[5] It is bordered by the Kola Peninsula to the south, the shelf edge towards the Norwegian Sea to the west, the archipelagos of Svalbard to the northwest, Franz Josef Land to the northeast and Novaya Zemlya to the east.

Hydrologic changes due to global warming have led to a reduction in sea ice and in the stratification of the water column, which could produce major changes in weather in Eurasia.

[7] The southern half of the Barents Sea, including the ports of Murmansk (Russia) and Vardø (Norway) remain ice-free year-round due to the warm North Atlantic drift.

Most of its geological history is dominated by extensional tectonics, caused by the collapse of the Caledonian and Uralian orogenic belts and the break-up of Pangaea.

The later geological history of the Barents Sea is dominated by Late Cenozoic uplift, particularly that caused by Quaternary glaciation, which has resulted in erosion and deposition of significant sediment.

[11] Due to the North Atlantic drift, the Barents Sea has a high biological production compared to other oceans of similar latitude.

[16] This rapid warming also makes it easier to detect any potential connections between the state of sea ice and weather conditions elsewhere than in any other area.

[19] There are also potential links to summer precipitation:[20] a connection has been proposed between the reduced BKS ice extent in November–December and greater June rainfall over South China.

During the Cold War, the Soviet Red Banner Northern Fleet used the southern reaches of the sea as a ballistic missile submarine bastion, a strategy that Russia continued.

Twenty years after the fall of the Soviet Union, in 2010 Norway and Russia signed an agreement that placed the boundary equidistant from their competing claims.

They acquired seismic reflection surveys through the following years, which were analysed to understand the location of the main sedimentary basins.

[10] NorskHydro drilled the first well in 1980, which was a dry hole, and the first discoveries were made the following year: the Alke and Askeladden gas fields.

Interest in the area was reignited in the late 2000s after the Snovhit field was finally brought into production[32] and two new large discoveries were made.

Similar practical difficulties Barents Sea resulted in a decline in Russian exploration, aggravated by the nation's political instability of the 1990s.

The Barents Sea contains the world's largest remaining cod population,[34] as well as important stocks of haddock and capelin.

[35] The Joint Norwegian-Russian Fisheries Commission sets Total Allowable Catches (TACs) for multiple species throughout their migratory tracks.

A large portion of catches are not reported when the fishing boats land, to account for profits that are being lost to high taxes and fees.

Since many fishermen do not strictly follow the TACs and rules set forth by the Commission, the amount of fish being extracted annually from the Barents Sea is underestimated.