The Bering Sea is the easternmost Russian sea, stretching between Kamchatka and America. Area - 2304 thousand square meters. km. Volume - 3683 thousand cubic meters. km. The average depth is 1598 meters.
In the north, the Bering Sea connects with the Chukchi Sea, in the south it borders the Aleutian Islands and the open ocean.
Many rivers flow into the Bering Sea, the largest: Anadyr, Yukon, Apuka. The sea is named after Vitus Jonassen Bering, leader of the Great Northern Expedition.
The history of the discovery and development of the Bering Sea goes back to the distant past and is associated with the names of great pioneers who left their names in history forever.
After the conquest of Siberia by Ermak, Cossack bands, and with them many Russian merchants and hunters, began to penetrate further east, to the very coast of the Pacific Ocean. From them, Russian rulers and boyars learned about the untold riches of Eastern Siberia. Furs, red caviar, valuable fish, skins, gold and the riches of unknown China became the reason for the rapid development of this region. Since the delivery of these goods by land was fraught with enormous difficulties, they began to think about opening a sea route along the northern coast, in order to reach America, Japan and China by sea.
Peter the Great paid special attention to this and contributed in every possible way to this. Even in his last days, he gave instructions to Admiral General Apraksin in which he wrote his orders:
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. It is necessary to make one or two boats with decks in Kamchatka or another customs place.
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. On these boats near the land that goes north, and according to hope (they don’t know the end) it seems that that land is part of America.
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. And in order to look for where it came together with America; and in order to get to which city of the European dominions, or if they see which European ship, check from it, as they call it, and take it in writing, and visit the shore yourself, and take the original statement, and putting it on the map, come here.
Peter did not live to see these plans realized, although in January 1725, just three weeks before his death, he appointed one of the best sailors of that time, Vitus Bering, a Dane who served in the Russian fleet, as leader of the first Kamchatka expedition. After his death, Vitus Bering led an expedition that traveled overland through all of Siberia to Okhotsk. In winter, the expedition crossed to Kamchatka on dogs and there, in Nizhnekamchatsk, a ship was built for a sea voyage. It was a packet boat 18 meters long, 6.1 m wide with a draft of 2.3 m. It was made according to the drawings of the St. Petersburg Admiralty and at that time was considered one of the best warships. On June 9, 1728, during the launch of the boat, the day of St. Archangel Gabriel was celebrated and the boat was given the name “Saint Gabriel.”
July 13, 1728 on the boat “St. Gabriel" expedition moved north. During the voyage, a detailed map of the coast and islands was compiled. The weather cooperated, and the ship sailed through the strait between Chukotka and America and reached latitude 67°19′ on August 16. Since the coast on the left went to the west, and land was not visible on the right, and a storm was beginning, Bering turned back and returned to Kamchatka on September 3.
After wintering, on June 5, 1729, Bering and his crew set sail a second time with the goal of reaching the land in the east, which the inhabitants of Kamchatka were talking about. They almost reached the Commander Islands, but as the weather worsened, they were forced to return back and, fulfilling the requirements of the Admiralty Board, were engaged in surveying and describing the eastern coast of Kamchatka. The result of the voyage was a detailed map and description, which Bering presented to the Admiralty Board in St. Petersburg. The materials of the expedition were highly appreciated, and Bering was awarded the rank of captain-commander.
Under the power of Anna Ioanovna, passions about the northern and eastern seas subsided somewhat. But after Vitus Bering presented his report and a new project for an expedition to the shores of America and Japan and exploration of the northern coast of Siberia with the promise of profits to the Admiralty Board, interest in new sea routes was renewed. The project was expanded and the task became the study of the northern seas and coast of Russia. It was planned to compile a complete description of the North in geographical, geological, botanical, zoological and ethnographic aspects. For this purpose, seven independent detachments were created, five of which were to work along the entire coast of the Arctic Ocean from Pechora to Chukotka, and two in the Far East.
Bering was the commander of a detachment that had to find a way to North America and the islands in the North Pacific Ocean. In 1734, Bering went to Yakutsk, where it was necessary to prepare equipment and food for the campaign. But the times of Peter the Great passed and the local authorities were not particularly zealous in organizing; on the contrary, much of what was intended for the expedition was stolen or was of poor quality. Bering was forced to stay in training camp in Yakutsk for three years. Only in 1737 did he get to Okhotsk. The local authorities of Okhotsk were also not very helpful in organizing the expedition and building the ships. Only by the end of the summer of 1740 were two packet boats, St. Peter and St. Paul, intended for the expedition, built.
And only in September, Vitus Bering on the “St. Peter” and Alexy Chirikov on the “St. Paul” were able to reach Avachinskaya Bay in Kamchatka. There they were forced to stop for the winter. The ships' crews founded a fort, which became the capital of Kamchatka, named after the ships Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky.
After a difficult winter, only on June 4, 1741, Bering on the “St. Peter” and Chirikov on the “St. Paul” set out on a campaign to the shores of America. But on June 20, in thick fog, the ships missed each other. After futile attempts to find each other, the ships continued separately.
