The East Siberian Sea (; ) is a

marginal sea This is a list of seas of the World Ocean, including marginal seas, areas of water, various gulfs, bights, bays, and straits. In many cases it is a matter of tradition for a body of water to be named a sea or a bay, etc., therefore all these ...

in the

Arctic Ocean The Arctic Ocean is the smallest and shallowest of the world's five oceanic divisions. It spans an area of approximately and is the coldest of the world's oceans. The International Hydrographic Organization (IHO) recognizes it as an ocean, ...

. It is located between the

Arctic Cape The Arctic Cape (, ''Mys Arkticheskiy'') is a headland in Severnaya Zemlya, Russia. With a distance of 990.8 km to the North Pole, the Arctic Cape is sometimes used as starting point for expeditions to the North Pole. Geography Stretching ...

to the north, the coast of

Siberia Siberia ( ; , ) is an extensive geographical region comprising all of North Asia, from the Ural Mountains in the west to the Pacific Ocean in the east. It has formed a part of the sovereign territory of Russia and its predecessor states ...

to the south, the

New Siberian Islands The New Siberian Islands (; ) are an archipelago in the Extreme North of Russia, to the north of the East Siberian coast between the Laptev Sea and the East Siberian Sea north of the Sakha (Yakutia) Republic, of whose Bulunsky District they ar ...

to the west and

Cape Billings Cape Billings ( - ''Mys Billingsa''), is a headland on the northern coast of Chukotka, Russian Federation to the west of Cape Schmidt. Geography The shore in the area around Cape Billings is bounded by narrow sandspits, beach ridges and swales ...

, close to Chukotka, and

Wrangel Island Wrangel Island (, ; , , ) is an island of the Chukotka Autonomous Okrug, Russia. It is the List of islands by area, 92nd-largest island in the world and roughly the size of Crete. Located in the Arctic Ocean between the Chukchi Sea and East Si ...

to the east. This sea borders on the

Laptev Sea The Laptev Sea () is a marginal sea of the Arctic Ocean. It is located between the northern coast of Siberia, the Taimyr Peninsula, Severnaya Zemlya, and the New Siberian Islands. Its northern boundary passes from the Arctic Cape to a point with ...

to the west and the

Chukchi Sea The Chukchi Sea (, ), sometimes referred to as the Chuuk Sea, Chukotsk Sea or the Sea of Chukotsk, is a marginal sea of the Arctic Ocean. It is bounded on the west by the Long Strait, off Wrangel Island, and in the east by Point Barrow, Alaska, ...

to the east. This sea is one of the least studied in the Arctic area. It is characterized by severe

climate Climate is the long-term weather pattern in a region, typically averaged over 30 years. More rigorously, it is the mean and variability of meteorological variables over a time spanning from months to millions of years. Some of the meteoro ...

, low water

salinity Salinity () is the saltiness or amount of salt (chemistry), salt dissolved in a body of water, called saline water (see also soil salinity). It is usually measured in g/L or g/kg (grams of salt per liter/kilogram of water; the latter is dimensio ...

, and a scarcity of flora, fauna and human population, as well as shallow depths (mostly less than 50 m), slow

sea current An ocean current is a continuous, directed movement of seawater generated by a number of forces acting upon the water, including wind, the Coriolis effect, breaking waves, cabbeling, and temperature and salinity differences. Depth contours ...

s, low

tide Tides are the rise and fall of sea levels caused by the combined effects of the gravitational forces exerted by the Moon (and to a much lesser extent, the Sun) and are also caused by the Earth and Moon orbiting one another. Tide tables ...

s (below 25 cm), frequent

fog Fog is a visible aerosol consisting of tiny water droplets or ice crystals suspended in the air at or near the Earth's surface. Reprint from Fog can be considered a type of low-lying cloud usually resembling stratus and is heavily influenc ...

s, especially in summer, and an abundance of

ice field An ice field (also spelled icefield) is a mass of interconnected valley glaciers (also called mountain glaciers or alpine glaciers) on a mountain mass with protruding rock ridges or summits. They are often found in the colder climates and high ...

s which fully melt only in August–September. The sea shores were inhabited for thousands of years by indigenous tribes of

Yukaghirs The Yukaghirs, or Yukagirs ( (), ), are a Siberian ethnic group in the Russian Far East, living in the basin of the Kolyma River. Geographic distribution The Tundra Yukaghirs live in the Lower Kolyma region in the Sakha Republic; the Taiga Y ...

