The Barents Sea is a marginal sea of the Arctic Ocean, located off the northern coasts of Norway and Russia and divided between Norwegian and Russian territorial waters. It was known earlier among Russians as the Northern Sea, Pomorsky Sea or Murman Sea ; the current name of the sea is after the historical Dutch navigator Willem Barentsz.
Shores of the Barents (Murman) Sea. From "Tabula Russiae", Joan Blaeu's, Amsterdam, 1614.
Phytoplankton bloom in the Barents Sea. The milky-blue colour that dominates the bloom suggests that it contains large numbers of coccolithophores.
Dutch whalers near Svalbard, 1690
The harbour of the Murmansk Fjord.
The Arctic Ocean is the smallest and shallowest of the world's five major oceans. It spans an area of approximately 14,060,000 km2 (5,430,000 sq mi) and is known as one of the coldest of oceans. The International Hydrographic Organization (IHO) recognizes it as an ocean, although some oceanographers call it the Arctic Mediterranean Sea. It has also been described as an estuary of the Atlantic Ocean. It is also seen as the northernmost part of the all-encompassing World Ocean.
Thule archaeological site
A copepod
Sea cover in the Arctic Ocean, showing the median, 2005 and 2007 coverage
On the sea ice of the Arctic Ocean temporary logistic stations may be installed, Here, a Twin Otter is refueled on the pack ice at 86°N, 76°43‘W.
