Litke Deep


Litke Deep is an oceanic trench in the Arctic Ocean.

Geography

The Litke Deep is located in the southwestern part of the Eurasian Basin, which stretches from northeastern part of Greenland past the Svalbard archipelago, Franz Josef Land and Severnaya Zemlya to the Taymyr Peninsula. It is situated south of the underwater ridge Gakkel Ridge roughly 350 kilometers northeast of Svalbard and roughly 220 km north of the island of Nordaustlandet. The deepest part is at 5,449 metres under sea level. The average depth in the Arctic Ocean is about 1,000 metres and more than 60 % is less than 200 metres deep.
While the Litke Deep has been claimed to be the deepest point in the Arctic, this title in fact belongs to the Molloy Deep in the Fram Strait in the Greenland Sea.

History

The Litke Deep was located in 1955 by the Russian icebreaker Fyodor Litke expedition. It is named after Russian explorer Fyodor Petrovich Litke.