The report "Arctic Ocean" for children will briefly tell you a lot of useful information about the smallest ocean on the planet. Also a message about The Arctic Ocean can be used during preparation for the lesson.

A message about the Arctic Ocean

The Arctic Ocean is the smallest ocean on the planet. Although in terms of the number of islands in it, only the Pacific Ocean is ahead of it. The largest islands are the Canadian Arctic Archipelago, Greenland, Novaya Zemlya, Svalbard. The Arctic Ocean has occupied the territory of the North Pole. It is characterized by a large amount of river runoff, therefore, the ocean has low salinity. Most of the ocean is the continental shelf.

Origin of the Arctic Ocean

The water area of ​​the ocean began to form in the Cretaceous period, when one side of Europe was divided from North America and Asia and America partially converged. At the same time, the lines of large peninsulas and islands were formed, and the division of the water space took place. Thus, the Northern Ocean Basin separated from the Pacific Basin. Further, the ocean expanded, continents rose, but the movement of lithospheric plates continues today.

The first information about the ocean dates back to the 4th century BC. when the Greek Pytheas described his journey to the island of Thule (presumably modern Iceland). From the 5th century, regular information about him began to arrive. It was made a separate ocean in the 17th century, giving it the name "Hyperborean Ocean". Among other names of the ocean, the Tartar, Arctic Sea, North, Scythian, Arctic ones are distinguished.

The relief of the bottom of the Arctic Ocean

The ocean is located on the Eurasian and North American lithospheric plates. Most of the bottom is occupied by the shelf. It accounts for a third of the ocean area. In the central part, there are the Amundsen and Nansen basins, the Lomonosov and Mendeleev ridges, and deep-water faults.

Arctic Ocean climate

The Arctic Ocean is located in the subarctic and arctic zones, which determined its climate. Arctic air masses are observed throughout the year, although much softer and warmer than in Antarctica. The warm North Atlantic Current has a special influence on the climate, penetrating from the south and making winters softer and summers less dry. The polar regions are under ice. Recently, the ice cover has been decreasing. The air temperature ranges from -20 0 С to -40 0 С degrees.

Minerals of the Arctic Ocean

Deposits of heavy metals have been found in the bottom sediments of the shelf zone. The mineral resources of the ocean are still poorly understood. Oil and gas fields have recently been exploited on the shelf.

Arctic Ocean: organic world

Until the twentieth century, the Arctic Ocean was considered a dead zone, since due to the harsh conditions, research was not carried out. The cold areas of the Arctic Ocean were chosen by beluga whales, polar bears, a walrus, and a seal. In warmer areas, the animal world is diverse due to the large number of fish - cod, herring, sea bass. Also here you can meet the endangered bowhead whale. It should be noted that the fauna of the Arctic Ocean differs from other oceans by its gigantism. Giant cyania jellyfish, giant mussels, sea spider float in the waters.

The flora of the ocean is very scarce, since the ice does not allow the sun's rays to pass through. Mainly only unpretentious algae grow here.

Arctic Ocean: interesting facts

• In the West, the ocean was initially called the Hyperborean Sea, and in Russia the Ocean-Sea or the Breathing Sea.
• Animals and birds that live in the ocean have white skin or white feathers.
• It is known that the world famous ship "Titanic" sank in the Atlantic after colliding with an iceberg that sailed from the Arctic Ocean.
• An unusual phenomenon can be observed in the ocean - dead water effect... A sailing ship can stop abruptly, although its engines continue to run like clockwork. The whole thing lies in the border of water layers, which have different densities. This is how internal waves arise that slow down the ship.
• There is pack ice near the coast, moving due to tides and pressure.

We hope that the message about the Arctic Ocean helped you get ready for the lesson. And you can add a short story about the Arctic Ocean through the comment form below.

The Arctic Ocean is the smallest and shallowest of the world's five designated oceans.

It is located in the northern hemisphere and is almost completely surrounded by the continents of North America and Eurasia. It is surrounded by shores, and.

The Arctic Ocean is almost entirely ice-covered in winter and remains partially ice-covered throughout the year.

Throughout most of European history, the northern polar regions remained largely unexplored and their geography was conjectural.

The creators of navigational charts and cartographers, as a rule, painted the area empty, only outlining fragments of the famous coastline. This lack of knowledge gave rise to the myth of the "Open Polar Sea", which lay north of the changing ice barrier.

Several expeditions tried to penetrate beyond the Arctic Circle, but only reached small islands such as Novaya Zemlya (11th century) and (1596).

The first person to cross the Arctic Ocean by boat was Fridtjof Nansen in 1896.