, Chukchi and then

Evens The Evens /əˈvɛn/ ( Even: эвэн; pl. эвэсэл, ''evesel'' in Even and эвены, ''eveny'' in Russian; formerly called ''Lamuts'') are a people in Siberia and the Russian Far East. They live in regions of the Magadan Oblast and ...

and

Evenks The Evenki, also known as the Evenks and formerly as the Tungus, are a Tungusic peoples, Tungusic people of North Asia. In Russia, the Evenki are recognised as one of the Indigenous peoples of the Russian North, indigenous peoples of the Russi ...

, which were engaged in fishing, hunting and

reindeer husbandry Reindeer herding is when reindeer are herded by people in a limited area. Currently, reindeer are the only semi-domesticated animal which naturally belong to the North. Reindeer herding is conducted in nine countries: Norway, Finland, Sweden, Russ ...

. They were then absorbed by

Yakuts The Yakuts or Sakha (, ; , ) are a Turkic ethnic group native to North Siberia, primarily the Republic of Sakha in the Russian Federation. They also inhabit some districts of the Krasnoyarsk Krai. They speak Yakut, which belongs to the Si ...

and later by

Russians Russians ( ) are an East Slavs, East Slavic ethnic group native to Eastern Europe. Their mother tongue is Russian language, Russian, the most spoken Slavic languages, Slavic language. The majority of Russians adhere to Eastern Orthodox Church ...

. Major industrial activities in the area are mining and navigation within the

Northern Sea Route The Northern Sea Route (NSR) (, shortened to Севморпуть, ''Sevmorput'') is a shipping route about long. The Northern Sea Route (NSR) is the shortest shipping route between the western part of Eurasia and the Asia-Pacific region. Ad ...

; commercial fishing is poorly developed. The largest city and port is

Pevek Pevek (; Chukchi language, Chukchi: , ''Pèèkin'' / ''Pèèk'') is an Arctic port types of inhabited localities in Russia, town and the administrative center of Chaunsky District in Chukotka Autonomous Okrug, Russia, located on Chaunskaya Bay (pa ...

, the northernmost city of mainland Russia.

Name

The present name was assigned to the sea on 27 June 1935 by Decree of the Soviet Government. Before that, the sea had no distinct name, and a variety of names were interchangeably used to refer to it in Russia, including ''Indigirskoe'', ''Kolymskoe'', ''Severnoe'' (Northern), ''Sibirskoe'' and ''Ledovitoe'' (Icy).

Geography

Extent

The

International Hydrographic Organization The International Hydrographic Organization (IHO) (French: ''Organisation Hydrographique Internationale'') is an intergovernmental organization representing hydrography. the IHO comprised 102 member states. A principal aim of the IHO is to ...

defines the limits of the East Siberian Sea as follows:

