Water temperature in the Kara Sea today. Kara Sea in Russia. Hydrological characteristics of the sea - temperature map of the Kara Sea

Posted Thu, 23/04/2015 - 08:32 by Cap

IN old times sailing along the Kara Sea was equal to a deadly feat - it was called the "ice cellar". Until now, this sea is considered the coldest sea on Earth. It is not surprising, because in winter in these parts the temperature drops to -46 degrees, and in summer no more than +16.
The third part of the year is occupied by the polar night, and the rest of the time by the polar day. In winter, storm winds often blow, blizzards and snowstorms rage.
In the summer, fogs roll in, and North wind brings snow loads. Most of the year the sea is completely covered with ice. Even modern nuclear-powered icebreakers do not always conquer this sea.
The Kara Sea can be safely called the most extreme sea in Russia!

There are many islands in the sea area, which are included in the Great Arctic State nature reserve. It is the largest in Eurasia. One of famous islands Vaygach Island in the Kara Sea is a special place where the secrets of bloody rites and pagan cults of the ancient peoples who inhabited these lands in ancient times are kept. According to their legends, it was here that the abode of the gods was located. Scientists call Vaygach Island anomalous mystery, which for a long time cannot be solved. Travelers note that health is restored here and mood improves.

The Kara Sea is a marginal sea of ​​the Arctic Ocean.
Previously, the sea was called Nyarzomsky (Narzemsky) - this is how it was named in a 1601 story about a trip to Mangazeya by a resident of Pinega, Leonty Shubin (Plekhan) and in a petition by Andrey Palitsyn from 1630 (the etymology of this name is unknown). And the name "Kara" belonged to Baydaratskaya Bay, after the name of the river Kara flowing into it. According to the version cited by V. Yu. Vize, the name of the river comes from the Nenets word "hare", meaning hummocky ice. It is curious that the Dutchman N. Witsen calls the sea Ice, and the Frenchman J. Campredon Arctic, which echoes the Nenets word.
For the first time, the sea was named Kara on the map of V. M. Selifontov in 1736, compiled according to the results of the work of the Dvina-Ob detachment of the Great Northern Expedition.

schooner Polar Odysseus in the Kara Sea

Geography
Location
The sea is limited north coast Eurasia and Geiberg. In the northern part of the sea is Vize Land, an island theoretically discovered in 1924. Also in the sea are the islands of the Arctic Institute, the islands of Izvestia of the Central Executive Committee.

The sea is located mainly on the shelf; many islands. Depths of 50-100 meters predominate, the greatest depth is 620 meters. Area 883,400 km².

Fall into the sea deep rivers: Ob, so salinity varies greatly. The Taz River also flows into the Kara Sea.

The Kara Sea is one of the coldest seas in Russia, only near the mouths of the rivers the water temperature in summer is above 0 °C. Frequent fogs and storms. Most of the year the sea is covered with ice.

Bottom relief
The sea lies almost entirely on the shelf with depths of up to 100 meters. Two trenches - St. Anna with a maximum depth of 620 meters (80 ° 26′ N 71 ° 18′ E) and Voronin with a depth of up to 420 meters - cut through the shelf from north to south. The East Novaya Zemlya Trench, with depths of 200–400 meters, runs along the eastern shores of Novaya Zemlya. The shallow (up to 50 meters) Central Kara Plateau is located between the trenches.

The bottom of shallow waters and uplands is covered with sands and sandy silt. Troughs and basins are covered with gray, blue and brown muds. Iron-manganese nodules are found at the bottom of the central part of the sea.

Kara Sea Sibiryakov Island

Flora and fauna
The flora and fauna of the Kara Sea is formed under the influence of diverse climatic and hydrological conditions in the north and south. Neighboring basins also have a great influence, due to the penetration of some heat-loving forms (from the Barents Sea) and high arctic species (from the Laptev Sea) from them. The ecological boundary of their distribution is approximately the eightieth meridian. Freshwater elements also play a significant role in the life of the Kara Sea.

