Altitude of the Laptev Sea. The harsh sea of ​​the Laptevs

The salinity of sea water at the surface in the northwestern part of the sea is 28 ppm, in the southern part - up to 15 ppm, near the mouths of rivers - less than 10 ppm. Runoff has a strong influence on the salinity of surface waters. Siberian rivers and melting ice. With increasing depth, salinity increases rapidly, reaching 33 ppm.

The Laptev Sea is a marginal sea of ​​the Arctic Ocean. located between northern shores Siberia in the south, the Taimyr Peninsula, the Severnaya Zemlya Islands in the west and the New Siberian Islands in the east, and got its name in honor of Russian polar explorers, cousins ​​Dmitry and Khariton Laptev. The harsh North Sea has difficult story its research and establishment of precise boundaries.

Geographical position

The area of ​​the Laptev Sea is 672 thousand square meters. km. The largest river flowing into the Laptev Sea is the Lena with its large delta. Rivers also flow into the sea: Khatanga, Anabar, Olenyok, Yana.

By type of location, the Laptev Sea is marginal. The neighboring sea is the Kara Sea, with which the Laptev Sea is connected by the Vilkitsky Strait, as well as the East Siberian Sea, with which it is connected by the Sannikov and Dmitry Laptev Straits.

Rice. 1. Laptev Sea on the map

The coastline is strongly indented and forms bays and bays of various sizes. The coastal landscape is varied, with low mountains. Major bays:

• Khatanga;
• Oleneksky;
• Thaddeus;
• Jansky;
• Anabar;
• bay of Maria Pronchishcheva;
• Ebelyakh Bay;
• Bay of Buor-Khaya.

Bottom relief

Maximum depth - 3385 meters, average depth- 540 meters. More than half of the sea is occupied by a gently sloping continental shelf. Where the shelf is located, the average depth is about 50 meters. In the northern part of the sea, the bottom abruptly breaks off to the ocean bed with depths of the order of one kilometer. In shallow areas, the bottom is covered with sand and silt mixed with pebbles and boulders. At great depths, the bottom is covered with silt.

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a brief description of

The main characteristic of the Laptev Sea is low temperature water. In winter, under the ice, the water temperature ranges from -0.8 ° C in the southeastern part to -1.8 ° C. Above a depth of 100 meters, the entire layer of water has negative temperatures (up to -1.8 ° C). IN summer time The nature of the temperature distribution of surface waters is largely related to the position of the ice edge, which determines the area of ​​the sea subject to summer heating.

The salinity of the Laptev Sea increases rapidly with increasing depth. This indicator is strongly influenced by:

• melting ice;
• runoff of Siberian rivers.

Due to relatively weak winds and shallow depths, the Laptev Sea is relatively calm, with waves usually within 1 m. In July-August, waves up to 4-5 m high can be observed in the open sea, and in autumn they can reach 6 m.

Rice. 2. The Laptev Sea is almost always covered in ice

The frosty winters of the Arctic cause significant formation of sea ice, which covers the sea for almost the entire year. The development of ice is also facilitated by the shallowness of the sea and the low salinity of its surface waters. As a result, the Laptev Sea is the largest source of Arctic sea ice.

Despite the freezing of the sea, navigation is the main human activity in the region, and one of major ports is Tiksi.

Rice. 3. Port of Tiksi

Biological resources of the Laptev Sea

Features of the organic world of the Laptev Sea are due to its extremely harsh climate. The vegetation of the sea is represented by diatoms and a small amount of green and blue-green algae. There are also about 30 species of zooplankton in the sea. The flora of the coast is represented by mosses, lichens and several species of flowering plants.

Mammals constantly live here: walrus, sea hare, seal, harp seal, arctic fox, reindeer, wolf, ermine, polar hare and polar bear.

