Salt composition of the East Siberian Sea. East Siberian Sea in Russia

located between New Siberian Islands and Wrangel Island. The southern border runs along the mainland coast from Cape Yakan to Cape Svyatoy Nos.
The East Siberian Sea belongs to the type of continental marginal seas. Its area is 913 thousand km2, volume - 49 thousand km3, average depth - 54 m, maximum depth - 915 m, i.e. this sea lies entirely on the continental shelf.

Coastline East Siberian Sea forms rather large bends, in some places going into the land, in some places protruding into the sea, but there are also areas with a flat coastline. Small meanders are usually confined to the mouths of small rivers.

The landscapes of the western part of the coast of the East Siberian Sea differ sharply from the eastern part. In the section from the New Siberian Islands to the mouth of the Kolyma River, the banks are very low and monotonous. Here the swampy tundra approaches the sea. East of the mouth the Kolyma River, behind Cape Bolshoy Baranov, the coast becomes mountainous. From the mouth of the Kolyma River to the island of Aion, low hills approach the water directly, in places abruptly breaking off. The Chaun Bay is framed by low, but steeply flat banks. Different in relief and structure, the coast of the sea in different areas refers to different morphological types of coasts.

The underwater relief of the shelf that forms the bed of the sea, in in general terms is a plain, very slightly inclined from the southwest to the northeast. The bottom of the sea has no noticeable depressions and hills. It is believed that these are traces of ancient river valleys flooded by the sea. The area of ​​shallow depths in the western part of the sea forms the Novosibirsk shoal. Greatest depths concentrated in the northeastern part of the sea. A noticeable increase in depth occurs in the horizon from 100 to 200 m.

Located in high latitudes, the East Siberian Sea is located in the zone of atmospheric influences of the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. IN western part seas (although rarely) cyclones of Atlantic origin penetrate into eastern regions- Pacific. The climate of the East Siberian Sea is polar maritime, but with signs of continentality.

The continental runoff in the East Siberian Sea is relatively small, about 250 m3/km, which is only 10% of the total river runoff in all Arctic seas. The largest of the flowing rivers - Kolyma - produces about 130 km3 of water per year, and the second largest river - Indigirka - 60 km3 of water per year. All other rivers pour approximately 350 km3 of water into the sea during the same time.

Due to the shallow water and the absence of deep trenches extending beyond the northern limits of the East Siberian Sea, the vast majority of its spaces from the surface to the bottom are occupied by surface Arctic waters.
Constant currents on the surface of the East Siberian Sea form a weakly expressed cyclonic circulation.
Regular semidiurnal tides are observed in the East Siberian Sea. They are caused by a tidal wave that enters the sea from the north and moves towards the coast of the mainland. Its front is stretched from the north-north-west to the east-south-east from the New Siberian Islands to Wrangel Island.

The annual course of the level is characterized by its highest position in June - July, when there is an abundant inflow river waters.

IN summer season surge phenomena are very pronounced, in which level fluctuations are often - 60 cm. At the mouth of the Kolyma River and in the Dmitry Laptev Strait, they reach the maximum size for the entire sea - 2.5 m. Rapid and abrupt changes in level positions are one of the characteristic features coastal areas seas.

The East Siberian Sea is the most arctic of the seas of the Russian Arctic. From October - November to June - July it is completely covered with ice. At this time, the flow of ice from the Arctic Basin to the sea prevails, in contrast to other seas of the Arctic, where outward ice drift prevails. A characteristic feature of the ice of the East Siberian Sea is the significant development of fast ice in winter. At the same time, it is most widely distributed in the western, shallow part of the sea and occupies a narrow coastal strip in the east of the sea.

The vast majority of space in the east of the sea is occupied by a spur of the Ayon oceanic ice massif, which largely forms heavy multi-year ice. Its southern periphery during the whole year almost adjoins the coast of the mainland, determining the ice situation in the sea.

The East Siberian Sea is the marginal sea of ​​the North Arctic Ocean, located between the New Siberian Islands and Wrangel Island. The sea is connected by straits with the Chukchi Sea and the Laptev Sea. The shores are mountainous, slightly indented. Average depth 66 meters, the largest 358 meters. Most of the year the sea is covered with ice. Salinity is from 5 ‰ near river mouths to 30 ‰ in the north. Rivers flow into the sea: Indigirka, Alazeya, Kolyma, Bolshaya Chukochya. There are several bays on the coast of the sea: Chaunskaya Bay, Omulyakhskaya Bay, Khromskaya Bay, Kolyma Bay, Kolyma Bay. Major islands: Novosibirsk, Lyakhovsky, De Long Islands. There are no islands in the center of the sea.

