hudson Discovery Bylot Baffin Munk I. Fyodorov Gvozdev HMS Resolution J. Cook HMS Discovery Clerke Mackenzie Kotzebue J. Ross HMS Griper Parry HMS Hecla Lyon HMS Fury Hoppner Crozier J. C. Ross Coppermine Expedition Franklin Back Dease Simpson HMS Blossom Beechey Franklin's lost expedition HMS Erebus HMS Terror Collinson Rae–Richardson Expedition Rae J. Richardson Austin McClure Expedition HMS Investigator McClure HMS Resolute Kellett Belcher Kennedy Bellot Isabel Inglefield 2nd Grinnell Expedition USS Advance Kane Fox McClintock HMS Pandora Young Fram Sverdrup Gjøa Amundsen Rasmussen Karluk Stefansson Bartlett St. Roch H. Larsen Cowper

North East Passage Russian Arctic	Pomors Koch boats Willoughby Chancellor Barentsz Mangazeya Hudson Poole Siberian Cossacks Perfilyev Stadukhin Dezhnev Popov Ivanov Vagin Permyakov Great Northern Expedition Bering Chirikov Malygin Ovtsyn Minin V. Pronchishchev M. Pronchishcheva Chelyuskin Kh. Laptev D. Laptev Chichagov Lyakhov Billings Sannikov Gedenschtrom Wrangel Matyushkin Anjou Litke Lavrov Pakhtusov Tsivolko Middendorff Austro-Hungarian Expedition Weyprecht Payer Vega Expedition A. E. Nordenskiöld Palander USS Jeannette De Long Yermak Makarov Zarya Toll Kolomeitsev Matisen Kolchak Sedov Rusanov Kuchin Brusilov Expedition Sv. Anna Brusilov Albanov Konrad Wiese Nagórski Taymyr / Vaygach Vilkitsky Maud Amundsen AARI Samoylovich Begichev Urvantsev Sadko Ushakov Glavsevmorput Schmidt Aviaarktika Shevelev Sibiryakov Voronin Chelyuskin Krassin Gakkel Nuclear-powered icebreakers NS Lenin Arktika class

Antarctic

Continent History Expeditions

Southern Ocean	Roché Bouvet Kerguelen HMS Resolution J. Cook HMS Adventure Furneaux Smith San Telmo Vostok Bellingshausen Mirny Lazarev Bransfield Palmer Davis Weddell Morrell Astrolabe Dumont d'Urville United States Exploring Expedition USS Vincennes Wilkes USS Porpoise Ringgold HMS Erebus J. C. Ross HMS Terror Crozier Cooper Challenger expedition HMS Challenger Nares Murray Jason C. A. Larsen

"Heroic Age"	Belgian Antarctic Expedition Belgica de Gerlache Lecointe Amundsen Cook Arctowski Racoviță Dobrowolski Southern Cross Southern Cross Borchgrevink Discovery Discovery Discovery Hut Gauss Gauss Drygalski Swedish Antarctic Expedition Antarctic O. Nordenskjöld C. A. Larsen Scottish Antarctic Expedition Bruce Scotia Orcadas Base Nimrod Expedition Nimrod French Antarctic Expeditions Pourquoi-Pas Charcot Japanese Antarctic Expedition Shirase Amundsen's South Pole expedition Fram Amundsen Framheim Polheim Terra Nova Terra Nova Scott Wilson E. R. Evans Crean Lashly Filchner Australasian Antarctic Expedition SY Aurora Mawson Far Eastern Party Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition Endurance Ernest Shackleton Wild *James Caird* Ross Sea party Mackintosh Shackleton–Rowett Expedition Quest

IPY · IGY Modern research	Christensen Byrd BANZARE BGLE Rymill New Swabia Ritscher Operation Tabarin Marr Operation Highjump Captain Arturo Prat Base British Antarctic Survey Operation Windmill Ketchum Ronne Expedition F. Ronne E. Ronne Schlossbach Operation Deep Freeze McMurdo Station Commonwealth Trans-Antarctic Expedition Hillary V. Fuchs Soviet Antarctic Expeditions 1st Somov Klenova Mirny 2nd Tryoshnikov 3rd Tolstikov Antarctic Treaty System Transglobe Expedition Fiennes Burton Lake Vostok Kapitsa

Farthest South South Pole	HMS Resolution J. Cook HMS Adventure Furneaux Weddell HMS Erebus J. C. Ross HMS Terror Crozier Southern Cross Borchgrevink Discovery Barne Nimrod Shackleton Wild Marshall Adams South Magnetic Pole Mawson David Mackay Amundsen's South Pole expedition Fram Amundsen Bjaaland Helmer Hassel Wisting Polheim Terra Nova Scott E. Evans Oates Wilson Bowers Byrd Balchen McKinley Dufek Amundsen–Scott South Pole Station Hillary V. Fuchs Pole of Cold Vostok Station Pole of inaccessibility Pole of Inaccessibility Station Tolstikov Crary A. Fuchs Messner

Coordinates: 90°N 0°E / 90°N 0°E / 90; 0

Authority control	VIAF: 248963128 GND: 4042569-1 NDL: 00563373

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