<P> Since 1937, Soviet and Russian manned drifting ice stations have extensively monitored the Arctic Ocean . Scientific settlements were established on the drift ice and carried thousands of kilometres by ice floes . </P> <P> In World War II, the European region of the Arctic Ocean was heavily contested: the Allied commitment to resupply the Soviet Union via its northern ports was opposed by German naval and air forces . </P> <P> The Arctic Ocean occupies a roughly circular basin and covers an area of about 14,056,000 km (5,427,000 sq mi), almost the size of Antarctica . The coastline is 45,390 km (28,200 mi) long . It is surrounded by the land masses of Eurasia, North America, Greenland, and by several islands . </P> <P> It is generally taken to include Baffin Bay, Barents Sea, Beaufort Sea, Chukchi Sea, East Siberian Sea, Greenland Sea, Hudson Bay, Hudson Strait, Kara Sea, Laptev Sea, White Sea and other tributary bodies of water . It is connected to the Pacific Ocean by the Bering Strait and to the Atlantic Ocean through the Greenland Sea and Labrador Sea . </P>

What is the size of the artic ocean