Depth, islands, resources and problems of the East Siberian Sea. East-Siberian Sea. Depth, islands, resources and problems of the East Siberian Sea Natural complex of the East Siberian Sea

Due to the harsh climate, the East Siberian Sea has developed its own life. Only the most resilient representatives of flora and fauna live here, which have adapted to low temperatures. Its waters contain the same microscopic phytoalgae and organisms that are found in the neighboring Laptev Sea. Mostly diatoms are found, with red and brown algae appearing from time to time - in the coastal region of the western part of the sea. Compared to neighboring seas, there are few bottom dwellers here. After all, not every species can survive in low temperatures. Therefore, only some species of crustaceans, valves, echinoderms and coelenterates are found.

Among mammals East Siberian Sea: seals, beluga whales, cetaceans and walruses. Along with all the coastal zones of the northern seas, walruses are caught on its territory, but only for the needs local population. After all, since 1956, walruses have been under state protection. The islands are also home to polar bear, which is a semi-marine mammal. Smaller predators come to the shores of the East Siberian Sea for food, such as sea otters and arctic foxes.

There is no information that sharks live in the waters of this sea. Perhaps here you can meet a polar shark - an inhabitant of Arctic waters. Such a six-meter shark almost never comes to the sea surface. It feeds on tiny organisms, animal remains and small fish. The polar shark is lazy, like many other Arctic giants, so you should not expect an attack on active living creatures. Scientists say swimmers in this harsh sea may not be afraid of the teeth of man-eating sharks. Therefore, you can often meet travelers here.

This is the Arctic sea, part of the. Located near Eastern Siberia. Entirely located above the Arctic Circle. Its boundaries are almost everywhere conditional lines. Only in the south is the sea limited to the mainland. It is connected through straits to the Chukchi Sea.
The area of ​​the sea is 913 thousand sq. km. The depth is small and averages 54 meters, the maximum is 915 meters.
The shores are indented by bays (Kolyma Bay, Omulyakhskaya and Chaunskaya Bay). The western coast of the mainland is flat, the eastern coast is mountainous with cliffs.
A few islands form groups: the New Siberian Islands, the Bear Islands, and the Shalaurov Islands. Some islands are being destroyed because they are made entirely of sand and ice.
Rivers flowing into the sea: Lapcha, Khroma, Kolyma, Alazeya, etc.
This sea is completely located on the shelf, as a result of which its bottom is a plain, gradually descending to the north. There are no significant elevations or depressions; the depth almost everywhere does not exceed fifty meters.
Climate on the East Siberian Sea Arctic, influenced by air masses of two oceans: and. Winter is characterized by clear weather with temperatures down to -30 degrees. Summer is gloomy, cold and windy, with precipitation in the form of sleet and rain quite often. In winter, almost the entire sea is covered with ice, in summer the coastal part in the west is free of ice, and in the east there are floating ice floes.
In the expanses of water East Siberian Sea There are whitefish (such as omul, muksun). Mammals are represented by seal, walrus, and polar bear.
The famous Northern Sea Route passes through the East Siberian Sea. The most important ports are Pavek and Ambarchik.

The Greenland Sea is one of the marginal seas of the Arctic Ocean.
The sea, with an area of ​​1205 thousand sq. km, is located between the islands of Bear, Spitsbergen, Iceland, Greenland and Jan Mayen. The average depth of this sea is 1641m, while the maximum reaches 5527m.
The bed of the Greenland Sea is a large basin, which is limited in the east by the Mon and Knipovich ridges, and in the south by the Greenland-Iceland threshold.
The climate of Greenland [...]

It is called the harshest among all the northern seas, located at a large distance from warm waters Atlantic Ocean. East Siberian Sea, washing northern shores Russia in the East, with all its shallowness, is literally freezing.

The sea, marginal to the Arctic Ocean, is located along the northern shores of Eastern Siberia between the New Siberian Islands and Wrangel Island, conditionally the administrative shores belong to Yakutia and Chukotka Autonomous Okrug. Most of it is delineated by conventional lines, and only on the side adjacent to Russia did nature create its borders. total area The sea is quite large: 944,600 sq. km, provided that it cannot be called deep (the average is 54 m).

Borders are usually considered at the points of intersection of the meridians with the islands of Kotelny, Wrangel and capes Anisiy, Blossom, Yakan and Svyatoy Nos. There are practically no islands here, all coastline deeply cut into the land or protrudes from the sea and forms large bends, small meanders leading to the mouths of rivers.

As for the nature of the coastline, the eastern one is not at all similar to the western one. Thus, in the area of ​​the New Siberian Islands and the mouth of the Kolyma, there is a tundra dotted with swamps, the terrain is quite flat and low-lying, but closer to the island of Ayon the coast takes on a mountainous landscape. Almost to the shores of the water there are low hills that drop steeply in some places.

The underwater relief is flat and uniform throughout the entire territory. Only in some areas there is a depth of up to 25 m. Experts call them the remains of ancient river valleys.

This sea is often called an important section of the trade route through which goods are transported to the northern regions of Eastern Siberia. The large port of Pevek operates here, and it carries out transit movements from the West to the East of the country.

(Sea trade and transport port of Pevek)

The East Siberian Sea can hardly be called a fishing hub in Russia. For the most part, sea animals are hunted here in the waters adjacent to land. Local residents catch European smelt, capelin, cod and herring here. Near river mouths, valuable whitefish sturgeon and salmon are caught. However, this type of activity does not make a serious economic contribution to the development of the country and region.