Qualitatively, the flora and fauna of the Kara Sea is poorer than the Barents Sea, but much richer than the Laptev Sea. This can be seen from a comparison of their ichthyofauna. 114 species of fish are found, in the Kara - 54, and in the Laptev Sea - 37. The following are of commercial importance in the Kara Sea: whitefish - omul, muksun and vendace; from smelt - smelt; from cod - saffron cod and saithe; from salmon - nelma. Fisheries are organized only in the bays, gulfs and lower reaches of the rivers. There are pinnipeds in the sea different types: seals, sea hares, less often walruses. IN summer time in large numbers, the beluga whale comes here - a herd animal that makes regular seasonal migrations. Also found in the Kara Sea polar bear.

COAST OF THE KARA SEA
The coastline of the Kara Sea is complex and winding. The eastern shores of Novaya Zemlya are indented by numerous fjords. Significantly dissected, the mainland coast, where the Baydaratskaya and Obskaya bays protrude deep into the land, between which are located far to the east large bays: Gydansky, Pyasinsky, starting from which the coastline outlines many small bays. Less tortuous West Coast Northern Earth.

Diverse in external forms and structure, the coast of the Kara Sea in different areas belongs to different morphological types of coasts (). The sea is framed mainly by abrasion, but there are accumulative and ice shores. The eastern shores of Novaya Zemlya are steep and hilly. The mainland coast is low-lying and gently sloping in places, steep in places. Mostly low shores

Gydan Bay, Kara Sea

ATMOSPHERIC PHENOMENA AND WINDS
Located in the high latitudes of the Arctic and directly connected with the Arctic Ocean, the Kara Sea is characterized by a polar maritime climate. The relative proximity of the Atlantic Ocean somewhat softens the climate of the sea, in the way of warm Atlantic air and waters, therefore the Kara Sea is climatically more severe,. The large extent of the Kara Sea from the southwest to the northeast creates noticeable differences in climatic indicators in its different areas in all seasons of the year.

The location, intensity and interaction of the main centers of atmospheric action largely determine the state of the weather and the magnitude of meteorological elements throughout the year. In the autumn winter time the Siberian anticyclone is formed and established, the Polar High intensifies, and the action of the Icelandic Low trough extends to the sea. At the beginning of the cold season in the northern part of the sea, the north wind prevails, and in the south - the winds are unstable in direction. The wind speed at this time is usually 5-7 m/s. The winter baric situation determines the predominance of southern, southwestern and southeastern winds in most of the sea. Only in the northeast winds of the northern rhumbs are often observed. The average wind speed is 7-8 m/s, often it reaches storm force. Most storms occur in western part seas. Off the coast of Novaya Zemlya, a local hurricane wind- Novaya Zemlya Bora. It usually lasts several hours, but in winter it can last 2-3 days. Winds of southern directions, as a rule, bring continental air strongly cooled over the mainland into the Kara Sea. The average monthly air temperature in March at Cape Chelyuskin is −28.6°, at Cape Zhelaniya −20°, and the minimum air temperature in the sea can reach −45–50°. However, with southerly winds, relatively warm polar sea air sometimes also enters the western part of the sea. It is brought by cyclones coming from the west and deviating to the south and southeast, as they meet the chain of Novaya Zemlya mountains on their way. The most frequent inflows of warm air occur in February. These intrusions and the Novaya Zemlya bora make the winter weather unstable in the western part of the sea, while in its northern and eastern regions the weather is relatively stable, cold and clear.

In the warm season, the Siberian High collapses, and the low-pressure trough disappears. The polar maximum is shifting to the north. In this regard, winds blow in the spring, which are unstable in direction, the speed of which usually does not exceed 5-6 m/s. The cyclonic activity is weakening. Spring warming occurs quite quickly, but does not lead to significant increases in air temperature. In May average monthly temperature air keeps about -7 ° in the west and about -9 ° in the east of the sea.

