Artic Sea

Artic Sea

It is located mostly in the Arctic North Polar Region in the middle of the Northern Hemisphere, besides its surrounding waters the Arctic Ocean is surrounded by Eurasia and North America. It is partly covered by sea ice throughout the year and almost completely in winter.

The Arctic Ocean is the smallest and shallowest of the world's five major oceans and it is also known as the coldest of all the oceans. The International Hydrographic Organization (IHO) recognizes it as an ocean, although some oceanographers call it the Arctic Sea.

It is sometimes classified as an estuary of the Atlantic Ocean, and it is also seen as the northernmost part of the all-encompassing World Ocean. The Arctic Ocean's surface temperature and salinity vary seasonally as the ice cover melts and freezes. Its salinity is the lowest on average of the five major oceans, due to low evaporation, heavy fresh water inflow from rivers and streams, and limited connection and outflow to surrounding oceanic waters with higher salinities.

Decline in Artic Sea Ice

• Sea ice arises as seawater freezes, because ice is less dense than water, it floats on the ocean's surface.
• Sea ice covers about 7% of the Earth's surface and about 12% of the world's oceans.
• Recently, National Centre of Polar and Ocean Research (NCPOR) have observed the largest decline in the Arctic Sea ice in the last 41 years.
• According to recent observations in the last 40 years (1979-2018), the sea ice has been declining at 4.7% per decade, while the current declining rate was found to be 13% in July 2019.
• Thus, it has been noted that the volume of ice formation during winters is unable to keep pace with the volume of ice loss during summers.
• Additionally, it has been predicted that if this trend continues, there would be no ice left in the Arctic Sea by 2050.
• The decrease of the Arctic Sea ice area and the increase in the duration of summer and autumn seasons affected the local weather and climate over the Arctic Ocean and its marginal seas.
• It may affect other components of the climate system such as reduction of heat, water vapor, and other material exchange between the atmosphere and the sea.
• The northern hemisphere experienced record high-temperature rise, especially during the spring and summer months.

National Centre of Polar and Ocean Research

• It was established as an autonomous Research and Development Institution of the Ministry of Earth Sciences in 1998.
• It is located in Goa.
• Earlier known as National Centre for Antarctic and Ocean Research (NCAOR), NCPOR is India’s premier R&D institution responsible for the country’s research activities in the Polar and Southern Ocean realms.
• It is the nodal agency for planning, promotion, coordination and execution of the entire gamut of polar and southern ocean scientific research in the country as well as for the associated logistics activities.

For arctic council read: https://www.aspireias.com/daily-news-analysis-current-affairs/Arctic-Council

For ANITA: https://www.aspireias.com/daily-news-analysis-current-affairs/ANITA-Antarctic-Impulsive-Transient-Antenna