''On the West.'' The Eastern limit of
Laptev Sea The Laptev Sea () is a marginal sea of the Arctic Ocean. It is located between the northern coast of Siberia, the Taimyr Peninsula, Severnaya Zemlya, and the New Siberian Islands. Its northern boundary passes from the Arctic Cape to a point with ...
Kotelni Island – through Kotelni Island to Cape Madvejyi. Then through Malyi Island, to Cape Vaguin on Bolshoy Lyakhovsky Island">Great Liakhov Island. Thence to Cape Sviaroy Noss on the main land">Little Lyakhovsky Island">Malyi Island, to Cape Vaguin on Bolshoy Lyakhovsky Island">Great Liakhov Island. Thence to Cape Sviaroy Noss on the main land ''On the North.'' A line from the Northernmost point of
Wrangel Island Wrangel Island (, ; , , ) is an island of the Chukotka Autonomous Okrug, Russia. It is the List of islands by area, 92nd-largest island in the world and roughly the size of Crete. Located in the Arctic Ocean between the Chukchi Sea and East Si ...
(179°30'W) to the Northern sides of the De Long Islands (including Henrietta Island, Henrietta and Jeannette Islands) and Bennett Island, thence to the Northern extremity of Kotelni Island. ''On the East.'' From the Northernmost point of Wrangel Island through this island to Cape Blossom thence to Cape Yakan on the main land (176°40'E).

Topography

Because it is open towards the Arctic Ocean in the north, the main gulfs of the East Siberian Sea, like the

Kolyma Bay The Kolyma Bay (; Kolymskaya Guba) is one of the main gulfs of the East Siberian Sea. The bay gets its name from the Kolyma Lowlands, whose coastline forms the whole eastern half of this bay. The Kolyma Lowlands are dotted with numerous lakes an ...

, the Kolyma Gulf and the Chaunskaya Bay, are all located in its southern limits. There are no islands in the middle of the East Siberian Sea, but there are a few islands and island groups in its coastal waters, like

Ayon Island Ayon Island is an island in the coast of Chukotka in the East Siberian Sea. The island itself consists mainly of low-lying tundra, and is primarily populated by the Chukchi people, who use the tundra as pasture for their reindeer herds. Geograph ...

and the Medvyezhi island group. The total area of the islands is only 80 km².Allan R. Robinson, Kenneth H. Brin
The Global Coastal Ocean: Regional Studies and Syntheses
Harvard University Press, 2005 pp.775–783 Some islands mostly consist of sand and ice and gradually erode. The total catchment area is 1,342,000 km². Among the rivers flowing into the East Siberian Sea, the

Indigirka The Indigirka (; ) is a river in the Sakha Republic in Russia between the Yana to the west and the Kolyma to the east. It is long. The area of its basin is . History The isolated village of Russkoye Ustye, located on the delta of the Indigi ...

Alazeya The Alazeya (; ) is a river in the northeastern part of Yakutia, Russia which flows into the Arctic between the basins of the larger Indigirka to the west and the Kolyma to the east. Mount Kisilyakh-Tas is a notable kigilyakh site on the right b ...

, Chukochya,

Kolyma Kolyma (, ) or Kolyma Krai () is a historical region in the Russian Far East that includes the basin of Kolyma River and the northern shores of the Sea of Okhotsk, as well as the Kolyma Mountains (the watershed of the two). It is bounded to ...

, Rauchua, Chaun, and Pegtymel are the most important. Only a few rivers are navigable.National Geospatial-intelligence Agenc
Prostar Sailing Directions 2005 North Coast of Russia Enroute
, pp. 137–143 The coastline of the sea is 3,016 km long. It makes large bends, sometimes stretching deep into the land, and has a rather different topography in the eastern and western parts. Fine bends are rare and occur only in the river

deltas A river delta is a landform, wikt:archetype#Noun, archetypically triangular, created by the deposition (geology), deposition of the sediments that are carried by the waters of a river, where the river merges with a body of slow-moving water or ...