Formed over the sea in summer local area increased pressure, which leads to the predominance of northern winds with speeds of 4-5 m/s. In the warmest month (July), the average air temperature is 5–6° in the western part of the sea and 1–2° in the east and northeast. In some areas of the mainland coast, the air temperature can rise to +18 and even +20°. There can be snowfall in any summer month. In general, summers are short and cold with overcast rainy weather. Strong winter cooling and weak summer warming, unstable weather in the cold season, and a relatively calm state of the atmosphere in summer are characteristic features of the climate of the Kara Sea.

Baydaratskaya Bay Kara Sea

DRAIN OF THE KARA SEA
This sea accounts for an average of about 55% (1290 km3/year) total runoff to all seas of the Siberian Arctic. The Ob annually brings about 450 km3 of water, the Pyasina - 80 km3, the Pur and Taz together - about 86 km3, and other rivers - about 74 km3. With such a significant river runoff, it is distributed very unevenly in time and space of the sea. Approximately 80% of river water enters the sea in late summer - early autumn (June - September). In winter, in very small quantities, only the most water flows into the sea. major rivers. Almost all continental runoff enters the Kara Sea from the south. Under the influence of mainly prevailing winds, river water spreads over the sea, its distribution is not the same from year to year. Based on the generalization of long-term observations for the Kara Sea, western, eastern and fan-shaped variants of the distribution of freshened waters in it have been established.
In general, almost 40% of the area of ​​this sea is under the influence of continental waters. They have very different effects on natural conditions seas. The heat they bring slightly increases the temperature of the water on the surface in the estuarine areas, which contributes to the breakup of fast ice in spring and somewhat slows down ice formation in autumn, river waters reduce the salinity of sea waters; mechanically, river runoff affects the direction of movement of sea waters, etc. Continental runoff is an important factor in the formation of the features of the Kara Sea.

Pyasina, Upper and Lower Taimyr, Khatanga.

Portnyagino, Kungasalakh, Labaz, Kokora.

Major bays:
Middendorf, Pyasinsky, Sims, Taimyr Bay, Teresa Clavenes, Thaddeus, Maria Pronchishcheva Bay.
Administratively part of Krasnoyarsk Territory, forming in it a special Taimyr Dolgano-Nenets region.
The largest city is Norilsk.

NUMBER OF PEOPLES
The number of indigenous peoples of the North - as of 01/01/2008 - is 10,217 people or 27.0% of the total population, of which:
Dolgans - 5,517 people;
Nenets - 3,486 people;
Nganasans - 749 people;
Evenks - 270 people;
Enets - 168 people;
other nations - 27 people.

