Northern Arctic Ocean lies between two continents - Eurasia and North America. According to physical and geographical features, it is subdivided into the deep-water Arctic basin, approximately in the center of which is North Pole The lands and marginal Arctic seas are mostly shallow. There are many islands in these seas, some of them are grouped into large and small archipelagos.
The waters of the Arctic Ocean wash the shores of our Motherland from the north. Along them lies the main route of the Northern Sea Route - along the White, Barents, Kara, Laptev, East Siberian and Chukchi seas. Most of the Arctic Ocean lies within the Arctic Circle. The most important feature of this region is polar night and polar day. In Murmansk, the starting point of the Northern Sea Route, the polar night lasts 40 days, the polar day - 58; at Cape Chelyuskin - the most northern point mainland- duration polar night 107 days, polar day -123; at the North Pole, polar night and polar day last approximately half a year.
The nature of the Arctic Ocean is extremely harsh. Nine or eleven months of winter lasts with severe frosts and severe blizzards. All freezes visible life. Only occasionally in search of food will a lonely polar bear or the graceful arctic animal white fox will flash by. Not happy and short cold summer, cloudy and damp. The sky is almost always overcast dense layer low dull clouds, an annoying drizzling rain almost daily, often creeping fog penetrating dampness. Despite the fact that the sun makes its way above the horizon around the clock, it is very rare to see it. The air temperature on Franz Josef Land, Cape Chelyuskin, and Severnaya Zemlya is around 0o in summer. On any summer day, it can drop to -5°, -10°, heavy snowfall, blizzard is possible.
The Arctic basin is covered with drifting ice fields at all times of the year. As a result of uneven drift, the ice separates in places, and spaces are formed open water- divorces; in other places, on the contrary, the ice compresses and, breaking, they form chaotic heaps - hummocks. AT marginal seas in winter, floating ice freezes to the shores as a fixed fast ice. In summer, fast ice breaks and breaks. There are years when broken ice moves far from the coast, making way for steamships, and sometimes they do not move at all or move not far, making navigation difficult.
The Arctic land also looks harsh. All mainland coast and islands are shackled permafrost. Many islands are partially or even completely buried by powerful glaciers. There are no trees or bushes anywhere.
The beginning of the development of the Arctic Ocean by the Russians refers to middle of XII century, when the Pomors first came to the shores of the White, and then the Barents Seas, where they hunted seals, walruses, whales, polar bears, and valuable species of fish. Gradually expanding the areas of fishing, Pomors, apparently, in the XIV century. already sailed to Novaya Zemlya and, no later than the 16th century, to Svalbard.
In 1525, the Russian writer and diplomat Dmitry Gerasimov first suggested the probable existence of a waterway running along northern shores Europe and Asia. The idea of Gerasimov served as an impetus for the search for the Northern Sea Route by England and Holland, which for this purpose equipped in the 16th-17th centuries. several expeditions. However, none of them further western regions Kara Sea did not pass.
The first English expedition set sail in 1553 from London on three small sailing ships. During strong storm on the approach to the North Cape, the ships lost each other. Two of them, including the one on which the head of the expedition, Admiral Hugh Willoughby, traveled to Novaya Zemlya or to Kolguev Island, from where they turned back and stopped for the winter near the Murmansk coast, near the mouth of the Varsina River. The first wintering of Europeans in the waters of the Arctic Ocean ended tragically - the entire personnel both ships in the amount of 65 people died from cold and hunger. The fate of the third ship, commanded by Richard Chancellor, was happier. But his navigation was limited to the lower reaches of the Northern Dvina.
In 1596, a Dutch ship under the command of Jacob Geemskerk and Willem Barents successfully reached the northern coast of Novaya Zemlya. It seemed to the sailors that the desired path to the countries of the East was already open, but their ship was tightly covered with ice in the bay, which they called the Ice Harbor. The sailors went ashore and built a house. Several people could not bear the hardships of the harsh winter and died. Barents and many others fell seriously ill with scurvy. With the onset of summer, the Dutch threw a ship frozen into the ice and coastal strip pure water went south in two boats. Near the island of Mezhdusharsky, they were noticed by the Russian coast-dwellers who hunted here. They supplied food for distressed sailors and indicated the most safe way to return home. On September 2, 1597, the Dutch arrived safely in Kola, and from there they returned to Amsterdam on a passing ship. But Barents was not among them. The brave navigator died in the first days of sailing on boats.
