Geographic Encyclopedia

Bering Sea- so called cap. Golovin in honor of the Russian captain commander V. Bering. B. the sea, limited to the south. about you Aleutian and Commander, to s. gradually narrows and ends with the Bering Strait. The extreme lines of the B. sea: lat. 52° and 66° 30′… … Military Encyclopedia

BERING SEA, a semi-enclosed sea in the north Pacific Ocean, separated from it by the Aleutian and Commander Islands. 2315 thousand km2. The greatest depth 5500 m, in the north less than 200 m. Large bays: Anadyr 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 it is less than 200 m. Large bays: Anadyr and Olyutorsky (near the coast Russian Federation), Norton, ... ... Big Encyclopedic Dictionary

Modern Encyclopedia

Bering Sea- Pacific Ocean, between Eurasia and North America, bounded from the south by the Aleutian and Commander Islands. It is connected to the Chukchi Sea by the Bering Strait. The area is 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 Chukchi Peninsula And… … Great Soviet Encyclopedia

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 it is less than 200 m. Large bays: Anadyr and Olyutorsky (off the coast of Russia), Norton, Bristol ... encyclopedic Dictionary

Bering Sea- The Pacific Ocean, between Asia (Russia: Chukotsky and Koryaksky Autonomous Regions, 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 in ... ... 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 communicating with 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 over 700 entries on hydrographic and geographic…
• 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 enters the Pacific Ocean. The encyclopedia contains over 700 entries on hydrographic and geographic…

The Bering Sea is located in the North Pacific Ocean. It is separated from it by the Commander and Aleutian Islands, borders on the Chukchi Sea through the Bering Strait. Through the Chukchi Sea, from the Bering Sea you can go to the Arctic Ocean. In addition, this sea washes the coast of two countries: the Russian Federation and the United States of America.

Physical and geographical position of the Bering Sea

The coastline of the sea is heavily indented with capes and bays. The largest bays, which are located on the coast of Russia, are the bays of Anadyr, Karaginsky, Olyutorsky, Korfa, Cross. And on the coast of North America - the bays of Norton, Bristol, Kuskokwim.
Only two large rivers flow into the sea: Anadyr and Yukon.
The Bering Sea also has many islands. Basically they are located on the border of the sea. The Russian Federation includes the Diomede Islands (the western one is Ratmanov Island). Commander Islands, Karaginsky Island. To the territory of the United States of America - the Pribylov Islands, the Aleutian Islands, the Diomede Islands (the eastern one is Krusenstern Island), St. Lawrence Island, Nunivak, King Island, St. Matthew Island.
In summer, the air temperature over the waters of the sea ranges from plus 7 to plus 10 degrees Celsius. In winter, it drops to minus 23 degrees. The salinity of the water varies on average from 33 to 34.7 percent.

Seabed relief

The relief of the seabed in the northeastern part is marked by the continental shelf. Its length is more than 700 kilometers. the sea is rather shallow.
The southwestern section is deep water and has depths of up to 4 kilometers. These two zones can be divided conditionally along the isobath of 200 meters.
The transition point of the continental shelf to the ocean floor is marked by a significantly steep continental slope. The maximum depth of the Bering Sea is in the southern part - 4151 meters. The bottom on the territory of the shelf is covered with a mixture of sand, shell rock and gravel. In deep water areas, the bottom is covered with diatomaceous silt.

temperature and salinity

The layer near the sea surface, about 50 meters deep, warms up to 10 degrees Celsius throughout the entire area of ​​\u200b\u200bthe water area in the summer months. In winter, the average minimum temperature is about minus 3 degrees. Salinity up to 50 meters in depth reaches 32 ppm.
Below 50 and up to 200 meters there is an intermediate water layer. The water here is colder, practically does not change the temperature all year round (-1.7 degrees Celsius). Salinity reaches 34 percent.
Deeper than 200 meters the water becomes warmer. Its temperature ranges from 2.5 to 4 degrees, and the salinity level is approximately 34 percent.