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SOURCE OF INFORMATION AND PHOTO:
Team Nomads
Berman L.V. To the new Mangazeya. - L .: Krasnaya gazeta, 1930. - 189 p. — 50,000 copies.
Vasiliev N. Ya. Karskaya expedition. - M .: Editorial board of the NKVT publications, 1921. - 44 p.
Vize V. Yu. Kara Sea // Seas of the Soviet Arctic: Essays on the history of research. - 2nd ed. - L .: Publishing House of the Glavsevmorput, 1939. - S. 180-217. — 568 p. - (Polar Library). — 10,000 copies.
Vorobyov V. I. Kara Sea. - L.-M .: Publishing House of the Glavsevmorput, 1940. - 128 p. — 5,000 copies.
Gelvald F. and the Kara Sea // In the region eternal ice: The history of travel to the North Pole from ancient times to the present. - St. Petersburg: Ed. book. mag. "New time", 1881. - S. 812-828. — 880 p.
Dobrovolsky A.D., Zalogin B.S. Kara Sea // Seas of the USSR. - M .: Publishing House of Moscow State University, 1982. - S. 102-112. — 192 p. - 14,000 copies.
The history of the discovery and development of the Northern sea ​​route: In 4 volumes / Ed. Ya. Ya. Gakkelya, A. P. Okladnikova, M. B. Chernenko. - M.-L., 1956-1969.
Belov M.I. Arctic navigation from ancient times to the middle of the 19th century. - M .: Sea transport, 1956. - T. I. - 592 p. — 3,000 copies.
Pinkhenson D. M. The problem of the Northern Sea Route in the era of capitalism. - L .: Sea transport, 1962. - T. II. — 767 p. — 1,000 copies.
Belov M. I. Soviet Arctic navigation 1917-1932. - L .: Sea transport, 1959. - T. III. — 511 p. — 3,000 copies.
Belov M. I. Scientific and economic development of the Soviet North in 1933-1945. - L .: Hydrometeorological Publishing House, 1969. - T. IV. — 617 p. — 2,000 copies.
Kalinin V.M. The Kara Sea // Great Tyumen Encyclopedia / Ch. ed. G. F. Shafranov-Kutsev. - 1st ed. - Tyumen: Research Institute of Regional Encyclopedias of Tyumen State University; "Socrates", 2004. - T. 2. I-P. - S. 69-71. — 495 p. — 10,000 copies. — ISBN 5-88664-171-8.
Kanevsky Z. M. The price of the forecast. - L .: Gidrometeoizdat, 1976. - 128 p. — 50,000 copies.
Kara Sea / Nikiforov E. G., Shpayher A. O. // Italy - Kvarkush. - M .: Soviet Encyclopedia, 1973. - (Big soviet encyclopedia: in 30 tons / ch. ed. A. M. Prokhorov; 1969-1978, v. 11).
Kovalev S. A. Arctic shadows of the Third Reich. — M.: Veche, 2010. — 432 p. - (Marine chronicle). — 5,000 copies. - ISBN 978-5-9533-4348-0.
Kovalev S. Polar bases of the Kriegsmarine // Independent military review: newspaper. - M., March 29, 2002.
Kopylov V.E. Kara expeditions // Great Tyumen Encyclopedia / Ch. ed. G. F. Shafranov-Kutsev. - 1st ed. - Tyumen: Research Institute of Regional Encyclopedias of Tyumen State University; "Socrates", 2004. - T. 2. I-P. - S. 69. - 495 p. — 10,000 copies. — ISBN 5-88664-171-8.
Nansen F. To the Land of the Future: The Great northern path from Europe to Siberia across the Kara Sea. — Pg.: Ed. K. I. Ksido, 1915. - 454 p.
Rudnev D. D., Kulik N. A. Materials for the study of the Northern Sea Route from Europe to the Ob and Yenisei. — Pg.: Type. A. E. Collins, 1915. - VI, 127 p.
Sergeev A. A. German submarines in the Arctic 1941-1942. — M.: Russian Publishing House, 2003. - 304 p. — 2,000 copies. - ISBN 5-9900099-1-7.
http://www.photosight.ru/
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The southern part of the sea is bounded by the mainland, in the west by several islands (Novaya Zemlya, Severnaya Zemlya), from the north the island is Vize Land.

This marginal sea is located on the continental shelf, so it is classified as a continental type.
The Kara Sea is the largest of all seas. Its area reaches 883t. km2, and the volume of water is 100 tons. km3.

The relief of the bottom of the sea

The average depth reaches 110 m, but mostly it is just over 50 m. One of the most deep places has 620 m in depth. Two comparatively deep trenches run from north to south. This is the trough of St. Anne, where maximum depth 620m and Voronina (depth 410m). Not far from the islands of Novaya Zemlya is the East Novaya Zemlya Trench (depth up to 400 m). Between these trenches is the Kara Plateau.
The bottom of the plateau is covered with sandy silt and sand, and gray, blue and brown silt is found in troughs and basins.
There are many islands in the sea, which are united in archipelagos (Skerries, Nordenskiöld, Minin). They are close to coastline. A major islands located alone (Sibiryakov, Shokalsky, Nansen, Bely, Russian).