The Cossacks who mastered the Kolyma and Indigirka in the first half of the 17th century went downstream, went out to sea and went to Taimyr, where they dragged themselves to the Yenisei, on the banks of which they hunted. Confirmation of this is the decree of 1638 to the Yakut governor: “Take care that no one crosses over from the Kolyma, Indigirka, Lena Rivers to Pyasina and Lower Tunguska.”
The first exploratory voyage in the historical era was made by the Yakut Cossack Mikhailo Stadukhin in 1644. His detachment built a ship (koch) on Indigirka, went down to the mouth and reached Kolyma by sea, where Stadukhin founded the Nizhnekolymsky fort. In 1645 Stadukhin returned to Lena by sea, from where he began his campaign.

Stadukhin's assistant Semyon Dezhnev 5 in June 1648 on 7 kochas sailed the entire eastern part of the sea from the mouth of the Kolyma and further through the Long Strait and the Bering Strait to the Gulf of Anadyr, where he founded the city of Anadyr. Thus, in 1648 the possibility of end-to-end navigation along the entire coast of the East Siberian Sea was demonstrated.

The continental shores of the sea were described in the first half of the 18th century by the Great Northern Expedition. were discovered by 1811: the Big and Small Lyakhovsky Islands in 1712 by Mercury Vagin and Yakov Permyakov, the Anzhu Islands later - about. Boiler in 1773 by Ivan Lyakhov, its Faddeevsky Peninsula in 1805 by Yakov Sannikov, Fr. New Siberia in 1806 by the traders of the Syrovatsky merchants, Bunge Land in 1811 by the Sannikovs. The coast from the mouth of the Kolyma to Cape Shelagsky was described in 1820 by Ferdinand Wrangel, who also mapped the Bear Islands in 1821. Chanu Bay was described in 1822 by Wrangel's assistant Fyodor Matyushkin8, the coast from Cape Shelagsky to the Chukchi Sea - by Wrangel in 1823. All these discoveries were made not on ships, but on sledges. In 1823, Wrangel heard a story from the Chukchi about big island in the north (), where storms sometimes carried fishing boats away.

Vilkitsky Island, the death of the ship "Rime", the crew escaped

The average depth is 66 meters, the greatest is 155 meters. For most of the year the sea is covered with ice. Salinity ranges from 5 ‰ near river mouths to 30 ‰ in the north.
The following rivers flow into the sea: Indigirka, Kolyma.
There are several bays on the sea coast: Chaunskaya Bay, Omulyakhskaya Bay, Khromskaya Bay, Kolyma Bay, Kolyma Bay.
Large, Lyakhovsky, De Long Islands. There are no islands in the center of the sea.
Fishing for walrus and seal; fishing.
The main port is Pevek; Ambarchik Bay is also used.

East Siberian Sea Bennett Island, Cross in honor of the 100th anniversary of the Kolchak expedition

The sea lies on the shelf.
In the eastern part the depths reach 54 meters, in the western and central - 20 meters, in the north they reach 200 meters (this depth is taken as the isobath - the boundary of the sea). The maximum depth is 915 meters.

The sea is covered with ice almost all year round. In the eastern part of the sea, even in summer, floating multi-year ice. From the coast they can be driven north by winds from the mainland.
The ice drifts in a northwesterly direction as a result of water circulation under the influence of anticyclones near the North Pole. After the anticyclone weakens, the area of ​​the cyclonic gyre increases and multi-year ice enters the sea.

Sea water temperatures are low; in the north they are close to −1.8 °C both in winter and summer. To the south, in summer the temperature rises in the upper layers to 5 °C. At the edge of the ice fields the temperature is 1-2 °C. The maximum water temperature reaches the end of summer at river mouths (up to 7 °C).
The salinity of water varies in western and eastern parts seas. In the eastern part of the sea at the surface it is usually about 30 ppm. River flow in the eastern part of the sea leads to a decrease in salinity to 10-15 ppm, and at the mouths of large rivers to almost zero. Near ice fields, salinity increases to 30 ppm. With depth, salinity increases to 32 ppm.

Until the beginning of the 20th century, the sea was called differently, including Kolyma, Indigirsky.

Indigirskaya Bay, mouth of the Indigirka East Siberian Sea

GEOGRAPHY OF THE EAST SIBERIAN SEA
The name itself indicates that the sea washes the northern shores of Eastern Siberia. It is partially limited by natural boundaries, and in many places by conventional lines. Its western border runs from the point of intersection of the meridian of the northern tip of the island. Kotelny with the edge of the continental shallows (79° N, 139° E) to the northern tip of this island (Cape Anisiy), then along its western shore and then follows along the eastern border of the Laptev Sea. The northern border runs along the edge of the continental shelf from the point with coordinates 79° N. latitude, 139° east. to a point with coordinates 76° N. la., 180° east. Yes eastern border- from the point with these coordinates along the 180° meridian then along its northwestern shore to Cape Blossom and further to Cape Yakan on the mainland. The southern border runs along the mainland coast from Cape Yakan to Cape Svyatoy Nos (the western border of the Dmitry Laptev and Sannikov Strait).

By geographical location and hydrological conditions different from the ocean, with which the sea freely communicates, it belongs to the type of continental marginal seas. Within the accepted boundaries, the East Siberian Sea has the following dimensions: area 913 thousand km2, volume 49 thousand km3, average depth 54 m, greatest depth 915 m.