Bering, moving east, reached the shores of North America on July 16, 1741 at latitude 58°14′. Having landed on Kayak Island and replenished with fresh water, the expedition moved on. The landing on the American coast was very short-lived and, of course, did not yield anything in terms of research. Either Bering was afraid of meeting the local population, or he did not want to stay there for the winter. But without consulting anyone, he gave the command to turn back.
I follow along the coast of Alaska and further along the Aleutian Islands, making descriptions of them and putting them on the map: the islands of St. John, the Shumaginsky and Evdokeevsky islands, St. Stephen, St. Marcian and Kodiak Island, St. Peter was almost approaching the shores of Kamchatka. But on November 5, just 200 km short of Kamchatka, the ship stopped at one of the islands to replenish water supplies. A storm broke out, a sharp cold snap, and snow did not allow us to continue sailing and the team was forced to stay for the winter. On November 28, during a storm, the packet boat was thrown ashore.
Not everyone survived the difficult wintering conditions; out of 75 crew members, 19 people died of scurvy; on December 8, Vitus Bering, who was already 60 years old at that time, also died. The navigator, Lieutenant Sven Waxel, took command of the expedition. Vitus Beging was buried there on the island, which was named Bering Island in his honor, and the archipelago was named the Commander Islands.
During the summer of the following year, the 46 surviving crew members built a small vessel from the wreckage of the packet boat - a gukor, which was also called "St. Peter" and only in August 1742 were they able to reach Kamchatka.
The St. Paul's voyage was also full of adventures. Alexy Chirikov, after they missed Bering, continued sailing to the east and on July 15, at latitude 55°21′, he approached land on which mountains covered with forest could be seen. The boat sent to the shore did not find a suitable place to place the ship and disembark, and they continued to move along the coast to the east. A second landing attempt was made two days later. A boat was sent to the shore, but it disappeared without a trace. On July 23, seeing light on the shore, they sent a second boat, but it did not return. So 15 crew members disappeared, either they became victims of the Indians, or drowned during the tide, history is silent about this.
After waiting 10 days, Chirikov gave the command to move on. After traveling another 230 miles along the coast, the team was still unable to land. It was impossible to get close to the shore without damaging the ship, and there were no more boats. Fresh water was running out, food was running out. And yet, they tried to land on rafts again, but within two days a bay suitable for landing was not found. At the council convened by Chirikov, it was decided to go back.
On the way home, near the Aleutian Islands, they twice met local residents on boats. Attempts to stock up on water and provisions led to nothing; the Aleuts asked for weapons in exchange for water, which the Russian sailors refused. And so, without a supply of water and food, they continued on their way to the house. On the way, many, including Chirikov, fell ill; midshipman Elagin took command of the ship, who on October 12, 1741 brought the packet boat St. Paul to Kamchatka. Of the 68 crew members, 49 people returned from the trip.
The next year, 1742, Chirikov tried to find Bering's missing ship. On May 25, he went to sea again, but due to headwinds he was only able to reach the Attu Islands. On the islands he came across along the way, he did not find anyone. As it turned out later, they passed very close to the island where Bering’s expedition spent the winter, but the coast was invisible in the thick fog and on July 1 Chirikov returned to Kamchatka. This is what the route of the packet boats St. Peter and St. Paul looks like on the map.
In August 1742, while in Yakutsk, Chirikov sent a report on the expedition to St. Petersburg. And in 1746 he himself was summoned to St. Petersburg, where he personally reported on the campaign. While on the Admiralty Board, he proposed founding a city at the mouth of the Amur, in order to build a ship pier there and establish a fortress, which could be reached from the depths of Russia along the Amur. But no one took his opinion into account, although later it was considered very far-sighted and in 1856 the port city of Nikolaevsk-on-Amur was built there.
Subsequently, Chirikov worked for a long time in Yeniseisk, drawing up maps of Russian discoveries in the east, which were long considered lost and only in Soviet times were discovered and used to compile maps of the Soviet Union. A brilliant officer of the Russian fleet who reached the shores of North-West America, Alexei Chirikov, died in poverty in 1748 at the age of only 45, and his family was left forgotten and without a livelihood.
And yet, the work of Russian sailors, although many years later, yielded results. Large seaports were built on the coast of the Far East and Kamchatka, which turned into modern cities. The Russian Pacific Fleet, despite numerous wars, became the most powerful in that region, and since 1818, the Kamchatka Sea itself, at the suggestion of the Russian navigator and the leader of two round-the-world expeditions, Vice Admiral V. M. Golovnin, began to be called the Bering Sea.
Due to its geographical location, the Bering Sea has its own characteristics. In the Bering Strait, the two continents that come closest to each other are Asia and America. The distance between them is about 90 kilometers. In the middle of the strait lie the Diomede Islands, separated by only a five-kilometer space. The western island - Ratmanov - belongs to Russia, the eastern island - Kruzenshtern - to the USA. Our state border with America runs between the islands.
