Geographical Position of the Indian Ocean

The Indian Ocean lies in the southern hemisphere. It washes Africa, Eurasia, Australia and Antarctica. It is crossed by the equator in the north.

The coastlines of the Indian Ocean are unbroken in the north. There are some seas and gulfs : the Red sea, the Arabian sea, the bay of Bengal, the Persian gulf. Big islands in this ocean are not numerous: the island of Madagascar, Shri -Lanka. On the border with the Pacific Ocean there are the Greater Sundo islands.

Average depth of the Indian Ocean is 3.700m. The deepest place is near the island Java. It is 7.450m. On the bottom of the ocean there are mountain ranges, plains and depressions.

The climate of the ocean is different. In the north it is warm. The trade winds blow here. In the south the ocean comes close to Antarctica. The coldest places are situated here.

Water masses are connected with the climate. In the north water is very warm +30*C. The Indian Ocean is saltier than the other oceans. The saltiness of the water in the Red sea is very high. In the south cold water masses are in the ocean. The Indian Ocean is rich in living organisms. A lot of fish and different kinds of seaweed can be finding in the tropical and equatorial climatic belts. The whales and seals live near Antarctica.

There are some currents in the Indian Ocean. The warm currents are: the Monsoon current and the South Trade Wind current. The Cold Western Winds current is one of the strongest in the world.

The continents influence on the ocean. In the north-western part of the Indian Ocean there are little rains and the dry tropical air masses blow to the ocean. The water is salty here. In the north- eastern part there are many rains and great rivers carry a lot of water to the ocean.

Activity of people is connected with the peculiarities of the Indian Ocean. The ocean is rich in minerals. There are many deposits of oil and gas in the Persian Gulf. The ocean is not used for fishing.

The Arctic Ocean

Geographical Position of the Arctic Ocean. Discovery.

The Arctic Ocean is situated in the centre of the arctic, around the North Pole. It washes Eurasia and North America. It is connected with the Pacific and the Atlantic oceans by straits.

The coastlines of the ocean are broken .There are many islands: Greenland, Canadian Arctic Archipelago, Spitsbergen, Novayya Zemlya, Severnaya Zemlya, Zemlya Frantsa Iosifa, Ostrova Novo Sibirskie. There are many seas near the continents: the Norwegian sea, Barents sea, Kara sea, Laptev sea, East Siberian sea, etc.

It is very difficult to explore the Arctic Ocean, because of severe weather. Its discovery needed heroism from the traveler and scientists of many countries. Russian sailors went to Spitsbergen in the 16^th century. In the 17^th century the participants of the great northern expedition made a map of the Arctic shores and discovered many islands. At the end of the 19^th century the Russian-Swedish expedition crossed the Arctic Ocean from the west to the east.

In 1937 new methods of Arctic exploration were put to live. The first polar drifting station “North Pole 1” was set on one of the ice-floes. The expedition under the direction of Papanin drifted on the ice-floe from the North Pole to the Greenland sea.

The Arctic Ocean is the shallowest. The deepest place is 5449m.The relief of the bottom is complex.

The Arctic Ocean is situated in the arctic climatic belt. The arctic air masses are predominant in this region. The average winter t*-20*-40*C, summer t* is 0*C. The lowest t* is -50*C. Warm water currents from the Atlantic and the Pacific oceans influence on the climate. The arctic air masses blow to the north of Eurasia and North America. Strong north Atlantic current penetrated into the arctic. There is a current which crosses the Arctic Ocean from the Bering Strait to Greenland along the coasts of Eurasia.

The arctic Ocean is covered with ice. The formation of the ice is connected with low t*and low saltiness of the water.

The vegetation and animal life differ greatly in the centre and near the coastline. There is a lot of plankton , fish, walruses, seals.

The Arctic Ocean is rich in gas, oil, tin.

Table: Natural Resources.

Natural gas	Природный газ	Gold	Золото
Oil	Нефть	Uranium	Урановая руда
Iron ore	Железная руда	Diamonds	Алмазы
Coal	Каменный уголь	Aluminum	Алюминий
Copper	Медь	Zinc ore	Цинковая руда
Tin	Олово	Bauxites	Бокситы
Manganese	Марганцевые руды	Chrome ore	Хромовые руды
Phosphorites	Фосфориты	Cobalt	Кобальт