East Siberian Sea.  East Siberian Sea Seas and oceans Eastern Siberia

The largest share of the Arctic Ocean is occupied by the Arctic Basin, which, by the nature of its bottom, is half shelf (the shelf is the underwater edge of the continent). The East Siberian Sea belongs to its shelf half, and this determines a lot about it. The silt on its bottom is mixed with sand, crushed small stones, and occasionally boulders are found that are witnesses to the geological history of the sea. It continues. The bottom topography is almost flat, with a slight slope from southwest to northeast, there are no sources of seismicity or volcanism, significant depressions or rises. Ideally, maps of the coasts of the East Siberian Sea should be adjusted every year. The main part of the coast (in the west and in the center) is swampy tundra captured by permafrost. In recent decades, the permafrost layer has gradually thinned and the coastline has changed its shape. The same applies to most islands, whose sandy soils are covered and interspersed with layers and fragments of fossil ice.
The most general characteristics location of the East Siberian Sea - between the New Siberian Islands and the island. Through the Dmitry Laptev, Eterikan, Sannikov straits and the strait north of the island Kotelny (Anjou archipelago) in the west is connected to the Laptev Sea, in the east - through the Long Strait - with. The conditional northern border coincides with the edge of the continental shelf. From the east, the border of the sea runs along the meridian of 180° east longitude to Wrangel Island, then along the northwestern coast of this island to Cape Blossom and along a conditional line connecting it with Cape Yakan on the Arctic coast of Chukotka. From the south, the coastal border of the sea extends from Cape Svyatoy Nos in the west to Cape Yakan.
Most The sea is covered with ice during the year, navigation is possible from August to October. The direction of ice drift depends on cyclonic processes in the atmosphere, which affects both the speed and direction of currents. In winter, an area of ​​high pressure develops near the pole; in addition, cyclones from the Atlantic penetrate to the western edge of the sea, although occasionally, not too often, and into its eastern regions from the Pacific Ocean, more often than the Atlantic. Plus, the spur of the Siberian High (an extensive anticyclone), reaching the coast and carrying cold air from the continent, has its influence. In summer, ice drifts to the northwest at a speed of 3-8 km per day. The most ice-free space is formed by the end of summer in the western part of the sea, when the so-called Novosibirsk (named after the islands) fast ice in the eastern part melts. The ice that separates from the Aion oceanic ice massif stays off the eastern shores of the sea, as a rule, all summer, retreating to the north only near the mouths of rivers with their warmer waters.
The sea acquired its current name only in 1935 at the request of the Russian Geographical Society. Before that, it was called either Indigirsky or Kolyma. Due to the harsh climate, the flora and fauna of the sea itself and the land in its region are not very diverse and lag behind even the neighboring seas. And yet, at the end of summer (the warmest period in the tundra), even daisies appear along the river banks. Among the ice, polar bears rule, hunting the walruses and seals that live here, herds of reindeer roam the tundra, arctic foxes run, guillemots, gulls, and cormorants nest on the rocks. At the mouths of rivers there are omul, whitefish, whitefish, polar smelt, salmon char and nelma, and other species. At the same time, it should be noted that the waters of the sea and the rivers flowing into it are pristinely clean; pollution that is not critical for the environment is observed in the area of ​​the Pevek port, where there are no treatment facilities yet, and the Chaunskaya Bay.

