Barrier Islands and Lagoons at Cape Espenberg - Kotzebue Sound

Kotzebue Sound is an arm of 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, ...

in the western region of the

U.S. state In the United States, a state is a constituent political entity, of which there are 50. Bound together in a political union, each state holds governmental jurisdiction over a separate and defined geographic territory where it shares its so ...

Alaska Alaska ( ) is a non-contiguous U.S. state on the northwest extremity of North America. Part of the Western United States region, it is one of the two non-contiguous U.S. states, alongside Hawaii. Alaska is also considered to be the north ...

. It is on the north side of the

Seward Peninsula The Seward Peninsula is a large peninsula on the western coast of the U.S. state of Alaska whose westernmost point is Cape Prince of Wales. The peninsula projects about into the Bering Sea between Norton Sound, the Bering Strait, the Chukchi ...

and bounded on the east by the Baldwin Peninsula. It is long and wide. Kotzebue Sound is located in the transitional climate zone, which is characterized by long, cold winters and cool summers. The average low temperature during January is ; the average high during July is . Temperature extremes have been measured from to . Snowfall averages , with total precipitation of per year. Kotzebue Sound is ice-free from early July until early October. The towns of Kotzebue, Kiwalik and Deering are on the shores of Kotzebue Sound. Kotzebue Sound was explored and named in 1816 by Baltic German

Lieutenant A lieutenant ( , ; abbreviated Lt., Lt, LT, Lieut and similar) is a Junior officer, junior commissioned officer rank in the armed forces of many nations, as well as fire services, emergency medical services, Security agency, security services ...

Otto von Kotzebue Otto von Kotzebue (; 30 December 1787 – 15 February 1846) was a Baltic German naval officer in the Imperial Russian Navy. He commanded two naval expeditions into the Pacific for the purposes of exploration and scientific investigation. The fi ...

while searching for the

Northeast Passage The Northeast Passage (abbreviated as NEP; , ) is the Arctic shipping routes, shipping route between the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic and Pacific Ocean, Pacific Oceans, along the Arctic coasts of Norway and Russia. The western route through the islan ...

in the service of

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Fauna

A wide variety of birdlife is apparent at Kotzebue Sound including the tufted puffin, black-throated diver and red-throated loon. The sound is a location for the presence of the

polar bear The polar bear (''Ursus maritimus'') is a large bear native to the Arctic and nearby areas. It is closely related to the brown bear, and the two species can Hybrid (biology), interbreed. The polar bear is the largest extant species of bear ...

, ''Ursus maritimus''; in fact, the world's record largest polar bear at 2,210 pounds (1,002 kg) was observed at Kotzebue Sound in 1960.

Notes

References

* Giddings, J. Louis, and Douglas D. Anderson. ''Beach Ridge Archeology of Cape Krusenstern Eskimo and Pre-Eskimo Settlements Around Kotzebue Sound, Alaska''. Washington DC: National Park Service, U.S. Dept. of the Interior, 1986. * Lucier, Charles V., and James W. VanStone. ''Traditional Beluga Drives of the Iñupiat of Kotzebue Sound, Alaska''. Fieldiana, new ser., no. 25. Chicago: Field Museum of Natural History, 1995. *

External links

Robert L. Dey Typescript and Correspondence on a Trip to Kotzebue Sound
at Dartmouth College Library Sounds of Alaska Bodies of water of Northwest Arctic Borough, Alaska Bodies of water of the Chukchi Sea {{NorthwestArcticAK-geo-stub