Open Polar Sea
The Open Polar Sea was a hypothesis that an ice-free ocean surrounded the North Pole. This unproven (and eventually, demonstrated false) theory was so widely believed that many exploring expeditions used it as justification for attempts to reach the North Pole by sea, or to find a navigable sea route between Europe and the Pacific across the North Pole.
The theory that the north polar region might be a practical sea route goes back to at least the 16th century when it was suggested by Robert Thorne. William Barents and Henry Hudson also believed in the Open Polar Sea. For a time, the theory was put aside due to the practical experience of navigators who encountered inpenetrable ice as they went north. But the idea was revived again in the mid-19th century by theoretical geographers such as Matthew F. Maury. At this time, interest in polar exploration was high due to the search for John Franklin's missing expedition, and many would-be polar explorers took up the theory, including, notably, Elisha Kent Kane and
sea ice only forms in proximity to land (now known to be a false theory in itself), if there were no land near the North Pole, there would be no ice.
- Since there is perpetual sun during the Arctic summer, it would melt all the ice.
- Russian explorers found large areas of open water north of Spitzbergen, so surely there were other areas of open water elsewhere.
- Maury and other scientists who studied ocean currents hypothesized that subsurface northward currents must rise to the surface and turn southward again, and this could only happen in an ice-free sea.
- Extrapolation of temperature readings taken in subpolar regions indicated that the region of greatest cold would be at about 80° north instead of at the pole.
- Migration patterns of certain animals seemed to suggest that the polar region was a hospitable place for them to live.
