Arctic Ocean relate to the radioactive contamination of the Arctic Ocean from, for example, Russian radioactive waste dump sites in the Kara Sea and Cold War nuclear test sites such as Novaya Zemlya. In addition, Shell planned to drill exploratory wells in the Chukchi and Beaufort seas during the summer of 2012, which environmental groups filed a lawsuit about in an attempt to protect native communities, endangered wildlife, and the Arctic Ocean in the event of a major oil spill. On 16 July 2015, five nations (United States of America, Russia, Canada, Norway, Denmark/Greenland) signed a declaration committing to keep their fishing
Arctic desert Arctic desert The Arctic desert ecoregion (WWF ID:PA1101) is a terrestrial ecoregion that covers the island groups of Svalbard, Franz Josef Land, Severny Island and Severnaya Zemlya in the Artic Ocean, above 75 degrees north latitude. The islands are covered with glaciers, snow, and bare rock in a harshly cold environment. The temperature does rise above freezing for short periods in the summer, so some ice melt occurs, and the area supports colonies of sea birds and mammals. It has an area of . The ecoregion stretches 2,000 km west-to-east, and 1,000 km north-to-south, across the Arctic Ocean north of