Ichthyofauna of the Bering Sea

There are approximately 402 different species of fish in the Bering Sea. Among these 402 species, you can find 9 species of sea goby, 7 species of salmon fish and many others. About 50 species of fish are commercially caught. Crabs, shrimps and cephalopods are also caught in the waters of the sea.
Among the mammals living in the Bering Sea there are ringed seals, seals, bearded seals, lionfish and walruses. The list of cetaceans is also extensive. Among them you can meet a gray whale, narwhal, bowhead whale, Japanese (or southern) whale, fin whale, humpback whale, sei whale, blue northern whale. On the Chukchi Peninsula, there are many walrus and seal rookeries.

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 United States and Russia (the largest of its Far Eastern seas). It is connected in the north by the Bering Strait with the Chukchi Sea, separated from the Pacific Ocean by the Aleutian Ridge and the Commander Islands. The area is 2315 thousand km 2, the volume is 3796 thousand km 3. The greatest depth is 5500 m. The coastline is strongly indented, forming many bays (the largest are Karaginsky, Olyutorsky, Anadyrsky - Russia; Norton, Bristol - USA), bays, peninsulas and capes. Islands Karaginsky (Russia), St. Lawrence, Nunivak, Nelson, St. Matthew, Pribylova (USA).

coast Bering Sea diverse, predominantly developed high, rocky, strongly indented bay shores, as well as fjord and abrasion-accumulative ones. Leveled accumulative shores dominate in the east, where deltas are located major rivers Yukon and Kuskokwim.

Relief and geological structure of the bottom . By 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 (predominant depths of 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 was periodically drained and a land bridge arose 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. The narrow continental slope with depths of 200-3000 m (13%) and with large bottom slopes almost throughout its entire length passes into the deep-water bed with steep ledges, cut in many places by underwater valleys and canyons. The sides of the canyons are often steep, sometimes steep. In the central and southwestern parts there is a deep-water zone with depths over 3000 m (37%), bordered in the coastal zone by a narrow strip of the shelf. The Shirshov submarine ridge with depths of 500-600 m above the ridge, 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 trough (about 3500 m deep). The flat bottom of both basins is slightly inclined to the southwest. The Shirshov Ridge is a complexly constructed zone of junction of two lithospheric plates (Komandor and Aleutian), along which the oceanic crust was crowded (possibly with subduction) until the middle of the Miocene. The basement of the Aleutian Basin is of Early Cretaceous age and is a fragment of the Mesozoic oceanic lithospheric Kula plate, 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-water 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 to 7-9 km towards the periphery. The basement of the Commander Basin is of Cenozoic age; it was formed as a result of local spreading (the spreading of the bottom with the neoformation of the 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, from the Aleutian Islands, the Bowers Ridge (a former Late Cretaceous volcanic arc) departs in an arc to the north, 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, the bottom sediments are mainly terrigenous, near the shore they are coarse detrital, then sands, sandy silts and silts. Sediments of the continental slope are also predominantly terrigenous, in the area of ​​Bristol Bay - with an admixture of volcanic material, and outcrops of bedrocks are numerous. The thickness of sediments in deep-water basins reaches 2500 m, the surface layer is represented by diatomaceous silt.

