Arctic Ocean is located in the Arctic, in its central part.The land surrounds him from almost all sides.It mainly defines the features of its natural conditions: climate, hydrological factors.The Arctic Ocean is the smallest of all the oceans on the planet.
boundaries of the waters runs from Scandinavia to the Faroe and Shetland Islands, Bering, the Danish and the Davis Strait.Through these straits of the Arctic Ocean has been reported with the Pacific and Atlantic.
coastline differs sufficiently strong dissection.Sea Arctic Ocean occupy half of the entire area.A total of nine.The largest is the Norwegian, and the smallest - the White Sea.In the waters of a lot of island archipelagoes and separate single islands.
About half the entire area occupies the bottom shelf.Off the coast of Eurasia shelf strip distinguished by a special breadth and extends for hundreds of kilometers.The seafloor is several basins that are shared by underwater ridges.The main component of the bottom topography is considered to be the backbone of Haeckel, which continues to the Mid-Atlantic Ridge.There are uplifting and Mendeleyev University, Chukchi.
Arctic Ocean is rich placer deposits of heavy metals (tin and other).The sediments in the shelf zone formed by river sediment.It also found more than fifty oil and gas fields, some of which are beginning to be developed.
polar position that takes the Arctic Ocean, has an impact on the features of its climate.Above the water area are formed and dominated throughout the year arctic air mass.In winter the average temperature drops to forty degrees, the summer rate is close to zero.During the polar day, due to the ability of the ice reflects most of the radiation of the sun, the climate becomes more severe.The amount of precipitation that falls over the ocean during the year, ranging from one hundred to two hundred millimeters.
The Arctic Ocean consists of fairly powerful stream of warm water.Moving to the east and to the north, more dense and salty waters sink beneath the warm not as salty, but cold water.This stream is part of the North Atlantic Current.Transarctic stream brings to the Atlantic via the Denmark Strait ice and polar waters.This movement is directed from east to west, from the East Siberian and Chukchi Sea.
existing hydrological regime and the life in the ocean is maintained by the heat and water exchange with the ocean nearby.The water masses constant supply of heat is supported by the inflow of Atlantic water.Increases temperature and salinity significantly reduces river flow from the territory of North America and Eurasia.For much of the year the temperature of surface water is low and close to the freezing point (when available salinity), accounting for minus one or two degrees.In summer the temperature rises to five to eight degrees above zero only in the sub-arctic latitudes.
ice exists all year round.This is a characteristic of oceanic nature.The most common pack - years of ice thickness - from two to four meters and more.During the winter, it produces more ice than melts during the summer;surpluses are carried into the Atlantic Ocean.
basis of biomass water area consists of cold-resistant diatoms.They are spread on the ice and in the water.In the Atlantic region of the common phytoplankton and zooplankton, benthic algae there.In the oceans and seas live commercial species of fish (halibut, saffron cod, cod and others).Among the mammals are common walruses, polar bears, seals, beluga.
