What is the name of the ocean that is the shallowest on average?

The Arctic Ocean is the ocean that is shallowest on average.

It has an average depth of about 1,038 metres, making it shallower than the Atlantic, Pacific, Indian, and Southern oceans. It is also the smallest of the five commonly recognized oceans, covering approximately 14.06 million square kilometres. Much of it is surrounded by the northern coasts of Eurasia and North America and includes the region around the North Pole.

The Arctic’s shallow average depth is largely explained by its broad continental shelves, especially along the Eurasian side. Beneath the central ocean are deeper basins divided by underwater ridges, including the Lomonosov Ridge. The Arctic is mostly covered by sea ice for at least part of the year, although the extent changes seasonally and has declined markedly over recent decades.

The Arctic Ocean is sometimes called the Arctic Mediterranean Sea or North Polar Sea, and some oceanographers describe it as an Atlantic Ocean estuary because of its circulation and connection with the Atlantic. Those alternate descriptions do not change the standard quiz answer: under the usual five-ocean classification, the Arctic Ocean has the shallowest average depth.