Climate. For most of the Bering Sea, a subarctic climate is characteristic, in a small area north of 64 ° north latitude - arctic, south of 55 ° north latitude - temperate maritime. The climate is formed under the influence of the cold masses of the Arctic Ocean in the north, the open spaces of the Pacific Ocean in the south, the adjacent land and the centers of action of the atmosphere. In the open part of the Bering Sea, remote from the influence of the continents, the climate is maritime, mild, with small amplitudes of air temperature fluctuations, the weather is cloudy, with fogs and a lot of precipitation. In winter, under the influence of the Aleutian Low, northwestern, northern, and northeastern winds predominate, bringing cold maritime arctic, as well as cold, dry continental air. The wind speed near 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, storm conditions develop with winds up to 30-40 m/s (last up to 9 days). The average air temperature in January - February is from 0, -4 °С in the south and southwest to -15, -23 °С 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. Tropical typhoons with hurricane-force winds penetrate the southern part on average once a month. The frequency of storms is lower than in winter. The air temperature in the open sea varies from 4 °С in the north to 13 °С in the south; in coastal areas it is noticeably warmer. The annual amount of precipitation is 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 runoff is provided by the Yukon (176 km 3), Anadyr (50 km 3), Kuskokwim (41 km 3) rivers, while more than 85% of the runoff occurs in spring and summer. Compared with the volume of the sea, the amount of freshwater runoff is small, but river waters enter mainly into the northern regions of the sea, leading in summer to a noticeable desalination of the surface layer. Peculiarities hydrological regime are determined by limited water exchange with the Arctic Ocean, relatively free connection with the Pacific Ocean, continental runoff, and water freshening during ice melting. The exchange with the Chukchi Sea is difficult due to the small cross-sectional area of ​​the Bering Strait (3.4 km 2 , the average depth above the threshold is 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 part: surface, subsurface intermediate cold, intermediate Pacific warm and deep. Changes in salinity with depth are small. Both intermediate water masses are absent only near the Aleutian Islands. In some parts of the Bering Sea, in particular in coastal areas, other water masses are formed depending on local conditions.

The surface currents of the Bering Sea form a counterclockwise circulation, which is significantly influenced by the prevailing winds. Along the coast of Alaska, the Bering Sea branch of the Kuroshio warm currents follows to the north, which partially leaves through the Bering Strait and, taking in the cold waters of the Chukchi Sea, moves along the Asian coast to the south and forms the cold Kamchatka Current, which intensifies in summer. The velocities of permanent currents in the open sea are 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. The tides in the Bering Sea are irregular semidiurnal, irregular diurnal and regular diurnal, their nature and magnitude vary greatly from place to place. On average, the height of the tide is 1.5-2.0 m, the highest - 3.7 m - is noted in Bristol Bay.

The water temperature on the surface in February varies from -1.5 °С in the north to 3 °С in the south, in August, respectively, from 4-8 °С to 9-11 °С. 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 ice melting 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 annually covered with ice. The first ice appears in September in the Bering Strait, in the northwest - in October and gradually spreads to the south. During the 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 part sea ​​ice carried out through the Bering Strait into the Chukchi Sea and by the Kamchatka Current into the northwestern region of the Pacific Ocean. The ice cover breaks up and melts in May - June.

Research History. The Bering Sea is named after the captain-commander of the Russian fleet V. Bering, whose name is associated with discoveries in the 1st half of the 18th century - the Bering Strait, the Aleutian and Commander Islands. The modern name was put into use in the 1820s by V. M. Golovnin. Previously it was called Anadyrsky, Bobrov, 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 by Russian naval sailors, hydrographers and naturalists especially intensively 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 species are commercial. Cod, flounder, halibut, Pacific perch, herring, salmon are being caught. Kamchatka crab and shrimp are mined. Walruses, sea lions, sea otters live. On the Commander and Aleutian Islands - fur seal rookeries. Baleen whales, sperm whales, beluga whales and killer whales are found in the open sea. On the rocky shores - 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 the mouth areas of rivers, in bays, in ports, which leads to some reduction in the size of hydrobionts 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 the ecosystems of the Bering and Chukchi seas. M., 2000.

The Bering Sea is located in the north of the Pacific Ocean, from the waters of which it is fenced off by the islands of the Commander-Aleutian chain. It occupies a leading position in terms of area and depth among the Russian seas. The map of the world clearly shows that its waters wash the shores of two continents: Asia and America.

Scientists consider the reason for the formation of the reservoir to be the action of tectonic processes, through which the Commander-Aleutian ridge was cut off from the Pacific Ocean. At the beginning of the 18th century, the coastal zone was studied by Russian explorers. In the 1930s, Timofey Perevalov developed a map of the area of ​​Kamchatka and Chukotka, which D. Cook visited several decades later.

