Plan description of the geographical position of the Bering Sea. Bering Sea: geographical location, description
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 North Arctic Ocean, as well as with 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, a navigator and officer equipped his expedition to explore the then Beaver Sea. Russian fleet Victor Bering, who had Danish roots. 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 most deep point The Bering Sea is located 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.
Quite an impressive coastline is mainly capes and small bays - the coast is simply indented by them. Only a couple flows into the Bering Sea big rivers: the North American Yukon River, whose length reaches more than three thousand kilometers and the Russian Anadyr River, which is much shorter - only 1150 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 transition to 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.
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: Russian Federation and the United States of America.
Physical and geographical position of the Bering Sea
Coastline The sea is heavily indented by capes and bays. by the most large 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 period The air temperature above 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).
The shores of the Bering Sea are diverse; high, rocky, strongly indented bay shores are predominantly developed, 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 big amount 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). average temperature air in January - February 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 the spring summer time. Compared to the volume of the sea, the amount of freshwater runoff is small, but river waters come mainly to the northern regions of the sea, leading in summer to a noticeable desalination of the surface layer. Features of the 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 cross section with a total area of 730 km 2 and a depth of more than 4000 m (Kamchatsky Strait), which contributes to good water exchange with the 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 up to 60° north latitude is covered heavy ice. 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 the easternmost Russian sea, stretching between Kamchatka and America. Area - 2304 thousand square meters. km. Volume - 3683 thousand cubic meters. km. The average depth is 1598 meters.
In the north, the Bering Sea connects with the Chukchi Sea, in the south it borders on the Aleutian Islands and the open ocean.
Many rivers flow into the Bering Sea, the largest are Anadyr, Yukon, Apuka. The sea is named after Vitus Jonassen Bering, leader of the Great Northern Expedition.
The history of the discovery and development of the Bering Sea goes back to the distant past and is associated with the names of the great pioneers who left their names in history forever.
After the conquest of Siberia by Ermak, the Cossack gangs, and with them many Russian merchants and hunters, began to penetrate further east, to the very coast of the Pacific Ocean. From them, the Russian rulers and the boyars learned about the untold riches Eastern Siberia. Furs, red caviar, valuable fish, skins, gold and the wealth of unknown China became the reason for the rapid development of this region. Since the delivery of these goods by land route was fraught with great difficulties, they began to think about opening a sea route along the northern coast, in order to reach America, Japan and China by sea.
Peter the Great paid special attention to this and contributed to this in every possible way. Even in his last days, he gave instructions to Admiral General Apraksin in which he wrote his orders:
1
. It is necessary to make one or two boats with decks in Kamchatka or in another customs place.
2
. On these boats near the land that goes to the north, and by hope (they don’t know the end of it) it seems that that land is part of America.
3
. And in order to look for where it met with America; and in order to get to which city of the European possessions, or if they see which European ship, visit from it, as it is called, and take the kust on a letter, and visit the shore themselves, and take a genuine statement, and putting it on the map, come here.
Peter did not live to see the implementation of these plans, although in January 1725, just three weeks before his death, he appointed one of the best sailors of that time, Vitus Bering, a Dane who served in the Russian fleet, as the leader of the first Kamchatka expedition. Already after his death, Vitus Bering led an expedition that traveled by land through all of Siberia to Okhotsk. In winter, the expedition crossed on dogs to Kamchatka and there in Nizhnekamchatsk a ship was built for a sea voyage. It was a packet boat 18 meters long, 6.1 meters wide, with a draft of 2.3 meters. It was made according to the drawings of the St. Petersburg Admiralty and at that time was considered one of the best warships. On June 9, 1728, during the launching of the boat, the day of the holy archangel Gabriel was celebrated and the boat was given the name "Saint Gabriel".
July 13, 1728 on the boat "St. Gabriel" the expedition moved north. During the voyage was made detailed map coasts and islands. The weather was favorable, and the ship sailed through the strait between Chukotka and America and on August 16 reached latitude 67°19′. Since the coast went west on the left, and the land was not visible on the right, besides, a storm was beginning, Bering turned back and returned to Kamchatka on September 3.
