Barents Sea the Norwegian Sea to the west, and the archipelagos of Svalbard to the northwest, Franz Josef Land to the northeast and Novaya Zemlya to the east. The islands of Novaya Zemlya, an extension of the northern end of the Ural Mountains, separate the Barents Sea from the Kara Sea. Despite being part of the Arctic Ocean, the Barents Sea has been characterized as "turning into the Atlantic" because of its status as "the Arctic warming hot spot." Hydrologic changes due to global warming have led to a reduction in sea ice and in stratification of the water column, which could
Pay-Khoy Ridge do not have permanent population. The closest permanent settlements are Amderma and Ust-Kara. The ridge is located in tundra, to the north of the tree line. The Pay-Khoy ridge forms a curved orogen together with the Ural Mountains, the Vaygach Island and the Novaya Zemlya archipelago. The Pay-Khoy and Novaya Zemlya are younger than the orogeny that formed the Ural mountains. They were formed during the Cimmerian Orogeny between the Late Triassic and Early Jurassic. Pay-Khoy Ridge The Pay-Khoy ridge () is a mountain range at the northern end of the Ural Mountains. It lies within the Nenets Autonomous Okrug.