The sea is poor in islands. The coastline of the East Siberian Sea forms large bends, in some places going deep into the land, in others protruding into the sea, between which there are areas with a flat coastline. Small meanders are rare and are usually confined to river mouths. The nature of the landscapes of the western part of the coast of the East Siberian Sea differs sharply from the eastern. In the area from to the mouth of the Kolyma, the banks are monotonous. Here the swampy tundra approaches the sea. The banks are low and flat. The eastern Kolyma coast becomes mountainous, and its dull monotony ends. From the mouth of Kolyma to about. Ayon, low hills approach the water directly, and in some places they drop steeply. Chaunskaya Bay is framed by low but steep, flat banks. The sea coast, which differs in relief and structure in different areas, belongs to different morphological types of coasts (). The underwater relief of the shelf that forms the bed of this sea is, in general terms, a plain inclined from southwest to northeast. The seabed does not have significant depressions or hills. The predominant depths are up to 20-25 m. Northeast of the mouths of the Indigirka and Kolyma on seabed relatively deep grooves () are marked. It is believed that these are traces of ancient river valleys, now flooded by the sea. The area of ​​shallow depths in the western part of the sea forms the Novosibirsk Shoal. The greatest depths are concentrated in the northeastern part of the sea, but nowhere do they exceed 100 m. A sharp increase in depths occurs in the range from 100 to 200 m.

Cape Shelagsky East Siberian Sea

SEA CLIMATE
Located in high latitudes, close to permanent ice The Arctic basin and the huge Asian continent are characterized by a certain climatic feature: it is located in the zone of contact between the atmospheric influences of the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. Cyclones of Atlantic origin still penetrate into the western part of the sea, although rarely, and of Pacific origin into its eastern regions. All this characterizes the climate of the East Siberian Sea as polar marine, but with a significant influence of the continent. Its main features are clearly visible in winter and summer, and to a lesser extent in transition seasons, when large-scale pressure fields are rearranged and atmospheric processes are unstable.

In winter, the main influence on the sea is exerted by the spur of the Siberian High, which extends to its coast, while the crest of the Polar Anticyclone is less pronounced. In this regard, the sea is dominated by southwestern and southerly winds at a speed of 6-7 m/s. They bring with them cold air from the continent, so the average monthly air temperature in January is around −28–30°. Winter is characterized by calm, clear weather, which on some days is disrupted by cyclonic incursions. Atlantic cyclones in the west of the sea cause increased wind and some warming, and Pacific cyclones, which have cold continental air in the rear, only increase wind speed, cloudiness and cause snowstorms in the southeastern part of the sea. On mountainous areas of the coast, the passage of Pacific cyclones is associated with the formation of a local wind - a foehn. It usually reaches storm force here, bringing with it a slight increase in temperature and a decrease in air humidity.

In summer, the pressure over the Asian mainland is reduced and over the sea it is increased, so winds from the northern directions predominate. At the beginning of the season they are very weak, but during the summer the wind speed gradually increases, reaching an average of 6-7 m/s. By the end of summer, the western part of the East Siberian Sea becomes one of the most stormy sections of the Northern Sea Route. The wind often blows at a speed of 10-15 m/s. The southeastern part of the sea is much calmer. The increase in wind here is due to hair dryers. Steady northern and northeastern winds cause low temperature air. The average July temperature is only 0-+1° in the north of the sea and +2-3° in coastal areas. The decrease in temperature from south to north is explained by the cooling effect of ice and the warming effect of the continent. IN summer time The weather over the East Siberian Sea is mostly cloudy with light drizzle. Sometimes it snows wet.

Autumn is characterized by an almost complete absence of heat returns, which is explained by the distance of the sea from the Atlantic and Pacific oceans and, accordingly, their weak influence on atmospheric processes during this season. Relatively cold summers throughout the sea, stormy weather at the end of summer and especially in autumn in the outlying areas of the sea, and calm in its central part are characteristic climatic features of the sea.

mouth of the Kolyma River in early summer East Siberian Sea

RIVER FLOW
Unlike the Kara and Laptev Seas, the continental flow into the East Siberian Sea is relatively small. It is about 250 km3/year, i.e. only 10% of the total river flow into all Arctic seas. The largest of the rivers flowing into it (Kolyma) produces 132 km3 of water per year, the second largest river (Indigirka) discharges 59 km3 of water per year. During the same time, all other rivers pour approximately 35 km3 of water into the sea. All river water flows into southern part seas, and approximately 90% of the runoff occurs, as in other Arctic seas, in summer months. The small power of the streams does not allow river water to spread far from the mouths even during maximum flow. In this regard, with such a vast size of the East Siberian Sea, coastal runoff does not significantly affect its general hydrological regime, but only determines some hydrological features of coastal areas in the summer.

The change in water temperature with depth in winter and spring is little noticeable. Only near the mouths of large rivers does it decrease from −0.5° in subglacial horizons to −1.5° at the bottom. In summer, in ice-free areas, the water temperature decreases slightly from the surface to the bottom in the coastal zone in the west of the sea. In its eastern part, the surface temperature is observed in a layer of 3-5 m, from where it drops sharply to horizons of 5-7 m and then gradually decreases to the bottom. In zones influenced by coastal runoff, a uniform temperature covers a layer up to 7-10 m; between horizons of 10-15-20 m it sharply, and then gradually decreases to the bottom. The shallow, weakly warmed East Siberian Sea is one of the coldest Arctic seas in our country.