As for the history of human settlement of the shores of this sea, all information here is based mainly on theoretical calculations of the migration routes of the ancestors of the Evens, Evenks, Yakuts and Chukchi. Fantastic figures are cited up to 3 million years ago. But another figure seems more reliable, supported by archaeological finds in mainland Yakutia, about 10 thousand years ago. Although the question remains: did these people reach the ocean shore in prehistoric times? This is indirectly confirmed cave drawings near Pevek, but their age has not yet been established.
Since the 17th century Cossacks of Russian Cossacks set off across the sea. These were brave, experienced and passionate people, but also pragmatic, and they, of course, already knew something about the fur-bearing animals of these regions, and about the placer deposits of gold and tin in Indigirka and Kolyma. There is a mythology that the Pomors walked on “open water” off these shores back in the 13th century, but exact evidence of these events has not survived. The Cossack Mikhailo Stadukhin was the first to sail between the mouths of the Indigirka and Kolyma in 1644 and founded the Nizhnekolyma fort. In 1648, his assistant Semyon Dezhnev walked from the mouth of the Kolyma and further through the Long Strait to the Gulf of Anadyr, where he founded the city of Anadyr. The history of the discovery of the islands of the sea begins in 1712, when Mercury Vagin and Yakov Permyakov discovered the Big and Small Lyakhovsky Islands. During the Great Northern Expedition (1733-1743), the first maps of the sea were compiled. In 1849, Briton Henry Kellett discovered Wrangel Island (belonging to the East Siberian and Chukchi Seas) and named it after his ship - Herald. But in 1867, the American whaler Thomas Long gave it a different name: in honor of the Russian navigator Ferdinand Wrangel. Wrangel himself knew about the existence of the island from the Chukchi, but could not find it. The last of the sea archipelagos to be discovered were the De Long Islands, as a result of the drift of the American schooner Jeannette with captain J. De Long. In 1878-1879, the Swede N. Nordenskiöld became the first navigator who, in 1875, managed to navigate the Northern by sea along the entire coast of Asia (with one wintering). At the beginning of the 20th century. the sea was studied by geologist K.A. Vollosovich (1900-1901) and hydrographer G.Ya. Sedov (1909), as well as a hydrographic expedition of the Arctic Ocean on the icebreakers “Vaigach” and “Taimyr” (1911-1915). For the first time in one navigation, the Northern Sea Route (NSR) was traversed by the expedition of O. Yu. Schmidt in 1932 on the icebreaker steamer "Sibiryakov", transport transportation began in 1935. The modern period of navigation dates back to 1978, from the beginning of the use of nuclear-powered icebreakers of the "series" Arctic".
Ambarchik became the first port of the East Siberian Sea. In 1932, “enemies of the people”, mostly former “kulaks,” were brought here from Vladivostok along the Kolyma. In 1935, several thousand people already lived here, however, the word “lived” in this case is not entirely accurate; it was not a village, but a camp for Dalstroy, an industrial division of the Gulag. In 1935, a hydrometeorological station, the most important for monitoring this region of the Arctic, was opened here. And a transit prison for the repressed. ...And here is evidence from 2011: six people live at the station, the port no longer exists, although ships sometimes anchor in Ambarchik Bay. There are still some ruins from the Gulag era, surrounded by rusty barbed wire, but the modest monument to the victims of repression has not been abandoned. The port of Pevek was built in 1951, by the same forces, a city developed around it. But he, too, was affected by the economic cataclysms of the last 20 years, work became less and less, life became more and more expensive, the city’s infrastructure became worse and worse. And people, naturally, leave. However, Pevek still has prospects. Firstly, it works in conjunction with the port Cape Verde in Kolyma, which gives room for maneuver, secondly, it has deep-water berths, and most importantly, the program for the industrial development of Chukotka until 2020 has been adopted, and the development of significant gold deposits of Maiskoye and Kupol has begun.

general information

A sea in northeastern Russia, located entirely beyond the Arctic Circle, in the Arctic basin of the Arctic Ocean.
Location: between the New Siberian Islands and Wrangel Island.
Largest bays: Chaunskaya Bay, Kolyma Bay, Omulyakhskaya Bay.
Largest flowing rivers: Kolyma, Indigirka, Alazeya, Great Chukochia.
Large islands: Novosibirsk, Medvezhye, Aion Island.
The most important port: Pevek, 130 km from the mouth of the Kolyma, near the village of Chersky, is the port of Cape Verde.

Numbers

Area: 913,000 km2.
Volume: 49,000 km 3 .
Average depth: 54 m.
Water temperature in summer: from +4°С to +8°С (near river mouths), to 0°С and -1°С (in the open sea).
Water temperature in winter: from -1.2°C to -1.8°C.
Salinity: from 5-10% ° in the south to 30% ° in the north.
The area of ​​water desalinated by rivers is more than 36% of the total area of ​​the sea.
More than 70% of the sea basin has average depths (about 50 m).
Tides - up to 0.3 m, semidiurnal.
Annual river flow: about 250 km 3.

Economy

Part of the Northern Sea Route.
Fishing in estuaries.
Fishing for walrus and seal in the sea.

Climate and weather

Arctic.
Average January temperature: 30°C.
Average temperature in July:+2°C.
Average annual precipitation: 200 mm.

Attractions

■ Wrangel Island Nature Reserve, a UNESCO World Natural Heritage Site;
■ Pevek: Chaunsky regional museum of local lore, rock paintings on the banks of the Pegtylil river;
■ Barn: monument to victims of repression; in Ambarchik Bay - a memorial sign “Wind Rose” in honor of G.Ya. Sedova.

