Compare Arctic Ocean (2002) - Baker Island (2003)

Compare Arctic Ocean (2002) z Baker Island (2003)

	Arctic Ocean (2002)	Baker Island (2003)

Airports	-	1 abandoned World War II runway of 1,665 m, completely covered with vegetation and unusable (2002)
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: 1.4 sq km land: 1.4 sq km water: 0 sq km
Area - comparative	slightly less than 1.5 times the size of the US	about 2.5 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.	The US took possession of the island in 1857, and its guano deposits were mined by US and British companies during the second half of the 19th century. In 1935, a short-lived attempt at colonization was begun on this island - as well as on nearby Howland Island - but was disrupted by World War II and thereafter abandoned. Presently the island is a National Wildlife Refuge run by the US Department of the Interior; a day beacon is situated near the middle of the west coast.
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	equatorial; scant rainfall, constant wind, burning sun
Coastline	45,389 km	4.8 km
Country name	-	conventional long form: none conventional short form: Baker Island
Dependency status	-	unincorporated territory of the US; administered from Washington, DC, by the Fish and Wildlife Service of the US Department of the Interior as part of the National Wildlife Refuge system
Disputes - international	some maritime disputes (see littoral states); Russia is the first state to submit data to the UN Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf to extend its continental shelf by claiming two undersea ridges in the Arctic Ocean	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: Pacific Ocean 0 m highest point: unnamed location 8 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	no natural fresh water resources
Flag description	-	the flag of the US is used
Geographic coordinates	90 00 N, 0 00 E	0 13 N, 176 31 W
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	treeless, sparse, and scattered vegetation consisting of grasses, prostrate vines, and low growing shrubs; primarily a nesting, roosting, and foraging habitat for seabirds, shorebirds, and marine wildlife
Irrigated land	-	0 sq km (1998 est.)
Land boundaries	-	0 km
Land use	-	arable land: 0% permanent crops: 0% other: 100% (1998 est.)
Legal system	-	the laws of the US, where applicable, apply
Location	body of water between Europe, Asia, and North America, mostly north of the Arctic Circle	Oceania, atoll in the North Pacific Ocean, about half way between Hawaii and Australia
Map references	Arctic Region	Oceania
Maritime claims	-	exclusive economic zone: 200 NM territorial sea: 12 NM
Military - note	-	defense is the responsibility of the US; visited annually by the US Coast Guard
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	the narrow fringing reef surrounding the island can be a maritime hazard
Natural resources	sand and gravel aggregates, placer deposits, polymetallic nodules, oil and gas fields, fish, marine mammals (seals and whales)	guano (deposits worked until 1891), terrestrial and aquatic wildlife
Population	-	uninhabited note: American civilians evacuated in 1942 after Japanese air and naval attacks during World War II; occupied by US military during World War II, but abandoned after the war; public entry is by special-use permit from US Fish and Wildlife Service only and generally restricted to scientists and educators; a cemetery and remnants of structures from early settlement are located near the middle of the west coast; visited annually by US Fish and Wildlife Service (July 2003 est.)
Ports and harbors	Churchill (Canada), Murmansk (Russia), Prudhoe Bay (US)	none; offshore anchorage only; note - there is one small boat landing area along the middle of the west coast
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, nearly level coral island surrounded by a narrow fringing reef
Transportation - note	sparse network of air, ocean, river, and land routes; the Northwest Passage (North America) and Northern Sea Route (Eurasia) are important seasonal waterways	there is a day beacon near the middle of the west coast
Waterways	-	none

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