Despite the extremely harsh climate, sea ​​coast There are dozens of species of birds. Some of them are sedentary and live here permanently (bunting, snowy owl, black goose), while others roam the polar regions or migrate from the south, creating large colonies on the islands and the coast of the mainland (razorbill, white and polar gull, murre).

To the main environmental issues The Laptev Seas include:

• pollution from numerous factories and mines;
• periodic oil spills;
• sunken and floating decaying wood.

What have we learned?

According to the plan for the 8th grade of the geography course, we learned which ocean basin the Laptev Sea belongs to, whether it is marginal or inland, who discovered and after whom this northern sea is named. Briefly describe it, it is a shallow, not too salty sea of ​​the Arctic Ocean, with a harsh climate, which is covered with ice almost all year round.

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The Laptev Sea is located on the continental plate of the Eurasian continent. Its borders are the Kara Sea, the basin of the Arctic Ocean and the East Siberian Sea. It owes its name to the Laptev brothers, who devoted their lives to exploring the North. Its other names - Nordenskiöld and Siberian - are less relevant. The area of ​​the sea is 672,000 sq. km., depths up to 50 meters predominate everywhere. Only a fifth of the bottom is submerged by more than 1000 meters. The maximum depth was recorded in the Nansen Basin and is equal to 3385 m. deep places and sandy-silty - in smaller ones.

Due to the huge number of rivers flowing into the Nordenskiöld, the surface of the sea has a low concentration of salt. Most of the water the Laptev Sea receives from Khatanga and Lena - the main arteries of Siberia. The sea temperature is rarely above zero. This is one of the most harsh places on the planet.

But life did not disregard this part of our planet. Despite the fact that the surface of the sea is almost always covered with ice and despite the small amount sunlight, you can find vegetation on the shore. The flora here is represented by various diatoms and other microscopic algae. Planktonic microorganisms can also be found.

The coastline is heavily indented. The steep banks are dotted with birds that come here to raise their offspring. Gulls, guillemots, guillemots and many other birds hatch their chicks here. Bird eggs attract small predators such as arctic foxes, who are not averse to indulging in the delicacy. also attract larger animals such as the polar bear. Along the mainland along the coast there are also stars, mollusks and other small inhabitants of the deep sea.

There are about 40 species of fish in the Laptev Sea - these are cod, omul, and many others. Mining is not possible due to the ice crust on the surface. Sports fishing also poorly developed due to the remoteness of the sea from residential areas.

Mammals here are represented by walruses, minke whales, seals and beluga whales. Their extraction is also absolutely undeveloped for the reasons described above. Nothing is known about the existence of sharks in the waters of the Laptev Sea. But we can assume that such conditions are quite suitable for polar sharks. During warmer times neighboring seas can get here

IN Lately began to appear a large number of projects related to offshore and gas. This is due to the low depths over most of the area of ​​the entire sea. A good study of the bottom in seismic terms provides excellent prerequisites for conclusions about the high content of oil and gas. Shallow depths allow drilling not from special offshore platforms, but from man-made islands.

Currently, the oil companies Lukoil and Rosneft are planning to drill the first wells in the Laptev Sea. Each, in turn, will have to bring foreign partners to the shelf. It remains only to wait for the moment when the development of the Laptev Sea will nevertheless begin.

Between the Severnaya Zemlya archipelago and the Taimyr Peninsula in the west and the New Siberian Islands in the east lies a sea that bears the name of the Russian navigators, the Laptev brothers. Its western border runs along the eastern shores of the Severnaya Zemlya Islands from the Arctic Cape (Komsomolets Island), through the Strait of the Red Army along the eastern shore of the island. October Revolution to m. Anuchin, through the Shokalsky Strait to m. Sandy on about. Bolshevik and along its eastern shore to Cape Vaigach, then along the eastern border of the Vilkitsky Strait and further along the mainland coast to the top of the Khatanga Bay. northern border sea ​​goes from Cape Arctic to the point of intersection of the meridian of the northern tip of about. Kotelny (cape Anisiy) with the edge of the continental shallow (79 ° N, 139 ° E), the eastern border - from this point along the meridian to about. Kotelny, further along its western shore, through the Sannikov Strait, along the western shores of the Bolshoy and Maly Lyakhovsky Islands and along the western border of the Dmitry Laptev Strait to Cape Svyatoy Nos. The southern boundary of the sea runs along the mainland coast from this cape to the top of the Khatanga Bay.

