Arctic resources race The Arctic consists of multiple sub-regions: Russian Arctic, Canadian Arctic, Greenland (Kalaallit Nunaat), Northern Alaska (USA), Svalbard(Norway), Iceland, Fennoscandia. In addition to these sub-regions, the Arctic Ocean and its multiple seas—Greenland Sea, Barents Sea, Kara Sea, Laptev Sea, East Siberian Sea, Chuckchi Sea, Beaufort Sea,etc.-- make the arctic a vast region with a variety of natural resources. The U.S. Geological Survey estimates that undiscovered oil and gas reserves in the Arctic amount to 22% of the world's total, about 412 billion barrels of oil. A Brookings Institution summary reported: The first offshore oil platform in the Arctic was Prirazlomnaya in
Nordic Seas Sea, and Iceland Sea. The Nordic Seas only make up about 0.75% of the World’s Oceans. This region is known as having diverse features in such a small topographic area, such as the mid oceanic ridge systems. Some locations have shallow shelves, while others have deep slopes and basins. This region, because of the atmosphere-ocean transfer of energy and gases, has varying seasonal climate. During the winter, sea ice is formed in the western and northern regions of the Nordic Seas, whereas during the summer months, the majority of the region remains free of ice. Several water masses are found