. The coastal section between the New Siberian Islands and the mouth of the Kolyma River is uniform, with low and slowly varying slopes. It extends landwards to the marshy

tundra In physical geography, a tundra () is a type of biome where tree growth is hindered by frigid temperatures and short growing seasons. There are three regions and associated types of tundra: #Arctic, Arctic, Alpine tundra, Alpine, and #Antarctic ...

filled with numerous small lakes. In contrast, the coast to the east of the Kolyma River is mountainous, with steep cliffs. The underwater topography of the shelf that forms the seabed is a plain, sloping from southwest to northeast, covered in a mixture of silt, sand and stones and lacking significant depressions and elevations. About 70% of the sea is shallower than 50 m, with predominant depths of 20–25 m. North-east to the mouth of the Kolyma and Indigirka rivers, there are deep trenches on the seabed, which are attributed to the ancient river valleys, now submerged by the sea. The region of small depths in the western part forms the Novosibirsk shoal. The greatest depths of about 915 m are found in the north-eastern part of the sea.William Elliott Butle
Northeast arctic passage
(1978) , pp. 35–36 The East Siberian Sea is bound to the south by the

East Siberian Lowland The East Siberian Lowland (), also known as Yana-Kolyma Lowland (),Oleg Leonidovič Kryžanovskij, ''A Checklist of the Ground-beetles of Russia and Adjacent Lands.'' p. 16 is a vast plain in North-eastern Siberia, Russia.Verkhoyansk Sea, an ancient sea at the edge of the

Siberian Craton Siberia, also known as Siberian Craton, Angaraland (or simply Angara) and Angarida, is an ancient craton in the heart of Siberia. Today forming the Central Siberian Plateau, it formed an independent landmass prior to its fusion into Pangea during ...

in the

Permian The Permian ( ) is a geologic period and System (stratigraphy), stratigraphic system which spans 47 million years, from the end of the Carboniferous Period million years ago (Mya), to the beginning of the Triassic Period 251.902 Mya. It is the s ...

period. As centuries went by, gradually, most of the area limiting the sea, as well as the contiguous Laptev Sea to the south became filled with the alluvial deposits of modern rivers.Sea basins and land of the East Siberian Lowland
/ref>

Climate

The climate is polar and is influenced by the continent and Atlantic and Pacific oceans. In winter, it is mostly affected by the continent. South-westerly and southerly winds having the speeds of 6–7 m/s (15 mph, 25 km/h) bring cold air from Siberia, so the average temperature in January is approximately −30 °C. The weather is calm, clear and stable with occasional intrusions by cyclones. Atlantic cyclones increase the wind speed and air temperature whereas Pacific ones bring clouds, storms and blizzards. The winds blow from the north in summer; they are weak in June, strengthen to 6–7 m/s (15 mph, 25 km/h) in July and reach 10–15 m/s (33 mph, 50 km/h) in August, making the western part of the sea one of the most violent areas on the northern Russian coast. The southeastern part is however much calmer. Northerly winds result in the low average temperatures of 0–1 °C in the open sea and 2–3 °C on the coast in July. Skies are usually cloudy, with frequent drizzling rains or wet snow. Along the coasts, fogs occur 90–100 days per year, mostly in summer (68–75 days). Precipitation is low at 100–200 mm per year, but it is still larger than the evaporation volume.

Hydrology

The continental runoff into the East Siberian Sea is relatively small at about 250 km³/year that makes only 10% of the total runoff in all the Arctic seas of Russia. The largest contribution is from the Kolyma River at 132 km³, followed by the Indigirka River at 59 km³. Most runoff (90%) occurs in summer; it is concentrated near the coast, owing to the weak river currents, and therefore does not significantly affect the sea hydrology. The water exchange between the neighboring seas is as follows. The annual outflow to the Laptev Sea, Chukchi Sea and Arctic Ocean is 3,240, 6,600 and 11,430 km³, respectively; while the respective inflow values are 3,240, 8,800 and 9,230 km³. The surface water temperature decreases from south to north. In winter it varies between −0.2 and 0.6 °C at the river deltas and from −1.7 to −1.8 °C in the northern sea part. In summer, it warms to 7–8 °C in the bays and inlets and to 2–3 °C in the ice-free sea zones. Surface water salinity increases from southwest to northeast. In winter and spring, it is 4–5‰ (parts per thousand) near the deltas of the Kolyma and Indigirka rivers. It increases to 28–30‰ in the sea centre, reaching 31–32‰ at its northern outskirts. Salinity decreases in summer by some 5‰ due to the snow melting. It also decreases by some 5–7‰ from the sea bottom to the surface. There are constant currents at the sea surface directed from west to east. They are weak and thus can temporarily change direction due to the wind. The