Surface salinity generally increases from southwest to northeast. In winter and spring, it is 4-5‰ near the mouths of the Kolyma and Indigirka, reaches values ​​of 24-26‰ near the Bear Islands, increases to 28-30‰ in the central regions of the sea and rises to 31-32‰ on its northern outskirts. In summer, as a result of the influx river waters and ice melting, the surface salinity decreases to 18–22‰ in the coastal zone, 20–22‰ near the Bear Islands, 24–26‰ in the north at the edge of the melting ice (see Fig. 26, b).

Salinity increases with depth. In winter, over most of the sea, it rises slightly from the surface to the bottom. Only in the northwestern region, where they penetrate ocean waters from the north, salinity increases from 23‰ in the upper layer 10-15 m thick to 30‰ at the bottom. Near the mouth areas, the upper desalinated layer to horizons of 10-15 m is underlain by more saline waters. From the end of spring and during the summer, a desalinated layer 20-25 m thick forms in ice-free areas, in which salinity increases with depth. Consequently, in shallow areas (down to depths of 20-25 m), desalination covers the entire water column. In deeper areas in the north and east of the sea, at horizons of 5-7-10 m, in places 10-15 m, the salinity increases sharply, and then gradually and slightly rises to the bottom. The horizontal and vertical distribution of salinity in the sea is largely determined by ice conditions and continental runoff.

Temperature and mainly salinity determine the density of water. Accordingly, in the autumn-winter season, water is denser than in spring and summer. The density is greater in the north and east than in the west of the sea, where desalinated waters from the Laptev Sea penetrate. However, these differences are small. Typically, density increases with depth. Its vertical distribution is similar to the variation of salinity in the water column.

Different degrees of density interlayering of waters create different conditions for the development of mixing in different areas of the East Siberian Sea. In relatively weakly stratified and ice-free areas, strong winds in summer mix water to horizons of 20-25 m. Consequently, in areas limited to a depth of 25 m, wind mixing extends to the bottom. In places where waters are sharply stratified by density, wind mixing penetrates only to horizons of 10–15 m, where it is limited by significant vertical density gradients.

Autumn-winter convection in the East Siberian Sea at depths of 40-50 m, which occupy more than 72% of its total area, penetrates to the bottom. By the end of the cold season, winter vertical circulation extends to horizons of 70-80 m, where it is limited either by the bottom or by a stable density structure of the waters.

Due to the shallowness and absence of deep trenches extending beyond the northern limits of the East Siberian Sea, the vast majority of its spaces from surface to bottom are occupied by surface Arctic waters with the corresponding characteristics. Only in relatively limited estuarine areas is there a type of water that is formed as a result of the mixing of river and sea waters. It is characterized by high temperature and low salinity.

Kolyma Bay East Siberian Sea

CURRENTS AND TIDES
Constant currents on the surface of the East Siberian Sea form a weakly expressed cyclonic circulation (see Fig. 27). Along the continental coast there is a stable transport of water from west to east. At Cape Billings, some of them head to the north and northwest, and are carried to the northern outskirts of the sea, where they are included in the flow going to the west. Under different weather conditions, the movement of water also changes. In some cases, outflow currents predominate, and in others, pressure currents predominate, for example, in the area of ​​the Long Strait. Part of the water from the East Siberian Sea is carried through this strait into the Chukchi Sea. Constant currents are often disturbed by wind currents, which are often stronger than constant ones. The influence of tidal currents is relatively small.

Regular semidiurnal tides are observed in the East Siberian Sea. They are caused by a tidal wave that enters the sea from the north and moves towards the coast of the mainland. Its front extends from the north-northwest to the east-southeast towards the island. Wrangel.

The tides are most clearly expressed in the northwest and north, where the tidal wave is just entering the sea. As they move south, they weaken, since the ocean tidal wave is largely damped in shallow water, so in the area from Indigirka to Cape Shelagskoye, tidal level fluctuations are almost unnoticeable. To the west and east of this area, the tide is also small (5-7 cm). At the mouth of the Indigirka, the configuration of the banks and the bottom topography contribute to an increase in tides to 20-25 cm. Level changes caused by meteorological reasons are much more developed on the coast of the mainland.

The annual variation of sea level is characterized by its highest position in June-July, when there is an abundant influx of river water. A reduction in continental runoff in August leads to a drop in level by 50-70 cm. As a result of the predominance of surge winds in the fall, a rise in level occurs in October. In winter, the level decreases and reaches its lowest point in March-April.

IN summer season surge phenomena are very pronounced, in which level fluctuations are often 60-70 cm. At the mouth of the Kolyma and in the Dmitry Laptev Strait they reach the maximum values ​​for the entire sea (2.5 m). A quick and abrupt change in level positions is one of the characteristic features coastal areas of the sea.

Hydrobase on the island of New Siberia, coast of the East Siberian Sea

ICE CONDITIONS
Significant waves develop in ice-free areas of the sea. It is strongest during stormy northwestern and southeastern winds, which have the highest accelerations above the surface clean water. Maximum wave heights reach 5 m, usually their height is 3-4 m. Strong waves are observed mainly in late summer - early autumn (September), when the ice edge retreats to the north. The western part of the sea is rougher than the eastern. Its central areas are relatively calm.