The first crossing of the ocean in dog sleds was led by Wally Herbert in 1969, on an expedition from Alaska to Svalbard, supported by aviation.

In 1958, a submarine named USS Nautilus sailed under the frozen ice of the Arctic Ocean. This served as proof that the huge ice sheet is floating on the water and not on the ground.

And the first seaworthy transit on the ocean surface was carried out in 1977 by the icebreaker Arktika.

Interesting facts from the exploration of the Arctic Ocean

The Arctic Ocean covers an area of ​​5,427,000 square miles. It's almost the size of Russia.

The North Pole is located in the Arctic Circle within the Arctic Ocean.

The Arctic Ocean belongs to the seas:, and the Hudson Strait, and other tributary bodies of water.

The Arctic Ocean is connected with, and with through and.

And although the Titanic sank in the Atlantic, it crashed into an iceberg that broke away from the glacier of the Arctic Ocean.

The three types of ice cover in the Arctic Ocean include polar ice, fast ice, and pack ice.

1. Polar ice does not melt and can be thin, up to 2 meters thick in the summer and 50 meters thick in the winter months.
2. The ice that sits at the edge of the polar ice is called pack ice. It freezes completely only in winter. This ice is known as drifting ice.
3. Fixed ice that forms during the winter around drifting ice and land around the Arctic Ocean is fast ice.

The Arctic Ocean has a fragile ecosystem but is full of life.
The wide variety of marine life in the Arctic Ocean includes whales, fish, seals and walruses, among others.

There are fish species that are only found in the Arctic Ocean and do not live anywhere else in the world. For example, the fish type is the Banded Gunnel.

• 4 species of whales in the Arctic Ocean -, and.
• 6 species of seals - bearded seal, common seal, seals, seal seals and hooded seals.

When the ice in the Arctic Ocean melts, it releases nutrients and organisms into the water, which promotes algae growth. Zooplankton serves as food for marine life.

Among the sea creatures that live under the ice of the Arctic Ocean, and are the inhabitants of the bottom, there are also.

Due to low evaporation and large inflows of fresh water, due to limited communication with other oceans, the Arctic Ocean has the lowest salinity of all oceans. Its salinity is not constant, it changes depending on the freezing and melting of ice sheets.

Despite the fact that the Arctic Ocean is covered with an ice cap, its ice cap is shrinking in size due to global warming from year to year. , then in the end there will be no ice at all in the Arctic Ocean. This could happen by 2040.

If the ice disappears, the polar bears that live and hunt on the ice of the Arctic Ocean will disappear along with it. The ice serves them as a platform. Without ice platforms, they will starve. It should be borne in mind that the Arctic is the only place on the planet where a polar bear lives.

Arctic ice contains about 10% of the world's fresh water. This white giant, like a frozen reservoir, plays a super-important role in maintaining the stability of the planet's global climate.

The Arctic Ocean has its own underwater features. An underwater ridge (Lomonosov Ridge) divides the North Polar Basin into two oceanic basins: the Eurasian and Amerasian (sometimes called the Hyperborean Basin).

Ocean floor bathymetry notes - the average depth of the Arctic Ocean is 1,038 m (3.406 ft). The deepest point, the Litke Trench, is in the Eurasian Basin - 5,450 m (17,880 ft) deep.

The two main pools are subdivided into ridges:

• Canadian Basin (between Alaska / Canada and Alpha Ridge),
• Makarov basin (between the Alpha and Lomonosov ridges),
• Nansen Basins (between Lomonosov and Gakkel),
• Amundsen Basins (between the Gakkel ridges and the continental shelf, including Franz Josef Land).

Arctic Ocean - stretched between Eurasia and North America, and is the smallest ocean on our planet. Its area is 14.75 million square meters. km. with an average depth of 1225 meters. The greatest depth is 5.5 km. be in the Greenland Sea.

In terms of the number of islands and archipelagos, the Arctic Ocean ranks second after the Pacific Ocean. In this ocean there are such largest islands and archipelagos as Greenland, Franz Josef Land, Novaya Zemlya, Severnaya Zemlya, Wrangel Island, New Siberian Islands, and the Canadian Arctic Archipelago.

The Arctic Ocean is divided into three 3 large areas:

1. Arctic basin; The center of the ocean, its deepest part reaches 4 km.
2. North European Basin; It includes the Greenland Sea, the Norwegian Sea, the Barents Sea and the White Sea.
3. Continental shelf; It includes the seas washing the continents: the Kara Sea, the Laptev Sea, the East Siberian Sea, the Chukchi Sea, the Beaufort Sea and the Baffin Sea. These seas account for more than 1/3 of the entire ocean area.

