Outlying portion of the Arctic Ocean .
Named for the Dutch explorer Willem Barents, it is bounded by the Norwegian and northwestern Russian mainland and the Greenland Sea. It is 800 mi (1,300 km) long and 650 mi (1,050 km) wide and covers 542,000 sq mi (1,405,000 sq km). Its average depth is 750 ft (229 m), with a maximum depth of 2,000 ft (600 m) in the major Bear Island Trench.