The sea is named after Vitus Bering, who explored it in 1725-1743, before that it was called Bobrov or Kamchatsky. The reservoir washes the shores of the Russian Federation and the United States of America. It is possible to get to it by air flight to the port cities of Anadyr and Nome.

Basic indicators:

The sea is located in three climatic zones:

• arctic (northern part);
• temperate marine (southern zone);
• subarctic (central part).

The Bering Sea on the world map shows that it is located in three climatic zones.

About 80% of the reservoir is covered with an ice layer for ten months of the year, southern region freezing of the water surface is prevented by the warm Aleutian Current. Storms are strong in the west, with wind gusts reaching 40 m/s, arising under the influence of the Siberian anticyclone.

Notable explorers of the sea

A large-scale study of the oceans, in order to search for new territories, began at the end of the 15th century. In 1648, S.I. Dezhnev passed through the Strait, later called the Bering Strait. In the 18th century, expeditions under the command of V.I. Bering and A.I. Chirikov reached the shores of North America.

Oceanographic work in the North Pacific was carried out by I.F. Kruzenshtern, Yu.F. Lisyansky, O.E. Kotzebue, F.F. Bellingshausen, M.P. Lazarev and other sailors.

Vitus Bering

IN AND. Bering in 1724 was appointed commander of the First Kamchatka Expedition, its task was to explore the seas of the northern region of the Pacific Ocean and search for a strait between the two continents.

As a result of travel 1725-1730. put on the world map:

• Karaginsky, Anadyrsky, Kamchatsky bays.
• Providence Bay.
• Island of St. Lawrence.
• Bering Strait.
• Avacha lip.

The result of the second expedition (1733-1743), during which V. Bering died, was the discovery of Shumaginsky, Evdokeevsky, St. Stephen, Kodiak, St. Marcian Islands.

I.F. Kruzenshtern and Yu.F. Lisyansky

I.F. Kruzenshtern and Yu.F. Lisyansky made the first round-the-world voyage under the flag of the Russian Navy. In the period 1803-1806. they collected data on climate, atmospheric pressure, specific gravity, density and other indicators of sea water.

F.P. Litke

F.P. Litke is a Russian admiral who conducted research in the Arctic and the Pacific Ocean.

In 1826 - 1829. under his leadership, the Pribylov Islands were discovered and the Karaginsky archipelago was explored, and a description was drawn up west coast Bering Sea.

S.O. Makarov

In 1887-1888. S.O. Makarov conducted research on the distribution of water density. He noted that warm water, which has a large specific gravity, is located closer to the surface near the Commander Islands than off the coast of the Kamchatka Peninsula.

K.M. Deryugin, P. Schmidt, G.A. Ushakov

In the 1920s, K.M. Deryugin, together with P. Schmidt and G.A. Ushakov compiled maps of temperature and salinity distribution in the waters of the Bering Sea.

P.A. Moiseev

The Bering Sea on the world map is located in the northern zone of the Pacific Ocean, where in 1958-1963. conducted his research scientist-ichthyologist P.A. Moiseev. The achievement of the Bering Sea scientific and fishing expedition was the discovery of halibut, sea bass, and grenadier habitats.

A little earlier, under his leadership, large concentrations of flounders were discovered off the coast of Sakhalin. These fish have become an object of fishing in the seas of the Far East.

G.E. Ratmanov

In 1935 G.E. Ratmanov took part in the study of the Bering Sea, during the expedition traces of intermediate Atlantic waters were discovered, the oceanologist managed to confirm their existence and collect accurate data in 1940.

Inflowing rivers

About 120 rivers flow into the Bering Sea, 2 of which are the largest:

currents in the sea

Permanent currents in the sea are formed under the influence of tides, winds and the influx of water from the straits of the Aleutian chain. The main stream passes at a longitude of 170°, it goes around the Rat Ridge, after which it heads east, forming a circulation above the basin of the reservoir.

