Arctic Ocean

American  

[ahrk-tik oh-shuhn, ahr-tik] / ˈɑrk tɪk ˈoʊ ʃən, ˈɑr tɪk /

noun

1. the smallest of the world’s five principal oceans, located north of North America, Asia, and the Arctic Circle, with its deepest section within the Greenland Sea. 6,007,000 square miles (15,558,000 square kilometers).

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Arctic Ocean British  

noun

1. the ocean surrounding the North Pole, north of the Arctic Circle. Area: about 14 100 000 sq km (5 440 000 sq miles)

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Arctic Ocean Cultural  

1. The cold, ice-covered waters surrounding the North Pole, located entirely within the Arctic Circle. It contains the northernmost islands of Canada, Norway, and Russia.

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Discover More

Most of the Arctic Ocean is covered by solid ice, ice floes, and icebergs.

Etymology

Origin of Arctic Ocean

First recorded in 1780–90

Example Sentences

Adding to the dangers, an increasingly open Arctic Ocean invites extreme waves.

From The Wall Street Journal

Sixty B-52s, loaded with hydrogen bombs, circled the outside edges of the Soviet Union—above the Arctic Ocean north of Greenland, above the Mediterranean Sea, above the western coast of Alaska.

From Literature

Unlike most other oceans where cyanobacteria dominate nitrogen fixation, the Arctic Ocean relies on an entirely different group of bacteria known as non-cyanobacteria.

From Science Daily

"After a few years at sea I've grown more scared of the Arctic Ocean, but I've also come to respect and value it for all its power and beauty."

From BBC

When the Arctic Ocean has less than 1 million square kilometers of ice, scientists say the Arctic is ice free.

From Science Daily