Residents of Ratmanov Island are the first in the country to greet the coming day. Their time is 10 hours ahead of Moscow. Here, starting between the islands of the Bering Strait and following to the passage between the Commander and Aleutian Islands, a boundary of the change of day is drawn, which continues further south along the 180° meridian in the Pacific Ocean and is called the date line, or demarcation line. When crossing this line, sailors going east to America rearrange the calendar a day and count the same day of the week twice. Sailors going west to Russia add a day ahead to the calendar date and skip one day of the week.
Strictly speaking, this operation should have been carried out not in the Bering Strait, but to the west of it, on the 180° meridian. But this meridian passes through the Chukotka Peninsula. Having two calendars in the same area would be extremely inconvenient. Therefore, we agreed to move the day boundary line to the east, to the Bering Strait. And in the southern part of the Bering Sea, this line is shifted, on the contrary, to the west from the 180° meridian to the Commander Islands. This is done in order not to change the calendar day in the Aleutian Islands.
Thus, the Bering Strait plays an important role both in political relations and in the modern calendar system.
Of all the fourteen seas of Russia, the Bering Sea is the deepest. Depths greater than this lie only in the open ocean beyond the Kuril and Aleutian Islands and east of Kamchatka. However, the northern part of the sea does not resemble the southern part in terms of bottom topography. The depths in it, over a huge area of about 1 million square kilometers, do not exceed several tens of meters.
The rise of the bottom in the northern part of the sea between the Koryak coast and the tip of the Alaska Peninsula is quite steep. The transition of the relief from the southern to the northern half of the sea can be compared with a sharp transition to a high mountainous country, on the top of which there is a large plateau, indented by a number of hollows. This plateau is the bottom of the northern part of the sea. And the hollows are reminiscent of that geological era when the entire plateau stood above sea level and was crossed by numerous rivers. Geologists have established that the rise and fall of land in this area occurred several times.
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During the last glaciation, the land stood above its current level. In place of the northern part of the Bering Sea and the Bering Strait, a wide plain then spread. As with previous land uplifts, then the Pacific Ocean had no connection with the Arctic Ocean. Asia and America were connected to each other by a dry isthmus. This explains why now in Asia and America, despite being separated by the sea, there are the same land animals and plants.
They spread across two continents at a time when there was a “land bridge” between them. Mammoths, in particular, crossed this “bridge.” People—the distant ancestors of today’s North American tribes—could also use it to cross from Asia to North America. This is reminiscent of the similarities in appearance and culture of some tribes in Asia and America.
Then the land sank, the lowland was covered with water, and the sea again lay between the two continents, as if no communication by land had ever existed. It took a long development of mankind and the growth of science to restore the history of the development of the oceans and land.
The sinking of the “land bridge” occurred not so long ago, only a few tens of thousands of years ago. This means, from a geological point of view, the northern part of the Bering Sea should be considered young.
The Bering Sea is now one of the most developed in the world, despite the harsh climatic conditions. The surface water temperature in summer is +7-8°, in winter +2°. Water salinity is from 28-33‰. Tides in the Bering Sea are diurnal and semidiurnal. The average height of water level fluctuation is 1.5-2 m, in the Bering Strait it is only about 0.5 m, and in Bristol Bay it is sometimes 8 meters or more, the tidal speed is 1-2 m/s. In the sea area, cyclones with winds of up to 20-30 m/s are quite frequent, which cause strong and prolonged storms, wave heights can be up to 14 m. For a long time of the year, most of the Bering Sea is covered with ice.
The Bering Sea has long been considered one of the most commercial seas. There are more than 400 species of underwater inhabitants alone. About 35 species are commercially available, mainly salmon, cod and flounder. Red caviar, obtained from salmon fish, has been the most expensive delicacy for many years, which was and is being exported from here in tons, destroying millions of valuable species of fish. Some order is being established in this regard, but poaching still flourishes.
Crab fishing occupies a special place. Crab meat was once a food product only for Asians: Chinese, Japanese, etc. Over time, it gained popularity in many countries around the world. The Bering Sea is the place where the largest population of Kamchatka crab is located, and during the crab fishing season, thousands of ships from many countries sail to the Bering Sea. Although the crab fishing season is only a few days, during this time more than 30 thousand tons of crab are caught from the waters. Moreover, foreigners constantly violate the allocated quotas. But for many it is the main income and often a family business.
The fauna of the Bering Sea is very diverse. The waters are home to a huge number of walruses, sea lions, seals, and fur seals. They can often be seen in the open sea on ice floes.
On the Aleutian and Commander Islands, on the coast of Alaska and Chukotka, these marine animals establish numerous rookeries where they breed their offspring.
Quite a lot of whales live in the waters of the Bering Sea. Once there were more of them here than anywhere else on the globe, but for many years they were actively hunted. Special whaling fleets were created here, including the Russian “Slava” and “Aleut”, which killed hundreds of whales and their population fell sharply. In recent years, the number of whales has been gradually increasing.
