Compare Arctic Ocean (2001) - Ashmore and Cartier Islands (2001)

Compare Arctic Ocean (2001) z Ashmore and Cartier Islands (2001)

	Arctic Ocean (2001)	Ashmore and Cartier Islands (2001)

Area	total: 14.056 million sq km note: includes Baffin Bay, Barents Sea, Beaufort Sea, Chukchi Sea, East Siberian Sea, Greenland Sea, Hudson Bay, Hudson Strait, Kara Sea, Laptev Sea, Northwest Passage, and other tributary water bodies	total: 5 sq km land: 5 sq km water: 0 sq km note: includes Ashmore Reef (West, Middle, and East Islets) and Cartier Island
Area - comparative	slightly less than 1.5 times the size of the US	about eight times the size of The Mall in Washington, DC
Background	The Arctic Ocean is the smallest of the world's five oceans (after the Pacific Ocean, Atlantic Ocean, Indian Ocean, and the recently delimited Southern Ocean). The Northwest Passage (US and Canada) and Northern Sea Route (Norway and Russia) are two important seasonal waterways. A sparse network of air, ocean, river, and land routes circumscribes the Arctic Ocean.	These uninhabited islands came under Australian authority in 1931; formal administration began two years later. Ashmore Reef supports a rich and diverse avian and marine habitat; in 1983 it became a National Nature Reserve. Recent geological explorations have indicated promising petroleum formations.
Climate	polar climate characterized by persistent cold and relatively narrow annual temperature ranges; winters characterized by continuous darkness, cold and stable weather conditions, and clear skies; summers characterized by continuous daylight, damp and foggy weather, and weak cyclones with rain or snow	tropical
Coastline	45,389 km	74.1 km
Country name	-	conventional long form: Territory of Ashmore and Cartier Islands conventional short form: Ashmore and Cartier Islands
Dependency status	-	territory of Australia; administered from Canberra by the Australian Department of the Environment, Sport, and Territories
Diplomatic representation from the US	-	none (territory of Australia)
Diplomatic representation in the US	-	none (territory of Australia)
Disputes - international	some maritime disputes (see littoral states)	none
Economy - overview	Economic activity is limited to the exploitation of natural resources, including petroleum, natural gas, fish, and seals.	no economic activity
Elevation extremes	lowest point: Fram Basin -4,665 m highest point: sea level 0 m	lowest point: Indian Ocean 0 m highest point: unnamed location 3 m
Environment - current issues	endangered marine species include walruses and whales; fragile ecosystem slow to change and slow to recover from disruptions or damage; thinning polar icepack	NA
Flag description	-	the flag of Australia is used
Geographic coordinates	90 00 N, 0 00 E	12 14 S, 123 05 E
Geography - note	major chokepoint is the southern Chukchi Sea (northern access to the Pacific Ocean via the Bering Strait); strategic location between North America and Russia; shortest marine link between the extremes of eastern and western Russia; floating research stations operated by the US and Russia; maximum snow cover in March or April about 20 to 50 centimeters over the frozen ocean; snow cover lasts about 10 months	Ashmore Reef National Nature Reserve established in August 1983
Irrigated land	-	0 sq km (1993)
Land boundaries	-	0 km
Land use	-	arable land: 0% permanent crops: 0% permanent pastures: 0% forests and woodland: 0% other: 100% (all grass and sand)
Legal system	-	the laws of the Northern Territory of Australia, where applicable, apply
Location	body of water between Europe, Asia, and North America, mostly north of the Arctic Circle	Southeastern Asia, islands in the Indian Ocean, northwest of Australia
Map references	Arctic Region	Southeast Asia
Maritime claims	-	contiguous zone: 12 NM continental shelf: 200-m depth or to the depth of exploitation exclusive fishing zone: 200 NM territorial sea: 3 NM
Military - note	-	defense is the responsibility of Australia; periodic visits by the Royal Australian Navy and Royal Australian Air Force
Natural hazards	ice islands occasionally break away from northern Ellesmere Island; icebergs calved from glaciers in western Greenland and extreme northeastern Canada; permafrost in islands; virtually ice locked from October to June; ships subject to superstructure icing from October to May	surrounded by shoals and reefs that can pose maritime hazards
Natural resources	sand and gravel aggregates, placer deposits, polymetallic nodules, oil and gas fields, fish, marine mammals (seals and whales)	fish
Population	-	no indigenous inhabitants note: there are only seasonal caretakers (July 2001 est.)
Ports and harbors	Churchill (Canada), Murmansk (Russia), Prudhoe Bay (US)	none; offshore anchorage only
Terrain	central surface covered by a perennial drifting polar icepack that averages about 3 meters in thickness, although pressure ridges may be three times that size; clockwise drift pattern in the Beaufort Gyral Stream, but nearly straight-line movement from the New Siberian Islands (Russia) to Denmark Strait (between Greenland and Iceland); the icepack is surrounded by open seas during the summer, but more than doubles in size during the winter and extends to the encircling landmasses; the ocean floor is about 50% continental shelf (highest percentage of any ocean) with the remainder a central basin interrupted by three submarine ridges (Alpha Cordillera, Nansen Cordillera, and Lomonosov Ridge)	low with sand and coral
Waterways	-	none

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