Bottom sediments (Photo: Mareano)

The surface sediments, i.e. the predominant sediment type of the upper ~ 50 cm of the seabed, form the uppermost part of a sediment sequence covering the rocks of the Barents Sea. This sediment sequence varying in thickness from a few to several hundred meters and was mainly deposited during the Quaternary (the last 2.6 million years), a time period where glaciations took place repeatedly.

Sea ice in the Barents Sea. Photo: Norwegian Polar Institute

The Historical Ice Chart Archive is hosted by Norwegian Polar Institute. In a deep dive into the huge amount of data, ACSYS published i 2002 historical sea-ice observations in the Arctic region between 30ºW and 70ºE in the form of digitized maps, stored as shape files. The earliest chart dates from 1553, and the most recent from December 2002. More recent charts are available electronically from the Norwegian Meteorological Institute (www.met.no). Vessels sailing to the