THE notion of a barren central Arctic Ocean has been accepted since English’s pioneering work(1) on drifting ice-islands. The year-round presence of ice, a short photosynthetic season and low temperatures were thought to severely limit biological production(1,2), although the paucity of data was often noted. Because primary production appeared to be low(1,2), subsequent studies assumed that most organic carbon was either derived from river inputs or imported from adjacent continental-shelf regions(3,4). Here we present shipboard measurements of biological production, biomass and organic carbon standing-stocks made during a cruise through the ice covering the central Arctic Ocean. Our results indicate that the central Arctic region is not a biological desert. Although it is less productive than oligotrophic ocean regions not covered by ice, it supports an active biological community which contributes to the cycling of organic carbon through dissolved and particulate pools.