eland); the ice pack is surrounded by
open seas during the summer, but more than doubles in size during the winter
and extends to the encircling land masses; 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 Lomonsov Ridge); maximum depth is 4,665 meters in the Fram Basin

Natural resources: sand and gravel aggregates, placer deposits,
polymetallic nodules, oil and gas fields, fish, marine mammals (seals, whales)

Environment: endangered marine species include walruses and whales; ice
islands occasionally break away from northern Ellesmere Island; icebergs calved
from western Greenland and extreme northeastern Canada; maximum snow cover in
March or April about 20 to 50 centimeters over the frozen ocean and lasts about
10 months; permafrost in islands; virtually icelocked from October to June;
fragile ecosystem slow to change and slow to recover from disruptions or damage

Note: major chokepoint is the southern Chukchi Sea (northern
access to the Pacific Ocean via the Bering Strait); ships subject to
superstructure icing from October to May; strategic location between North
America and the USSR; shortest marine link between the extremes of eastern and
western USSR; floating research stations operated by the US and USSR

- Economy
Overview: Economic activity is limited to the exploitation of natural
resources, including crude oil, natural gas, fishing, and sealing.

- Communications
Ports: Churchill (Canada), Murmansk (USSR), Prudhoe Bay (US)

Telecommunications: no submarine cables

Note: sparse network of air, ocean, river, and land routes; the Northwest
Passage (North America) and Northern Sea Route (Asia) are important waterways
----------------------------------------------------
Country: Argentina
- Geography
Total area: 2,766,890 km2; land area: 2,736,690 km2

Comparative area: slightly more than four times the size of Texas

Land boundaries: 9,665 km total; Bolivia 832 km, Brazil 1,224 km,
Chile 5,150 km, Paraguay 1,880 km, Uruguay 579 km

Coastline: 4,989 km

Maritime claims:

Continental shelf: 200 meters or to depth of exploitation;

Territorial sea: 200 nm (overflight and navigation permitted beyond
12 nm)

Disputes: short section of the boundary with Uruguay is in dispute; short
section of the boundary with Chile is indefinite; claims British-admin