Simplified to represent the topography of the ocean floor is quite simple. The continental shelf (maximum width 1300 km.) Ends with a sharp decrease in depth to 2-3 km, forming a kind of step that surrounds the central deep-water part of the ocean.

This natural bowl is more than 4 km deep in the center. dotted with many underwater ridges. In the 50s of the 20th century, echolocation of the bottom showed that the Arctic Ocean was dissected by three trans-oceanic ridges: Mendeleev, Lomonosov and Gakkel.

The waters of the Arctic Ocean are fresher than other oceans. This is due to the fact that large rivers of Siberia flow into it, thereby freshening it.

CLIMATE

From January to April, there is a high pressure area in the center of the ocean, better known as the Arctic Anticyclone. In the summer months, on the contrary, lower pressure prevails in the Arctic basin. The pressure difference constantly brings cyclones, precipitation and wind up to 20 m / s to the Arctic Ocean from the Atlantic. On their way to the center of the ocean, a huge number of cyclones pass through the North European Basin, causing sudden changes in weather, heavy rainfall and fog.

The air temperature ranges from -20 to -40 degrees. In winter, when 9/10 of the ocean area is covered with drifting ice, the water temperature does not rise above 0 degrees Celsius, dropping to -4. The thickness of the drifting ice floes is 4-5 meters. In the seas surrounding Greenland (Baffin Sea and Greenland Sea), icebergs are constantly found. By the end of winter, the ice area reaches 11 million square meters. km. Only the Norvazh, Barents and Greenlad Seas remain ice-free. The warm waters of the North Atlantic Current flow into these seas.

Ice islands drift in the Arctic basin, the ice thickness of which is 30-35 meters. The "lifetime" of such islands exceeds 6 years and they are often used for the operation of drifting stations.

By the way, Russia is the first and only country that uses drifting polar stations. Such a station consists of several buildings where members of the expedition live, and a set of necessary equipment is located. For the first time such a station appeared in 1937 and was called " North Pole". The scientist who proposed this way of exploring the Arctic - Vladimir Vize .

ANIMAL WORLD

Until the 20th century, the Arctic Ocean was a "dead zone", research was not carried out there due to the very harsh conditions. Therefore, knowledge about the animal kingdom is very scarce.

The number of species decreases when approaching the center of the ocean in the Arctic basin, but phytoplankton develops everywhere, including under drifting ice. It is here that the feeding fields for various minke whales are located. The colder parts of the Arctic Ocean are favored by animals that perfectly tolerate the harsh climatic conditions: narwhal, beluga whale, polar bear, walrus, and seal.

In the more favorable waters of the North European basin, the fauna is more diverse due to fish: herring, cod, sea bass. There is also the habitat of the now almost exterminated bowhead whale.

The fauna of the ocean is characterized by gigantism. Giant mussels, giant cyania jellyfish, sea spider live here. The slow course of life processes endowed the inhabitants of the Arctic Ocean with longevity. Recall that the bowhead whale is the longest-living vertebrate on Earth.

The flora of the Arctic Ocean is unusually scarce, because drifting ice blocks the sun's rays. With the exception of the Barents Sea and the White Sea, the organic world is represented by unpretentious algae prevailing in the continental shelf. But in terms of the amount of phytoplankton, the seas of the Arctic Ocean can well compete with more southern seas. There are more than 200 species of phytoplactone in the ocean, almost half of them are diatoms. Some of them have adapted to live on the very surface of the ice and, during the flowering period, cover it with a brownish-yellow film, which absorbs more light and makes the ice melt faster.

It occupies only 4% of the World Ocean, but washes the shores of several states, such as:

• Denmark.
• Norway.
• Iceland.
• Canada.
• Russia.

Let's take a closer look at the seas of the Arctic Ocean, washing Russia. The list of them is quite extensive, and you can find interesting information about each.

Some legal information

The waters of the coldest ocean, located in the northern latitudes of our planet, do not have a clear legal status. All adjacent countries, except Iceland, claim separate water sectors. This greatly complicates the development of the ocean floor, since there are no agreements on the rights to the territory.

The seas fall under sectoral boundaries. This means that the map is conventionally divided into triangles, the tops of which are the North Pole, and the eastern and western ones are the borders of states.

But the UN Convention establishes other rules of delimitation, according to which the boundaries are determined not only by the extreme coastal points, but also by the length of the shelf.

Characteristics of the seas. Arctic Ocean

The total area of ​​the seas of the most severe ocean is more than 10 million square meters. km. This is approximately 70% of the entire territory. Here, however, scientists have carried the ocean straits and bays. The seas of the Arctic Ocean, which we list below, are subdivided into marginal and inland.

