Abstract Although gravity observations were made prior to 1960, systematic regional gravity coverage in the Arctic began in earnest in the early 1960s on land and sea ice with the advent of helicopters and reliable portable gravimeters, and was extended in the 1970s over the oceans with ships and reliable marine gravimeters. As a result, about half of the polar area north of 64°N latitude is now covered with regional (spacings 12 km or less) gravity observations for which the data are readily available to the public. Permanently ice-covered regions of the Arctic Ocean, as well as mountainous and glacier-covered areas, are still largely unmapped. Except for a few pre-World War II gravity stations from regions within the Soviet Union (USSR), no gravity data from the USSR are displayed on Plate 3. The observed gravity field of the whole Arctic region north of 60°N was first discussed by Sobczak (1978), who presented maps (scale 1:7,500,000) showing the gravity field derived from mean values based on observed (1/2° latitude × 2° longitude) and predicted (1° latitude × 1° longitude) free-air anomalies and a residual gravity field derived by removing the satellite gravity field (Goddard Earth Model 8, GEM 8) from the observed and predicted fields. These maps indicate anomalous gravitational features of wavelengths in excess of 100 km. Bowin and others (1982) presented a comprehensive free-air gravity anomaly atlas of the world, including a map of the Arctic region north of 70° at a scale of about 1:14,000,000. The intent of the present