Curious facts

■ Kochi of Russian Pomors were first described by the British in the 16th century. The underwater part of the Kochi's body was ovoid in shape. The bottom, as well as the cut off bow and stern, protected these wooden ships from being crushed by ice. Kochi XVI-XVII centuries. They were about 20 m long and about 6 m wide on average, and could carry up to 40 tons of cargo. They covered 150-200 km per day, while English ships covered about 120 km. The shallow draft - up to 2 m - made it possible to transport kochis over land or ice by portage, and to walk on them in shallow water. The design features of the Kochi were first used by Fridtjof Nansen when creating his “Fram”, on which in 1893-1912. made three expeditions. Admiral S. O. Makarov, developing the design of the world's first Arctic-class icebreaker "Ermak" in 1897, on the advice of Nansen, also applied the shipbuilding ideas of the Pomors. They are also used in modern icebreakers.
■ Passing Cape Stolbovaya on a rocky island near Ambarchik Bay, all ships sound a long horn when they see a three-meter metal sign “Wind Rose”, installed in 1977 in memory of the polar explorer Georgy Yakovlevich Sedov (1877-1914). Sedov is one of the prototypes of Ivan Tatarinov in V. Kaverin’s novel “Two Captains”, along with Robert Scott, Georgy Brusilov and Vladimir Rusanov.
■ Before going to sea, the Pomors always turned to him in prayer, calling him “father.” And they never said about a comrade who died during a campaign, “drowned” or “died,” only this way: “the sea took over.”

Already from the name of this natural reservoir it is clear that it is located in the area north coast 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 warm waters is practically no longer felt Atlantic Ocean, and the waters of the Quiet 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 east of the Kalyma River, but mountains predominate here. The sea 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 in the sea with great depths and due to the fact that a significant area is represented by shallow water, surface waters occupy vast spaces.

Climate

IN winter period The East Siberian Sea is influenced by southern and southwestern winds. Their speed is approximately 7 meters per second. Also in winter, the Siberian Maximum has a great influence on the sea climate. 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 loved and a huge amount 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.

Only local residents engage in catching sea animals and fishing in coastal waters. 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.

East-Siberian Sea- marginal sea of ​​the Arctic Ocean, located between the New Siberian Islands and Wrangel Island. Surface area 913,600 km². Already from the name it is clear that this sea is located off the northern coast of Eastern Siberia. The boundaries of the East Siberian Sea are mainly conventional lines, and only in some parts is it limited by land. The waters of this sea communicate well with the waters of the Arctic Ocean, therefore the East Siberian Sea belongs to the type of continental marginal seas. There are very few islands in the waters of the East Siberian Sea. The sea coastline has large bends.

Sailing

The Cossacks who mastered Kolyma and Indigirka in the first half of the 17th century went downstream, went out to sea and went to Taimyr, where they dragged their way to the Yenisei, on the banks of which they hunted. The first exploratory voyage in the historical era was made by the Yakut Cossack Mikhailo Stadukhin in 1644. Stadukhin's assistant Semyon Dezhnev 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 mainland seashores and islands were described in the first half of the 18th century by the Great Northern Expedition. All these discoveries were made not on ships, but on sleds. In 1823, Wrangel heard a story from the Chukchi about big island in the north (not yet discovered Wrangel Island), where storms sometimes carried fishing boats away. Wrangel Island was discovered in 1849 by the British frigate Herald, approaching it from the Chukchi Sea. West Coast The islands were discovered in 1867 by the American whaler Thomas Long on the schooner Nile, whose ship passed between the mainland and the island through a strait that is now called Long's Strait. In September 1875, Baron Adolf Erik Nordenskiöld crossed the East Siberian Sea on the sailing and steam ship Vega - the first navigator who managed to navigate the Northern Sea Route along the entire coast of Asia. Then the De Long Islands were discovered. In 1913, the icebreaking steamships "Taimyr" and "Vaigach" discovered an island named after the assistant chief of the expedition, Vilkitsky. The last discovery was made by the next expedition of "Taimyr" and "Vaigach" on August 27, 1914, when Lieutenant Zhokhov, the watchman of "Vaigach", noticed an island with coordinates 76°10"N 153°E, which was named Zhokhov Island. After 1932 , when the icebreaker "Sibiryakov" passed the Northern Sea Route in one navigation, operations are made in the East Siberian Sea regular flights ships.

Bottom relief

The sea lies on the shelf. The underwater relief of the space occupied by the East Siberian Sea is a plain. This plain slopes slightly from southwest to northeast. The seabed is mostly flat, without significant depressions or hills. Most of the water expanses of the East Siberian Sea have a depth of up to 20 - 25 m. The deepest trenches are located on the bottom of the sea in the northeastern part from the mouths of the Indigirka and Kolyma rivers. There is an assumption that these trenches used to be areas of river valleys. But later these rivers were flooded by the sea. In the northeast of the sea there are quite deep places. Maximum depth - 915 meters.