The Kara Sea is a shelf sea bordering the Arctic Basin in the north, the Barents Sea in the west, and the Laptev Sea in the east. The coastline is strongly curved, with large bays (Baydaratskaya, Gydanskaya and Obskaya bays, the Yenisei Bay), deeply cutting into the mainland coast. Taking into account oceanographic conditions, the Kara Sea is usually subdivided into two sectors: southwestern and northeastern, with a boundary running along the line from Cape Zhelaniya to Dikson Island (Figure 2).

Main morphometric characteristics Kara Sea:

Total area: 883,000 km2;

Water volume: 98,000 km 3;

Average depth: 111 m;

Maximum depth: 600 m.

The deep-water zones of the Kara Sea, where the depths are more than 500 m, occupy less than 1% of the total area.

Technical information

Climate

The Kara Sea is dominated by cold dry arctic air masses, relatively warm and humid air from the Atlantic, and continental air from temperate latitudes, which is colder and drier in winter and relatively warm in summer.

Negative air temperatures in the Kara Sea last for 8 months, from October to May. The coldest period is from December to March, when the average monthly air temperature ranges from minus 14°С to minus 26°С. The summer period lasts about 4 months from June to September. The average monthly summer temperature does not exceed 7°C.

In winter, storms are formed by winds of predominantly western, southwestern and southern directions. In summer, storm winds blow in the northern and northeastern directions and are accompanied by a drop in air temperature.

Hydrology

In winter, the water masses of the shallow areas of the sea become homogeneous from the surface to the bottom, their temperature is approximately minus 1.8°C. The main volume of water masses (heat flow sink Siberian rivers) enters the sea in spring, when it is still covered with ice.

The rise in temperature begins in June, then the sea is cleared of ice, maximum temperatures are at the end of August. IN coastal areas surface waters warm up to 6-8°C. In the central part of the Kara Sea region, the water temperature at the surface is about 2-4°C, while in the western sector the temperature is about 2°C. In September - October, the temperature of the surface layer of water decreases and drops below zero (freezing temperature).

In summer, salinity in the surface layers of the southwestern part of the Kara Sea decreases as a result of ice melting and the inflow of flood waters; the minimum salinity value is reached in August-September. Salinity surface water predominantly is 30-32% o. Least salty water in the south, near the mouths of large rivers, where the salinity of the surface layer decreases to 10%.

In the shallow areas of the Kara Sea, wind currents prevail, which differ in direction and speed. In general, gradient and tidal currents weak. The summer period is characterized by more or less stable water flows, which form a cyclonic whirlpool in the southwestern sector of the sea, represented by the relatively warm Yamal current. northeast direction, coming from the Kara Gate Strait, and the relatively cold East Novaya Zemlya Current of the southwestern direction, running along the eastern shores of Novaya Zemlya.

Tidal fluctuations in sea level do not exceed 0.5 m, while wind surge can cause a rise in water levels in coastal areas from 2 to 3 m.

Sea ice and icebergs

The water area of ​​the Kara Sea is covered with ice from 7/10 to 9/10 for 8-10 months a year. In summer, complete ice clearance occurs only in the southeastern regions and in the coastal regions of the northeastern sector of the Kara Sea.

The ice sheet is made up of multi-year ice about 2.5 m thick in the north, first-year ice in the south (up to 1.8 m thick) and young ice up to 0.3 m.

Fast ice is formed annually along all continental and island shores Kara Sea. During the period of maximum development, the fast ice boundary passes within isobaths from 10 to 20 m. Two-year or multi-year ice is possible near the coast of Severnaya Zemlya.

In winter, ice piles lead to the formation of stamukhas and hummocks. Stamuhi spread along coastal zones both among drifting ice and in the fast ice zone, at depths up to 20 m. The maximum recorded values ​​of the geometric characteristics of stamukhas are: the height of the surface part is from 10 to 15 m, the keel depth is from 20 to 25 m.

Icebergs are mostly concentrated near northeast coast New Earth. The appearance of icebergs in the southern coastal areas was not observed.

