In September of 2007, sea ice in the Arctic Ocean had a minimum monthly extent of 4.26 million square kilometers (1.64 million square miles), 23 percent lower than the previous minimum in 2005.

Scientists probing volcanic rocks from deep under the frozen surface of the Arctic Ocean have discovered a special geochemical signature until now found only in the southern hemisphere. The rocks were dredged from the remote Gakkel Ridge, which lies under 3,000 to 5,000 meters of water; it is Earth’s most northerly undersea spreading ridge. The study appears in the May 1 issue of the leading science journal Nature.

Arctic rivers transport huge quantities of dissolved organic carbon (DOC) to the Arctic Ocean. The prevailing paradigm regarding DOC in arctic rivers is that it is largely refractory, making it of little significance for the biogeochemistry of the Arctic Ocean.

Preliminary research results released by Russian scientists are allowing the country to claim 1.2 million sq km of potentially energy-rich Arctic territory, the Natural Resources Ministry said Thursday.

Studying the geological samples taken from the North Pole seabed during Russia's symbolic expedition last week could take six months, a Russian Academy of Sciences spokesman said Wednesday.

Russia is guided by international law in its polar shelf probes, the country's foreign minister told a news conference Friday.

Russia has rejected criticism of its landmark expedition to the Arctic Ocean's seabed under the North Pole, where explorers on August 2 planted a Russian flag.

Russian media report that Russian explorers have made a historic dive into the Arctic Ocean in two submersibles and planted a Russian flag on the seabed. The explorers today were reported to have reached the seabed directly under the North Pole at a depth of more than 4,200 meters, and are expected to carry out scientific experiments.

An eight-month voyage through the Arctic Ocean, without ship or travel route: the North Pole drifting station NP-35 represents an unusual project of the International Polar Year

A multidisciplinary team of scientists and engineers is conducting the first search for life and hot springs on the seafloor of the Arctic Ocean. Through the use of the World Wide Web and satellite communications, the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) and nine partner museums are bringing thousands of students and citizens along with them.

Scientists and engineers from the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) have just completed a successful test of new robotic vehicles designed for use beneath the ice of the Arctic Ocean. The multidisciplinary research team will now use those vehicles to conduct the first search for life on the seafloor of the world's most isolated ocean.

Sediment cores retrieved from the Arctic's deep-sea floor by the Integrated Ocean Drilling Program's Arctic Coring Expedition (ACEX) have provided long-absent data to scientists who report new findings in the June 21 issue of Nature. A team of ACEX researchers report that the Arctic Ocean changed from a landlocked body of water through a poorly oxygenated 'estuarine sea' phase to a fully oxygenated ocean at 17.5 million years ago during the latter part of the early Miocene era.