s are semidiurnal (rising twice a day) with the amplitude between 5 and 25 cm. The tidal wave weakens toward the coast due to shallow waters. The sea level is maximal in summer, due to the river runoff, and in autumn due to the winds. It is the lowest in March–April, with the total annual fluctuations within about 70 cm. Winds bring storms with waves reaching 3–5 m in the western part whereas the eastern regions are relatively calm. The storms typically last 1–2 days in summer; they are more frequent in winter and may extend up to 3–5 days. The sea freezes over between October–November and June–July. The ice is continuous and stationary near the coast, reaching the thickness of 2 m by the end of winter; The thickness decreases from west to east. Further into the sea, the ice cover transforms into drifting ice having the thickness of 2–3 m. The southern winter winds shift this ice northwards, making

polynya A polynya () is an area of open water surrounded by sea ice. It is now used as a geographical term for an area of unfrozen seawater within otherwise contiguous pack ice or fast ice. It is a loanword from the Russian language, Russian (), whic ...

s near the sea centre. There are no

iceberg An iceberg is a piece of fresh water ice more than long that has broken off a glacier or an ice shelf and is floating freely in open water. Smaller chunks of floating glacially derived ice are called "growlers" or "bergy bits". Much of an i ...

s in the sea. Ice melting typically starts around May, first around the delta of the major Kolyma River. In absence of industry, sea water is rather clean. Minor contaminations are found near the Novosibirsk and Wrangel islands (up to 80 μg/L), due to occasional oil spills,S. Heileman and I. Belki
East Siberian Sea: LME #56
, NOAA.gov and in Chaunskaya Bay due to the local

thermal power station A thermal power station, also known as a thermal power plant, is a type of power station in which the heat energy generated from various fuel sources (e.g., coal, natural gas, nuclear fuel, etc.) is converted to electrical energy. The heat ...

and activities at the major port Pevek.

Flora and fauna

Flora and fauna are relatively scarce due to the harsh climate. The summer

plankton Plankton are the diverse collection of organisms that drift in Hydrosphere, water (or atmosphere, air) but are unable to actively propel themselves against ocean current, currents (or wind). The individual organisms constituting plankton are ca ...

bloom is short but intense, producing 5 million tonnes of plankton in August and September, whereas the annual production is 7 million tonnes. The nutrients in water are mostly provided by river discharges and

coastal erosion Coastal erosion is the loss or displacement of land, or the long-term removal of sediment and rocks along the coastline due to the action of Wind wave, waves, Ocean current, currents, tides, wind-driven water, waterborne ice, or other impacts ...

. The plankton species are dominated by the Pacific species of

copepod Copepods (; meaning 'oar-feet') are a group of small crustaceans found in nearly every freshwater and saltwater habitat (ecology), habitat. Some species are planktonic (living in the water column), some are benthos, benthic (living on the sedimen ...

s. The sea shores and icefields host ringed seals (''Phoca hispida''),

bearded seal The bearded seal (''Erignathus barbatus''), also called the square flipper seal, is a medium-sized pinniped that is found in and near to the Arctic Ocean. It gets its Genus, generic name from two Greek language, Greek words (''eri'' and ''gnathos ...

s (''Erignathus barbatus'') and

walrus The walrus (''Odobenus rosmarus'') is a large pinniped marine mammal with discontinuous distribution about the North Pole in the Arctic Ocean and subarctic seas of the Northern Hemisphere. It is the only extant species in the family Odobeni ...

es (''Odobenus rosmarus'') along with their predator, polar bear (''Ursus maritimus''). Birds include seagulls,

uria ''Uria'' is a genus of seabirds in the auk family known in Europe as guillemots, in most of North America as murres, and in Newfoundland and Labrador as turr. These are medium-sized birds with mainly brown or black plumage in the breeding sea ...