Surrounded by many islands, among which there are, for example, New Earth, on the northern coast of Eurasia, the Kara Sea is well located, where the Ob, Taz and Yenisei flow into, where an abundant number of fish live, there is a white whale and a polar bear. The sea changed its name more than once, and was not only Kara, but also Narzem, Nyarzom, Tartar, Arctic, Ice. The history of its origin is connected with the last ice age, when the increase and decrease of ice sheets was carried out. The sea appeared on the map in 1736. Today it is a particularly significant object in the Russian Federation.

Territory of the Kara Sea in Russia

The average depth of the Kara Sea is from 50 to 100 meters, the maximum depth is 620 meters. The area is about 900 thousand km², the volume is about 100 thousand km².

In fact, the reservoir is located on a plume with a depth of less than 100 m, which is cut in the direction from north to south by the trenches of St. Anna and Voronin. Along east coast Novaya Zemlya Island passes through the East Novaya Zemlya Trench. In the area between the gutters, the Central Plateau is comfortably located with a total depth of less than 50 m.

The reservoir is one of the coldest seas in our country. Near the mouths of rivers, the temperature values ​​of water in the warm season of the year exceed 0 °C. In winter, these values ​​drop to almost 2°C, which is essentially the freezing point. Fog often forms over the surface of the sea, storms are also a constant companion here. The degree of salinity of water varies over a wide range.

In the eastern region of the reservoir there is the Great Arctic Reserve with rare fauna and flora - flower plants, birds, fish and mammals.

The saturation of the Kara reservoir with fauna and flora in many respects exceeds the Laptev Sea. So, if more than 50 species of fish live in the first, then about 40 in the second. The most suitable objects for fishing are bays, bays and lower reaches of rivers, where hunting for salmon, whitefish, cod and smelt families is possible. In addition, seals, sea hares and sometimes walruses can be found in the waters of the sea.

In the cold, rather long season, the Kara Sea is covered with ice, which forms in early autumn. The thickness of the ice in some places reaches up to 4 meters. Fast ice can be seen along the sea coast, and in the central part - floating ice.

In the warm season of the year, the ice is divided into lonely massifs. The bottom of the reservoir is covered primarily with sand and sandy silt, the gutters, as well as the basins, are gray, blue and brown silts.

Navigation in the Kara Sea is traditionally considered quite difficult.

Cities on the Kara Sea

(Port settlement Dixon, northernmost locality in Russia)

An urban-type settlement and the only port on the Kara Sea - Dikson, was established in 2015. More than 500 people live in the village, there is unfavorable weather and a large number of tourists. Travelers are attracted by the virtues of nature, a wide range of attractions, in particular, the local local history museum, Polar station and fish factory. The unofficial name of the city is "Capital of the Arctic".

Kara Sea used to be called Nyarzomsky (Narzemsky) - this is how it was named in the story of 1601 about the journey to Mangazeya of a resident of Pinega Leonty Shubin (Plekhan) and in the petition of Andrei Palitsyn from 1630. On the map of Edward Wells, the sea is called Tartar. And the name "Kara" belonged to Baydaratskaya Bay, after the name of the river Kara flowing into it. According to the version given by V.Yu. Vize, the name of the river comes from the Nenets word "hare", meaning hummocky ice. It is curious that the Dutchman N. Witsen calls the sea Ice, and the Frenchman J. Campredon Arctic, which echoes the Nenets word. For the first time, the sea was named Kara on the map of V. M. Selifontov in 1736, compiled according to the results of the work of the Dvina-Ob detachment of the Great Northern Expedition.

The Kara Sea belongs to the group of seas of the Siberian Arctic. The boundaries of this sea are land and imaginary lines. From the west, the sea is also limited by a number of islands (the largest of which is Novaya Zemlya) and several straits. From the east, the border of the sea runs along the archipelago Severnaya Zemlya and straits: the Red Army, Shokalsky and Vilkitsky. From the south, the border of the sea is the coast of the mainland. The Kara Sea is well open to the waters of the Arctic Ocean. The sea is located mainly on the continental shelf. These features make it possible to attribute the sea to the continental type of marginal seas.

