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$\mathbb{THE}$  $\mathbb{ARCTIC}$  $\mathbb{PORTAL}$ Main page   Statistics   WikiProjects edit   Arctic - Arctic Ocean The Arctic- The geography north of the Arctic Circle is predominantly ocean, mostly ice-covered, but a great deal of land falls within the Circle as well. Recently the region north of the Arctic Circle has gained significant international attention due primarily to the threat of global warming. Initial attention came as a result of the fact that the earth's poles are the points at which the planet tends to warm the fastest thereby acting as harbingers of what is to come. The melting of the ice in the Circle is making the Northwest Passage, the shipping routes through the northern-most latitudes, more navigable, raising the possibility that some day the Arctic region could become a prime trade route. In addition it is believed that the Arctic seabed may contain substantial oil fields which may become accessible if the ice covering them melts. These factors have led to recent international debates as to which nations can claim sovereignty or ownership over the waters north of the Circle. The Arctic Ocean, located in the northern hemisphere and mostly in the Arctic north polar region, is the smallest and shallowest of the world's five major oceanic divisions. The International Hydrographic Organization (IHO) recognizes it as an ocean, although some oceanographers call it the Arctic Mediterranean Sea or simply the Arctic Sea, classifying it as one of the mediterranean seas of the Atlantic Ocean. Alternatively, the Arctic Ocean can be seen as the northernmost lobe of the all-encompassing World Ocean. Almost completely surrounded by Eurasia and North America, the Arctic Ocean is largely covered by sea ice throughout the year. The Arctic Ocean's temperature and salinity vary seasonally as the ice cover melts and freezes[3]; its salinity is the lowest on average of the five major oceans, due to low evaporation, heavy freshwater inflow from rivers and streams, and limited connection and outflow to surrounding oceanic waters with higher salinities. The summer shrinking of the ice has been quoted at 50%.[1] The National Snow and Ice Data Center NSIDC use satellite data to provide a daily record of Arctic sea ice cover and the rate of melting compared to an average period and specific past years. edit   Selected articles - Franklin's lost expedition was a doomed British voyage of Arctic exploration led by Captain Sir John Franklin that departed England in 1845. A Royal Navy officer and experienced explorer, Franklin had served on three previous Arctic expeditions, the latter two as commanding officer. His fourth and last, undertaken when he was 59, was meant to traverse the last unnavigated section of the Northwest Passage. The entire expedition complement, Franklin and 128 men, died of causes natural and unnatural after their ships became icebound in Victoria Strait near King William Island in the Canadian Arctic. Pressed by Franklin's wife and others, the Admiralty launched a search for the missing expedition in 1848. Prompted in part by Franklin's fame and the Admiralty's offer of a finder's reward, many subsequent expeditions joined the hunt, which at one point in 1850 involved eleven British and two American ships. Several of these ships converged off the east coast of Beechey Island, where the first relics of the expedition were found, including the graves of three crewmen. In 1854, explorer John Rae, while surveying near the Canadian Arctic coast southeast of King William Island, acquired relics of and stories about the Franklin party from the Inuit. A search led by Francis Leopold McClintock in 1859 discovered a note left on King William Island with details about the expedition's fate. Searches continued through much of the 19th century. edit   Selected biography - Kenojuak Ashevak, CC (born October 3, 1927) is regarded as one of the most notable pioneers of modern Inuit art. Kenojuak Ashevak was born in an igloo in an Inuit camp, "Ikirasaq", at the southern coast of Baffin Island. At three years old, she lost her father. In 1952, she had to be treated for three years for tuberculosis in a hospital in Quebec. During this time and later on many of her children and grandchildren succumbed to disease, as did her husband of 45 years. Kenojuak Ashevak became one of the first Inuit women in Cape Dorset to begin drawing in the late 1950s. She has since created many carvings from soapstone and thousands of drawings, etchings, stone-cuts, and prints — all sought after by museums and collectors. She designed several drawings for Canadian stamps and coins. In 2004, she started to design the first Inuit-designed stain glass window for a chapel. Read more... edit   In the news - Wikinews Arctic portal April 25: UK announces £200 million polar research ship September 4: Wikinews Shorts: September 2, 2010 September 3: Wikinews Shorts: September 3, 2010/Fuel tanker aground in Northwest Passage June 21: Greenland assumes self rule Sunday January 10: Canadian trio claim South Pole record for trans-Antarctic trip December 10: Wikinews Shorts: December 10, 2008 October 28: Arctic ice thickness decreasing, suggests satellite data study August 28: 73M-year-old fossilized fish found in Canada August 27: Canadian military exercise NANOOK 2008 travels through uncharted waters June 28: The North Pole may possibly be ice free by summer edit   Selected picture - Play media Description:A Polar bear cub in Churchill is nursing Author: Original Cub_polar_bear_is_nursing.wmv.OGG by Mila Zinkova This derivative work by Dhatfield (talk) Featured picture ...Archive/Nominations edit   Did you know - Tookoolito, from an 1862 engraving ...that Tookoolito (pictured) and her companion were advertised as "Esquimaux Indians... from the arctic regions" and exhibited at Barnum's American Museum in 1862? Read More... ... that the Ayles Ice Shelf at Ellesmere Island in the Canadian Arctic Archipelago collapsed in less than an hour in August 2005, setting a 66 km² (25 mi²) ice island adrift in the Arctic Ocean, but the collapse was only discovered during the recent analysis of satellite images captured by MODIS? Read More... ... that while serving aboard HMS Carcass as a midshipman on an Arctic expedition, a young Horatio Nelson is reported to have chased a polar bear? Read more.... Wikipedia:Recent additions 225 ...that the Comer Strait in the Canadian Arctic, and the Gallinula comeri, the flightless moorhen of Gough Island, were both named after whaling Captain George Comer? Read More... edit   Categories ▼ Arctic ► Arctic-related lists ► Astronomy in the Arctic ► Culture of the Arctic ► Environment of the Arctic ► Geography of the Arctic ► Government of the Arctic ► History of the Arctic ► Inuit ► Military in the Arctic ► Arctic research ► Arctic society ► Transport in the Arctic ► Works about the Arctic ► Arctic stubs ► Arctic templates edit   Quotation - O proudly name their names who bravely sail To seek brave lost in Arctic snows and seas! Source An Arctic Quest Helen Hunt Jackson edit   Features Featured articles: S. A. Andrée's Arctic balloon expedition of 1897 · Arctic Tern · Bob Marshall · Uriel Sebree · Jake Gyllenhaal · Peregrine Falcon · Common Raven · Orca · Right whale Good articles: Franklin's lost expedition · Walrus · Muskrat edit   Things to do edit   Selected panorama - Panoramic view of the island Nunâ east of Upernavik and south of Aappilattoq in Greenland.. 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