An Arctic Dip Trivia Quiz

Answer: Rhine

The Ob and Lena rivers are both Siberian, whereas the Mackenzie River is Canadian. Since over 2/3 of the world's freshwater is frozen in icecaps and glaciers, we have a relatively limited source of freshwater to work with, making it a precious commodity.

The Ob is the seventh longest river in the world, and the Ob also has the largest estuary (river mouth) in the world. The Lena's claim to fame is its river delta, which is impressive to behold, and it's also a protected area by the Russians. Meanwhile, the Mackenzie is the largest river in Canada, and is the largest outside the Ob, Lena and Yenisei to deposit into the Arctic Ocean.

Since the Rhine goes from Switzerland to the North Sea at the Netherlands, we are not very likely to see it on our journey.

Answer: True

The Mariana Trench goes to 10,924m below sea level, against the 5450m of the Eurasia Basin in the Arctic Ocean, which is, surprisingly, almost exactly half the depth. The Eurasia Basin was said to have been formed 63 million years ago in the Cenozoic period.

The Arctic Ocean is the smallest of the five world oceans, but that does not mean there is not a lot of interesting things to find there. It touches three continents - North America, Europe and Asia - and is the only home to polar bears. In fact, it is home to many forms of wildlife; caribou, seals, a variety of fish and narwhals live in the Arctic. However, because there is sea ice on the surface for a large amount of the year, travelling by sea is difficult, but can be done when the time is right!

Answer: Baffin Bay

William Baffin explored the Arctic Circle in 1615-6, purportedly in search of the Northwest Passage, which is known now to connect the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans through the Arctic Ocean. At the time he could not find it, but he did carefully describe areas of the Arctic such as the Hudson Strait, and he mapped the entire of Baffin Bay on his fifth expedition - although, amusingly, his notes on his findings were discredited until the 1800s, when his findings were found to be correct.

In his honour, Baffin Bay and Baffin Island were named after him. Baffin Bay is also known for its beluga whale population, and Baffin Island houses Iqaluit, the capital of Nunavut, one of the Canadian territories.

Answer: Beaufort Sea

Tuktoyaktuk has had a fairly stable population of around 900-1000 between 1999 and 2009. The name is more sensibly referred to as 'Tuk' typically, and near Tuk lies the largest concentration of pingos in the world, and pingos are core mounds of ice with layers of ground on top.

The Beaufort Sea is named after Francis Beaufort, who developed the Beaufort scale of wind force. The Mackenzie river empties into the Beaufort Sea through the large Mackenzie Delta, and the sea also has large reserves of fossil fuels beneath it, which have been largely untapped into since the 1980s. The border dispute concerns the area of the sea between Yukon, a Canadian territory, and Alaska, an American state, and is likely important to determine who can extract the fossil fuels located in that area.

Answer: Chukchi Sea

The Chukchi Sea is named after the Chukchi people of Russia, who still live on the western shoreline at Alyatki and Uelen. The Bering Strait, at the southern edge of the Chukchi Sea, connects the Chukchi Sea and the Bering Sea, and the Pacific Ocean past that.

It is policed by the USA and Russia, making permission for explorers and travellers necessary, particularly if they would dock on Russian or American land soon after. In August 2011, the Russians approved the production of a tunnel crossing the Bering Strait, which would cost around £60bn.

Answer: New Siberian Islands

The largest of these islands is the Kotelny Island, which is the 47th largest island by area in the world, and also houses the highest elevation point of the islands. The islands house ivory from mammoths, which is in very good condition because of the permafrost it was encased in. Some of this ivory could be over 50,000 years old!

Answer: False

Actually, the Laptev Sea has a large amount of glacial growth. It exports arctic sea ice out, with an average flow of 483,000 km squared from 1979-1995. This occurs all year except for July, August and September, and has a larger glacial growth than the Barents Sea, Kara Sea, East Siberian Sea and Chukchi Sea combined.

Some might say this is the cold heart of the Arctic for that reason. It is located largely between the Severnaya Zemlya and the New Siberian Islands, and is north of Siberia.

Answer: It is a favourite breeding ground for penguins

Since penguins almost exclusively inhabit the southern hemisphere, you wouldn't find any in the Kara Sea, or anywhere else in the Arctic Ocean. And, despite it being next to the Barents Sea, it is much colder, being frozen for around nine months a year. It is separated from the Barents Sea to the west by the Novaya Zemlya, an archipelago north of Russia, and to the east by the Laptev Sea by the Severnaya Zemlya, a smaller archipelago. Since the Arctic Ocean is relatively shallow, it is not surprising this particular sea has a low depth.

In 1992, a report was released detailing the nuclear waste in the Kara Sea by the Soviet Union from the 60s to the 80s - which included six nuclear submarines and 10 nuclear reactors, amongst other waste. Although there has been concern over the potential radiation from this waste, a report has suggested that the level of contamination is low outside the immediate dumping sites.

Answer: Barents Sea

The Barents Sea is named after Willem Barents, a Dutch navigator and explorer. Note that its former name, the Murman Sea, or Murmanskye Morye, meant the sea of the Norwegians.

The North Atlantic Drift continues the Gulf Stream, a warm sea current which originates around Florida and goes across northern Europe, making it warmer than it would otherwise be. This helps to explain why there is more life supported in the Barents Sea compared to other areas of similar latitude. Cod, whales, auks and guillemots are just some of the wildlife found in and around the Barents Sea.

Answer: Greenland Sea

From the central region of this sea, we could head south to the UK, which is where our trip would end (well, it would for me, since that's where I live!). The Greenland Sea is also home to numerous lifeforms, and the harp and hooded seals here make it a popular seal hunting ground. The sea is also notorious for its fog, and from October to August, travelling here is highly unadvised because of the increased amount of ice.

In addition, despite being about 836 thousand square miles in surface area, only around 56,615 people inhabited Greenland in January of 2011, making it a very sparsely populated place indeed!