and

cormorant Phalacrocoracidae is a family of approximately 40 species of aquatic birds commonly known as cormorants and shags. Several different classifications of the family have been proposed, but in 2021 the International Ornithologists' Union (IOU) ado ...

s. Sea waters are often visited by

bowhead whale The bowhead whale (''Balaena mysticetus''), sometimes called the Greenland right whale, Arctic whale, and polar whale, is a species of baleen whale belonging to the family Balaenidae and is the only living representative of the genus '' Balaena' ...

(''Balaena mysticetus''),

gray whale The gray whale (''Eschrichtius robustus''), also known as the grey whale,Britannica Micro.: v. IV, p. 693. is a baleen whale that migrates between feeding and breeding grounds yearly. It reaches a length of , a weight of up to and lives between ...

(''Eschrichtius robustus''),

beluga Beluga may refer to: Animals *Beluga (sturgeon) * Beluga whale Vehicles * Airbus Beluga, a large transport airplane * Airbus BelugaXL, a larger transport airplane * Beluga-class submarine, a class of Russian SSA diesel-electric submarine * U ...

(''Delphinapterus leucas'') and

narwhal The narwhal (''Monodon monoceros'') is a species of toothed whale native to the Arctic. It is the only member of the genus ''Monodon'' and one of two living representatives of the family Monodontidae. The narwhal is a stocky cetacean with a ...

(''Monodon monoceros''). Major fish species are grayling and ''

Coregonus ''Coregonus'' is a diverse genus of fish in the salmon family (Salmonidae). The ''Coregonus'' species are known as whitefishes. The genus contains at least 68 described extant taxa, but the true number of species is a matter of debate. The type ...

'' (whitefishes), such as

muksun The muksun ''(Coregonus muksun)'' is a type of whitefish widespread in the Siberian Arctic waters. It is mostly found in the freshened areas of the Kara and Laptev Seas and up the major rivers, as well as in Lake Taymyr. Like all whitefishe ...

(''Coregonus muksun''), broad whitefish (''Coregonus nasus'') and

omul The omul, ''Coregonus migratorius'', also known as Baikal omul (), is a whitefish species of the salmon family endemic to Lake Baikal in Siberia, Russia. It is considered a delicacy and is the object of one of the largest commercial fisheries ...

(''Coregonus autumnalis''). Also common are polar smelt,

saffron cod The saffron cod ''(Eleginus gracilis)'' is a commercially harvested fish closely related to true cods (genus ''Gadus''). It is dark grey-green to brown, with spots on its sides and pale towards the belly. It may grow to 55 cm and weigh up to ...

polar cod ''Boreogadus saida'', known as the polar cod or as the Arctic cod, is a fish of the cod Family (biology), family Gadidae, related to the true cod (genus ''Gadus''). Another fish species for which both the common names Arctic cod and polar cod a ...

flounder Flounders are a group of flatfish species. They are demersal fish, found at the bottom of oceans around the world; some species will also enter estuary, estuaries. Taxonomy The name "flounder" is used for several only distantly related speci ...

and

Arctic char The Arctic char or Arctic charr (''Salvelinus alpinus'') is a cold-water fish in the family Salmonidae, native to alpine lakes, as well as Arctic and subarctic coastal waters in the Holarctic realm, Holarctic. Distribution and habitat It Spaw ...