It is not uncommon to see polar bears swimming on the open sea. Sometimes they stay for a long time on the shores, where there is more food than in the neighboring Chukchi Sea.
The fauna of the Berengov Sea coast is very rich and diverse. The forests are home to a large number of different animals: bears, moose, wolves, foxes, sable, marten, squirrel, arctic fox, ermine, etc. On the Chukotka Peninsula, numerous herds of reindeer have become one of the main wealth of this region.
The Beringia National Park, created several years ago, located between Chukotka and Kamchatka, thanks to its protected status, has now become so populated with rare animals that it is becoming one of the most popular tourist destinations.
The number and diversity of birds in the Bering Sea is simply incredible. They set up huge bird colonies on the rocky shores, where they raise their chicks. The bird population density on some islands exceeds 200,000 birds per 1 sq. km.
This sea is the easternmost border of our country and therefore it is reliably guarded. Border ships serve around the clock on the eastern sea border of our homeland.
Climatic conditions in the Berengov Sea region: Kamchatka, the Kuril Islands and the Chukotka Peninsula are quite harsh. The temperature is below zero for almost 9 months of the year. Severe snowy winters and cold winds are common here. And still, rarely do any of the people living on the coast of this very eastern sea agree to move to the mainland.
Geographical encyclopedia
Bering Sea- so called cap. Golovin in honor of the Russian captain commander V. Bering. B. sea, limited to the south. about you Aleutian and Commander, to the village. gradually narrows and ends with the Bering Strait. Extreme line of the Greater Sea: lat. 52° and 66° 30′… … Military encyclopedia
The BERING SEA, a semi-enclosed sea in the north Pacific Ocean, is separated from it by the Aleutian and Commander Seas. 2315 thousand km2. Greatest depth 5500 m, in the north less than 200 m. Large bays: Anadyrsky and Olyutorsky (off the coast of Russia), Norton, ... ... Russian history
A semi-enclosed sea in the north of the Pacific Ocean, separated from it by the Aleutian and Commander Islands. 2315 thousand km². The greatest depth is 5500 m, in the north less than 200 m. Large bays: Anadyrsky and Olyutorsky (off the coast of the Russian Federation), Norton, ... ... Big Encyclopedic Dictionary
Modern encyclopedia
Bering Sea- The Pacific Ocean, between Eurasia and North America, limited to the south by the Aleutian and Commander Islands. It is connected to the Chukchi Sea by the Bering Strait. Area 2315 thousand km2. Depth up to 5500 m. Large islands: St. Lawrence, Nunivak.... ... Illustrated Encyclopedic Dictionary
- (named after the navigator V. Bering, the semi-enclosed sea of the Pacific Ocean between the continents of Asia in the west (USSR), North America in the east (USA) and the Commander (USSR) and Aleutian (USA) islands in the south. In the north it is closed by the Chukotka peninsulas And… … Great Soviet Encyclopedia
A semi-enclosed sea in the north Pacific Ocean, separated from it by the Aleutian and Commander Islands. 2315 thousand km2. The greatest depth is 5500 m, in the north less than 200 m. Large bays: Anadyrsky and Olyutorsky (off the coast of Russia), Norton, Bristol ... encyclopedic Dictionary
Bering Sea- Pacific Ocean, between Asia (Russia: Chukotka and Koryak Autonomous Okrug, Kamchatka region) and North. America (USA, Alaska). Named in honor of captain commander V.I. Bering (1681 1741), under whose command the participants of the First and Second Kamchatka expeditions to... ... Toponymic dictionary
Or the Kamchatka Sea is the northeastern part of the Pacific Ocean, bounded from the west by North America, and from the east by Asia and connected to the Arctic Ocean through the Bering Strait. The narrowest part of this strait is the gap... ... Encyclopedic Dictionary F.A. Brockhaus and I.A. Efron
Books
- Bering Sea. Encyclopedia. Zonn I. S., Kostyanoy A. G., Kumantsov M. I., Zonn Igor Sergeevich, Kostyanoy Andrey Gennadievich, Kumantsov Mikhail Ivanovich. The publication is dedicated to one of the Russian Far Eastern seas - the Bering Sea, which is part of the Pacific Ocean. The encyclopedia contains more than 700 articles on hydrographic and geographical…
- Bering Sea. Encyclopedia, Zonn Igor Sergeevich, Kostyanoy Andrey Gennadievich, Kumantsov Mikhail Ivanovich. The publication is dedicated to one of the Russian Far Eastern seas - the Bering Sea, which is part of the Pacific Ocean. The encyclopedia contains more than 700 articles on hydrographic and geographical…
The BERING SEA, a marginal sea in the northern part of the Pacific Ocean between the continents of Eurasia and North America, washes the shores of the USA and Russia (the largest of its Far Eastern seas). It is connected in the north by the Bering Strait to the Chukchi Sea, separated from the Pacific Ocean by the Aleutian chain and the Commander Islands. Area 2315 thousand km 2, volume 3796 thousand km 3. The greatest depth is 5500 m. The coastline is heavily indented, forming many bays (the largest are Karaginsky, Olyutorsky, Anadyrsky - Russia; Norton, Bristol - USA), bays, peninsulas and capes. Karaginsky Islands (Russia), St. Lawrence, Nunivak, Nelson, St. Matthew, Pribilof (USA).