Climate and hydrological regime

The climate of the East Siberian Sea has a distinctive feature: the sea is influenced by the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. The average temperature in January is approximately – 28 – 30 0 C. In winter, the weather is mostly clear. Only sometimes cyclones disrupt the established calm weather for several days. Atlantic cyclones, which prevail in the western part of the sea, contribute to stronger winds and higher temperatures. Pacific cyclones, which prevail in the southeastern part of the sea, bring strong winds, snowstorms and cloudy weather. The average July temperature is about 0+4 0 C. The decrease in temperature in the northern part of the sea is affected by the influence of Arctic ice. In the southern part of the sea, proximity to the warm continent contributes to an increase in temperature. The East Siberian Sea is characterized by cloudy weather in the summer. Very often there is light rain, and occasionally even sleet.

Sea water temperatures are low; in the north they are close to −1.8°C in both winter and summer. To the south in summer the temperature rises upper layers up to 5°C. The salinity of the sea is different in the western and eastern parts of the sea. River flow leads to a decrease in salinity to 10-15‰, and at the mouths of large rivers to almost zero. With depth, salinity increases to 32‰. The sea is covered with ice almost all year round. In the eastern part of the sea, floating multi-year ice remains even in summer.

Flora and fauna

Vegetable and animal world The East Siberian Sea is poor due to harsh ice conditions. But in the areas adjacent to the river mouths, you can find omul, whitefish, grayling, polar smelt, navaga, polar cod and flounder, salmonids - char and nelma. Mammals include walrus, seals, polar bear; of birds - guillemots, gulls, cormorants.

Economic importance

The coastal zone is characterized as an area with weak economic activity. Fishing has local significance. The Northern Sea Route passes through the East Siberian Sea; the main port is Pevek (Chaun Bay). The East Siberian Sea is a promising oil and gas bearing area, the development of which is difficult due to harsh natural conditions.

Ecology

The waters of the East Siberian Sea are relatively clean. Only in Pevek Bay there has been slight water pollution, but recently the environmental situation here has been improving. The waters of Chaunskaya Bay are slightly polluted with petroleum hydrocarbons.

It is called the harshest among all the northern seas, located at a large distance from the warm waters of the Atlantic Ocean. The East Siberian Sea, which washes the northern shores of Russia in the East, for 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, the entire coastline is deeply cut into the land or protrudes from the sea and forms large bends, small meanders lead to river mouths.

As for nature coastline, then 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. Works here major port Pevek, he 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. Locals European smelt, capelin, cod and herring are caught 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.

EAST SIBERIAN SEA, a marginal sea of ​​the Arctic Ocean off the northeastern coast of Asia, between the New Siberian Islands and Wrangel Island. In the west it borders on the Laptev Sea, connecting with it through the Dmitry Laptev, Eterikan and Sannikov straits, in the east - on the Chukchi Sea, with which it is connected by the Long Strait. The northern border runs along the edge of the continental shelf, approximately along an isobath of 200 m (79° north latitude). Area 913 thousand km 2, volume 49 thousand km 3. The greatest depth is 915 m.

The coastline is relatively weakly indented. Bays: Chaunskaya Bay, Kolyma Bay, Omulyakhskaya and Khromskaya Bays. Islands: Novosibirsk, Bear, Aion and Shalaurov. Some islands are composed entirely of fossil ice and sand and are subject to intense destruction. Large rivers flow into the sea: Kolyma, Alazeya, Indigirka, Khroma. The coast of the western part of the sea (up to the Kolyma River) is low-lying and composed of permafrost alluvial-marine sediments of Quaternary age, including lenses of fossil ice. East Coast(from the Kolyma River to the Long Strait) mountainous, steep in places, composed of bedrock; A denudation type of coastline is developed here.

Relief and geological structure bottom. The East Siberian Sea is located mainly within the shelf, 72% of its bottom area has depths of up to 50 m. The shelf is located within the North American lithospheric plate. The underwater relief of the shelf, which forms the bed of the sea, is a plain, slightly inclined from southwest to northeast. The bottom of the western part of the sea is a flat, shallow plain, where the Novosibirsk Shoal is located. In the southern part, shallow troughs are noted - traces of ancient river valleys of pre-glacial and glacial times. The greatest depths are in the northeastern part. The seabed is composed of folded complexes (Mesozoic in the south and, possibly, more ancient in the north), dissected by Late Mesozoic rift structures and covered by a thin cover of Cenozoic sediments. Modern bottom sediments consist mainly of sandy silt containing crushed boulders and pebbles carried by ice.

