World Factbook
XQ
Last updated: 2026-03-28 (today)
Area
note
note: includes Barents Sea, Beaufort Sea, Chukchi Sea, East Siberian Sea, Greenland Sea, Kara Sea, Laptev Sea, Northwest Passage, Norwegian Sea, and other tributary water bodies
total
15.558 million sq km
Climate
polar climate characterized by persistent cold and relatively narrow annual temperature range; 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
Location
body of water between Europe, Asia, and North America, mostly north of the Arctic Circle
Coastline
45,389 km
Elevation
mean depth
-1,205 m
ocean zones
the ocean is divided into three zones based on depth and light level; sunlight entering the water may travel about 1,000 m into the oceans under the right conditions, but there is rarely any significant light below 200 m euphotic zone : the upper 200 m (656 ft) is also called "sunlight" zone; only a small amount of light penetrates beyond this depth dysphotic zone : between 200 m (656 ft) and 1,000 m (3,280 ft), and also called the twilight zone; the intensity of light rapidly dissipates as depth increases, and photosynthesis is no longer possible aphotic zone : below 1,000 m (3,280 ft) and also called the midnight zone; sunlight does not penetrate to these depths
lowest point
Molloy Deep -5,577 m
highest point
sea level
Bathymetry
atolls
none
abyssal plains
the following are examples of abyssal-plain features in the Arctic Ocean (see Figure 2): Baffin Basin Canada Basin Fram/Amundsen Basin Greenland Abyssal Plain Iceland Basin Makarov Basin Molloy Deep (deepest point in the Arctic Ocean) Nansen Basin Norwegian Basin
ocean trenches
none
mid-ocean ridge
the following are examples of mid-ocean ridges in the Arctic Ocean (see Figure 2): Gakkel Ridge Mohns Ridge
continental shelf
more than one quarter of the Arctic sea floor; the Eurasian shelf is very wide, extending out 1,500 km (930 mi), and is the largest continental shelf in the world the following are examples of continental-shelf features in the Arctic Ocean (see Figure 2): Barents Shelf Beaufort Shelf Davis Sill Chukchi Shelf East Siberian Shelf Kara Shelf Laptev Shelf Lincoln Shelf
continental slope
the following are examples of continental-slope features in the Arctic Ocean (see Figure 2): Litke Trough Novaya Zemlya Trough Svyataya Anna Trough (Saint Anna Trough) Voronin Trough
undersea terrain features
the following are examples of undersea terrain features on the floor of the Arctic Ocean (see Figure 2): Lomonosov Ridge Gakkel Ridge Alpha Ridge Mendeleev Rise Chukchi Plateau
Ocean volume
ocean volume
18.75 million cu km
percent of World Ocean total volume
1.4%
Map references
Arctic Region
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 ice locked from October to June; ships subject to superstructure icing from October to May
Geography - 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; snow cover lasts about 10 months
Natural resources
sand and gravel aggregates, placer deposits, polymetallic nodules, oil and gas fields, fish, marine mammals (seals and whales)
Area - comparative
slightly less than 1.5 times the size of the US
Major ocean currents
two major, slow-moving, wind-driven currents (drift streams) dominate: a clockwise drift pattern in the Beaufort Gyre in the western part of the Arctic Ocean and a nearly straight line Transpolar Drift Stream that moves eastward across the ocean from the New Siberian Islands (Russia) to the Fram Strait (between Greenland and Svalbard); sea ice that lies close to the center of the gyre can complete a 360 degree circle in about 2 years, while ice on the gyre periphery will complete the same circle in about 7-8 years; sea ice in the Transpolar Drift crosses the ocean in about 3 years
Geographic coordinates
90 00 N, 0 00 E