The East Siberian Sea is the most arctic of the seas in the Soviet Arctic. From October - November to June - July it is completely covered with ice (see Fig. 28). At this time, the transport of ice from the Central Arctic Basin to the sea predominates, in contrast to other Arctic seas, where outflow ice drift prevails. A characteristic feature of the ice of the East Siberian Sea is the significant development of fast ice in winter. Moreover, it is most widely distributed in the western shallow part of the sea and occupies a narrow coastal strip in the east. In the west of the sea, the fast ice strip reaches 400-500 km in width, connecting with the fast ice of the Laptev Sea, in the central regions - 250-300 km and to the east of Cape Shelagsky - 30-40 km. The fast ice boundary approximately coincides with the 25 m isobath, which runs 50 km to the north and then turns to the southeast, approaching the coast of the mainland at Cape Shelagsky. By the end of winter, the thickness of the fast ice reaches 2 m. From west to east, the thickness of the fast ice decreases. Behind the fast ice there is drifting ice. Usually this is one-year and two-year ice 2-3 m thick. In the very north of the sea, multi-year Arctic ice is found. The prevailing winds from the south in winter often carry drifting ice away from the northern edge of the fast ice. As a result, significant expanses of clean water and young ice appear, forming the Novosibirsk in the west and Zavrangelevskaya in the east stationary french polynyas.

At the beginning of summer, after the opening and destruction of fast ice, the edge of the ice changes its position under the influence of winds and currents. However, ice is always found north of the New Siberian Islands. In the western part of the sea, on the site of extensive fast ice, the Novosibirsk ice massif is formed. It consists mainly of first-year ice and usually collapses by the end of summer. The overwhelming majority of the space in the east of the sea is occupied by a spur of the Aion oceanic ice massif, which largely forms heavy multi-year ice. Its southern periphery is almost adjacent to the coast of the mainland throughout the year, complicating the ice situation at sea.

During these same seasons, a fairly high content (from 25 to 40 μg/l) of phosphates in sea ​​water. This is explained by the weak development of phytoplankton under the ice cover. In spring and summer, active gas exchange with the atmosphere and intensive photosynthesis lead to an increase in the relative oxygen content in water to 105-110% saturation. Phytoplankton, which is rapidly developing especially at the edge of the ice, actively consumes phosphates, which is why their content in the water drops to 20 and even 10 μg/l.

East Siberian Sea port city of Pevek

Economic use.
The inaccessible East Siberian Sea is used mainly for transport purposes as part of the Northern Sea Route, through which transit traffic passes and supply cargo passes through the port of Pevek to the northern regions of Eastern Siberia. Estuarine fishing and the production of marine animals in coastal waters are of importance only to local residents.

The problems of studying the East Siberian Sea are similar to the problems of studying other Arctic seas. However, here more attention is paid to the study of sea ice cover, the behavior of the Ayon ice massif (the main obstacle to navigation), sea level fluctuations and their forecasts, currents, ice drift, etc. Important tasks are the operational maintenance of navigation, finding ways to extend its duration , the choice of the most rational shipping routes and other scientific and applied issues, the solution of which is associated with the further economic development of the sea.

Bear Islands East Siberian Sea

TRIP FROM TAIMYR TO CHUKOTKA
The idea of ​​making a “round the world” trip along the Arctic Circle is as old as the world. Many enthusiasts set off on the journey, dreaming of closing the circle of their route, bypassing the northern cap of our planet along a conventional line, north of which the same Arctic begins, like a magnet attracting everyone who has ever visited its vastness. Incredible adventures awaited travelers on this difficult and dangerous journey, which, as a rule, lasted more than one year. Brave people walked on dog sleds, walked or skied, sailed in kayaks and yachts, rode snowmobiles and even climbed into the air on balloons to cross the North Atlantic, across the Bering Strait.
Our main task was to ensure that the planned route could be covered by a single team, choosing a method of movement that would be equally suitable for the expanses of the tundra, and for the Arctic low forests, and for the drifting ice of the Arctic Ocean. Better than any Another technology could meet these requirements: the Antarctic wheeled all-terrain vehicles that we assembled in order to reach the South Pole.
But before setting off, it was necessary to maximize their reliability. That is, practically create new car, which would incorporate into its design all the positive experience of our all-terrain vehicles of previous models, but would only have even higher technical performance and maximum reliability. Using such vehicles, we intended to attempt a circular route along the coast of the Arctic Ocean. I must say that the new cars were really a success. There were no serious problems with the technology, and the adventures, as one might expect from the very beginning, would be enough for more than one adventure film script.
We divided our journey, with a total length of at least 25,000 km, which was called the “Polar Ring,” into three stages. During the first stage of the expedition, which ran along the Russian coast from Yamal to Chukotka, over 6,000 kilometers were covered in 50 days of travel. The second was supposed to connect the shores of Russia with the shores of Greenland and Canada and pass through the point of the North Pole. The third and final stage is planned for the summer of 2004: starting in the Canadian village of Resolute Bay, walking along the coast of Alaska and crossing the Bering Strait, we will again finish in Chukotka.

