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Compare British Indian Ocean Territory (2002) - Arctic Ocean (2003)

Compare British Indian Ocean Territory (2002) z Arctic Ocean (2003)

 British Indian Ocean Territory (2002)Arctic Ocean (2003)
 British Indian Ocean TerritoryArctic Ocean
Airports 1 (2001) -
Airports - with paved runways total: 1


over 3,047 m: 1 (2002)
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Area total: 60 sq km


land: 60 sq km


water: 0 sq km


note: includes the entire Chagos Archipelago
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
Area - comparative about 0.3 times the size of Washington, DC slightly less than 1.5 times the size of the US
Background Established as a territory of the UK in 1965, a number of the British Indian Ocean Territory (BIOT) islands were transferred to the Seychelles when it attained independence in 1976. Subsequently, BIOT has consisted only of the six main island groups comprising the Chagos Archipelago. The largest and most southerly of the islands, Diego Garcia, contains a joint UK-US naval support facility. All of the remaining islands are uninhabited. Former agricultural workers, earlier residents in the islands, were relocated primarily to Mauritius but also to the Seychelles, between 1967 and 1973. In 2000, a British High Court ruling invalidated the local immigration order which had excluded them from the archipelago, but upheld the special military status of Diego Garcia. 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.
Climate tropical marine; hot, humid, moderated by trade winds 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
Coastline 698 km 45,389 km
Country name conventional long form: British Indian Ocean Territory


conventional short form: none


abbreviation: BIOT
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Dependency status overseas territory of the UK; administered by a commissioner, resident in the Foreign and Commonwealth Office in London -
Diplomatic representation from the US none (overseas territory of the UK) -
Diplomatic representation in the US none (overseas territory of the UK) -
Disputes - international Mauritius and Seychelles claim the Chagos Archipelago and its former inhabitants, who reside chiefly in Mauritius, but in 2001 were granted UK citizenship and the right to repatriation since eviction in 1965; repatriation is complicated by the US military lease of Diego Garcia, the largest island in the chain some maritime disputes (see littoral states)
Economy - overview All economic activity is concentrated on the largest island of Diego Garcia, where joint UK-US defense facilities are located. Construction projects and various services needed to support the military installations are done by military and contract employees from the UK, Mauritius, the Philippines, and the US. There are no industrial or agricultural activities on the islands. When the Ilois return, they plan to reestablish sugarcane production and fishing. Economic activity is limited to the exploitation of natural resources, including petroleum, natural gas, fish, and seals.
Electricity - consumption NA kWh -
Electricity - production NA kWh; note - electricity supplied by the US military -
Elevation extremes lowest point: Indian Ocean 0 m


highest point: unnamed location on Diego Garcia 15 m
lowest point: Fram Basin -4,665 m


highest point: sea level 0 m
Environment - current issues NA endangered marine species include walruses and whales; fragile ecosystem slow to change and slow to recover from disruptions or damage; thinning polar icepack
Executive branch chief of state: Queen ELIZABETH II (since 6 February 1952)


head of government: Commissioner Alan HUCKLE (since 2001); Administrator Louise SAVILL (since NA); note - both reside in the UK


cabinet: NA


elections: none; the monarch is hereditary; commissioner and administrator appointed by the monarch
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Flag description white with six blue wavy horizontal stripes; the flag of the UK is in the upper hoist-side quadrant; the striped section bears a palm tree and yellow crown centered on the outer half of the flag -
Geographic coordinates 6 00 S, 71 30 E 90 00 N, 0 00 E
Geography - note archipelago of 2,300 islands; Diego Garcia, largest and southernmost island, occupies strategic location in central Indian Ocean; island is site of joint US-UK military facility 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
Highways total: NA km


paved: short stretch of paved road of NA km between port and airfield on Diego Garcia


unpaved: NA km
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Internet Service Providers (ISPs) 1 (2000) -
Irrigated land 0 sq km (1998 est.) -
Land boundaries 0 km -
Land use arable land: NEGL


permanent crops: 0%


other: 100% (1998 est.)
-
Legal system the laws of the UK, where applicable, apply -
Location Southern Asia, archipelago in the Indian Ocean, about one-half the way from Africa to Indonesia body of water between Europe, Asia, and North America, mostly north of the Arctic Circle
Map references Political Map of the World Arctic Region
Maritime claims exclusive fishing zone: 200 NM


territorial sea: 3 NM
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Military - note defense is the responsibility of the UK; the US lease on Diego Garcia expires in 2016 -
Natural hazards NA 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
Natural resources coconuts, fish, sugarcane sand and gravel aggregates, placer deposits, polymetallic nodules, oil and gas fields, fish, marine mammals (seals and whales)
Population no indigenous inhabitants


note: approximately 1,200 former agricultural workers resident in the Chagos Archipelago, often referred to as Chagossians or Ilois, were relocated to Mauritius and the Seychelles around the time of the construction of UK-US military facilities; in 2001, there were approximately 1,500 UK and US military personnel and 2,000 civilian contractors living on the island of Diego Garcia (July 2002 est.)
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Ports and harbors Diego Garcia Churchill (Canada), Murmansk (Russia), Prudhoe Bay (US)
Radio broadcast stations AM 1, FM 2, shortwave 0 (1998) -
Radios NA -
Telephone system general assessment: separate facilities for military and public needs are available


domestic: all commercial telephone services are available, including connection to the Internet


international: international telephone service is carried by satellite (2000)
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Telephones - main lines in use NA -
Television broadcast stations 1 (1997) -
Terrain flat and low (most areas do not exceed four meters in elevation) 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)
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
Waterways none -
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