The Laptev Sea belongs to the type of continental marginal seas. Its area is 662 thousand km 2, volume - 353 thousand km 3, average depth - 533 m, greatest depth- 3385 m.

There are several dozens of islands in the Laptev Sea, most of which are located in the western part of the sea. Most major islands- Komsomolskaya Pravda, Vilkitsky and Thaddeus. Among the single islands, Starokadomsky, Maly Taimyr, Bolshoy Begichev, Peschany, Stolbovoy and Belkovsky stand out for their size. Many small islands are located in river deltas.

The coasts of the sea are quite strongly indented and form bays, bays, bays, peninsulas and capes of various shapes and sizes. The eastern shores of the islands are significantly dissected Severnaya Zemlya and the Taimyr Peninsula. East of it coastline forms several large bays(Khatanga, Anabarsky, Oleneksky, Yansky), bays (Kozhevnikova, Nordvik, Tiksi), bays (Buor-Khaya, Vankina) and peninsulas (Khara-Tumus, Nordvik). West Coast New Siberian Islands cut much less.

By their nature, the coasts of the sea are quite diverse. There are both abrasion and accumulative ones, and there are also ice shores. Sometimes they come to the water low mountains, most of the coast is low-lying.

Climate

The Laptev Sea is one of the most severe Arctic seas. Its climate, generally maritime polar, also has signs of continentality, which is most clearly manifested in the relatively large annual fluctuations in air temperature.

In the cold season, the sea is located mainly in the area of ​​high atmospheric pressure - the Siberian anticyclone. In autumn, unstable winds gradually become south direction and intensify to storms. Cyclones pass less often, cloudiness decreases.

In winter, the Laptev Sea is affected by three large baric systems. Above the southeastern part lies a spur of the Siberian anticyclone, the center of which is near Yansky Bay. The crest of the polar maximum extends from the north. In the western part of the sea, the influence of the Icelandic low is sometimes observed. In accordance with such baric conditions, southern and southwestern winds with an average speed of about 8 m/s prevail in this season. By the end of winter, their speed decreases, calms are often observed. The air becomes very cold. The air temperature over the sea generally decreases from northwest to southeast in January and in the area of ​​Tiksi Bay it is -26 - 29°. Calm and partly cloudy winter weather is sometimes interrupted by cyclones passing several south of the sea. They cause intense cold northern winds and blizzards that last only a few days.

At the beginning of the warm season, the destruction of atmospheric pressure regions begins. The baric situation is generally similar to the winter one, but somewhat more blurred, so the spring winds are very unstable in direction. In addition to the south, north winds sometimes blow. The winds are usually gusty but not strong. The air temperature is steadily rising. Cloudy, rather cold weather prevails. In summer, the Siberian maximum is absent, and the polar maximum appears rather weakly. To the south of the sea, the pressure is somewhat lower; above the sea itself, it is slightly higher. As a result, northern winds blow most often at a speed of 3-4 m/s. strong winds(with velocities greater than 20 m/s) are not observed in summer. Average monthly temperature air in August is the maximum of the year, in the central part of the sea the temperature is 1-5 °. On the coast, in closed bays, the air sometimes (albeit very rarely) warms up quite significantly (up to 32.7 ° in Tiksi). Summer is characterized by increased cyclonic activity. At this time over southern part the seas are cyclones, which are filled here. Then cloudy weather sets in over the sea with continuous drizzling rain. At the end of August, the Siberian pressure maximum begins to form, which marks the transition to autumn.