While the British and Dutch unsuccessfully tried to open the Northern Sea Route, a great movement to the east of Russian coast-dwellers and explorers began. Already in mid-sixteenth in. Pomors mastered the sea route at the mouth of the Ob. Using the tributaries of Siberian rivers, Pomors and explorers from the Ob crossed to the Yenisei and Lena. They made voyages to the Arctic Ocean and along its shores. So the sea route was opened from the mouth of the Yenisei to the Pyasina, from the mouth of the Lena to the Olenyok and Anabar rivers to the west, to the Yana, Indigirka and Kolyma rivers to the east.
In 1648, a group of sailors led by the "trading man" Fedot Alekseev Popov and Cossack ataman Semyon Ivanov Dezhnev bypassed on kocha Chukotka Peninsula and went out to the Pacific Ocean. In 1686-1688. The trading expedition of Ivan Tolstoukhov on three kochs bypassed the Taimyr Peninsula by sea from west to east. In 1712, explorers Mercury Vagin and Yakov Permyakov visited Bolshoy Lyakhovsky Island for the first time, initiating the discovery and exploration of the entire group of the New Siberian Islands. In a little more than a century, Russian coast-dwellers and explorers passed separate sections the entire Northern Sea Route. Dmitry Gerasimov's assumption about the existence of a sea route from Europe to the Pacific Ocean around the northern coasts of Eurasia was confirmed.
Despite large area Russia is washed by only 13 seas, 12 of which belong to three oceans (Pacific, Arctic, Atlantic) and one sea-lake belonging to the internal drainless basin of Eurasia. The seas are located on four lithospheric plates(Eurasian, North American, Sea of Okhotsk and Amur).
All seas are different natural signs such as origin, geological structure, relief and shape of the bottom, depth of sea basins, temperature, etc.
Seas of the Arctic Ocean
The largest group of seas that wash Russia belongs to the Arctic Ocean. This group includes the Kara, Laptev, East Siberian, Barents, Chukchi and White seas.
They wash Russia from the north. It is noteworthy that only the White Sea is inland, all other seas are continental marginal. Between the seas of the Arctic Ocean, the boundaries are marked by islands and archipelagos (Franz Josef Land, Severnaya Zemlya, New Earth, Svalbard, etc.), and where the border is not clearly visible, it is carried out mentally. total area of these seas reaches 4.5 million km ^ 2, and the average depth is only 185 meters.
Since all these seas are on the shelf of the mainland, they are all shallow. The deepest sea is the Laptev Sea. Its northern part occupies the edge of the Nansen Deep Basin. The depth of the sea in this place reaches 3385 meters. Due to this, the average depth of the Laptev Sea reaches 533 meters.
In winter, its temperature ranges from -0.8°С to +1.7°С, and in summer from +0.8°С to +10°С. The second place of honor is occupied by the Barents Sea, maximum depth which reaches 600 meters, and the average depth is only 222 meters. The third place was taken by the Kara Sea.
Although its maximum depth is greater Barents Sea and reaches 620 meters, its average depth barely reaches 111 meters, which is 2 times less than that of the Barents Sea. The last 3 places in terms of depth are occupied by: White (maximum depth - 350 meters, average depth - 67 meters), Chukotka (maximum depth - 160 meters, average - 71 meters) and East Siberian (maximum depth - 155 meters, average - 54 meters ) seas.
Seas of the Pacific Ocean
three seas Pacific Ocean, which wash Russia from the east, are the largest and deepest. Their average depth reaches 1354 meters, which is 7 times more than the average depth of the seas of the Arctic Ocean. This group includes the seas: Bering, Okhotsk and Japan.
Between themselves, these seas are separated by the Kamchatka Peninsula and the Sakhalin Island. East End The Kamchatka Peninsula is washed directly by the waters of the Pacific Ocean. It can also be noted that these seas are the boundary between the very major mainland and ocean of the planet.
The deepest sea of the entire group is the Bering Sea. Its maximum depth reaches 4151 meters, and the average - 1640 meters. In winter, its temperature ranges from -1.5°С to +3°С, and in summer - from +4°С to +11°С. This sea is mixed, continental-marginal type.