In the north of the sea, it diverges in two directions: towards the Bering Strait and along the coast of Kamchatka. Surface currents include: Kuroshio (-1.7 °C) and Kamchatka (1.7 °C).

Representatives of flora and fauna

IN flora The Bering Sea is dominated by:

• diatoms floating freely in the water layer;
• bottom plants are common in coastal areas;
• kelp, fucus are used by the population as food raw materials.

In addition to commercial fish: salmon, chum salmon, sockeye salmon, pink salmon, whales, seals, walruses live in the reservoir. Hunting for these mammals is carried out exclusively for the needs local residents. There are katrans and polar sharks in the sea, which do not pose a danger to people.

Bird markets are arranged on the rocks: gulls, puffins, guillemots, terns, loons. For 1 sq. km can accommodate 200 thousand individuals.

Fur seal rookeries are located on Pribylov and the Commander Islands. Despite the limitation of production, their numbers are declining. According to scientists, the decline in the population contributes to the garbage pushed out by the sea on the coast.

Main port cities

The Bering Sea on the world map is limited by Chukotka and Kamchatka with the western, northern zone of Alaska - with the east and the Aleutian Islands - on the south side. There are two port cities on the shore of the reservoir.

Anadyr is the easternmost city in Russia The population of the capital of the Chukotka Autonomous Okrug is 15 thousand people, the area is 20 square meters. km. Winter in the village lasts seven months, during which blizzards and snowstorms are observed. The average summer temperature is +11°С, in January it reaches -22°С.

Nome - small town Alaska with a population of about 4 thousand people, the average temperature reaches -45 ° C, which prevents the dense settlement of the region. It was founded as locality for gold miners, the number of inhabitants then amounted to 20 thousand people, in the 30s. XX century " Golden fever passed, and about a thousand people remained in the settlement.

Large bays

The major bays of the sea include:

Name	Location
Anadyr	Between capes Chukotsky and Navarin.
Karaginsky	Between the Ilpinsky and Ozernaya peninsulas.
Olyutorsky	Northeast coast of Kamchatka.
norton	Near Steward's Peninsula
Bristol	Southwest coast of Alaska.
Cross	At south coast Chukotka Peninsula.

Large islands of the sea

Most large islands Bering Sea are:

Use of the sea

The Bering Sea is actively exploited in two directions: fisheries and maritime transport. It catches various types of fish (mainly salmon) and whales. Within the water area, maritime transportation of fish products is developed.

Fisheries

The fauna of the reservoir includes 315 species of fish, 25 of which are used for fishing by three states: the Russian Federation, the USA and Japan. The annual catch of Russia is about 600 thousand tons. The main prey are: pollock, pink salmon, flounder, halibut, herring, grenadier. The most valuable object of fishing is salmon, which live in the west of the sea and off the eastern coast of the Kamchatka Peninsula.

Cod is caught in the Anadyr-Navarin region, Karaginsky Bay, as well as in the west and east of Kamchatka. Pollock is mined in the West Bering Sea, Chukotka zones and the Karaginsky subzone. Flounder stocks are located in Bristol Bay, in this area they catch sea bass, halibut and sablefish.

The Bering Sea belongs to the productive regions of the World Ocean (1500 kg / sq. km). Due to active fishing, stocks of salmon, king crabs, and cod are depleted.

Sea transport

The Bering Sea on the world map is a semi-enclosed water area of ​​the Pacific Ocean between the continents of Asia and North America. In its western part there is a road, which is a link between the Far Eastern ports and the Northern route. Most of the cargoes are: oil products, fish, timber, which are transported to the eastern regions of the continent.

Fishing in the sea

The main prey in the Bering Sea are: flounder, mackerel, char, halibut, pink salmon, gobies. Salmon can be caught off the eastern coast of the Kamchatka Peninsula. The abundance of zooplankton attracts gray whales, killer whales, sperm whales, quotas are introduced for the catch of cetaceans, which excludes the decline in populations of these mammals.

