Yeah the facts that 1) the arctic ocean is covered in ice even in open water and 2) The north pole is in the arctic ocean (rather than on some potentially undis

Yeah the facts that 1) the arctic ocean is covered in ice even in open water and 2) The north pole is in the arctic ocean (rather than on some potentially undiscovered land) weren't conclusively proven until the Fram expedition by Fridtjof Nansen in 1896. There was enormous speculation in the papers and in the scientific communities about what would come of Nansen and what he would find in the lead up to during his expedition so practically speaking the extremely high northern latitudes remained a "blank spot" until the turn of the 20th century.