Bottom relief The sea lies on the shelf. In the eastern part, the depths reach up to 40 meters, in the western and central - 20 meters, in the north they reach up to 200 meters (this depth is taken as the isobath - the boundary of the sea). The maximum depth is 358 meters. The bottom is covered with sandy silt with boulders and pebbles. temperature and salinity Temperatures sea ​​water low, in the north they are close to -1.8 °C both in winter and in summer. To the south, in summer, the temperature rises in the upper layers to 5 °C. At the edge of the ice fields, the temperature is 1-2 °C. Maximum values the water temperature reaches by the end of summer in the mouths of the rivers (up to 7 °C). The salinity of the water is different in the western and eastern parts seas. In the eastern part of the sea near the surface, it is usually about 30 ppm. River runoff in the eastern part of the sea leads to a decrease in salinity to 10-15 ppm, and in the mouths major rivers almost to zero. Near ice fields, salinity increases to 30 ppm. With depth, salinity rises to 32 ppm.

Hydrological regime Almost the whole year the sea is covered with ice. In the eastern part of the sea, floating perennial ice remains even in summer. From the coast, they can be driven north by winds from the mainland. Ice drifts in a northwesterly direction as a result of water circulation under the influence of anticyclones near the North Pole. After the weakening of the anticyclone, the area of ​​the cyclonic circulation increases and multi-year ice from the polar latitudes enters the sea.

It is not so easy to immediately find the East Siberian Sea on the map. The fact is that its borders are conditional and only in some places are limited to land. In the western part, the Kotelny Island and the Laptev Sea serve as the limit; in the north - the edge of the shallows of the mainland; in the east, the border is the meridian, passing through the sea in the southern part is limited to the mainland.

Dimensions and depth

The maximum depth of the East Siberian Sea is 915 meters, and the average value of this indicator is 54 meters. In other words, this body of water is completely within the continental shelf. Its total area is 913 thousand m 2. As for the volume, it is approximately 49 thousand cubic kilometers.

coast

The East Siberian Sea has a coastline that is very different in its relief in the eastern and western parts. In its landscapes there are quite large bends that in some places protrude strongly into the depths, while in others they go far on land. In addition to them, straight sections are also quite common. In the mouths of rivers, small meanders are usually found. In the islands, the coastline is monotonous and low-lying. A similar situation is also characteristic of the mouth. In the southern part of the Long Strait, the shores are covered with a mixture of pebbles and sand, which separate the chains of lagoons.

It should be noted that the size of the depths in coastal regions is significantly affected by the amount of precipitation carried by the rivers. Under their influence, bars are also formed - alluvial shoals. Among other things, they increase the temperature of the water, resulting in thermal abrasion in the estuarine areas. Its speed is from one to fifteen meters per year.

bottom structure

The bed of the sea is formed by a shelf, the relief of which is mostly a plain. It slopes slightly to the northeast. In the western side is the so-called "area of ​​shallow depths". She also formed the Novosibirsk shoal. As for deeper places, they are typical for the northeastern region. A significant portion of the bottom here is covered with a sedimentary cover of small thickness. Many archipelagos and islands of the East Siberian Sea (of which there are not so many here) are formed precisely due to this foundation. These include Aion, Medvezhy, and the New Siberian Islands. As shown by various aeromagnetic photographs, the composition bottom sediments The shelf mainly includes sandy silt, pebbles and crushed boulders. There is every reason to believe that some of them are fragments of some islands that were scattered by ice throughout the territory.

Climate

Many are interested in the question: "The East Siberian Sea - what kind of ocean is the water area?" Despite the fact that the reservoir belongs to the Arctic Ocean basin, it is also subject to atmospheric influence from the Pacific and Atlantic. The climate here is arctic. With him in winter time the average temperature is -30 degrees, and in summer - about +2. Most of the year the sea surface is covered with ice. IN eastern region often floating ice located close to the coast even in the summer months.

The East Siberian Sea in winter is under the influence of southern and southwestern winds, the speed of which is about seven meters per second. They bring from the continent cold air. In summer, the pressure rises here, in connection with which the northern rhumbs begin to predominate among the winds. They are rather weak at the beginning of the season, but closer to the middle of the season, their power only increases, and the speed reaches 15 meters per second. At this time, the weather here is mostly cloudy with sleet or drizzling rain. Due to the fact that this reservoir is quite remote from the centers that are affected by the atmosphere, in autumn there is almost never a return of heat.

