Barents Sea, that part of the Arctic Ocean which is demarcated by the north coast of Europe, the islands of Novaya Zemlya, Franz Josef Land and Spitsbergen, and smaller intervening islands; it was named after the Dutch navigator. Omitting the great inlet of the White Sea in the south, it extends from about 67° to 80° N., and from 20° to 60° E. The southern part, off the Murman coast of the Kola peninsula, is sometimes called the Murman Sea.