Fishing without a permit to catch aquatic biological resources is prohibited, with the exception of species whose fishing is carried out freely in accordance with Russian legislation. In Russia, due to inaccessibility, tourist and fishing tours in the region are not carried out. Fishing in the sea is popular among the population of America and Canada.

The sea is fraught with many mysteries, for example, there are interesting information regarding depth, discoverer, strong winds and icebergs in the waters of the Bering Sea.

The deepest sea washing Russia

The Bering Sea is the deepest in the Russian Federation. The maximum mark reaches 4151 m below sea level.

Who really discovered

In 1740, the ships "St. Peter" under the command of V. Bering and "St. Paul", captained by A.I. Chirikov went to the Second Kamchatka Expedition. At the end of June 1741, due to bad weather conditions ships lost sight of each other.

Packetball V. Bering reached the shores of America on July 20, and a few months later suffered a severe shipwreck, the commander himself died in December of the same year on the island, which was later named after him. A.I. Chirikov approached the coast of North America on 15 July.

In 1818, the Beaver (or Kamchatka) Sea was renamed the Bering Sea at the suggestion of the leader of two round-the-world expeditions, V.M. Golovin.

lingering storms

A feature of the Bering Sea are frequent and prolonged storms. The reason for strong winds is the seasonal variability of circulation processes. The reservoir is influenced by the Aleutian depression, which includes cyclones from Japan.

Strengthening of storm activity occurs in September and reaches its apogee in November-December, hurricanes may not subside for 7 days in a row.

icebergs in summer

The northern part of the Bering Sea is covered with ice for more than half a year. In mid-April, the process of clearing the reservoir of ice begins, in the case of a harsh winter, currents can bring icebergs to the west even in summer. Wandering icebergs can accumulate, lean on each other, but due to strong winds, they are quickly destroyed.

Nevertheless, seagoing vessels going by the Northern Sea Route need icebreakers.

The economy of the region includes two components: fishing and shipping. Despite the northern location on the world map, which explains the low temperatures of the waters (in winter period they reach -23 ° C), the Bering Sea is not lifeless, it contains 28 species of macrophyte algae, about 300 species of fish, as well as sharks, whales, fur seals.

On the coast of the reservoir is the Tymlat fish processing plant. The Northern Sea Route runs through the reservoir, thanks to which the eastern part of the mainland is supplied with fish products, timber, and oil.

Article formatting: Lozinsky Oleg

Video about the Bering Sea

Bering Sea - features, location, flora and fauna:

The Bering Sea is a sea that washes the shores of the United States and Russia, located in the north of the largest ocean in the world - the Pacific.

The Bering Strait connects the Bering Sea with the Arctic Ocean and the Chukchi Sea.

Historical events

For the first time, the Bering Sea was mapped only in the 18th century, when it was called the Beaver Sea or the Kamchatka Sea.

In 1725, the navigator and officer of the Russian fleet Viktor Bering, who had Danish roots, equipped his expedition to explore the then Beaver Sea. Bering passed the strait, which was named after him and explored the sea, but did not find the coast of North America.

Bering was convinced that the shores of North America were not too far from the shores of Kamchatka, which, if the theory was confirmed, would make it possible to trade with the American tribes. In 1741, he nevertheless reached the shores of North America, thereby overcoming the Kamchatka Sea.

Later, the sea changed its name in honor of the great navigator and geographer - it became known as the Bering Sea, also as a strait that separates the continents of Eurasia and North America. The sea received its current name only in 1818 - such an idea was proposed by French researchers who appreciated Bering's discoveries. However, on the maps of the thirties of the XIX century, it still bore the name Bobrovoe.

Characteristic

The total area of ​​the Bering Sea reaches 2,315,000 square kilometers, and its volume is 3,800,000 cubic kilometers. The deepest point of the Bering Sea is at a depth of 4150 meters, and the average depth does not exceed 1600 meters. Seas like the Bering Sea are usually called marginal, because it is located on the very edge of the Pacific Ocean. It is this sea that separates two large continents: North America and Asia.