Water temperature and salinity

Throughout the year, the surface water temperature in the sea decreases from south to north. In winter, in the areas of river mouths, it is about -0.5 degrees, while in the northern borders it is about -1.8 degrees. In the summer it all depends ice conditions. At this time, the temperature in the bays reaches +8 degrees, in ice-free areas it is about +3 degrees, and at the ice edge it averages zero degrees. In spring and winter, the change in water temperature as you dive is negligible. IN summer time closer to the bottom, the water becomes colder, especially in the western region.

The level of salinity in the sea varies with northeast direction. In spring and winter, it ranges from 4 ppm near the Indigirka and Kolyma rivers to 32 ppm in the central and northern regions. In summer, the melting of ice and a significant influx of river waters lead to the fact that this figure decreases. It should also be noted that the salinity level of the water does not increase much closer to the seabed. As for such an indicator, it is the highest in the autumn-winter period. In addition, it grows as you dive deeper.

Hydrology

The East Siberian Sea is characterized by not very high river runoff compared to other representatives of the Arctic Ocean basin. The largest of the rivers that flows into it is the Kolyma. Its stock is approximately 132 cubic kilometers in year. The second in terms of this value is the Indigirka River, which brings half as much water over the same period. At the same time, even in conditions of relatively large sizes, coastal runoff has little effect on the general hydrological situation. At present, the system of currents in this sea is not very thoroughly studied. It can be confidently stated that the general water circulation here is characterized by a cyclonic character. As for precipitation, their average annual value ranges from 100 to 200 millimeters. Due to the fact that there are no deep trenches here, and a significant area is shallow water, the Arctic surface water take up a lot of space.

tides

The sea is characterized by semi-diurnal regular tides, which are caused by a wave moving towards the continental coast from the north. They are best expressed in the northwestern and northern regions, while weakening in southbound. This can be explained by the fact that the tidal wave is damped in shallow water. For example, while in the area from Shelagsky Cape to the level fluctuations are almost imperceptible, at its mouth the relief and configuration of the coasts lead to an increase in tides by about 25 centimeters. The highest water level is typical for June-July, because at this time the largest river inflow. In winter, the level gradually decreases and in March reaches its minimum value.

Flora and fauna

The resources of the East Siberian Sea, namely flora and fauna, are rather poor. First of all, this is due to the harsh conditions created here by nature itself, so only those that turned out to be the most resistant to low temperatures. Quite large schools of white fish are often found in the regions of river mouths. Omul, grayling, whitefish, navaga, polar flounder, cod and others are also found here. Representatives of mammals here are polar bears, seals and walruses. As for birds, cormorants, sea gulls and guillemots can be noted here. It is possible that a polar shark, reaching six meters in length, also lives in local waters, but no clear evidence of this has yet been found.

Sea problems

The problems of the East Siberian Sea are in many ways similar to those of other northern seas, for example, the Barents, Karsky, Bely and others. In this case, we are talking primarily about the environmental component. Despite the fact that the water here is relatively clean, Europeans have been destroying local biological resources especially whales. Over time, this led to a significant reduction in their number and even to the extinction of some species. It should be noted that there is another problem that Lately has become global. It's about who suffers local fauna. Among other things, human activity associated with the development of oil and gas fields also negatively affects the state of the water area.

Economic situation

In 1935 they started regular flights ships along the so-called route through the East Siberian Sea. At the same time, one cannot help but focus on the fact that the navigation season here lasts only three months - it starts at the end of July and ends at the beginning of November. At the same time, navigation is allowed only at this time and in the coastal strip.