Climate. The climate of the East Siberian Sea is arctic. In winter, under the influence of the Siberian High, cold southwestern and southern winds prevail over the sea. Average air temperatures in February range from -28 to -30 °C (minimum -50 °C); in July in the southern part from 3 to 7 °C, in the northern part - from 0 to 2 °C. In summer, the weather over the East Siberian Sea is mostly cloudy with light drizzle and sometimes sleet; Northerly winds predominate. In autumn, on the coast, the speed of northwestern and northeastern winds increases to 20-25 m/s; At a distance from the coast, the strength of storm winds reaches 40-45 m/s, and hair dryers contribute to the intensification of the wind. 100-200 mm of precipitation falls annually.

Hydrological regime. The continental runoff into the East Siberian Sea is relatively small and amounts to about 250 km 3 /year, of which the flow of Kolyma is 123 km 3 /year, Indigirka is 58.3 km 3 /year. All river flow flows into southern part sea, 90% - in summer. The main part of the East Siberian Sea is occupied by surface Arctic waters. In the estuarine areas, waters formed as a result of mixing river and sea water are common. In winter, near river mouths, the temperature of surface waters varies from -0.2 to -0.6 °C, and at the northern border of the sea from -1.7 to -1.8 °C. In summer, the temperature distribution of surface waters is determined by ice conditions. In bays and bays 7-8 °C, in ice-free areas 2-3 °C, and at the ice edge about 0 °C. The salinity of surface waters increases from southwest to northeast from 10-15‰ near river mouths to 30-32‰ at the ice edge. For most of the year, the East Siberian Sea is covered with ice. In the eastern part, floating ice remains off the coast even in summer. A characteristic feature of the ice is the development of fast ice, which is most widely distributed in the western shallow part of the sea, where its width reaches 600-700 km; V central regions- 250-300 km, east of Cape Shelagsky it occupies a narrow coastal strip of 30-40 km. By the end of summer, the thickness of the fast ice is 2 m. Behind the fast ice there is drifting ice - annual and biennial ice, 2-3 m thick; Ice drift depends on the circulation of air masses. In the north there is multi-year Arctic ice. In the western part of the sea, between fast ice and drifting ice, there is a perennial polynya through which the Northern Sea Route passes. The existence of the polynya in winter is associated with squeezing winds and tidal currents. In the eastern part, the fast ice meets the drifting ice and the polynya closes. The currents form a cyclonic gyre; in the northern part the current is directed to the west, in the southern part - to the east. The tides are regular semidiurnal, the amplitude of level fluctuations is up to 25 cm.

History of the study. The beginning of the development of the East Siberian Sea by Russian sailors dates back to the 17th century, when voyages were made along the coast between river mouths on Kochs. In 1648, S. Dezhnev and F. Popov sailed from the Kolyma River to the Bering Strait and to the Anadyr River. In the 18th century, the first works were carried out to describe the coast and islands of the East Siberian Sea, and maps were compiled. Particularly significant work was done by the participants of the Great Northern Expedition (1733-43). The contours of the coast were clarified by the Ust-Yansk and Kolyma expeditions led by P. F. Anzhu (1822) and F. P. Wrangel (1820-24), islands in the East Siberian Sea were named after them. In the 20th century, maps were updated by K. A. Vollosovich (1909) and G. Ya. Sedov (1909), as well as during the work of a hydrographic expedition in the Arctic Ocean (1911-14). After 1932, when the icebreaker Sibiryakov passed the Northern Sea Route in one navigation, regular ship voyages were made to the East Siberian Sea.

Economic use. The coastal zone is characterized as an area with weak economic activity. The flora and fauna of the East Siberian Sea are poor due to harsh ice conditions. But in the areas adjacent to the river mouths, you can find omul, whitefish, grayling, polar smelt, navaga, polar cod and flounder, salmonids - char and nelma. Mammals include the walrus, seals, and polar bear; of birds - guillemots, gulls, cormorants. Fishing is of local importance. The Northern Sea Route passes through the East Siberian Sea; the main port is Pevek (Chaun Bay). The East Siberian Sea is a promising oil and gas bearing area, the development of which is difficult due to harsh natural conditions.

Ecological state. In general, the ecological situation in the East Siberian Sea is characterized as favorable due to the weak economic use of this area. The shallow-water shelf, exposed to the influence of river runoff, is slightly polluted, and as a result of thermal abrasion destruction of the coast, greenhouse gases (carbon dioxide and methane) enter the atmosphere.

Lit.: Zalogin B.S., Kosarev A.N. Seas. M., 1999.