The shores of the Bering Sea are diverse, with predominantly high, rocky, heavily indented bay shores, as well as fjord and abrasion-accumulative shores. Leveled accumulative banks predominate in the east, where the deltas of the large Yukon and Kuskokwim rivers are located.
Relief and geological structure of the bottom . According to the nature of the bottom topography, the Bering Sea is clearly divided into shallow and deep-water parts approximately along the line from Cape Navarin to Unimak Island. The northern and southeastern parts lie on a shelf with depths of up to 200 m (prevailing depths are 50-80 m) and a width in the northeast of up to 750 km (46% of the sea area) - one of the widest in the World Ocean. It is a vast plain, slightly inclined to the southwest. In the Quaternary period, the shelf periodically drained and a land bridge emerged between the continents of Eurasia and North America. Within the shelf there are large depressions - Anadyr, Navarin, Khatyr and others, filled with Cenozoic terrigenous deposits. Depressions can be reservoirs of oil and natural combustible gas. A narrow continental slope with depths of 200-3000 m (13%) and with large bottom slopes almost throughout its entire length turns into a deep-sea bed with steep ledges, in many places cut by underwater valleys and canyons. The sides of the canyons are often steep and sometimes steep. In the central and southwestern parts there is a deep-water zone with depths of over 3000 m (37%), bordered in the coastal zone by a narrow shelf strip. The underwater Shirshov Ridge with depths above the ridge of 500-600 m, stretching south from the Olyutorsky Peninsula, divides the deep-water part of the sea into the Commander and Aleutian basins; it is separated from the island arc by the Ratmanov Trench (depth about 3500 m). The flat bottom of both basins is slightly inclined to the southwest. The Shirshov Ridge is a complex zone of junction of two lithospheric plates (Commander and Aleutian), along which until the mid-Miocene the oceanic crust was piled up (possibly with underthrusting). The foundation of the Aleutian Basin is of Early Cretaceous age and is a fragment of the Mesozoic oceanic lithospheric plate Kula, which separated in the Cretaceous from the Pacific plate by a large transform fault, transformed in the Paleogene into the Aleutian island arc and the deep-sea trench of the same name. The thickness of the Cretaceous-Quaternary sedimentary cover in the central part of the Aleutian Basin reaches 3.5-5 km, increasing towards the periphery to 7-9 km. The foundation of the Commander Basin is Cenozoic in age and was formed as a result of local spreading (the spreading of the bottom with the new formation of oceanic crust), which continued until the end of the Miocene. The paleospreading zone can be traced to the east of Karaginsky Island in the form of a narrow trough. The thickness of the Neogene-Quaternary sedimentary cover in the Commander Basin reaches 2 km. In the north, the Bowers Ridge (a former Late Cretaceous volcanic arc) extends in an arc to the north from the Aleutian Islands, outlining the basin of the same name. The maximum depths of the Bering Sea are located in the Kamchatka Strait and near the Aleutian Islands.
On the shelf, bottom sediments are mainly terrigenous, near the shore - coarse sediments, then sands, sandy silts and silts. The sediments of the continental slope are also predominantly terrigenous, in the area of Bristol Bay - with an admixture of volcanogenic material, and there are numerous outcrops of bedrock. The thickness of sediments in deep-sea basins reaches 2500 m, the surface layer is represented by diatomaceous silt.
Climate. Most of the Bering Sea is characterized by a subarctic climate, in a small area north of 64° north latitude it is arctic, and south of 55° north latitude it is temperate maritime. Climate formation occurs under the influence of the cold masses of the Arctic Ocean in the north, the open spaces of the Pacific Ocean in the south, adjacent land and centers of atmospheric action. In the open part of the Bering Sea, far from the influence of continents, the climate is maritime, mild, with small amplitudes of air temperature fluctuations, the weather is cloudy, with fog and large amounts of precipitation. In winter, under the influence of the Aleutian Low, northwest, north and northeast winds predominate, bringing cold maritime Arctic air, as well as cold, dry continental air. Wind speed off the coast is 6-8 m/s, in the open sea - up to 12 m/s. Often, especially in the western part of the sea, stormy conditions develop with winds up to 30-40 m/s (lasting up to 9 days). The average air temperature in January - February is from 0. -4 °C in the south and southwest to -15. -23 °C in the north and northeast. Off the coast of Alaska, air temperatures dropped to -48 °C. In summer, the influence of the Hawaiian anticyclone increases; southerly winds with speeds of 4-7 m/s prevail over the Bering Sea. In the southern part, on average, tropical typhoons with hurricane-force winds penetrate once a month. The frequency of storms is lower than in winter. The air temperature in the open sea ranges from 4 °C in the north to 13 °C in the south; in coastal areas it is noticeably warmer. Annual precipitation ranges from 450 mm in the northeast to 1000 mm in the southwest.