The Kara Sea belongs to the largest seas Russian Federation. Its area is approximately 883 thousand km2. The volume of water reaches about 98 thousand km3. The average depth of the sea is 111 m, the maximum is 620 m. There are a large number of islands in the waters of the Kara Sea, most of which are small in size. Small islands are combined into archipelagos (Nordenskiöld, Skerries, Minin) and are located along the coast of the mainland. Islands over large sizes(White, Shokalsky, Vilkitsky, Sibiryakov, Nansen, Russian) are located alone.

The coastline of the Kara Sea is uneven. The shores of Novaya Zemlya, which wash the waters of this sea, are indented big amount fjords. The mainland coast is also strongly dissected: in a number of places the sea sharply protrudes into the land, forming the Baidaratskaya and Obskaya bays. The Yamal Peninsula strongly protrudes into the space of the sea. Along the coastline there are large bays (Gydansky, Yeniseisky and Pyasinsky), as well as a number of small bays.

seafaring

The date of commencement of navigation in the Kara Sea is unknown. Only the fact is recorded in history that in 1556 the English traveler Stephen Borough found among the Russian sailors he met at the Kara Gates a clear idea of ​​the sea route to the mouth of the Ob and complete readiness to accompany the British along it. There is a reply from the Tobolsk governor M.M. Godunov and I.F. Volkonsky to the Tsar from 1601, where a description of this path is given: by the Yugorsky Shar Strait to the western part of Yamal, then along the Mutnaya River (a tributary of the Mordyyakha) to the watershed with the Seyakha (Green) River - Lakes Neito and Yambuto - then by portage and river descent into the Gulf of Ob . From the Ob Bay, a path opened south along the Ob (Obdorsk) and east through the Taz Bay (Mangazeya) to the Yenisei basin.

Bottom relief

The relief of the bottom of the Kara Sea has a large number of irregularities. The sea lies almost entirely on the shelf with depths of up to 100 meters. The St. Anna Trough has a maximum depth of 620 meters. The bottom of shallow waters and uplands is covered with sands and sandy silt. Troughs and basins are covered with gray, blue and brown muds. Iron-manganese nodules are found at the bottom of the central part of the sea.

In the southwestern part of the sea, off the Yamal Peninsula, large offshore deposits of natural gas and gas condensate have been explored. The largest of them are Leningradskoye gas reserves - more than 1 trillion m³ and Rusanovskoye. The development of offshore fields is planned to begin after 2025.

Climate and hydrological regime

The Kara Sea is characterized by a polar maritime climate, which is due to the northern location of the sea and its direct contact with the ocean. Atlantic Ocean, located relatively close to the Kara Sea, moderates the climate. But the island of Novaya Zemlya prevents penetration a large number warm air masses. The Kara Sea is in more severe climatic conditions than the Barents Sea. Due to the large extent of the sea, climatic differences are observed in its different parts. Storms most often occur in the western part of the sea. A hurricane-force wind (Novaya Zemlya bora) constantly arises near the island of Novaya Zemlya. The duration of this hurricane is small 2 - 3 hours, but in winter it can drag on for several days. In March, the average air temperature reaches -28.6 0 C at Cape Chelyuskin and -20 0 C at Cape Zhelaniya. The most low temperature air, which can be at sea, is - 45 - 50 0 С. In the warmest period (in July), the air warms up on average by 5 - 6 0 С in the western part of the sea and by 1 - 2 east. Near the mainland coast, the air can warm up to +18 and +20 0 C. But, despite the high summer temperatures, snow can fall at any summer time. In general, the short summer is marked by low temperatures and cloudy weather with a lot of rain.

