Page 428 - (DK) Ocean - The Definitive Visual Guide

426 THE ARCTIC OCEAN

Northwest Passage DISCOVERY ARCTIC OCEAN A1

THE ATLANTIC AND PACIFIC OCEANS are linked by the EXPLORING THE Beaufort Sea
PASSAGE
Northwest Passage through the Arctic Ocean. A tough route to AREA 184,000 square miles (476,000 square km)
navigate, it includes many narrow straits between islands, and its Much effort was expended in MAXIMUM DEPTH 15,350 ft (4,680 m)
surface is often frozen, even in summer. Shrinking sea ice has made the 17th century in search of INFLOWS Chukchi Sea, Arctic Basin, rivers
Mackenzie, Colville
it more navigable, with ice-free conditions in 2007 and 2012, and the Northwest Passage from the
Atlantic to East Asia, but no The deep Beaufort Sea lies to the west
the first commercial freighter passing through in September 2013. viable route was found due to of the Canadian Arctic Archipelago. Oil
the year-round presence of sea ice was discovered off the Alaskan shore
and the numerous islands. Interest in 1968, and is also extracted off the
ARCTIC OCEAN E2
revived in the 19th century when MacKenzie delta. Artificial islands have
Baffin Bay expeditions were undertaken been built to protect some production
by the Royal Navy. In 1820 an wells from drifting sea ice. Gas has also
AREA 266,000 square miles (689,000 square km) expedition from Baffin Bay got as been found near Melville Island.
MAXIMUM DEPTH 6,900 ft (2,100 m) far as Melville Island before being
blocked by ice. A group of 129
INFLOWS Arctic Basin, Labrador Sea, glaciers of
West Greenland men was lost off King William
Island in 1848. British explorer
Baffin Bay lies between Greenland Robert McClure crossed from
and Baffin Island, and is really the GLACIER MEETING SEA the Beaufort Sea to Baffin Bay
extreme northwest arm of the Atlantic. in 1854, but he had to walk part
The surface ices over each winter, but Current, often carrying icebergs into of the way. It was the Norwegian
warmer water from the Labrador Sea the North Atlantic. Seals have long Roald Amundsen who finally
flows up its eastern shore, keeping been hunted in the area. Large numbers sailed a ship via Lancaster Sound,
parts of the adjacent Greenland coast were killed each year as recently as the south of Victoria Island, and out
ice-free. Water returns south along 1980s, but commercial hunting of through the Bering Strait in 1906.
the western shore as the cold Labrador marine mammals is now controlled. OIL EXPLORATION

A B C D E F

140˚W 130˚W 120˚W 110˚W 100˚W 90˚W 80˚W 70˚W 60˚W 50˚W
Borden Island 351m Ellef Alex
Canada (1,152ft)Ringnes Amund Heiberg Ellesmere Qaanaaq GREENLAND
Basin Mackenzie Island Ringnes Island Nares Strait
3,674m King Island Island Island
(12,054ft) Banks Rise Prince Patrick
1 Island Lougheed Sverdrup Islands 77m 1
Island
Beaufort Grise (253ft) Kullorsuaq
401m Queen Elizabeth Islands
Sea (1,316ft) P ar r y Islands Fiord
Cape Jones Sound Devon
Prince Alfred Melville Island Bathurst Shelf
2,546m Island
(8,353ft) McClure Strait Cornwallis
Banks Island Devon Island Cape Upernavik
Shelf Melville Trough 7m
Banks (23ft) Resolute Sherard Baffin
Cape Island Viscount Melville Sound Lancaster Trough 732m Devon Slope Basin
Kellett Stefansson Lancaster Sound Bylot (2,402ft) Baffin Uummannaq
Island
limit of summer pack ice
Prince
70˚N
Cape Prince of W ales Strait 338m Somerset Island Bay
Bathurst Albert (1,168ft) Prince of Peel Sound Island Prince Regent Inlet Borden 70˚N
2,377m
2 Amundsen Gulf Peninsula Wales Brodeur Peninsula (7,799ft) Qeqertarssuaq
2
Amundsen
Mackenzie Trough Victoria McClintock Channel (1,070ft) Peninsula
Island
326m
Prince Albert Sound
Wollaston Island
KEY Boothia Boothia
Peninsula Peninsula B a f f i n I s
Gulf of
Strait
sea level Cambridge Home
Bay Larsen Cape Bay
Sound
Dolphin and Union
800 ft King Chapman l a
(250 m) Coronation Gulf 5m William n Davis Strait
Kugluktuk (16ft) d
1,600 ft Queen Maud Island Rae Strait Bay 37m Prince
(500 m) Simpson Peninsula Committee Melville Charles Cumberland
Gulf (121ft)
Island
Peninsula
119m
Arctic Circle
3,300 ft Repulse Peninsula Dorchester Foxe Peninsula Arctic Circle Cumberland Sound 3
(1,000 m)
(390ft)
ATLAS OF THE OCEANS 4 land (5,000 m) SCALE 200 300 400 500 km CANAD A (768ft) Southampton Mansel Island Ivujivik Hudson Strait Peninsula Chidley 60˚W 4
3
Foxe
6,500 ft
Basin
(2,000 m)
Bay
Cape
9,800 ft
(3,000 m)
Hall
Roes Welcome
Iqaluit
16,400 ft
Foxe Channel
Sound
Island
Salisbury
Frobisher Bay
Meta Incognita Peninsula
Island
Resolution
Evans
Nottingham
Fisher Strait
Island
seamount
Strait
Rankin Inlet
Cape
60˚N
507m
sea depth
(1,663ft)
Coats
maximum depth
Akpatok
Péninsule
234m
Island
0
100
on map
Island
d‘Ungava
Island
tectonic plate
boundary
miles
500
Bay
120˚W
C
B
A 0 100 110˚W 200 300 400 100˚W 60˚N 90˚W D Hudson Bay 80˚W E 70˚W F Ungava