Thus, the Laptev Sea most year is under the influence of the Siberian anticyclone. This causes a relatively weak cyclonic activity and mainly light winds having a monsoon character.

Prolonged and strong cooling with a calm wind regime of winter is the most important climatic feature of the sea. Another very important factor in the formation of the natural appearance of the Laptev Sea is the continental runoff. Many small and several major rivers. The largest of them - Lena - annually brings an average of about 515 km 3 of water, Khatanga - over 100, Yana - more than 30, Olenyok - about 35 and Anabar - about 20 km 3. All other rivers provide about 20 km 3 of water per year. The total annual runoff to the sea is about 720 km3, which is 30% of the total runoff to all Arctic seas. However, the distribution of runoff is very uneven in time and space. About 90% of the annual flow falls on the summer months (June-September), of which about 35-40% of the annual flow falls in August, while in January it barely reaches 5%. This character of the distribution of runoff during the year is explained by the fact that the rivers flowing into the Laptev Sea are fed by snow, and the vast majority of their waters enter the southeastern part of the sea (the Lena alone provides 70% of the total coastal runoff). Depending on the amount of water brought by the rivers and the hydrometeorological situation river waters then spread to the northeast, reaching the northern tip of about. Kotelny, then far to the east, leaving through the straits to the East Siberian Sea. A large continental runoff leads to freshening of waters in vast expanses of the sea, especially in its southern and eastern parts.

Water temperature and salinity

The Laptev Sea (like the Kara Sea) is dominated by surface arctic waters. In zones of strong influence of coastal runoff, as a result of the mixing of river and surface Arctic waters, water with a relatively high temperature and low salinity is formed. At the boundary of their division (horizon 5-7 m), large salinity and density gradients are created. In the north, in deep gutter, warm Atlantic waters are common over the surface Arctic water, but their temperature is somewhat lower than in the Kara Sea trenches. They penetrate here 2.5 - 3 years after they start their journey near Svalbard. In the deeper (compared to the Kara) Laptev Sea, the horizons from 800-1000 m to the bottom are occupied by cold near-bottom Arctic water with a temperature of –0.4-0.9° and almost uniform (34.90-34.95‰) salinity.

For most of the year, the water temperature is close to freezing and drops rapidly after the summer maximum. In winter, the surface water temperature varies from –0.8° (near Mostakh Island) to –1.7° (near Cape Chelyuskin), which is associated with differences in salinity in these areas.

In the first spring months, the ice melts, so the water temperature remains almost the same as in winter. Only in coastal areas(especially in the estuarine areas), which are cleared of ice earlier than others, the water temperature is somewhat higher than in the central regions. It generally decreases from south to north and from east to west. During the summer, the surface of the sea warms up noticeably. In August, in the south (Buor-Khaya Bay), the water temperature on the surface can reach 10 and even 14 °, in the central regions it is 3 - 5 °, at the northern tip of about. Boiler 0.8 ° and at Cape Chelyuskin 1 °. In general, the western part of the sea, where the cold waters of the Arctic basin come, is characterized by a lower (2 - 3 °) water temperature than the eastern, where the bulk of warm river waters are concentrated, and the surface temperature here can reach 6 - 8 °.

The temperature of the water decreases rapidly with depth. In winter, in areas with depths up to 50 - 60 m, the water temperature is the same from the surface to the bottom. IN coastal zone it is equal to -1-1.2°, and in the open sea about -1.6°. IN northern regions on the horizons of 50-60 m, the water temperature rises by 0.1-0.2 ° due to the inflow of other waters.

In the north, in the region of a deep trench, negative temperatures are observed from the surface to 100 m. Below, it begins to rise (up to 0.6-0.8 °) to about 300 m and then slowly decreases towards the bottom. High temperatures (above zero) in the 100-300 m layer are associated with the penetration of warm Atlantic waters into the Laptev Sea from the Central Arctic Basin.

