The coldest ocean on the planet: the climate and the organic world

Very few people will have doubts as to which ocean is the coldest on our planet. There is no doubt that this is the Arctic. It is located between such continents as North America and Eurasia, occupying an area of just over 13 million square kilometers. In the southern part, the ocean is almost completely within the limits of the Arctic Circle. The average depth here is 1225 meters, while the largest is 5527 meters.

The coldest ocean on the planet in the central part has a deep-water oval basin with a size of 2250 x 1130 kilometers. It is still known as the Arctic or Arctic basin. Almost half of the ocean floor is a shelf, within which a large number of single islands and archipelagos are located. These include Greenland, the Novosibirsk Islands, North and Novaya Zemlya, Svalbard and others. It should be noted that the coldest ocean in the world does not have any islands of oceanic origin.

Atmospheric precipitation here falls mainly in the form of snow, while rains are extremely rare. Throughout the year, most of the ocean area is covered with ice, the thickness of which is on average three meters. For its western region, the winds of the north-western and northern directions are characteristic, which are the main cause of the severe Arctic climate. The eastern part of the basin is dominated by south-west and south winds, and therefore the coldest ocean has a milder climate.

The air does not heat up much in summer. Its average temperature in different regions of the Arctic Ocean varies from two degrees of frost to twelve degrees of heat. In winter, it can fall below the mark in minus forty degrees. In winter, storms often occur.

The coldest ocean on the planet can not boast of a rich plant and animal world. The reason for this is the harsh climatic conditions, as well as the widespread distribution of ice. The most developed organic world in the region where there is a continuous connection with the Atlantic Ocean, in other words - in the White, Barents and Kara seas. Here live about two thousand species of animals (including whales), as well as a huge number of fish. In those water areas, where the waters come from warm currents, on the island coasts and rocks you can meet a lot of birds.

In the area of Alaska, Canada and Eastern Siberia, the organic world is very poor. The same situation is in the central part of the Arctic Ocean, which is covered with ice throughout the year. Here phytoplankton is represented mainly by diatom algae. Some of them live on the ice surface. With regard to zooplankton, the coldest ocean on the planet in this part is inhabited by less than eighty species, and among the fish, navaga, saika and cod predominate. On the outskirts of perennial ice, it is often possible to meet seals, walruses, beluga whales, narwhals and other oceanic mammals. Their fishing is now strictly prohibited and is controlled by numerous international documents. The brightest representative of the land animal world is the polar bear.