Hydrological regime. The river flow is about 400 km 3 per year. Up to 70% of the flow comes from the Yukon (176 km 3), Anadyr (50 km 3), and Kuskokwim (41 km 3) rivers, with more than 85% of the flow occurring in spring and summer. Compared to the volume of the sea, the amount of fresh flow is small, but river waters flow mainly into the northern regions of the sea, leading to a noticeable desalination of the surface layer in summer. The peculiarities of the hydrological regime are determined by limited water exchange with the Arctic Ocean, relatively free connection with the Pacific Ocean, continental runoff and desalination of water when ice melts. Exchange with the Chukchi Sea is difficult due to the small cross-sectional area of the Bering Strait (3.4 km 2, average depth above the threshold 39 m). Numerous straits connecting the Bering Sea with the Pacific Ocean have a cross-section with a total area of 730 km 2 and depths of over 4000 m (Kamchatka Strait), which contributes to good water exchange with Pacific waters.
In the structure of the Bering Sea, four water masses are mainly distinguished in the deep-sea part: surface, subsurface intermediate cold, intermediate Pacific warm and deep. Salinity changes with depth are small. Both intermediate water masses are absent only near the Aleutian Islands. In certain parts of the Bering Sea, in particular in coastal areas, other water masses are formed depending on local conditions.
Surface currents in the Bering Sea form a counterclockwise gyre, which is significantly influenced by prevailing winds. Along the coast of Alaska to the north follows the Bering Sea branch of the warm Kuroshio currents, which partially leaves through the Bering Strait and, receiving the cold waters of the Chukchi Sea, moves along the Asian coast to the south and forms the cold Kamchatka Current, which intensifies in the summer. The speed of constant currents in the open sea is low, about 6 cm/s; in the straits the speed increases to 25-50 cm/s. In coastal areas, circulation is complicated by periodic tidal currents, reaching 100-200 cm/s in the straits. Tides in the Bering Sea are irregular semidiurnal, irregular diurnal and regular diurnal, their character and magnitude vary greatly from place to place. The average tide height is 1.5-2.0 m, the highest - 3.7 m - is observed in Bristol Bay.
The surface water temperature in February varies from -1.5 °C in the north to 3 °C in the south, in August, respectively, from 4-8 °C to 9-11 °C. The salinity of surface waters in winter is from 32.0‰ in the north to 33.5‰ in the south; in summer, under the influence of melting ice and river runoff, salinity decreases, especially in coastal areas, where it reaches 28‰, in the open part of the sea, respectively, from 31.0‰ in the north to 33‰ in the south. The northern and northeastern parts of the sea are covered with ice every year. The first ice appears in September in the Bering Strait, in the northwest - in October and gradually spreads to the south. During winter, the Bering Sea is covered with heavy ice up to 60° north latitude. All ice forms and melts in the Bering Sea. Only a small portion of sea ice is carried through the Bering Strait into the Chukchi Sea and by the Kamchatka Current into the northwestern Pacific Ocean. The ice cover collapses and melts in May - June.
History of the study. The Bering Sea is named after the captain-commander of the Russian fleet V. Bering, whose name is associated with the discoveries of the Bering Strait, Aleutian and Commander Islands in the 1st half of the 18th century. The modern name was introduced into use in the 1820s by V. M. Golovnin. Previously called Anadyrsky, Bobrovy, Kamchatsky. The first geographical discoveries of the coasts, islands, peninsulas and straits of the Bering Sea were made by Russian explorers, fur traders and sailors at the end of the 17th and 18th centuries. Comprehensive studies of the Bering Sea were carried out especially intensively by Russian naval sailors, hydrographers and naturalists until the 1870s. Before the sale of Russian America (1867), the entire coast of the Bering Sea was part of the possession of the Russian Empire.
Economic use. There are about 240 species of fish in the Bering Sea, of which at least 35 are commercial species. Fishing is carried out for cod, flounder, halibut, Pacific perch, herring, and salmon. Kamchatka crab and shrimp are caught. Inhabited by walruses, sea lions, and sea otters. On the Commander and Aleutian Islands there are fur seal rookeries. The open sea is home to baleen whales, sperm whales, beluga whales and killer whales. On the rocky shores there are bird colonies. The Bering Sea is of great transport importance as part of the Northern Sea Route. The main ports are Anadyr, Provideniya (Russia), Nome (USA).
The ecological state of the Bering Sea is consistently satisfactory. The concentration of pollutants increases in river mouths, bays, and ports, which leads to a slight reduction in the size of aquatic organisms in coastal areas.