A common feature is the shallowness of the seas. The fact is that the ocean, located in the northern part of the board, is the smallest of all. It has a harsh climate and gusty winds with fog and thick precipitation all year round. Floating ice creates difficulties for navigation even when the seas are considered passable. The farther from the coast, the thicker the ice fields, and shipping requires the escort of powerful icebreakers.

Despite all the difficulties, most of the year is considered navigable for these harsh waters. Caravans of ships move in an endless stream, as here is the shortest road from the western to the eastern border of the Russian Federation.

Seas of the Arctic Ocean

The list of water bodies belonging to the ocean basin located at the North Pole consists of ten seas, six of which wash the shores of the Russian Federation. The largest area is considered Barents, which is located in the western part of the Eurasian continent. But the deepest is recognized as the depth of which reaches about 5500 m.

The Norwegian Sea is considered the warmest of all northern bodies of water, as its warm current prevents the waters from freezing even in winter. The temperature is at least 2 degrees Celsius in winter and about 8-12 degrees in summer.

How do we know the seas of the Arctic Ocean? The list of northern, harsh water bodies of the planet will be as follows:

• Norwegian. Washes the shores of Iceland and the Scandinavian Peninsula.
• Greenlandic. Located between the east coast of Greenland and the western border of Iceland.
• Barents. The sea is located in the western part of Russia.
• White. North coast of Europe.
• East Siberian. Washes the shores of Russia, is located among the Novosibirsk and Wrangelsky Islands.
• Karskoe. The eastern border of the sea runs along the Severnaya Zemlya archipelago, while the western border is bordered by the coastline of a large number of islands, including Novaya Zemlya.
• Baffin. It runs along the western border of the island of Greenland, and on the other side it washes the shores of the Arctic Canadian Archipelago.
• Laptev. It washes the shores of Taimyr, the New Siberian Islands and Severnaya Zemlya.
• Beaufort. The coastline of the North American continent, from Cape Barrow to the Canadian Arctic Archipelago.
• Chukchi. It washes the shores of two continents: Eurasia and North America.

Six cold seas of Russia

The Arctic Ocean, whose seas wash the Russian shores, was once called Hyperborean. There were many more names, and only in 1935 the government of the then Soviet Union recognized the current name. But it is worth noting that many foreign maps bear the name "Arctic Ocean", which is recognized by the Geographical Society of London.

Consider the seas of the Arctic Ocean. The list of Russia consists of six names of sea water bodies, each of which we will study separately.

Only one of them (Beloye) is referred to as inland water bodies, and five others are referred to as continental-marginal ones.

Barents Sea

Location - the westernmost part It is on the North European shelf. Among the Russian seas, the Barents Sea is the largest. A significant difference from other reservoirs in this region is year-round shipping. Most of the Barents Sea does not freeze.

Its depth is from 200 to 600 m. Numerous bays make it possible to equip convenient ports protected from strong winds.

The commercial importance of the Barents Sea is quite tangible for Russia. Here you can find sea bass, cod fish, haddock, halibut, flounder and herring.

Chukchi sea

Location - northeastern outskirts of Asia and northwestern North America. The area is relatively small - about 600 thousand square meters. km. The depth is from 71 to 257 m. The climate can be classified as severe, since the warmest temperature in summer is about +7 ° С.

Fishing and the slaughter of sea animals are poorly developed. Transport is carried out, mainly transit, through Pevek.

White Sea

Location - northern Europe. The area is only 90 thousand square meters. km. Depth - from 100 to 330 m. The climate is gradually changing from oceanic to continental. The weather is cool and unstable.

The salinity of the sea is about 24-30 ppm. This is due to the fact that several fresh rivers flow into its waters.

The White Sea has a seasonal ice cover. Ice is 90% floating. The fauna of the sea is very diverse. It is home to beluga whales, seals, walruses, seals and many birds. Kelp (seaweed), White Sea herring and cod are mined on an industrial scale.

Laptevih sea

The area of ​​this sea is about 650 thousand square meters. km. For the seas of this region, the depth is quite large - on average 520 m.

It is considered the most severe because winters are very frosty and the waters are frozen in ice all year round. Winter lasts almost 10 months. Frost during this period can be -55 ° С. In summer, the temperature is slightly above freezing.

East Siberian Sea

Location - beyond the Arctic Circle. The area is about 915 thousand square meters. km. The depth difference is from 54 to 915 m.

The climate is arctic. Winters are clear, with frosts down to -30 ° C. In summer, sleet often falls. In winter, the sea is held together by ice.

The flora is represented by whitefishes. In addition, the inhabitants are polar bears, seals and walruses.