In summer, the upper layer 10-15 m thick warms up well and has a temperature of 8-10° in the south-eastern part and 3-4° in the central regions. Deeper than these horizons, the temperature drops sharply and reaches -1.4-1.5° at the horizon of 25 m. These or similar values ​​remain until the very bottom. In the western part of the sea, where warming is less, such sharp differences in temperature are not observed.

Salinity in the Laptev Sea is very heterogeneous: in summer it varies from 1 to almost 31‰, but in surface layer desalinated waters with a salinity of 20-30‰ predominate, and its distribution is very complex. In general, it increases from the southeast to the northwest and north.

In winter, with minimal river runoff and intense ice formation, salinity increases. At the same time (as in summer) in the west, it is higher (near Cape Chelyuskin - 34‰ than in the east (near Kotelny Island - 25‰). This high salinity lasts for quite a long time, only in June, with the beginning of ice melting, does it begin to decrease .

Most desalinated in summer southeastern part seas. In the Buor-Khaya Bay, salinity drops to 5‰ and lower; to the west of the Lyakhovsky Islands, it rises (10-15‰). More saline waters (30 - 32‰) spread in the west of the sea. They are located somewhat north of the line about. Petra - m. Anisy. Thus, desalinated water exits to the north in the eastern part of the sea, and saline waters descend to the south in the western part of the sea.

Salinity increases with depth, but there are seasonal differences in its distribution. In winter, in shallow water, it increases from the surface to horizons of 10-15 m, and below and to the bottom it remains almost unchanged. At great depths, salinity noticeably increases not from the surface itself, but from the underlying horizons. The spring vertical distribution of salinity begins with the time of intensive melting of snow and ice. At this time, salinity rapidly decreases in the surface layer and retains winter values on the lower horizons.

In summer, in the zone of distribution of river waters, the upper layer (5 - 10 m) is very desalinated, below there is a very sharp increase in salinity. In a layer from 10 to 25 m, the salinity gradient in some places reaches 20‰ per 1 m. In the northern part of the sea, salinity increases relatively quickly from the surface to 50 m, hence, up to 300 m, salinity increases more slowly (in the range from 29 to 33 - 34‰) deeper, it hardly changes.

Autumn in southern regions the summer jump in salinity is gradually eroded.

In the Laptev Sea, the density distribution is more related to salinity than to temperature. This is explained by the large range of salinity and the weak effect of low water temperature on the density.

Density increases from southeast to northwest. In winter and autumn, the water is denser than in summer and spring. In winter and early spring, the density is almost the same from the surface to the bottom. In summer, large salinity and temperature gradients at 10-15 m horizons also determine a sharp drop in density. In autumn, due to the cooling and salinization of surface waters, their density increases.

Density stratification of waters is clearly seen from late spring to early autumn. It is most pronounced in the southeastern and central regions of the sea and near the ice edge.

Port in the Arctic

Bottom relief

The bottom of the Laptev Sea is an almost undissected plain, gently descending to the north. Several gutters, low hills and cans stand out here. A wide but short chute is located opposite the Lena delta, a funnel-shaped chute is located near the Oleneksky Bay, a narrow and long chute leaves from about. Stolbovoy to the north. In the eastern part of the sea, the Semenovskaya and Vasilievskaya banks rise. Half of the entire area of ​​the sea is occupied by depths up to 50 m, and to the south of 76 ° N. they do not exceed 25 m. Northern part the sea is much deeper. At a depth of 100 m, the bottom drops sharply. The appearance of the sea is formed mainly by the waters of the southern part with depths of 25-100 m.

Bottom relief and currents of the Laptev Sea

currents

Wind mixing in the ice-free spaces of the sea is poorly developed due to relatively weak winds in the warm season and the large ice cover of the sea. During spring and summer, the wind mixes only the uppermost layers up to 5-7 m thick in the east and up to 10 m thick in the western part of the sea.

