iPedia Free Information Center

Information about Beaufort Sea

Enlarge picture
Approximate area of the Beaufort Sea, and the disputed waters
Enlarge picture
The permanent ice-pack covers the northern edge of the Beaufort Sea year-round.


The Beaufort Sea (French: mer de Beaufort) is the portion of the Arctic Ocean located north of the Northwest Territories, the Yukon, and Alaska and west of Canada's Arctic islands. Its northwestern boundary is defined by a line connecting Point Barrow, Alaska, and Lands End, Prince Patrick Island. It is about 450,000 km² (170,000 mi²) in area. The sea is named after Irish hydrographer Sir Francis Beaufort.

The large Mackenzie River empties into the sea as do other smaller rivers. It is an important habitat for whales and sea birds and is still relatively untouched by commercial traffic.

The Beaufort Sea is also the location of what are believed to be significant petroleum reserves beneath the seabed, a continuation of proven reserves in the nearby Mackenzie River and North Slope.[1] The Beaufort Sea was first explored in the 1960s and the Amauligak Project of 1986 began operating the first functioning oil platform.

There is an ongoing dispute between Canada and the United States over the delimitation of part of the maritime section of the International Boundary in the Beaufort Sea.[https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/us.html#Issues][2] Canada claims the maritime boundary to be along the 141st meridian out to a distance of 200 nautical miles (370 km), following the Alaska-Yukon land border.[3] The United States claims the boundary line to be perpendicular to the coast out to a distance of 200 nautical miles (370 km), following a line of equidistance from the coast.(see p.10 of [4]) This difference creates a wedge that is claimed by both nations. This dispute has taken on increased significance due to the possible presence of petroleum reserves within the wedge.[5] Both nations have put petroleum exploration rights up for bid on sections within this disputed wedge.[6][7]

The entire Beaufort Sea is totally frozen during much of the year. The permanent ice-pack covers the northern edge of the Beaufort Sea year-round.

See also

External links

Coordinates:
French (français, pronounced [fʁɑ̃ˈsɛ]) is a Romance language originally spoken in France, Belgium, Luxembourg, and Switzerland, and today by about 300 million people around the world as either
..... Click the link for more information.
Earth's oceans
(World Ocean)
  • Arctic Ocean
  • Atlantic Ocean
  • Indian Ocean
  • Pacific Ocean
  • Southern Ocean
The Arctic Ocean, located in the northern hemisphere and mostly in the Arctic north polar region, is the smallest of the world's five
..... Click the link for more information.
Northwest Territories
Territoires du Nord-Ouest

Flag Coat of arms
Motto: none

Capital Yellowknife
Largest city Yellowknife
..... Click the link for more information.
Yukon


Flag Coat of arms
Motto: none

Capital Whitehorse
Largest city Whitehorse
Official languages English, French
Government
- Commissioner Geraldine Van Bibber
- Premier Dennis Fentie (Yukon Party)
..... Click the link for more information.
Alaska

Flag of Alaska Seal
Nickname(s): The Last Frontier
Motto(s): "North to the Future"

Official language(s) None[1]
Spoken language(s) English 85.7%,
Native North American 5.
..... Click the link for more information.
Canadian Arctic Archipelago, also known as just the Arctic Archipelago, is an archipelago north of the Canadian mainland in the Arctic. Situated in the northern extremity of North America and covering about  km ( sq mi), this group of 36,563 islands comprises
..... Click the link for more information.
Point Barrow or Nuvuk, is a headland on the Arctic coast of the U.S. state of Alaska, located 15 km (9 mi) northeast of Barrow. It is the northernmost point of the United States, at .
..... Click the link for more information.
Prince Patrick Island ( ) is the westernmost of the Queen Elizabeth Islands in the Northwest Territories of Canada. The area of the island is 15,848 km² [1] , making it the 55th largest island in the world and Canada's 14th
..... Click the link for more information.
Square kilometre (U.S. spelling: square kilometer), symbol km², is a decimal multiple of the SI unit of surface area, the square metre, one of the SI derived units. 1 km² is equal to:
  • 1,000,000 m²
  • 100 ha (hectare)
Conversely:
  • 1 m² = 0.

..... Click the link for more information.
square mile is an imperial and US unit of area equal the area of a square of one statute mile. It should not be confused with the archaic miles square, which refers to the number of miles on each side squared.
..... Click the link for more information.
Irish people (Irish: Muintir na hÉireann, na hÉireannaigh, na Gaeil) are a European ethnic group who originated in Ireland, in north western Europe.
..... Click the link for more information.
Hydrography focuses on the measurement of physical characteristics of waters and marginal land. In the generalized usage, "hydrography" pertains to measurement and description of any waters. With that usage oceanography and limnology are subsets of hydrography.
..... Click the link for more information.
Rear-Admiral Sir Francis Beaufort, FRS, FRGS (7 May 1774 – 17 December 1857) was an Irish hydrographer and officer in the British Royal Navy. Beaufort was the creator of the Beaufort scale for indicating wind force.
..... Click the link for more information.
Origin Great Slave Lake, in Northwest Territories
Mouth Arctic Ocean
Basin countries Canada
Length 1,738 km (1,079 mi) without headstreams, 4,241 km (2,634 mi) with headstreams

Avg.
..... Click the link for more information.
Petroleum (Latin Petroleum derived from Greek πέτρα (Latin petra) - rock + έλαιον (Latin oleum) - oil) or crude oil
..... Click the link for more information.
Alaska North Slope is the region of the U.S. state of Alaska located on the northern slope of the Brooks Range along the coast of the Arctic Ocean. The region contains the National Petroleum Reserve–Alaska, with the bulk of Alaska's known petroleum until the Prudhoe Bay field
..... Click the link for more information.
oil platform is a large structure used to house workers and machinery needed to drill and then produce oil and natural gas wells in the ocean. Depending on the circumstances, the platform may be attached to the ocean floor, consist of an artificial island, or be floating.
..... Click the link for more information.
Under international law, no country currently owns the North Pole or the region of the Arctic Ocean surrounding it. The five surrounding Arctic states, Russia, the United States (via Alaska), Canada, Norway and Denmark (via Greenland), are limited to a 200 nautical mile (370km) economic
..... Click the link for more information.
Borders define geographic boundaries of political entities or legal jurisdictions, such as governments, states or subnational administrative divisions. They may foster the setting up of buffer zones.
..... Click the link for more information.
The exploration of the Arctic for petroleum is more technically and physically challenging than for any other environment. However, with increases in technology and continuing high oil prices the region is now receiving the interest of the petroleum industry.
..... Click the link for more information.
Although Canada and the United States share the longest non-militarized border between two countries, there is a long history of disputes about the border's demarcation.

Current disputes


..... Click the link for more information.
The NASA Earth Observatory is an online publishing organization of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration of the United States (US). It is the principal source of free satellite imagery and other scientific information about Earth for consumption by the general public.
..... Click the link for more information.
geographic coordinate system enables every location on the earth to be specified by the three coordinates of a spherical coordinate system aligned with the spin axis of the Earth.
..... Click the link for more information.


This article is copied from an article on Wikipedia.org - the free encyclopedia created and edited by online user community. The text was not checked or edited by anyone on our staff. Although the vast majority of the wikipedia encyclopedia articles provide accurate and timely information please do not assume the accuracy of any particular article. This article is distributed under the terms of GNU Free Documentation License.
Herod_Archelaus


page counter