Beaufort Sea
The deep Beaufort Sea lies to the west of the Canadian Arctic Archipelago. Oil was discovered off the Alaskan shore in 1968, and is also extracted off the MacKenzie delta. Artificial islands have been built to protect some production wells from drifting sea ice. Gas has also been found near Melville Island.
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- Area 476,000 square km (184,000 square miles)
- Maximum Depth 4,680m (15,350 ft)
- Inflows Chukchi Sea, Arctic Basin, rivers Mackenzie, Colville
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