Open main menu
Home
Random
Recent changes
Special pages
Community portal
Preferences
About Wikipedia
Disclaimers
Incubator escapee wiki
Search
User menu
Talk
Dark mode
Contributions
Create account
Log in
Editing
Open Polar Sea
Warning:
You are not logged in. Your IP address will be publicly visible if you make any edits. If you
log in
or
create an account
, your edits will be attributed to your username, along with other benefits.
Anti-spam check. Do
not
fill this in!
{{Short description|Hypothesized ice-free ocean surrounding the North Pole}} {{Use dmy dates|date=September 2020}} {{More footnotes|date=November 2010}} {{Infobox fictional location | name = Open Polar Sea | image = Openpolar.jpg | caption = Silas Bent's 1872 map including the "Supposed Open Sea" | source = | creator = Suggested by [[Robert Thorne (merchant)|Robert Thorne]] in the 16th century | type = Ice-free ocean in the [[North Pole]] area | locations = [[Arctic Ocean]] }} The '''Open Polar Sea''' was a conjectured ice-free body of water that was believed to encircle the [[North Pole]]. Although this theory was widely accepted and served as a basis for many exploratory expeditions aimed at reaching the North Pole by sea or discovering a navigable route between Europe and the Pacific via the North Pole, it was ultimately proven to be untrue. However, [[global warming]] could [[Arctic shrinkage|open large areas]] of the Arctic Ocean by the end of the 21st century. ==History== The theory that the North Pole region might be a practical sea route goes back to at least the 16th century, when it was suggested by English cartographer [[Robert Thorne (merchant)|Robert Thorne]] (1492-1532).<ref name="CG">[https://www.brown.edu/Facilities/John_Carter_Brown_Library/exhibitions/cartographic/pages/unger.html Cartographic conversation - Brown University]</ref> The explorers [[William Barents]] and [[Henry Hudson]] also believed in the Open Polar Sea. For a time, the theory was put aside because of the practical experience of navigators who encountered impenetrable ice as they went north. However, the idea was revived again in the mid-19th century by theoretical geographers, such as [[Matthew F. Maury]] and [[August Petermann]]. At the time, interest in polar exploration was high because of the search for [[John Franklin]]'s missing expedition, and many would-be polar explorers took up the theory, including [[Elisha Kent Kane]], Dr. [[Isaac Israel Hayes]], and [[George Washington De Long]]. It was believed that once a ship broke through the regions of thick ice that had stopped previous explorers, a temperate sea would be found beyond it. ==Support== Although it is now known that the North Pole was covered with thick ice for much of the period, the Open Polar Sea was a popular theory in the 16th to the 19th centuries, and many arguments were made to justify its existence: * Since [[sea ice]] was erroneously believed to form only near land, if there were no land near the North Pole, there would be no ice. * Since there is perpetual sun during the Arctic summer, it would melt all the ice. * Russian explorers had found large [[polynya]]s (areas of open water) north of [[Svalbard]] and so there were surely other areas of open water elsewhere. * Maury, Petermann, and other scientists who studied [[ocean currents]] in the 19th century hypothesized that warm northward currents such as the [[Gulf Stream]] and [[Kuroshio Current]] must rise to the surface and result in an ice-free sea near the pole. * [[Extrapolation]] of temperature readings taken in subpolar regions indicated that the region of greatest cold would be at about 80Β°N, instead of at the North Pole. * Migration patterns of certain animals seemed to suggest that the polar region was a hospitable place for them to live. ==Disproof and re-emergence== [[File:2007 Arctic Sea Ice.jpg|thumb|250px|right|[[Arctic shrinkage]] as of 2007 compared to previous years]] The Open Polar Sea was debunked gradually by the failure of the expeditions in the 1810s to the 1880s to navigate the polar sea. Reports of open water by earlier explorers, such as [[Elisha Kent Kane]] and [[Isaac Israel Hayes]], fueled optimism in the theory in the 1850s and 1860s. Support faded when [[George W. De Long]] [[Jeannette expedition|sailed]] {{USS|Jeannette|1878|6}} into the [[Bering Strait]] in the hope of finding an open gateway to the North Pole and was met by a sea of ice. After a long drift, pack ice crushed the ''Jeannette'', and her survivors returned home with first hand accounts of an ice-covered polar sea. Other explorers such as British explorer [[George Nares]] confirmed it. When [[Fridtjof Nansen]] and [[Otto Sverdrup]] drifted through the polar ice pack in ''[[Fram (ship)|Fram]]'' in 1893 to 1895, the Open Polar Sea was a defunct theory. Nevertheless, scientific studies of [[global warming]] in the 2000s project that by the end of the 21st century, the annual summer withdrawal of the polar ice cap could expose large areas of the Arctic Ocean as open water, and an ice-free Arctic is possible in the future because of [[Arctic shrinkage]]. Although the North Pole itself could potentially remain ice-covered in winter, a navigable seasonal sea passage from Europe to the Pacific [[Arctic shipping routes|could develop]] along the north coast of Asia. ==See also== * [[Northwest Passage]] * [[Superseded theories in science]] == References == {{reflist}} ===General references=== * Potter, R. (2004). "The Open Polar Sea". ''Encyclopedia of the Arctic''. Routledge. * Robinson, M. (2006). ''The Coldest Crucible: Arctic Exploration and American Culture''. Chicago. * Robinson, M. (2006). "Reconsidering the Theory of the Open Polar Sea". ''Extremes: Oceanography's Adventures at the Poles''. * Sides, H. (2014). ''In the Kingdom of Ice: The Grand and Terrible Polar Voyage of the U.S.S. Jeannette''. New York: Doubleday. * Wright, J. K. (1966). ''The Open Polar Sea, Human Nature in Geography''. Cambridge. [[Category:Effects of climate change]] [[Category:Jeannette expedition]] [[Category:Obsolete scientific theories]] [[Category:Seas of the Arctic Ocean]] [[Category:North Pole]]
Edit summary
(Briefly describe your changes)
By publishing changes, you agree to the
Terms of Use
, and you irrevocably agree to release your contribution under the
CC BY-SA 4.0 License
and the
GFDL
. You agree that a hyperlink or URL is sufficient attribution under the Creative Commons license.
Cancel
Editing help
(opens in new window)
Pages transcluded onto the current version of this page
(
help
)
:
Template:Infobox fictional location
(
edit
)
Template:More footnotes
(
edit
)
Template:Reflist
(
edit
)
Template:Short description
(
edit
)
Template:USS
(
edit
)
Template:Use dmy dates
(
edit
)