Chaunskaya Guba, Big Routan Island

May 11, 2002. Thirty-fifth day
On this day we left Tiksi. The day before we had to spend the whole day in the auto repair shops at the border post, getting the cars in order. Most of the route has already been covered, but last days they got a lot. These include heavy hummocks in the area of ​​Bolshoy Begichev Island, real sandstorms in the Olenek channel, and encounters with the first spring water. At the mouths of small rivers and streams, water accumulates under the snow, forming large ice dams, or even just lakes. And yet, what struck us most was what we encountered in the middle reaches of the Olenek channel on the Lena River.
The river has formed here an endless number of sandbanks, spits, islands, which constitute the very gigantic delta of the Lena River. The banks are low. It was not always possible to understand whether we were moving on ice or on land. Winds constantly blow from the mainland, gaining strength in the vastness of the Lena, their strength is such that snow cover does not form. Some dense gray mass, tearing sand and small stones from frozen sastrugi sand dunes, rushes along the delta to the north, towards the Arctic Ocean. The air is filled with sand, which cuts your face, hands, knocks on clothes, and the bodies of all-terrain vehicles. It's impossible to even open your eyes. Sand gets inside the car through the slightest cracks, forming sand “drifts” in the most inappropriate places.
We will remember our overnight stay in the area of ​​Lake Kuogastakh-Aryta for a long time. The snow and sand storm completely deprived us of visibility. Wind - about 25 m/sec. Cars simply glide in the wind, not obeying the steering wheel, as soon as you drive out onto clear ice. We barely managed to hide from the wind behind the steep bank of a cape jutting into the riverbed, but this did not save us either. By morning, the cars were covered with some kind of gray-brown mixture of sand and snow. I'm terribly thirsty. Yesterday's dinner and today's breakfast are dry. It’s scary to even think about water from melted snow.
Having left Makar Island, we move along the coast of the Laptev Sea on May 16, 2002. Fortieth day
We leave Makar Island in Janek Bay. This island is no different from dozens of other similar ones in these parts, but there is one detail that has turned it into an exceptionally attractive point for all radio amateurs in the world - not one of them has ever gone on the air from this island. And although it is difficult to say this - there once stood a polar station and a lighthouse, but nevertheless, the fact of going on the air from it was not recorded by anyone, and the international island amateur radio program IOTA itself was born much later than the local polar station. And therefore, our radio operator Yuri Zaruba, who joined the route group in Nizhneyansk, could not hide his delight. The “radio discovery” of the island took place, and the distant English president of the IOTA radio program, having contacted Yuri, confirmed the decision of the special committee to assign the island a special number AS-163, under which it was included in all amateur radio catalogs of the world.
Our team includes some replacements. Vyacheslav Gosudarev had to fly from Tigsi to Moscow. There were several reasons, but one of the main ones was to save the photo archive and all the other information accumulated in the computer, which, having swallowed smoke and sand, “forgot” all the passwords and did not want to continue working.
In Nizhneyansk, we were joined by Novosibirsk resident Vitaly Zaruba, the permanent radio operator of many of our expeditions. In general, Nizhneyansk today is a ready-made scenery for a horror film. The wildest fantasies of a director who tried to paint an abandoned city are unlikely to be able to compete with what happens to this city in reality. We approached it late at night, in whitish twilight lighting. The first thing we saw was some old high and completely endless fence made of barbed wire. Gray blocks of two-story houses with black eye sockets of broken windows stretched into the depths of the city, forming gloomy streets. Fallen lampposts, downed electrical wires, mountains of snow-covered rubbish, abandoned equipment.
We stopped looking for a way through the fence that encircles the city from the west, talking to each other on the internal radio. Suddenly, the excited and well-known voice of Yura Zaruba, who is on duty on our frequency, intervenes in the conversation, knowing that we are approaching the city. With his navigator's radio support, we slowly moved through the night Nizhneyansk. Here is Pervomaiskaya street, here central square with a huge inscription on one of the buildings - Pool "Umka", here is the boiler room, reminiscent in its appearance of the 4th block of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant after the disaster... Another 15 minutes of confused walking around the city, and we meet Yuri, who was waiting for us in the hostel, - this is one of the few city buildings where there is water, however, in the form of rusty boiling water flowing from all the taps. Most of it is without heat or water at all. But the people who are forced to survive here in the full sense of the word are surprisingly responsive. Despite the mountains of their own problems, they find the opportunity to help us with housing, minor car repairs, and gas stations.
We also learned there about things that were completely wild, in our opinion. Somewhere “above” an order was given to dismantle houses and everything that might be useful in order to do something nearby new village for the indigenous population. In broad daylight, trucks drove up and took out somewhere what could still be used for construction. Often, in excitement, they took on those houses in which Russians still lived, so that often on the doors of the entrances one could see the inscriptions: “Don’t break it! We still live here!”
After a severe snowstorm, which we sat through in Nizhneyansk, it suddenly became warmer. It began to flow from the roofs, the snow became saturated with water, and the ice crust became limp. On the way out of the city, we passed the traditional Soviet-era “Board of Honor”. A rusty profile of Lenin cut out of metal, banners red with rust, torn from the stand and emitting an ominous grinding sound in the wind. At the top are the remains of an inscription calling for the implementation of the decisions of some congress of the CPSU. They tried not to look around, so as not to see this painful picture...

We tie up the cars in pairs and so, insuring and helping each other, we go several kilometers from the coast. And soon we got used to the position of “waterfowl”, gradually gaining the first experience of moving through large open spaces.
The cars stay afloat due to the displacement of six large wheels. And since there is no special propulsion device for water, we move only due to their rotation. In the cabin, the water almost reached the seats. The pedals and battery are under water, as is the generator on the engine. The main thing was to protect the engines from water getting into the air intakes.
We just left Aion Island and are trying to get onto stronger ice.
Therefore, it was necessary to move from the cockpit to the stern so that the engine was at least a little higher. Moreover, the headwind tried to turn the cars sideways. The painting is absolutely fantastic, worthy of the brush of any eminent marine painter. It’s just a pity that it was impossible to observe this picture from the outside...
But the time has come when all the trials are left behind. We are in the large and fairly well-groomed Chukotka city of Pevek. Ahead is a long flight to Moscow across all of Russia.

