Nansen Basin

{{Short description|Abyssal plain in the Arctic Ocean}}

File:Arctic profile hg.png from the Barents Sea towards the (geographic) North Pole]]

The Nansen Basin (also Central Basin,{{cite book|last=Nordenskjöld|first=Otto|author2=Ludwig Mecking |author3=Ernst Antevs |author4=Wolfgang Louis Gottfried Joerg |author5=Marion Hale |title=The Geography of the Polar Regions|url=https://archive.org/details/geographyofpolar00nord|publisher=American Geographical Society|year=1928|pages=[https://archive.org/details/geographyofpolar00nord/page/126 126]}} formerly Fram Basin) is an abyssal plain with water-depths of around 3 km in the Arctic Ocean and (together with the deeper Amundsen Basin) part of the Eurasian Basin. It is named after Fridtjof Nansen. The Nansen Basin is bounded by the Gakkel Ridge on the one side and by the Barents Sea continental shelf on the other.{{cite web|title=International Bathymetric Chart of the Arctic Ocean|url=http://www.ngdc.noaa.gov/mgg/bathymetry/arctic/|publisher=NOAA}}{{cite journal|last=Jakobsson|first=Martin |author2=Mayer, Larry |author3=Coakley, Bernard |author4=Dowdeswell, Julian A. |author5=Forbes, Steve |author6=Fridman, Boris |author7=Hodnesdal, Hanne |author8=Noormets, Riko |author9=Pedersen, Richard |author10=Rebesco, Michele |author11=Schenke, Hans Werner |author12=Zarayskaya, Yulia |author13=Accettella, Daniela |author14=Armstrong, Andrew |author15=Anderson, Robert M. |author16=Bienhoff, Paul |author17=Camerlenghi, Angelo |author18=Church, Ian |author19=Edwards, Margo |author-link19=Margo Edwards|author20=Gardner, James V. |author21=Hall, John K. |author22=Hell, Benjamin |author23=Hestvik, Ole |author24=Kristoffersen, Yngve |author25=Marcussen, Christian |author26=Mohammad, Rezwan |author27=Mosher, David |author28=Nghiem, Son V. |author29=Pedrosa, Maria Teresa |author30=Travaglini, Paola G. |author31=Weatherall, Pauline |title=The International Bathymetric Chart of the Arctic Ocean (IBCAO) Version 3.0|journal=Geophysical Research Letters|date=29 June 2012|volume=39|issue=12|pages=n/a |doi=10.1029/2012GL052219|bibcode=2012GeoRL..3912609J |hdl=2445/175672 |url=https://scholars.unh.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1067&context=ccom |doi-access=free |hdl-access=free }}

The lowest point of the Arctic Ocean lies within the Nansen Basin and has a depth of 4,665 m.{{cite web|url=https://www.cia.gov/the-world-factbook/oceans/arctic-ocean/|title=Arctic Ocean|work=CIA World Factbook|publisher=Central Intelligence Agency|access-date=2009-07-28}} The Barents Abyssal Plain is located at the center of the Fram Basin.{{cite news|url=http://www.aquatic.uoguelph.ca/oceans/ArticOceanWeb/Features/Toweringmts.htm|title=Towering Mountains|work=Canada's Aquatic Environments|publisher=CyberNatural Software, University of Guelph|access-date=2009-07-28}}