The Sea of Japan is in the middle, the maximum depth of which reaches 3699 meters, and the average - 1535 meters. In winter, the temperature of this sea ranges from 0 to +4°C, in summer - from +18 to +25°C. On the last place the Sea of Okhotsk protrudes. Its maximum depth is 3521 meters, and the average is only 821 meters. In winter, its temperature ranges from -1.5 to +1.8°C, and in summer 6-7°C.
Seas of the Atlantic Ocean
This group includes three seas: Black, Baltic and Azov. They go deep into the mainland and wash small parts of it, and their connection with the ocean passes through numerous straits. All these seas are inland.
The Black Sea is the warmest of the seas washing the shores of our Motherland. Its temperature in winter is from 0 to 7°C, and in summer 25-26°C, its maximum depth reaches 2210 meters, and the average - 1315 meters. It lies in a tectonic depression, which is bordered by a continental slope. Communication with the ocean is carried out through the seas: Marmara, Aegean, Mediterranean and the straits: Bosphorus, Dardanelles, Gibraltar.
The Baltic Sea is the westernmost of the seas bordering Russia. Its maximum depth is very small and reaches only 470 meters, and its average depth is 51 meters. In winter, its temperature fluctuates around -1°С, and in summer - from +17 to +17°С. The Baltic Sea is located in a tectonic trough at the junction of the Baltic Shield with the Russian Plate. With Atlantic Ocean it is connected through the shallow Danish Straits and the North Sea.
The Sea of Azov is the smallest and shallowest sea on the planet. Its maximum depth is only 13 meters, and the average is 7 meters. Shelf inland sea, connection with the ocean is carried out with the help of the Black Sea, into which it flows through a shallow Kerch Strait. Its depth increases slowly and smoothly as it moves away from the coast. In winter, the temperature fluctuates around 0°С, and in summer it reaches +23-24°С.
Caspian sea-lake
The sea, which has repeatedly lost and restored its connection with the oceans. The most recent transformation of the Caspian Sea ended with the fact that as a result of uplifts in the area of the Kumo-Mychinskaya depression, it was finally isolated and became completely related to the drainless Eurasian basin.
Its area reaches 371 thousand km ^ 2, and its depth reaches 1025 meters. On the this moment Caspian Sea is the largest endorheic sea. The sea temperature in winter ranges from 0 to +10°С, and in summer - +24 - +28°С. His hydrological regime and organic world depend on nature and its changes within the sea basin itself, in particular the Volga basin, which is located entirely within our Motherland.
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Washes the coast of Norway and Russia. The area is 1.4 million sq. km, the average depth is 222 m.
In the old days, this sea was called Russian, Northern, Arctic, Siversky, Moscow, but most often - Murmansk. It was named Barents in 1834 in honor of the Dutch navigator V. Barents. The southeastern part is distinguished as a separate water area - this is the Pechora Sea.
In the north and northwest the Barents Sea all year round ice-bound, the central part of the sea abounds with floating ice until April. Only the southern and southeastern parts, warmed by the warm North Cape current, do not freeze. Here is located the only non-freezing port of the Arctic - Murmansk.
The sea has great value for the Russian economy - industrial fishing is developed here, fishing is being carried out, a hydroelectric power station is operating, and the main Arctic sea routes lie.
— southeastern part Barents Sea, bounded by the islands of Vaygach and Kolguev. Washes only the coast of Russia. This is the shallowest Arctic sea, the area is 81 thousand sq. km, the average depth is 6 m, the greatest is 210 m.
The sea is cold, from September to May it is covered with an ice crust. But a large number of seals, beluga whales, cod live here.
The Pechora reservoir is famous for the fact that the first Arctic oil was found here on the Russian shelf. This is the Prirazlomnoye field, where oil production is already underway. Three more deposits are being developed.
The sea is named after the Pechora River, the only major river that flows into the Barents Sea.
washes west coast Greenland. The hydronym has many synonyms: Baffin Bay, Bylotsky Bay. The area of the sea is 689 thousand sq. km, the average depth is 861 m.
The sea is named after English navigator William Baffin, who was one of the first to compile detailed description water areas. Although the honor of discovering the Baffin Sea belongs to another Englishman - John Davis.