The largest share of the Arctic Ocean is occupied by the Arctic basin, by the nature of its bottom, half is shelf (the underwater margin of the mainland is called the shelf). The East Siberian Sea belongs precisely to its shelf half, and this determines a lot in it. Silt at its bottom is mixed with sand, crushed small stones, occasionally boulders are witnesses of the geological history of the sea. She continues. The bottom relief is almost even, with a slight slope from the southwest to the northeast, there are no seismic and volcanic centers, significant depressions or rises. Ideally, maps of the coasts of the East Siberian Sea should be corrected every year. The main part of the coast (in the west and in the center) is a swampy tundra, seized by permafrost. In recent decades, the permafrost layer has gradually become thinner and the coastline has changed its shape. The same applies to most of the islands, whose sandy soils are covered and punctuated by 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 straits of Dmitry Laptev, Eterikan, Sannikov and the strait north of the island The boiler room (Anzhu archipelago) in the west is connected to the Laptev Sea, in the east - through the Long Strait - with. Conditional northern border coincides with the edge of the continental shelf. From the east, the boundary 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 boundary of the sea extends from Cape Svyatoi Nos in the west to Cape Yakan.
Most of the year the sea is covered with ice, 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, at western edge The seas are penetrated by cyclones from the Atlantic, although occasionally, not too often, but into its eastern regions from the Pacific Ocean, more often than the Atlantic ones. Plus, the spur of the Siberian High (an extensive anticyclone), which goes to the coast and carries cold air from the continent, exerts 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. Ice separating from the Ayon Oceanic Ice Pack is held by eastern shores seas, as a rule, all summer, receding to the north only near the mouths of the rivers with their warmer waters.
The sea acquired its current name only in 1935 at the suggestion of the Russian geographical society. Prior to that, it was called either Indigirsky or Kolyma. Due to the harsh climate, the flora and fauna of the sea itself and the earth's firmament in its region are not very diverse and lag behind here even neighboring seas. And yet, at the end of summer (the warmest period in the tundra), even daisies appear along the banks of the rivers. Among the ice, polar bears prey on the walruses and seals that live here, herds of reindeer roam the tundra, arctic foxes run, guillemots, gulls, and cormorants nest on the rocks. In the mouths of the rivers there are omul, whitefish, white salmon, 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 primordially clean, pollution that is not critical for environment, are noted in the area of ​​the Pevek port, where there are no treatment facilities yet, and the Chaun Bay.

As for the history of human settlement of the shores of this sea, all the information here is based mainly on the theoretical calculation of the migration routes of the ancestors of the Evens, Evenks, Yakuts and Chukchi. Fantastic figures are called up to 3 million years ago. But another figure seems to be more reliable, supported by archaeological finds in the mainland of Yakutia - about 10 thousand years ago. Although the question is, did these people get to the ocean in prehistoric times? This is indirectly confirmed cave drawings near Pevek, but their age has not yet been determined.
Since the 17th century Kochi of Russian Cossacks went by sea. They were brave, experienced and gambling people, but also pragmatic, and they, of course, already knew something about the fur-bearing animals of these regions, and about placer deposits of gold and tin in Indigirka and Kolyma. There is a mythology that Pomors walked along " open water” off these shores as early as the 13th century, but accurate evidence of these events has not been preserved. Between the mouths of the Indigirka and the Kolyma, the Cossack Mikhailo Stadukhin was the first to sail in 1644 and founded the Nizhnekolymsky prison. In 1648, his assistant Semyon Dezhnev went from the mouth of the Kolyma and further through the Long Strait and 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 drawn up. In 1849, the 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 him 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 archipelagos of the sea were the islands of de Long, 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 pass the Northern by sea along the entire coast of Asia (with one wintering). At the beginning of the XX 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 sea ​​route(NSR) was passed by the expedition of O. Yu. Schmidt in 1932 on the icebreaker "Sibiryakov", transportation started in 1935 Modern period navigation is counted from 1978, from the beginning of the use of nuclear icebreakers of the Arktika series.
The first port of the East Siberian Sea was Ambarchik. In 1932, “enemies of the people”, mostly former “kulaks”, were brought here along the Kolyma from Vladivostok. 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 of Dalstroy, an industrial division of the Gulag. In 1935, the most important hydrometeorological station for monitoring this region of the Arctic was opened here. And a transit prison for the repressed. ... And here is the evidence of 2011. Six people live at the station, the port no longer exists, although ships sometimes anchor in the Ambarchik Bay. There are still some ruins of the Gulag era, entangled in rusty barbed wire, but the modest monument to the victims of repressions has not been abandoned. The port of Pevek was built in 1951, by the same forces, a city developed around it. But the economic cataclysms of the last 20 years have also affected him, work has become less and less, life is becoming more expensive, the city's infrastructure is getting worse. And, of course, people leave. However, Pevek still has prospects. First, it works in conjunction with the port Green Cape in Kolyma, which gives room for maneuver, secondly, it has deep-water berths, and most importantly, a 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 above the Arctic Circle, in the Arctic Basin of the Arctic Ocean.
Location: between the New Siberian Islands and Wrangel Island.
Major bays: Chaun Bay, Kolyma Bay, Omulyakh Bay.
Major flowing rivers: Kolyma, Indigirka, Alazeya, Big Chukochya.
Major islands: Novosibirsk, Bear, Aion Island.
The most important port: Pevek, 130 km from the mouth of the Kolyma, near the village of Chersky, is the port of Zeleny Mys.