Lit.: Dobrovolsky A.D., Zalogin B.S. Seas of the USSR. M., 1982; Bogdanov N.A. Tectonics of deep-sea basins of marginal seas. M., 1988; Zalogin B.S., Kosarev A.N. Seas. M., 1999; Dynamics of ecosystems of the Bering and Chukchi Seas. M., 2000.
The Bering Sea in the North Pacific Ocean got its name from Vitus Jonassen Bering (1681-1741), captain-commander of the Russian fleet. The main discovery of the first Kamchatka expedition (1725-1730), led by Bering, was the existence of a strait between the continents of Asia and North America.This strait, which connects the Bering Sea with the Chukchi Sea of the Arctic Ocean, is also named after Bering (). His expeditions discovered part of the Aleutian Islands and explored the natural features of these places. For his discoveries and for the fact that many geographical names of this region are associated with it, the brave navigator paid with his life - in 1741, during the second Kamchatka expedition, he was buried on one of the Commander Islands (Bering Island), also named honor of the captain-commander.
In modern archaeology, the eastern part of Siberia, Chukotka and Alaska are often defined by the general term Beringia. It is believed that the first inhabitants of America moved to it from Asia approximately 30-40 thousand years ago, when there was a land bridge between Siberia and Alaska, the remains of which today are and.
Between Asia and North America
Today the name “Russian America” is found mainly in historical documents. But in 1799-1867. Russia controlled almost the entire Bering Sea basin. The settlement of St. Paul's Harbor (now the city of Kodiak), founded by Russian industrialists on the island (south of the Aleutian Islands), became the center for the development of these territories.The Russian American Company, created for the production of sea beavers, arctic foxes, foxes, seals and fur seals by Grigory Shelekhov and Nikolai Rezanov, was approved by Emperor Paul I in 1799. The name American itself had an exclusively geographical meaning. This colonial trading company had no foreign capital and worked in Russian interests, largely performing state functions. The local population - Eskimos and Aleuts - were baptized into the Orthodox faith, and not only trading posts were built, but also churches and schools. The Aleuts, as “foreigners of the Russian Empire,” paid yasak to the treasury, and from 1821 they were recognized as Russian subjects.
In 1825, the Commander Islands were settled by Aleuts. While engaged in fur mining, the company gradually came to the conclusion that it was necessary to take care of preserving the population of fur-bearing animals. Numerous restrictions began to be adopted. Since 1805, a temporary ban on fishing has been introduced. In 1832, a limit was introduced on seal fishing - no more than 4,000 annually. But in 1867, after the sale of Alaska to the United States, the company was dissolved. Immediately after this, the fishing resources of the former Russian America decreased significantly.
general information
Neighboring countries: Russian Federation, United States of America (Alaska).Large bays: on the Russian coast; Anadyrsky, Karaginsky, Olyutorsky; on the American coast: Norton. Bristol, Kuskokwim, Kotzebue.
Main ports: Anadyr, Provideniya (Russia), Nome (USA).
Numbers
Sea area: 2,315,000 km2.
Greatest depth: 4151 m (average depth 1600 m).
Water volume: 3,796,000 km3.
Length: from north to south - 1,600 km; from east to west - 2,400 km.
Width of the Bering Strait: at its narrowest point - 86 km.
Climate and weather
The Bering Sea is located in three climatic zones.The northern zone of the sea has an arctic climate, while the southern zone belongs to the temperate latitude zone. The central part is characterized by a subarctic climate. The warm Aleutian Current enters from the south, so the southern part of the sea is always free of ice.
The average annual temperature reaches: -10°C in the north and -5°C in the south.
The water temperature in summer is: +5°C in the north and +10°C in the south, and in winter -1°C in the north and -2°C in the south.
Economy
The Bering Sea is an important route for maritime transport. The Northern Sea Route and the Far Eastern Sea Route connect here.Of the 300 species of fish that are found in the Bering Sea, 30 are commercial: salmon, flounder, cod, chum salmon, pollock, herring, saury, etc. Kamchatka crabs and shrimp are also caught here. Fishing for whales and sea animals (fur seals, seals) is limited.
Curious facts
■ During World War II, the Aleutian Islands, which belonged to the United States, were occupied by Japan.■ Most Aleuts and Eskimos living in Alaska profess Orthodoxy. Services are conducted in Russian and local languages. Children are still baptized with Russian names. One of the most revered saints is St. Herman of Alaska.
■ In 1821, a special decree was issued by the Russian tsarist government banning foreign ships from approaching the coast and islands of Russian America. Thus, Russian marine fisheries were protected from poachers.
■ In 1748, two thousand fur seal skins were brought from the Commander Islands to Nizhnekamchatsk, but due to the rough spine there were no takers for this product. Someone thought of taking the skins to Kyakhta, the center of the fur trade between China and Siberia. Having bought the skins very cheaply, the Chinese processed them, and since then seal fur has become valued everywhere.