The water temperature near the sea surface in winter is close to −1.8 °C. Water in shallow areas is well mixed from the surface to the bottom and has the same temperature and salinity (about 34 ppm). River runoff and ice melt in summer lead to a decrease in salinity sea ​​water below 34 ppm, in the mouths of the rivers, the water becomes close to fresh. The water warms up to 6 °C in summer.

The tides in the Kara Sea reach a height of 50 - 80 centimeters. During the cold period big influence sea ​​ice affects the tides - the magnitude of the tide decreases. The sea is covered with ice almost all year round. Ice formation begins in September. There are significant areas of multi-year ice up to 4 meters thick. Fast ice forms along the coast, and floating ice forms in the center of the sea. In summer, the ice breaks up into separate massifs.

Flora and fauna

The flora and fauna of the Kara Sea is poorer than the Barents Sea, but much richer than the Laptev Sea. The flora is represented by several types of bottom algae - brown algae, red algae, green algae. The water feels good and a lot of unicellular algae and phytoplankton develop. The fauna of invertebrates and fish is quite richly represented, including pink salmon, chum salmon, chinook salmon, sockeye salmon, omul, muksun, nelma, char, saffron cod, flounder. Salmon and whitefish spawn in rivers, and go out to sea to feed. At the same time, they keep near the mouths of the rivers, not moving far to the north. In total, 54 species of fish live in the Kara Sea. From marine mammals the seal, walrus, sea hare, white whale live here. Cetaceans are also represented by larger animals - minke whales, of which 5 species can be counted here. Very rarely, both bowhead whales and predatory killer whales swim here from the Barents Sea. There are many birds on the islands (guillemots, auks, little auks predominate), which form noisy bird colonies. Of the land animals, the shores of the mainland and the island are visited by the polar bear and the arctic fox, for which the sea is an important source of food. Sharks in the Kara Sea are represented by a single species - a small-headed or polar shark, which does not care about cold waters and a harsh climate.

Economic importance

The Kara Sea is characterized by high bioproductivity. Among the objects of fishing are cod, whitefish, char, vendace, omul, smelt, saffron cod, polar cod. Fisheries are organized only in bays, gulfs and lower reaches of rivers, where there is no thick ice cover. As in all coastal northern seas Eurasia, walruses are harvested in the Kara Sea, but only for the needs local population, since walruses have been taken under state protection since 1956. Large oil and gas fields (gas condensate Rusanovskoye, Leningradskoye) have been discovered and are being developed. The Kara Sea is part of the transport Northern Sea Route. Ports are located here: Dixon, Amderma; Dudinka and Igarka (Yenisei).

Ecology

The waters belonging to the bays of the Kara Sea are characterized by specialists as moderately polluted. The rivers that flow into the Kara Sea have a relatively low level of pollution. However, the waters of the Ob and Yenisei have a high concentration of heavy metals, which adversely affects the ecosystem of the sea. Another important source is pollution of the waters of the water area with aerosol materials from the metallurgical production in the city of Norilsk. Vessels have a negative impact on the ecological state of the sea. The places of their frequent movement are polluted with oil products.

Remains important environmental problem Radioactive contamination of the Kara Sea. Due to the fact that a number of numerous air, surface, underground and underwater nuclear explosions were carried out on Novaya Zemlya in the 60s of the last century, more than 13 million curies of Cs-137 were released into the atmosphere. period in the northern seas began the disposal of radioactive waste. To date East End shelf of Novaya Zemlya is the main burial site. In this region, waste is flooded in several areas at a depth of 12 to 380 m, they account for 70% of the volume of marine burials of the USSR period. Flooding was carried out in the shallow waters of the bays of the Kara Sea during 1965-1988 swimming facilities With radioactive waste. The greatest potential danger comes from 17 reactors of the atomic icebreaker "Lenin" and 11 thousand containers with hazardous waste. Control measurements are regularly carried out, the results of which show that at the moment the level of radioactivity in the bays of the Kara Sea does not exceed the norm, however, these objects pose a potential environmental hazard.