Strong autumn-winter cooling and intense ice formation cause active development of convective mixing. Due to the relatively high degree of water homogeneity and early ice formation, density mixing penetrates most deeply (up to 90-100 m horizons) in the north of the sea. In the central part, convection reaches the bottom (40-50 m) by the beginning of winter, and in the southern part, due to large vertical salinity gradients, even at shallow (up to 25 m) depths, it spreads to the bottom only by the end of winter.

In general, the sea is characterized by the usual cyclonic circulation. The coastal current, moving along the coast of the mainland from west to east, deviates to the north and northwest near the eastern shores and, in the form of the New Siberian Current, goes beyond the sea, connecting with the Transarctic Current of the Central Arctic Basin. From it, at the northern tip of Severnaya Zemlya, the East Taimyr current branches off to the south, which moves south along the eastern shores of Severnaya Zemlya and the Taimyr Peninsula and closes the cyclonic ring. A small part of the waters of the coastal flow goes through the Dmitry Laptev and Sannikov straits into the East Siberian Sea.

The current velocities in this circulation are small (2 cm/s). Depending on the large-scale baric situation, the center of cyclonic circulation can shift from the middle of the northern part of the sea towards Severnaya Zemlya. Accordingly, there are branches from the main streams. Tidal currents are superimposed on constant currents.

In the Laptev Sea, tides are well expressed, everywhere having an irregular semidiurnal character. A tidal wave enters from the north from the Central Arctic Basin, damping and deforming as it moves south. The magnitude of the tide is usually small, mostly about 0.5 m. Only in the Khatanga Bay, the range of tidal level fluctuations exceeds 2 m in syzygy. This is due to the well-known funnel effect observed, for example, in the Bay of Fundy. The tidal wave that came to the Khatanga Bay (“funnel”) grows in size and spreads almost 500 km up the river. Khatanga. This is one of the cases of deep penetration of the tidal wave up the river. However, the phenomenon of boron in Khatanga is not observed. In other rivers flowing into the Laptev Sea, the tide almost does not set. It attenuates very close to the mouths, as the tidal wave is extinguished in the deltas of these rivers.

In addition to tidal fluctuations in the Laptev Sea, seasonal and surge fluctuations in the level are observed. seasonal changes levels are generally negligible. Most of all, they are expressed in the southeastern part of the sea, in areas close to the mouths of the rivers, where the range of fluctuations reaches 40 cm. The minimum level is observed in winter, the maximum - in summer.

Surge fluctuations in the level are observed everywhere and at any time of the year, but they are most significant in the southeastern part. Surges and surges cause the largest decreases and increases in the level in the Laptev Sea. The range of fluctuations in the level of surge and surge reaches 1-2 m, and sometimes reaches 2.5 m (Tiksi Bay). Most often, surges and surges are observed in autumn with strong and stable winds. In general, northerly winds cause surge, and southern winds cause surge, but depending on the configuration of the coast, surge-surge level fluctuations in each specific area create winds of certain directions. Thus, in the southeastern part of the sea, the most effective surge winds include western and northwestern ones.

On average, waves of 2-4 points prevail in the Laptev Sea with wave heights of about 1 m. In summer (July - August), storms of 5-7 points occasionally develop in the western and central parts of the sea, during which the wave height reaches 4-5 m. Autumn - the most stormy time of the year, when the maximum high waves(up to 6 m). However, even in this season, waves with a height of about 4 m predominate, which is determined by the fetch length and depths.

ice coverage

Most of the year (from October to May) the Laptev Sea is covered with ice. Ice formation begins at the end of September and takes place simultaneously throughout the sea. In winter, in its shallow eastern part, extensive fast ice up to 2 m thick is developed. The boundary of fast ice distribution is a depth of approximately 25 m, which in this area of ​​the sea is several hundred kilometers away from the coast. The area of ​​landfast ice is approximately 30% of the area of ​​the entire sea. In the western and northwestern parts of the sea, fast ice is small, and in some winters it is completely absent. To the north of the landfast zone there are drifting ice.