Located in its northern part. It is separated from the endless ocean waters by the Aleutian and Commander Islands. In the north, through the Bering Strait, it connects with the Chukchi Sea, which is part of the Arctic Ocean. The reservoir washes the shores of Alaska, Chukotka, and Kamchatka. Its area is 2.3 million square meters. km. The average depth is 1600 meters, the maximum is 4150 meters. The volume of water is 3.8 million cubic meters. km. The length of the reservoir from north to south is 1.6 thousand km, and from west to east it is 2.4 thousand km.
Historical reference
Many experts believe that during the last ice age, sea levels were low, and therefore the Bering Strait was dry land. This is the so-called Bering Bridge, through which the inhabitants of Asia entered the territory of North and South America in ancient times.
This reservoir was explored by the Dane Vitus Bering, who served in the Russian fleet as captain-commander. He studied northern waters in 1725-1730 and 1733-1741. During this time, he carried out two Kamchatka expeditions and discovered part of the islands of the Aleutian chain.
In the 18th century, the reservoir was called the Kamchatka Sea. It was first named the Bering Sea on the initiative of the French navigator Charles Pierre de Fleurieu at the beginning of the 19th century. This name was fully established by the end of the second decade of the 19th century.
general description
Sea bottom
In its northern part, the reservoir is shallow, thanks to the shelf, the length of which reaches 700 km. The southwestern part is deep-sea. Here the depth in some places reaches 4 km. The transition from shallow water to the deep ocean floor is carried out along a steep underwater slope.
Water temperature and salinity
In summer, the surface layer of water warms up to 10 degrees Celsius. In winter, temperatures drop to -1.7 degrees Celsius. The salinity of the upper marine layer is 30-32 ppm. The middle layer at a depth of 50 to 200 meters is cold and practically does not change throughout the year. The temperature here is -1.7 degrees Celsius, and the salinity reaches 34 ppm. Below 200 meters, the water warms up, and its temperature rises to 4 degrees Celsius with a salinity of 34.5 ppm.
The Bering Sea hosts such rivers as the Yukon in Alaska with a length of 3100 km and the Anadyr with a length of 1152 km. The latter carries its waters throughout the Chukotka Autonomous Okrug of Russia.
Bering Sea on the map
Islands
The islands are concentrated on the boundaries of the reservoir. The main ones are considered Aleutian Islands, representing an archipelago. It stretches from the coast of Alaska towards Kamchatka and has 110 islands. Those, in turn, are divided into 5 groups. There are 25 volcanoes in the archipelago, and the largest is the Shishaldin volcano with a height of 2857 meters above sea level.
Commander Islands include 4 islands. They are located in the southwestern part of the reservoir in question. Pribilof Islands are located north of the Aleutian Islands. There are four of them: St. Paul's, St. George's, Otter and Walrus Island.
Diomede Islands(Russia) consist of 2 islands (Ratmanov Island and Krusenstern Island) and several small rocks. They are located in the Bering Strait at approximately the same distance from Chukotka and Alaska. The Bering Sea also contains St. Lawrence Island in the southernmost part of the Bering Strait. It is part of the state of Alaska, although it is located closer to Chukotka. Experts believe that in ancient times it was part of an isthmus connecting two continents.
Nunivak Island located off the coast of Alaska. Among all the islands belonging to the body of water in question, it is the second in area after St. Lawrence. In the southern part of the Bering Strait there is also St. Matthew's Island, owned by the USA. Karaginsky Island located near the coast of Kamchatka. The highest point on it (Mount Vysoka) is 920 meters above sea level.
sea coast
The sea coast is characterized by capes and bays. One of the bays on the Russian coast is Anadyrsky, which washes the shores of Chukotka. Its continuation is the Bay of the Cross, located to the north. Karaginsky Bay is located off the coast of Kamchatka, and Olyutorsky Bay is located to the north. The Gulf of Corfu is wedged deep into the coast of the Kamchatka Peninsula.
Off the southwest coast of Alaska is Bristol Bay. To the north there are smaller bays. This is Kuskokwim, into which the river of the same name flows, and Norton Bay.
Climate
In summer, the air temperature rises to 10 degrees Celsius. In winter it drops to -20-23 degrees Celsius. The Bering Sea is covered with ice by the beginning of October. The ice melts by July. That is, the reservoir is covered with ice for almost 10 months. In some places, such as the Gulf of St. Lawrence, ice may be present all year round.
The sea is home to such marine mammals as bowhead and blue whales, sei whales, fin whales, humpback whales, and sperm whales. Northern fur seals, belugas, seals, walruses, and polar bears are also present. Up to 40 species of different birds nest on the coast. Some of them are unique. In total, about 20 million birds breed in this region. 419 species of fish are registered in the reservoir. Among them, salmon, pollock, king crab, Pacific cod, halibut, and Pacific perch are of commercial value.
The further development of the ecosystem of the reservoir in question is uncertain. The region has experienced a slight but steady increase in sea ice over the past 30 years. This provided a sharp contrast to the seas of the Arctic Ocean, where the ice surface is steadily shrinking.