The sea is navigable.

Kara Sea

Area - more than 880 thousand sq. km. This allows us to classify the sea as one of the largest in Russia. Depth - from 110 to 600 m.

The climate is polar sea. In winter, frosts can reach -50 ° С, but in summer the air warms up to +20 ° С.

Many islands were formed in, and its coast is indented by bays. The salinity of the water is influenced by the inflow of large freshwater rivers.

The fauna is represented by several types of fish - flounder, navaga, char. Mammals - hare, seal, beluga, walruses. The islands are abundantly inhabited by birds.

The seas of the Arctic Ocean (the list of which we have given in this article) have recently been suffering from human activities. This is because a large number of minerals are mined in the North. In this regard, Russia is faced with the question of preventing pollution of the seas washing its shores.

The smallest and coldest ocean on our planet is the Arctic Ocean. It is located in the central part of the Arctic, north of such continents as North America and Eurasia. The ocean area is 15 million square kilometers, it occupies a wide area around the North Pole.

Characteristics of the Arctic Ocean:

Ocean area - 14.7 million square kilometers;

The maximum depth - 5527 meters - is the shallowest ocean on the planet;

The largest seas are the Greenland Sea, the Norwegian Sea, the Kara Sea, and the Beaufort Sea;

The largest bay is the Hudson Bay (Hudson);

The largest islands are Greenland, Spitsbergen, Novaya Zemlya;

The strongest currents:

- Norwegian, Svalbard - warm;

- East Greenland - cold.

History of the exploration of the Arctic Ocean

The goal of many generations of seafarers is a series of heroic deeds in his exploration, even in ancient times Russian Pomors set off on trips on wooden boats and kochas. They knew very well the conditions of navigation in the polar latitudes, and they hunted and caught fish. One of the most accurate maps of the Arctic Ocean was compiled on the basis of his travels by Willem Barents in the 16th century, who tried to find the shortest path between Europe and the countries of the East. But the ocean began to be studied in more detail at a later time.

In the study of the ocean, the works of famous travelers and scientists were involved: Chelyuskin S.I., who explored the northern tip of Eurasia, describing a part of the coast of Taimyr; Lapteva H.P. and Lapteva D.Ya., who marked the coast of the ocean to the west and east from the sources of the Lena River; Papanina I.D., who with three polar explorers drifted on an ice floe from the North Pole to Greenland, and others. Many of them have fixed their names in names of geographical significance. In 1932, Otto Schmidt, together with an expedition on the Sibiryakov icebreaker, established the thickness of the ice sheets in various parts of the ocean. Today, research continues with the help of modern technology and spacecraft.

Features of the Arctic Ocean climate

The current climate of the ocean is determined by its geographic location. In most cases, arctic air masses prevail. The average air temperature in winter is in the range of -20 degrees to -40 degrees Celsius, and in summer the temperature is close to zero.

Replenishing with heat from the Atlantic and Pacific oceans, the ocean water does not cool in winter, but significantly warms the coast of the land. Due to the constant replenishment of fresh water from the flowing Siberian rivers, the water of the Arctic Ocean is less salty in relation to other oceans.

The presence of huge masses of ice is the most characteristic feature of the Arctic Ocean. The most favorable habitat for ice is low temperature and low salinity. Strong currents and constant winds under the influence of strong lateral compressions form ice heaps - hummocks. There were cases when ships caught in ice captivity were forced upwards or crushed.

Hummocks of the Arctic Ocean

There is no time at the North Pole (as well as the South Pole). Time always shows noon as all lines of longitude converge. Working people in this region use the time of the country they are from. Sunset and sunrise occurs here once a year. Due to its geographical position, the sun rises in these latitudes in March and the longest day on earth begins, equal to half a year (178 days), and sets in September, starting the polar night (187 days).

Flora and fauna of the Arctic Ocean

Compared to other oceans, flora and fauna are quite poor. The bulk of organic matter is algae, which are adapted to life in icy water and even on ice. The diversity of flora prevails only in the Atlantic Ocean and on the shelf near river mouths. Fish are found here: navaga, cod, halibut. The ocean is home to whales, walruses and seals. In the Barents Sea region, the bulk of the ocean plankton is formed. In summer, many birds come here, which form bird colonies on the icy rocks.

In the modern world, many states are trying to divide the area of ​​the Arctic Ocean. The places are rich in deposits. According to some reports, the richest deposits of gas and oil are located in the ocean. In the region of the Laptev Seas, rich deposits of various ores have been discovered. The harsh weather makes it difficult to find them. The Arctic Ocean, despite its shortcomings, has always attracted people from all over the planet. He attracts them to this day.

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