History

The coast of the East Siberian Sea was inhabited for ages by the native peoples of northern Siberia such as

and Chukchi (eastern areas). Those tribes were engaged in fishing, hunting and

, as reindeer sleds were essential for transportation and hunting. They were joined and absorbed by

and

around the second century and later, between ninth and 15th centuries, by much more numerous

. All those tribes moved north from the

Baikal Lake Lake Baikal is a rift lake and the deepest lake in the world. It is situated in southern Siberia, Russia between the federal subjects of Irkutsk Oblast to the northwest and the Republic of Buryatia to the southeast. At —slightly larger tha ...

area avoiding confrontations with Mongols. Whereas they all practised

shamanism Shamanism is a spiritual practice that involves a practitioner (shaman) interacting with the spirit world through altered states of consciousness, such as trance. The goal of this is usually to direct spirits or spiritual energies into ...

, they spoke different languages. The sea was navigated by Russian sea-farers, moving from one river mouth to another in their kochs as early as the 17th century. In 1648,

Semyon Dezhnev Semyon Ivanovich Dezhnyov (, ; sometimes spelled Dezhnev; March 7, 1605 – 1673) was a Russian explorer of Siberia and the first European to sail through the Bering Strait, 80 years before Vitus Bering did. In 1648 he sailed from the Kolyma Riv ...

and Fedot Alekseev sailed the coast of the East Siberian Sea from the Kolyma to river

Anadyr Anadyr may refer to: *Anadyr (town), a town and the administrative center of Chukotka Autonomous Okrug, Russia * Anadyr District * Anadyr Estuary * Anadyr (river), a river in Chukotka Autonomous Okrug, Russia * Anadyr Highlands * Anadyr Lowlands * A ...

in the

Bering Sea The Bering Sea ( , ; rus, Бе́рингово мо́ре, r=Béringovo móre, p=ˈbʲerʲɪnɡəvə ˈmorʲe) is a marginal sea of the Northern Pacific Ocean. It forms, along with the Bering Strait, the divide between the two largest landmasse ...

. Systematic exploration and mapping of the sea and its coasts was carried out by a series of expeditions in 1735–42, 1820–24, 1822, 1909 and 1911–14. In the 1930s, the coastal settlement of

Ambarchik Ambarchik () is a rural locality (a '' selo'') and a port in Pokhodsky Rural Okrug of Nizhnekolymsky District of the Sakha Republic, Russia, located from Chersky, the administrative center of the district and from Pokhodsk. It is located on ...

, located at the delta of the Kolyma River, was used as a transient

labor camp A labor camp (or labour camp, see British and American spelling differences, spelling differences) or work camp is a detention facility where inmates are unfree labour, forced to engage in penal labor as a form of punishment. Labor camps have ...

from which prisoners were transported to other northern camps of the

Gulag The Gulag was a system of Labor camp, forced labor camps in the Soviet Union. The word ''Gulag'' originally referred only to the division of the Chronology of Soviet secret police agencies, Soviet secret police that was in charge of runnin ...

system. While stationed at Ambarchik, prisoners were employed to build most of the port infrastructure and to unload the incoming ships. Later, due to shallow waters, the shipping was gradually transferred to Chersky in the lower reaches of the Kolyma, in order to accommodate larger vessels. As a result of this transfer, the port and settlement have been abandoned. Nowadays, Ambarchik only hosts a meteorological station operated by a few staff members. Another two labour camps of the Gulag system were later opened near Pevek, namely Chaunlag (1951–1953) and Chaunchukotlag (1949–1957). Both contained about 10,000 inmates used in the mine and construction works.

Human activities

The southern coast of the sea is shared by the

Sakha Republic Sakha, officially the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia), is a republics of Russia, republic of Russia, and the largest federal subject of Russia by area. It is located in the Russian Far East, along the Arctic Ocean, with a population of one million ...

on the west and

Chukotka Autonomous Okrug Chukotka ( ; ), officially the Chukotka Autonomous Okrug, is the easternmost federal subjects of Russia, federal subject of Russia. It is an Autonomous okrugs of Russia, autonomous okrug situated in the Russian Far East, and shares a border wi ...

of Russia on the east. The coastal settlements are few and small, with the typical population below 100. The only city is

