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iceberg
iceberg mass of ice that has become detached, or calved, from the edge of an ice sheet or glacier and is floating on the ocean. Because ice is slightly less dense than water about one ninth of the total mass of a berg projects above the water. Greenland and other N Atlantic icebergs are usually pea...
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Davis Strait
Davis Strait c.400 mi (640 km) long and c.180 mi (290 km) wide at the narrowest point, between Greenland and Baffin Island, NE Canada, connecting the Atlantic Ocean and Baffin Bay. Large amounts of ice and icebergs move south through the strait. The British explorer John Davis sailed through it in ...
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Titanic
Titanic , British liner that sank on the night of Apr. 14-15, 1912, less than three hours after crashing into an iceberg in the N Atlantic S of Newfoundland. More than 1,500 lives were lost. The Titanic, thought to be the fastest ship afloat and almost unsinkable, was on her maiden voyage and carr...
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Ross Sea
Ross Sea arm of the Pacific Ocean, Antarctica , between Victoria Land and Marie Byrd Land. It was discovered in 1841 by Sir James Clark Ross, a British explorer. Ross Island with Mt. Erebus, an active volcano, is in the western part of the sea; Roosevelt Island is in the east. The Ross Sea's south...
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Grand Banks
Grand Banks submarine plateau rising from the continental shelf, c.36,000 sq mi (93,200 sq km), off SE Newfoundland, N.L., Canada. It is c.300 mi (480 km) long and c.400 mi (640 km) wide; depths range from 20 to 100 fathoms. The cold Labrador Current flows over most of the banks; the warmer Gulf St...
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echo sounder
echo sounder an older instrumentation system for indirectly determining ocean floor depth. Echo sounding is based on the principle that water is an excellent medium for the transmission of sound waves and that a sound pulse will bounce off a reflecting layer, returning to its source as an echo. The...
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glacier
glacier moving mass of ice that survives year to year, formed by the compacting of snow into névé and then into granular ice and set in motion outward and downward by the force of gravity and the stress of its accumulated mass. Glaciers are usually found in high altitudes and latitude...
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Indian Ocean
Indian Ocean third largest ocean, c.28,350,000 sq mi (73,427,000 sq km), extending from S Asia to Antarctica and from E Africa to SE Australia; it is c.4,000 mi (6,400 km) wide at the equator. It constitutes about 20% of the world's total ocean area. The Indian Ocean is connected with the Pacific O...
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Atlantic Ocean
Atlantic Ocean [Lat.,=of Atlas], second largest ocean (c.31,800,000 sq mi/82,362,000 sq km; c.36,000,000 sq mi/93,240,000 sq km with marginal seas).
Physical Geography
Extent and Seas
The Atlantic Ocean extends in an S shape from the arctic to the antarctic regions between North and ...
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Arctic Ocean
Arctic Ocean the smallest ocean, c.5,400,000 sq mi (13,986,000 sq km), located entirely within the Arctic Circle and occupying the region around the North Pole.
Oceanography and Environment
Nearly landlocked, the Arctic Ocean is bordered by Greenland, Canada, Alaska, Russia, and Norway. T...
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