After wintering, on June 5, 1729, Bering and his team set sail for the second time in order to reach the land in the east, which was talked about by the inhabitants of Kamchatka. They almost reached the Commander Islands, but with the worsening weather, they were forced to return back and, fulfilling the requirement of the Admiralty Board, were engaged in surveying and describing the eastern coast of Kamchatka. The result of the voyage was a detailed map and description, which Bering presented to the Admiralty Board in St. Petersburg. The materials of the expedition were highly appreciated, and Bering was awarded the rank of captain-commander.
Under the rule of Anna Ioannovna, passions about the northern and eastern seas subsided somewhat. But after Vitus Bering presented his report to the Admiralty Board and new project expeditions to the shores of America and Japan and the exploration of the northern coast of Siberia with the promise of profits, interest in new sea routes was renewed. The project was expanded and the task was to explore the northern seas and coasts of Russia. It was planned to draw up Full description North in geographical, geological, botanical, zoological and ethnographic aspect. For this, seven independent detachments were created, five of which were to work on the entire coast of the Arctic Ocean from Pechora to Chukotka, and two in the Far East.
Bering was the commander of a detachment that had to find a way to North America and the islands in the North Pacific. In 1734, Bering went to Yakutsk, where it was necessary to prepare equipment and food for the campaign. But Peter's times have passed and the local authorities were not particularly zealous in organizing, on the contrary, much intended for the expedition was plundered or was of poor quality. Bering was forced to stay in Yakutsk for three years. Only in 1737 did he end up in Okhotsk. The local authorities of Okhotsk were also not very helpful in organizing the expedition and building ships. Only by the end of the summer of 1740, two packet boats, St. Peter and St. Paul, intended for the expedition, were built.
And only in September, Vitus Bering on the "St. Peter" and Alex Chirikov on the "St. Paul" were able to get to Avacha Bay in Kamchatka. There they were forced to stand up for the winter. The crews of the ships laid a prison, which became the capital of Kamchatka, named after the ships Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky.
After a difficult winter, only on June 4, 1741, Bering on the "St. Peter" and Chirikov on the "St. Paul" went on a campaign to the shores of America. But on June 20, in thick fog, the ships missed each other. After vain attempts to find each other, the ships followed separately.
Bering, moving east, on July 16, 1741, at a latitude of 58 ° 14 ′, reached the coast of North America. Having landed on Kayak Island and having replenished fresh water supplies, the expedition moved on. The landing on the American coast was very short-lived and, of course, did not give anything in terms of research. Either Bering was afraid of meeting with the local population, or he did not want to stay there for the winter. But he, without consulting anyone, gave the command to turn back.
I follow along the coast of Alaska and further along the Aleutian Islands, making their descriptions and putting on the map: the islands of St. John, the Shumaginsky and Evdokeevsky Islands, St. Stephen, St. Markian and Kodiak Island, St. Peter almost approached the shores of Kamchatka. But on November 5, only 200 km short of Kamchatka, the ship entered one of the islands to replenish water supplies. A storm broke out, a sharp cold snap, snow did not allow to continue swimming and the team was forced to stay for the winter. On November 28, during a storm, the packet boat was washed ashore.
Not everyone endured the difficult wintering conditions, out of 75 team members 19 people died of scurvy, on December 8 Vitus Bering, who at that time was already 60 years old, also died. The navigator, lieutenant Sven Waxel became the commander of the expedition. Vitus Beging was buried there on the island, which was named Bering Island in his honor, and the archipelago the Commander Islands.
During the following summer, 46 surviving crew members built a small vessel from the wreckage of a packet boat - a gookor, which was also named "St. Peter" and only in August 1742 they were able to get to Kamchatka.
Campaign "St. Paul" also abounded in adventure. Alexy Chirikov, after they missed Bering, continued sailing to the east and on July 15, at a latitude of 55 ° 21 ′, he approached the land on which mountains covered with forest were visible. The boat sent to the shore did not find a suitable place for setting up the vessel and disembarking, and they continued to move along the coast to the east. A second landing attempt was made two days later. A boat was sent to the shore, but it disappeared without a trace. On July 23, seeing a light on the shore, they sent a second boat, but it did not return either. So 15 crew members disappeared, either they became victims of the Indians, or drowned at high tide, the story is silent about this.
After waiting 10 days, Chirikov gave the command to move on. After passing another 230 miles along the coast, the team was unable to land on the beach. It was impossible to get close to the shore without damaging the ship, and there were no more boats. Fresh water was running out, food was running out. Nevertheless, they tried once again to land on the shore on rafts, but for two days a bay suitable for landing was not found. At the council convened by Chirikov, there was a decision to go back.