P.S. Our cars remained in Chukotka for work at the State. By next spring we had to make others...
And we did them. We are on them in March 2003 and will go first to North Pole, and then further - to Greenland and Canada. I am sure that this will be no less exciting journey, the preparation for which we, without noticing it ourselves, began immediately, barely having time to return home, after the end of the first stage of the “Polar Ring”.

- an archipelago belonging to Russia in the Arctic Ocean between the Laptev Sea and the East Siberian Sea, administratively belongs to Yakutia. Area 38.4 thousand km². The New Siberian Islands are part of security zone State Nature Reserve "Ust-Lensky".
Consists of 3 groups of islands: Lyakhovsky Islands, Anjou Islands and De Long Islands.

The first information about the islands was reported at the beginning of the 18th century by the Cossack Yakov Permyakov, who sailed from the mouth of the Lena to the Kolyma. In 1712, as part of a Cossack detachment led by Mercury Vagin, he landed on Bolshoi Lyakhovsky Island.

Geology, geography, climate
Geologically, the archipelago is dominated by permafrost and underground ice. The bedrock, which is hidden under loose Quaternary sediments and thick deposits of fossil ice, is limestone, shale with intrusions of granites and granodiorites.
In the coastal cliffs of sandy-clayey soil covering fossil ice, the remains of fossil plants and animals (mammoths, rhinoceroses, wild horses, etc.) thaw, indicating that many millennia ago the climate in this area was milder. Maximum height - 426 m (Bennett Island). The islands have an arctic climate. Winter is stable; there are no thaws from November to April. Snow cover lasts 9 months.
The prevailing temperatures in January are from −28 °C to −31 °C. In July, on the coast the temperature is usually up to 3 °C, in the central part it is several degrees warmer, frosts are possible throughout the warm period, but there are no sharp temperature fluctuations due to the proximity of the sea. Annual precipitation is low (77 mm). Largest quantity precipitation falls in August (18 mm). Most large river Balyktakh.
The landscape of the islands is arctic tundra, lakes and swamps.

Flora and fauna
The surface of the islands is covered with arctic tundra vegetation (mosses, lichens), including flowering plants: polar poppy, buttercups, cereals, saxifrage, spoon grass). Among the animals that permanently live are: reindeer, arctic fox, lemming, polar bear. From birds - snowy owl, white partridge. The abundance of reservoirs attracts ducks, geese, and waders here in the summer. Coastal areas are inhabited by gulls, loons, guillemots, and guillemots. Arctic fox was previously hunted on the archipelago.
A polar station has been operating on Kotelny Island since 1933.

Zimovya
In the pre-Soviet and Soviet periods, the following temporary settlements existed on these islands:
O. Boiler house - Ambardakh, Bhak Karga, polar station "Bunge", camp site "Angu (Anzhu)";
O. New Siberia - Biruli, Bolshoye Zimovye;
O. Bolshoi Lyakhovsky - Maloye Zimovye;
O. Maly Lyakhovsky - Fedorovsky (Mikhailova).

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SOURCE OF INFORMATION AND PHOTO:
Team Nomads
Shamraev Yu. I., Shishkina L. A. Oceanology. L.: Gidrometeoizdat, 1980
http://tapemark.narod.ru/
The East Siberian Sea in the book: A. D. Dobrovolsky, B. S. Zalogin. Seas of the USSR. Publishing house Moscow. University, 1982.
http://www.vokrugsveta.ru/vs/article/444/
M. I. Belov In the footsteps of polar expeditions. Part II. On archipelagos and islands
East Siberian Sea, Great Soviet Encyclopedia
http://www.pevek.ru
Wiese V. Yu. // Seas of the Soviet Arctic: Essays on the history of research. — 2nd ed. - L.: Publishing house of the Main Northern Sea Route, 1939. - P. 180-217. — 568 p. — (Polar Library). — 10,000 copies.
http://www.polarpost.ru/Library/Belov-Po_sledam/main-po_sledam_expediciy.html
History of the discovery and development of the Northern Sea Route: In 4 volumes / Ed. Ya. Ya. Gakkel, A. P. Okladnikova, M. B. Chernenko. - M.-L., 1956-1969.
Belov M.I. Scientific and economic development of the Soviet North 1933-1945. - L.: Hydrometeorological Publishing House, 1969. - T. IV. — 617 p. — 2,000 copies.
http://www.photosight.ru/
photo: E. Gusev, A. Gorchukov
http://www.photohost.ru/
http://world.lib.ru/

Already from the name of this natural reservoir it is clear that it is located in the region of the northern coast of Eastern Siberia. The boundaries of the sea are mainly represented by conventional lines. Only in some parts is it limited to land. Previously, before the beginning of the 20th century, the sea had several names, including Indigirka and Kolyma. Now it is called East Siberian.

By reading the article, you can find out more detailed information about this body of water: characteristics, climatic conditions. It also describes the resources of the East Siberian Sea and the problems that exist today.

Location

The entire sea is located beyond the Arctic Circle. Its southernmost point is located off the coast of Chaunskaya Bay. All its banks belong to Russian territory. The sea is located in the Arctic Ocean region. This is a place where the influence of the warm waters of the Atlantic Ocean is practically no longer felt, and the waters of the Pacific have not yet reached it.

The East Siberian Sea is marginal. It contains the New Siberian Islands (border with the Laptev Sea), Aion, Medvezhye and Shalaurova. The sea itself is located between the Novosibirsk Islands and Wrangel Island. Through straits it connects with the Chukchi and Laptev Seas.