Pretty impressive coastline It is mainly capes and small bays - the coast is simply indented by them. Only a couple of large rivers flow into the Bering Sea: the North American Yukon River, which is more than three thousand kilometers long, and the Russian Anadyr River, which is much shorter - only 1,150 km.

The climate is influenced by arctic air masses that collide with southern warm ones coming from tropical and temperate latitudes. As a result, a cold climate is formed - the weather is unstable, there are protracted (about a week) storms. Wave height reaches 7 - 12 meters.

Since the Bering Sea is located in the northern latitudes, from the beginning of September the temperature here drops to minus and the surface of the water is covered with a layer of ice. The ice in the Bering Sea only melts in July, which means that it is not covered with ice for only two months. The Bering Strait is not covered with ice because of the current. The salt level in the water fluctuates from 33 to 34.7%.

Bering Sea. sunset photo

In summer, the water surface temperature reaches approximately 7-10 degrees Celsius. However, in winter the temperature drops seriously and reaches -3 degrees Celsius. The intermediate layer of water is constantly cold - its temperature never rises above -1.7 degrees - this applies to the layer from 50 to 200 meters. And the water at a depth of 1000 meters reaches approximately -3 degrees.

Relief

The bottom relief is very heterogeneous, often transitioning into deep depressions. In the south is the deepest point of the sea at more than four thousand meters. There are also several underwater ridges at the bottom. The seabed is covered mainly with shells, sand, diatomaceous silt and gravel.

Cities

There are few cities on the coast of the Bering Sea, and there are certainly no large ones among them due to the very far location from civilization and severe weather throughout the year. However, attention should be paid to the following cities:

• Provideniya is a small port settlement, which was founded in the middle of the 17th century, as a bay for crafts - mainly whaling ships stood here. Only in the middle of the 20th century did the construction of the port begin here, which led to the construction of the town around it. The official founding date of Providence is 1946. Now the population of the town is only slightly more than 2 thousand people;
• Nome is an American town in the state of Alaska, where, according to the latest census, almost four thousand people live. Nome was founded as a settlement of gold miners in 1898 and already in the next year its population was about 10 thousand - everyone fell ill with the "gold rush". Already in the thirties of the XX century, the boom of the "gold rush" came to naught and a little more than a thousand inhabitants remained in the city;

Anadyr photo

• Anadyr is one of the largest cities on the coast, with a population of over 14,000 and growing steadily. The city is located in a zone of almost permafrost. There is a large port of the same name and a fish factory. In addition, gold and coal are mined in the vicinity of the city. The population also breeds deer, is engaged in fishing and, of course, hunting.

Animal world

Despite the fact that the Bering Sea is quite cold, this does not in the least prevent it from being home to many species of fish, the number of species of which reaches more than four hundred, all of which are widespread, with a few exceptions. These four hundred hundred species of fish include seven species of salmon, about nine species of gobies, five species of eelpouts, and four species of flounder.

Birds over the Bering Sea photo

Of the four hundred species, 50 of them are industrial fish. Also objects for industrial production are four types of crab, two types of cephalopods and four types of shrimp.

Among mammals, a large population of seals can be noted, including seals, bearded seals, common seals, Pacific walruses and lionfish. Walruses and seals form huge rookeries on the coast of Chukotka.

Coastal Sea. Walrus photo

In addition to pinnipeds, cetaceans are also found in the Bering Sea, among which are quite rare species such as narwhal, humpback whales, bowhead whales, southern or Japanese whales, incredibly rare northern blue whales and no less rare fin whales.

• The Gulf of Laurentia, in the Bering Sea, sometimes does not clear ice on its surface for years at all;
• The city of Nome on the coast of the Bering Sea hosts the most prestigious husky races, and a real story took place here, which formed the basis of the Balto cartoon, where a dog saved children from diphtheria.