With the almost constant removal of ice from the sea to the north in winter, behind the fast ice, significant areas of polynyas and young ice. The width of this zone varies from tens to several hundreds of kilometers. Its individual sections are called the East Severozemelskaya, Taimyr, Lena and Novosibirsk polynyas. The last two at the beginning of the warm season reach enormous sizes (thousands of km 2). The melting of ice begins in June - July, and by August, significant areas of the sea are freed from ice. In summer, the ice edge often changes its position under the influence of winds and currents. West Side The seas are generally more arctic than the eastern one. From the north along east coast Taimyr, the oceanic Taimyr ice mass descends into the sea, in which heavy multi-year ice is often found. It stably persists until new ice formation, depending on the prevailing winds, moving either north or south. The local Yansky ice massif, formed by landfast ice, usually melts “in place” by the second half of August or is partially carried away to the north beyond the sea.

Economic importance

Due to harsh natural conditions the biological productivity of the Laptev Sea is low, and life in its waters is generally poor in quantity and quality. 37 species of fish live here. In very small quantities they catch vendace, omul, and partly whitefish.

Location of the reservoir

If you look into dictionaries and reference books, you can find out that the sea is called a part of the ocean, isolated by land or features of the underwater relief. Following the above definition, we can say that the Laptev Sea is part of the Northern Arctic Ocean. Almost all experts note that this is one of the most severe Arctic seas. If the Barents and Kara Seas are under the influence of the warm Gulf Stream ocean current, then its influence does not reach these places. Long and harsh winter contributes to the formation of large volumes of sea ice.

Climate features

The Laptev Sea is located at the same distance from both the Atlantic and Pacific Ocean. Warm air masses practically do not penetrate into the Arctic latitudes. Even in the southern part of the water area, negative temperatures persist for 9 months a year. In the north, this period is even longer - almost 11 months. average temperature January ranges from 25 to 35 degrees below zero. The absolute minimum temperature recorded here is 61 0 C. At the same time, clear, cloudless weather is mostly preserved above the sea surface. This fact due to the fact that the Siberian anticyclone dominates in these latitudes.

Coastline

The rivers flowing into the Laptev Sea: Anabar, Khatanga, Olenyok, Lena, Yana - carry in their waters a large amount of silt, pebbles, sand and boulders. Plus, river waters significantly desalinate sea water at the confluence. So, at the mouth of the Lena, the salinity of the water is only 1%. While the average is 34%. At great depths, the bottom of the sea is covered with silt. This is due to the fact that rivers regularly carry significant volumes of soil into the sea. River precipitation is up to 25 centimeters per year. For this reason, coastal areas are characterized by relatively shallow depths: 20 - 50 meters.

ice conditions

Unlike other water bodies, most of the year the Laptev Sea is covered with ice. Ice formation begins in September on almost the entire territory. In winter, fast ice up to two meters thick forms on the shallows in the eastern part. The ice begins to melt in June-July. And by August, a significant part of the water area is freed from ice. In a warm, so to speak, period, the ice edge changes its position under the influence of winds and currents. The Taimyr ice mass descends into the sea. It carries a large amount perennial ice, which does not have time to melt during the short polar summer.

Flora and fauna

It is easy to guess that the temperature of the sea determines the qualitative composition of plants and animals that live in its waters. Phytoplankton is represented in a limited amount by algae and plants that are common in desalinated waters. Zoological plankton is represented by certain types of ciliates, rotifers and other organisms that are food for Arctic fish species. Among them are whitefish, omul, char, nelma and sturgeon. Of the mammals, walruses, seals and polar bears live here. Sea gulls nest near the coast.