Description and characteristics

In the central and western parts, the banks are sloping, and two lowlands adjoin the coast: Nizhne-Kolyma and Yana-Indigirskaya. The spurs of the Chukotka Highlands approach the coast of the eastern part (east of the mouth of the Kolyma). In some places, rocky cliffs have formed here. On Wrangel Island, on its western coast, they reach up to 400 meters in height. On the New Siberian Islands section, the coastline is monotonous and low-lying. The sea bed is formed by a shelf, whose relief is mostly flat, and it is inclined slightly northeast direction.

More deep places typical for the eastern region. The sea here has a depth of up to 54 meters, in the central and western parts - up to 20 meters, and in the northern regions - up to 200 meters (isobath - the boundary of the sea). The greatest depth of the East Siberian Sea is about 915 meters, and the average is 54 meters. In other words, this body of water is completely within the continental shallows.

The water surface area is 944,600 square meters. km. The waters of the sea communicate with the waters of the Arctic Ocean, and therefore the reservoir belongs to the type of marginal continental seas. The volume is approximately 49 thousand cubic meters. km. Almost all year round, the air temperature is below zero, so the sea waters are always covered with drifting large ice floes several meters thick.

Salinity

East Siberian Sea in the eastern and western parts has different salinity values. Due to the river flow in the eastern part, the salt concentration decreases. This figure here is about 10-15 ppm. At the confluence of large rivers with the sea, salinity practically disappears. Closer to the ice fields, the concentration increases to 30 units. There is also an increase in salinity with depth, where it can reach 32 ppm.

Relief

The coastline has large bends. In connection with this, the sea in some places pushes the boundaries of the land deeper into the continent, and in some places, on the contrary, the land protrudes far into the sea. There are also areas with an almost flat coastline. Small meanders are mainly found at river mouths.

The east and west coasts have very different topography. The coast washed by the sea from the mouth of the Kolyma to the New Siberian Islands has an almost monotonous landscape. The reservoir in these places borders swampy tundra. The banks here are flat and low.

A more diverse landscape is observed on the coast formed by east of the river Kalyma, but mountains predominate here. The sea up to the island of Aion is bordered by small hills, some of which have rather steep slopes. The Chaunskaya Bay area is characterized by low, steep banks.

A large area of ​​the seabed is covered with a small sedimentary cover. Islands in the East Siberian Sea are few in number. Most of them are formed due to the foundation. Based on research results (aeromagnetic surveys), it was determined that the composition of shelf sediments mainly includes sandy silt, pebbles and crushed boulders. There are suggestions that some of them are fragments of islands. They are spread throughout the territory by ice. To a greater extent, due to the predominance of flat terrain, the depth of the East Siberian Sea is only 20-25 meters.

Hydrology

Almost the entire year the reservoir is covered with ice. In the eastern areas, even in summer you can see perennial floating ice. They are driven away from the coast by continental winds to the north. Ice drifts in a northwesterly direction due to the circulation of water, which is affected by anticyclones at the North Pole.

The area of ​​the cyclonic circulation increases, and multi-year ice floes enter the sea from polar latitudes after the weakening of the anticyclone. To date, the current system in this reservoir has not been fully studied. But we can say with confidence that the water circulation of these places is characterized by a cyclonic character.

This reservoir, in comparison with other representatives of the Arctic Ocean basin, is characterized by not very high river flow. The rivers of the East Siberian Sea are few in number. The largest river flowing into the sea is the Kolyma. Its drainage is approximately 132 cubic meters. km per year. The second in this same characteristic is the Indigirka River, which brings in half the volume of water over the same period. All this has little effect on the overall hydrological situation.

The average annual precipitation is from 100 to 200 mm. Due to the absence of trenches with great depths in the sea and due to the fact that a significant area is represented by shallow water, surface waters occupy vast spaces.

Climate

In winter, the East Siberian Sea is influenced by southern and southwestern winds. Their speed is approximately 7 meters per second. also in winter time The climate of the sea is greatly influenced by the Siberian Maximum. Pacific cyclones, prevailing in the southeastern parts of the sea, bring snowstorms, strong winds and rather cloudy weather with constantly drizzling rain or sleet.

Flora and fauna

The fauna and flora of the East Siberian Sea are similar to the fauna and flora of the neighboring Laptev Sea, since both are typically arctic. The same mammals and birds, the same fish as in many other northern seas. Seals, narwhals, bearded seals and walruses live here. Polar bears inhabited the islands. These places are also popular with a huge number of nesting birds. You can meet geese here: white-fronted and bean geese. Also inhabited are the crested eider and the rather rare black goose. Large markets of birds gather: kittiwakes, gulls, guillemots.

The hunting of sea animals and fishing in coastal waters is carried out only by local residents. It should be noted that in areas of the river mouths here you can find large schools of white fish. The phytoplankton of the sea is represented by blue-green algae and diatoms. Sometimes pteropods and tunicates appear. The soil is replete with polychaetes, amphipod crustaceans and isopods. Representatives of mammals are beluga whales, seals, walruses and cetaceans (especially minke whales).

The resources of the East Siberian Sea in terms of flora and fauna are relatively poor. This is due, first of all, to rather harsh climate conditions. Only the most frost-resistant representatives took root in these places.

In conclusion about the problems

The problems of the East Siberian Sea are similar to those of most northern seas. For several years, the biological resources of the region, especially whales, have been destroyed. Today, this has led to a significant reduction in the number of these mammals, as well as the extinction of some species.

A global problem is the melting of glaciers, which negatively affects the local fauna. Mention should also be made of the results of human activity (development of hydrocarbon deposits), which negatively affected the condition of the reservoir.