(population 5,206), which is the northernmost city in Russia. There are gold mines near Leningradsky and Pevek, but many mines have been closed recently, for example,

tin Tin is a chemical element; it has symbol Sn () and atomic number 50. A silvery-colored metal, tin is soft enough to be cut with little force, and a bar of tin can be bent by hand with little effort. When bent, a bar of tin makes a sound, the ...

mines at Pevek in the 1990s, that resulted in outflow of population. So, the

Logashkino Logashkino () was a types of inhabited localities in Russia, settlement in Nizhnekolymsky Ulus of the Sakha Republic, Russia, which was abolished in 1998.Resolution #443 of September 29, 1998 ''On Exclusion of Inhabited Localities from the Recor ...

settlement, which used to be a notable East Siberian Sea port, was abolished in 1998.Resolution #443 of September 29, 1998 ''On Exclusion of Inhabited Localities from the Records of Administrative and Territorial Division of the Sakha (Yakutia) Republic'' The sea is used mostly for transportation of goods across the northern coast of Russia during August–September. The navigation is hindered even in summer by the remaining floating ice which is also brought down to the southern shores by occasional winds. Fishery and hunting of marine animals is still practised as traditional activities, but has only local importance. Fishery mostly targets salmon, halibut and crab. Data exist on fish production, which in 2005 was distributed, in thousand tonnes as follows:

sardine Sardine and pilchard are common names for various species of small, oily forage fish in the herring suborder Clupeoidei. The term "sardine" was first used in English during the early 15th century; a somewhat dubious etymology says it com ...

(1.6),

Arctic cisco The Arctic cisco (''Coregonus autumnalis''), also known as Arctic omul (), is an anadromy, anadromous species of freshwater whitefish that inhabits the Arctic parts of Siberia especially Yenisey Gulf. It can also be found in Alaska and Canada. I ...

(1.8),

Bering cisco The Bering cisco or Lauretta whitefish (''Coregonus laurettae'') is a freshwater whitefish found in Alaska and part of Russia. It is often considered to be the same species as the more common Arctic cisco (''Coregonus autumnalis''). Description ...

(2.2), broad whitefish (2.7),

Muksun The muksun ''(Coregonus muksun)'' is a type of whitefish widespread in the Siberian Arctic waters. It is mostly found in the freshened areas of the Kara and Laptev Seas and up the major rivers, as well as in Lake Taymyr. Like all whitefishe ...

(2.8) and others (3.6). The principal port is

(in the Chaunskaya Bay) After the breakup of the

Soviet Union The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

, commercial navigation in the Arctic went into decline. Nowadays more or less regular shipping occurs only between Pevek and

Vladivostok Vladivostok ( ; , ) is the largest city and the administrative center of Primorsky Krai and the capital of the Far Eastern Federal District of Russia. It is located around the Zolotoy Rog, Golden Horn Bay on the Sea of Japan, covering an area o ...

. Ports in the northern Siberian coast located between

Dudinka Dudinka (; Nenets: Тут'ын, ''Tutꜧyn'') is a town on the Yenisei River and the administrative center of Taymyrsky Dolgano-Nenetsky District of Krasnoyarsk Krai, Russia. It used to be the administrative center of Taymyr Autonomous Okrug, ...

and Pevek see next to no shipping at all. Since 1944, most electricity for the region is provided by the 30 MW

of Pevek. It is ageing and consumes much oil which has to be brought from far away. Therefore, there was a project to replace the station by a floating 70 MW atomic power station by 2015. (failed) "Golden" station
(in Russian)

References

External links

Weather forecast for Pevek
(in Russian)
Weather in Pevek for a month
(in Russian) * {{Authority control Marginal seas of the Arctic Ocean Seas of Asia Seas of Russia Geography of Siberia Bodies of water of Krasnoyarsk Krai Bodies of water of the Sakha Republic Bodies of water of Chukotka Autonomous Okrug

Name

Geography

Extent

Topography

Climate

Hydrology

Flora and fauna

History

Human activities

See also

References

External links