Beaufort Sea references the Beaufort Sea in his popular Canadian Folk Song Northwest Passage (song). Beaufort Sea The Beaufort Sea () is a marginal sea of the Arctic Ocean, located north of the Northwest Territories, the Yukon, and Alaska, and west of Canada's Arctic islands. The sea is named after Sir Francis Beaufort, a hydrographer. The Mackenzie River, the longest in Canada, empties into the Canadian part of the Beaufort Sea west of Tuktoyaktuk, which is one of the few permanent settlements on the sea shores. The sea, characterized by severe climate, is frozen over most of the year. Historically, only a
Polar seas is also an important habitat. There is an expected rise in the exploration and development of the Polar Seas due to an increasing demand for fuel and commodities. The emergence of China and India's economy is considered one of the main drivers of this phenomenon due to an unprecedented appetite for raw materials and fuel. Presently, there are still no exact figures that define the oil and gas reserves in the Polar Seas. Initial explorations, however, have resulted in the identification of its potential. For example, Canada's explorations discovered gas and oil in several Arctic locations such as Beaufort, High