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Axel Heiberg Island

(Encyclopedia)Axel Heiberg Island ăkˈsəl hīˈbərg [key], 13,583 sq mi (35,180 sq km), in the Arctic Ocean, N Nunavut Territory, Canada, W of Ellesmere Island. It was named by the Norwegian explorer Otto Sverdr...

West Siberian Plain

(Encyclopedia)West Siberian Plain, an extensive region of continuous flatland, N Asia, comprising the western third of Siberia, Russia. It is bounded on the east by the Yenisei River, on the north by the Arctic Oce...

Kara Sea

(Encyclopedia)Kara Sea kärˈə [key], Rus. Karskoye More, shallow section of the Arctic Ocean, off N Russia, between Severnaya Zemlya and Novaya Zemlya. It has an average depth of 420 ft (128 m). It receives the O...

Brooks Range

(Encyclopedia)Brooks Range, mountain chain, northernmost part of the Rocky Mts., extending about 600 mi (970 km) from east to west across N Alaska. Mt. Chamberlin, 9,020 ft (2,749 m) high, near the Canadian border,...

Prudhoe Bay

(Encyclopedia)Prudhoe Bay, inlet of the Beaufort Sea and Arctic Ocean, N Alaska, in the Alaska North Slope region, east of the Colville River delta. In 1968 one of the largest oil reserves in North America was disc...

Baffin Island

(Encyclopedia)Baffin Island, 183,810 sq mi (476,068 sq km), c.1,000 mi (1,610 km) long and from 130 to 450 mi (210–720 km) wide, in the Arctic Ocean, Nunavut Territory, Canada. It is the fifth largest island in t...

Nansen, Fridtjof

(Encyclopedia)Nansen, Fridtjof frĭtˈyôf nänˈsən [key], 1861–1930, Norwegian arctic explorer, scientist, statesman, and humanitarian. The diversity of Nansen's interests is shown in his writings, which inclu...

North Cape

(Encyclopedia)North Cape or Nordkapp nōrˈkäp [key], promontory, rising steeply c.1,000 ft (300 m) from the Arctic Ocean, near but not at the north end of Magerøya island, Finnmark co., N Norway. Although Mager�...

Vaygach

(Encyclopedia)Vaygach or Vaigach both: vīgächˈ [key], island, 1,312 sq mi (3,398 sq km), Nenets Autonomous Area, off NE European Russia, in the Arctic Ocean, between the mainland and Novaya Zemlya. A continuatio...

Tungus

(Encyclopedia)Tungus to͝onko͝ozˈ [key], Siberian ethnic group, numbering perhaps 30,000. They are subdivided into the Evenki, who live in the area from the Yenisei and Ob river basins to the Pacific Ocean and fr...