On the way home, off the Aleutian Islands, they met twice on boats. locals. Attempts to stock up on water and provisions did not lead to anything, the Aleuts asked for weapons for water, which the Russian sailors refused. And so, without a supply of water and food, they continued on their way to the house. On the way, many, including Chirikov, fell ill, midshipman Elagin took command of the ship, who on October 12, 1741 brought the packet boat St. Paul to Kamchatka. Of the 68 crew members, 49 returned from the campaign.
The next year, 1742, Chirikov tried to find Bering's missing ship. On May 25, he again went to sea, but because of the headwinds, he could only reach the islands of Attu. On the islands he came across along the way, he did not find anyone. As it turned out later, they passed very close to the island where Bering's expedition wintered, but the coast was invisible in thick fog, and on July 1 Chirikov returned to Kamchatka. This is how the route of the packet boats St. Peter and St. Paul looks on the map.
In August 1742, while in Yakutsk, Chirikov sent a report on the expedition to St. Petersburg. And in 1746 he himself was summoned to St. Petersburg, where he personally reported on the campaign. Being in the Admiralty Board, he proposed to found a city at the mouth of the Amur, in order to build a ship pier there and lay a fortress, which could be reached from the depths of Russia along the Amur. But no one considered his opinion, although later it was considered very far-sighted and in 1856 the port city of Nikolaevsk-on-Amur was built there.
Subsequently, Chirikov worked for a long time in Yeniseisk, compiled maps of Russian discoveries in the east, which were considered lost for a long time and only in Soviet times were discovered and used to map the Soviet Union. The brilliant officer of the Russian fleet, who reached the shores of North-West America, Alexei Chirikov, died in need in 1748 at the age of only 45, and his family was left forgotten and without a livelihood.
And yet, the work of Russian sailors, although many years later, gave its results. On the coast Far East and in Kamchatka large seaports, turned into modern cities. The Russian Pacific Fleet, despite numerous wars, became the most powerful in that region, and since 1818, at the suggestion of the Russian navigator and the head of two round-the-world expeditions, Vice-Admiral V. M. Golovnin, the Kamchatka Sea itself became known as the Bering Sea.
Due to its geographical position, the Bering Sea has its own characteristics. In the Bering Strait, the two continents closest to each other are Asia and America. The distance between them is about 90 kilometers. In the middle of the strait lie the Diomede Islands, separated by only five kilometers. West Island- Ratmanova - belongs to Russia, east island- Kruzenshtern - USA. Our state border with America passes between the islands.
The inhabitants of Ratmanov Island are the first in the country to welcome the coming day. Their time is 10 hours ahead of Moscow. Here, starting between the islands of the Bering Strait and following to the passage between the Commander and Aleutian Islands, the boundary of the change of day is drawn, which continues further south along the 180 ° meridian in the Pacific Ocean and is called the date change line, or demarcation line. Navigators going east to America, when crossing this line, rearrange the calendar a day ago and count the same day of the week twice. Navigators going west to Russia add a day ahead to the calendar date and skip one day of the week.
Strictly speaking, this operation should have been carried out not in the Bering Strait, but to the west of it, on the 180° meridian. But this meridian passes through the Chukchi Peninsula. Having two calendars in the same area would be extremely inconvenient. Therefore, it was agreed to move the line of the boundary of the day to the east, to the Bering Strait. And in the southern part of the Bering Sea, this line is shifted, on the contrary, to the west from the meridian 180 ° to the Commander Islands. This is done in order not to change the calendar day in the Aleutian Islands.
Thus, the Bering Strait plays an important role both in political relations and in the system of the modern calendar.
Of all the fourteen seas of Russia, the Bering Sea is the deepest. Depths greater than this lie only in the open ocean behind the Kuril and Aleutian Islands and east of Kamchatka. However, the northern part of the sea does not resemble the southern one in terms of bottom topography. The depths in it, on a vast area of about 1 million square kilometers, do not exceed several tens of meters.
The rise of the bottom in the northern part of the sea between the Koryak coast and the tip of the Alaska Peninsula is rather steep. The transition of the relief from the southern to the northern half of the sea can be compared with a sharp transition to a high mountain country, on the top of which there is a large plateau, indented by a number of hollows. This plateau is the bottom of the northern part of the sea. And the hollows are reminiscent of that geological era, when the entire plateau stood above sea level and was crossed by numerous rivers. Geologists have established that the rise and fall of land in this area occurred several times.
