Short answers, pulled from the story.
The Barents Sea sits off the northern coasts of Norway and Russia as a shallow shelf sea with an average depth that remains relatively low compared to other ocean basins. Its geological history began millions of years ago during two major continental collisions known as the Caledonian orogeny.
This treaty went into force on the 7th of July 2011 opening the grey zone for resource extraction after negotiations began in 1974 leading to an agreement on hydrocarbon exploration moratorium in 1976. The boundary was placed equidistant from claims twenty years after the fall of the Soviet Union.
Europeans gave the sea its present name in honour of Willem Barentsz a Dutch navigator and explorer who led early expeditions to the far north at the end of the sixteenth century. Dutch whalers operated near Svalbard during the late 1600s as documented in historical records.
Three main types of water masses interact including warm salty Atlantic water maintaining temperatures above 3°C, cold Arctic water flowing in from the north with temperatures below 0°C, and coastal water that remains warm but lacks high salt content. Between the Atlantic and Polar waters forms a front called the Polar Front which is sharp and stable in western areas near Bear Island.
Seabed mapping was completed in 1933 when Russian marine geologist Maria Klenova produced the first full map of the region. This work followed earlier efforts such as the international winter experiment conducted in 1989 focusing on sensor signature studies known as SIZEX-89.