Numbers

Area: 913,000 km2.
Volume: 49,000 km3.
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 freshened by rivers is more than 36% of total area seas.
More than 70% of the sea basin has average depths (about 50 m).
Tides - up to 0.3 m, semi-diurnal.
Annual runoff of river waters: about 250 km 3 .

Economy

Part of the Northern Sea Route.
Fishing in the mouths of rivers.
Fishing walrus, seal in the sea.

Climate and weather

Arctic.
average temperature January: 30°C.
July average temperature:+2°С.
Average annual rainfall: 200 mm.

Attractions

■ The Wrangel Island Nature Reserve, a World natural heritage UNESCO;
Pevek: Chaun district local history museum, rock paintings on the banks of the river Pegtylil;
Ambarchik: monument to the victims of repressions; in the bay Ambarchik - commemorative sign"Wind Rose" in honor of G.Ya. Sedov.

Curious facts

■ Kochs of Russian coast-dwellers were first described by the British in the 16th century. The bottom, as well as the cut bow and stern, saved these wooden ships from being squeezed by ice. Kochi XVI-XVII centuries. were about 20 m long and about 6 m wide on average, could carry up to 40 tons of cargo. During the day they covered 150-200 km, while the English ships - about 120 km. A small draft - up to 2 m - made it possible to transport the kochi by land or ice by dragging, to walk on them in shallow water. Design features kochey was 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 icebreaker of the Arctic class "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 the Ambarchik Bay, all ships give a long horn when they see the 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.
■ Pomors before going to sea always turned to him with a prayer, calling him "father". And they never talked about a comrade who died on a campaign, "drowned" or "died", only like this: "the sea took."

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 at north coast Eastern Siberia. The borders of the East Siberian Sea are mainly conditional lines, and only in some parts it is limited by land. Water this sea they 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 coastline of the sea has large bends.


seafaring

In the first half of the 17th century, the Cossacks who mastered Kolyma and Indigirka went downstream, went out to sea and went to Taimyr, where they reached the Yenisei, on the banks of which they hunted, by drag. First exploratory voyage historical era made by the Yakut Cossack Mikhailo Stadukhin in 1644. In June 1648, Stadukhin's assistant Semyon Dezhnev traveled 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 through navigation along the entire coast of the East Siberian Sea was shown.

The mainland shores of the sea 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 away fishing boats. 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 the strait, which is now called Long's Strait. In September 1875, the East Siberian Sea was crossed on the sail-steam vessel "Vega" by Baron Adolf Erik Nordenskiöld, the first navigator who managed to pass the Northern Sea Route along the entire coast of Asia. Next, the De Long Islands were discovered. In 1913, the icebreaking ships Taimyr and Vaigach discovered the island, which was named after Vilkitsky, an assistant to the head of the expedition. The last discovery was made by the next expedition of "Taimyr" and "Vaigach" on August 27, 1914, when Lieutenant Zhokhov, the watchman of the "Vaigach", noticed an island with coordinates 76 ° 10 "N 153 ° E, which received the name Zhokhov Island. After 1932 , when the icebreaker "Sibiryakov" passed the Northern Sea Route in one navigation, regular voyages of ships are made to the East Siberian Sea.

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 has a slight slope from the southwest to the northeast. The bottom of the sea is predominantly flat, without significant depressions and elevations. Most of water expanses of the East Siberian Sea has a depth of up to 20 - 25 m. The deepest gutters are located at the bottom of the sea in the north-eastern part of 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 with the sea. In the northeast, the seas are quite deep places. The maximum depth is 915 meters.

Climate and hydrological regime

The climate of the East Siberian Sea is distinguishing feature: the sea is under the influence of 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 break the settled calm weather for several days. Atlantic cyclones, which prevail in the western part of the sea, contribute to increased wind and temperature rise. 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 the temperature of the northern part of the sea is affected by the influence of Arctic ice. In the southern part of the sea, proximity to a warm mainland contributes to an increase in temperature. Cloudy weather is typical for the East Siberian Sea in summer. Very often there are light rains, and occasionally even sleet.

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

Flora and fauna

vegetable and animal world The East Siberian Sea is poor due to severe ice conditions. But in the areas adjacent to the mouths of the rivers, there are omul, whitefish, grayling, polar smelt, navaga, polar cod and flounder, salmon - char and nelma. Of the mammals, there are walrus, seals, polar bear; birds - guillemots, gulls, cormorants.

Economic importance

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

Ecology

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