ABSTRACT
The physical oceanography of the polar oceans is compared, and it is found that the Arctic Ocean proper is quite different from the Southern Ocean. The primary causes of this difference are the relative isolation of the Arctic Ocean, which results in nearly permanent ice cover, and the large amount of fresh water runoff from the northern rivers, which causes the upper waters of the Arctic to be very stable. The Greenland Sea bears a closer resemblance to the Southern Ocean and, in particular, to the Weddell Sea in that both have cyclonic circulation, a three-layer structure, and are major source areas for bottom water formation.
