Arctic Ocean

That part of the sea lying n. of Asia and N. America, and surrounding the N. Pole. It communicates with the Pacific through Behring Strait, with the Atlantic through Smith Sound and the broad pa age between Green land and the Scand in avian peninsula. It contains numerous islands, many of them very large, as Nova Zembla, Spitz bergen, New Siberia, and Wrangle Land, besides the great archipelago n. of N. America. Its shores are icebound. Many navigators have explored it to find the N. W. Pa age. Parry reached lat. 82° 45′ N. in 1827; Kane attained lat.81° 22′ in 1854, and found reason to infer an open sea around the pole; Lock wood of Greeley's expedition, 1882. reached 83° 24', which is the highest point thus far attained. There are floating ma es of ice 200 ft. in height, and ice-fields 100 m. in length. Capt. Ro measured a berg which rose 325 ft. above the water. (See Map, page 88.)