The Barents Sea
Barents Sea, an arm of the Arctic Ocean. It lies between the northern shores of Norway and European Russia and the islands of Svalbard, Franz Josef Land, and Novaya Zemlya. The Barents Sea covers an area of about 500,000 square miles (1,300,000 km2). It is relatively shallow, with depths of generally less than 1,200 feet (365 m).
Because of an easterly flow of relatively warm Atlantic water, the southwestern part rarely freezes, providing a year-round shipping route. Murmansk, Russia, is the chief port. The sea was named for the Dutch navigator Willem Barents, who made three exploratory voyages into the sea during 1594-97.