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During the last glaciation, the land was above its current level. In place of the northern part of the Bering Sea and the Bering Strait, a wide plain then spread. As with previous land uplifts, then Pacific Ocean had no connection with the Arctic Ocean. Asia and America were connected by a dry isthmus. This explains why now in Asia and America, despite their separation by the sea, there are identical land animals and plants.
They spread across two continents at a time when there was a "land bridge" between them. Mammoths, in particular, crossed this "bridge". People, the distant ancestors of the current North American tribes, could also pass through it from Asia to North America. This is reminiscent of the similarities in the appearance and culture of some tribes of Asia and America.
Then the land sank, the lowlands were covered with water, and the sea again lay between the two continents, as if no communication by land had ever existed. It took a long development of mankind and the growth of science to restore the history of the development of oceans and land.
The sinking of the "land bridge" happened not so long ago, only a few tens of thousands of years ago. So, from a geologic point of view, northern part The Bering Sea should be considered young.
The Bering Sea is now one of the most developed in the world, despite the harsh climatic conditions. The water temperature on the surface in summer + 7-8 °, in winter + 2 °. The salinity of the water is from 28-33‰. The tides in the Bering Sea are diurnal and semidiurnal. The average height of the water level fluctuation is 1.5-2m, in the Bering Strait it is only about 0.5m, and in the Bristol Bay it is sometimes 8 meters or more, the speed of the tides is 1-2 m/s. In the sea area, cyclones with winds up to 20-30 m/s are quite frequent, which cause strong and prolonged storms, the wave height is up to 14 m. long time In a year, most of the Bering Sea is covered with ice.
The Bering Sea has long been considered one of the most commercial seas. Only underwater inhabitants, there are more than 400 species. About 35 species are commercial, mainly salmon, cod and flounder. For many years, red caviar, obtained from salmon fish, has been the most expensive delicacy, which has been exported and exported from here in tons, while destroying millions of fish of valuable species. Some order is being introduced in this, but poaching is still flourishing.
A special article is occupied by crab fishing. Crab meat was once a food product only for Asians: Chinese, Japanese, etc. Over time, it gained popularity in many countries of the world. The Bering Sea is the place where the largest population of king crab and during the crab fishing season, thousands of ships from many countries come to the Bering Sea. Although the crab fishing season is only a few days, during this time more than 30 thousand tons of crab are managed to get out of the waters. Moreover, the allocated quotas are constantly violated by foreigners. But for many, this is the main income and often a family business.
The fauna of the Bering Sea is very diverse. A huge number of walruses, sea lions, seals, fur seals live in the waters. Often they can be seen on the open sea on ice floes.
On the Aleutian, Commander Islands, on the coast of Alaska and Chukotka, these marine animals arrange numerous rookeries where they breed their offspring.
Quite a lot of whales live in the waters of the Bering Sea. Once there were more of them here than anywhere else on the globe, but for many years they were actively hunted. Special whaling fleets were created here, including the Russian Slava and Aleut, which killed hundreds of whales and their population plummeted. Last years the number of whales is gradually increasing.
It is not uncommon to meet swimming polar bears in the open sea. Sometimes they stay for a long time on the shores, where there is more food than in the neighboring Chukchi Sea.
Very rich and varied animal world coast of the Bering Sea. A large number of different animals live in the forests: bears, elks, wolves, foxes, sable, martens, squirrels, arctic fox, ermine, etc. On the Chukotka Peninsula, numerous herds of reindeer have become one of the main wealth of this region.
Created a few years ago national park Beringia, located between Chukotka and Kamchatka, due to its protected status, has now become so populated with rare animals that it is becoming one of the most popular tourist destinations.
The number and variety of birds in the Bering Sea is simply incredible. They arrange huge bird markets on the rocky shores, where they breed their chicks. The population density of birds on some islands exceeds 200,000 birds per 1 sq. km.
This sea is the easternmost border of our country and therefore it is reliably protected. Border ships are on duty around the clock on the eastern sea border of our country.
Climatic conditions in the Bering Sea region: in Kamchatka, Kuril Islands and on the Chukotka Peninsula are quite severe. The temperature is below zero for almost 9 months of the year. severe snowy winters and cold winds are common here. And still, few of their people living on the coast of this very east sea agrees to move to the mainland.