In winter, the sea is covered with floating ice, only in the south there is a small strip of a reservoir free of ice.
The sea is almost completely located beyond the Arctic Circle, so arctic flora and fauna prevail here. But the proximity of the warm waters of the Atlantic affects the diversity underwater world. Numerous mollusks, crustaceans, more than 60 species of fish, pinnipeds, bowhead whales, polar bears and walruses live here. Baffin Sea - native home belugas. In the polar waters, you can also meet the ice shark, whose size reaches 5-6 meters.
- one of the smallest Russian seas between the continent and Kola Peninsula. The area of the sea is 90 thousand sq. km, the average depth is 67 m.
This sea has been known since ancient times. It was called Cold, Northern, Calm, White Bay, Bay of Serpents and Gandvik. Already in the 11th century, fish and furs were mined here, in the 14th century the first large settlement appeared - Kholmogory, which became the first Russian international port. Most of the marine trade routes linking Russia and Europe. The importance of the sea transport route decreased after the founding of St. Petersburg.
The entire water area is conditionally divided into several parts, each of which has its own name: Throat (Girlo), Basin, Kandalaksha Bay, Funnel, Mezen Bay, Dvinskaya Bay, Onega Bay. Separate parts of the coast also have their own names.
Separates the Northwest Territories of Canada and Alaska. The area is 476 thousand sq. km, the average depth is 1004 m.
This marginal sea has a harsh climate. Ice here is all year round, only in August - September, part of the sea is briefly freed from ice captivity.
The sea is located away from the main sea routes, therefore it is great place habitat for whales and beluga whales. In addition, there are more than 70 species of phytoplankton, about 80 species of zooplankton and almost 700 species of crustaceans.
But the main wealth of the Beaufort Sea is oil deposits. The first oil platform was launched in 1986.
The sea is named after the famous British hydrographer Francis Beaufort, the one who developed the scale for measuring wind speed.
Located off the southwest coast of Greenland.
This reservoir is still little studied, since most time is bound by ice, and the coast is difficult to access. The sea is rarely indicated on maps, and only a couple of lines are written about it in dictionaries and atlases. It is known that the sea was named after the polar explorer and explorer from Denmark K.F. Vandel. Although sometimes this sea is called the McKinley Sea.
The inaccessibility for development and the severity of the climate, in turn, had a very favorable effect on the environment. All species of the Arctic natural world are represented here, and the population of some is preserved in its original form.
- Russian water area located between Wrangel Island and the New Siberian Islands. The area is 944 thousand sq. km, the average depth is 66 m. Official name was proposed by Yu.M.
The sea is located in the Arctic, so it has a harsh climate and low temperatures. The sea is covered with ice all year round; in summer, the ice crust disappears briefly, but floating ice drift for several years.
Here is the northernmost port of Russia - Pevek, which received the status of the first city beyond the Arctic Circle. And since 1932, the Northern Sea Route has been stretching across the whole sea.
Spread between Iceland, Greenland and Svalbard. Named after largest peninsula our planet. This is one of the largest and most deep seas Arctic Ocean. The area is 1.2 million sq. km, the average depth is 1444 m, the largest reaches 4846 m (according to other sources - 5527 m).
Two currents meet in the sea - the cold East Greenland and the warm Svalbard. But, despite the proximity of the Atlantic and the warm current, the Greenland Sea has a harsh climate. In winter, most of the reservoir is hidden under the ice, which makes navigation impossible.
This sea is one of the largest fishing areas in the entire oceans. Such commercial fish species as herring, cod, saithe, haddock are popular.
The Sea of Prince Gustav-Adolf and the Sea of Crown Prince Gustav
Sea of Prince Gustavus Adolf- a small reservoir located between the islands of the Canadian Arctic archipelago.
The sea is named after the Swedish prince Gustavus Adolf, who later occupied the Swedish throne and was referred to as Gustav VI. And the Norwegian polar explorer Otto Sverdrup named the sea in honor of the prince during the Norwegian Arctic expedition of 1898-1902.
In Russian cartography, this sea is often referred to as the Prince Gustav August Strait.
In the southern part of the sea is the northern magnetic pole Earth.
The coasts of the sea are little studied, as is the water area itself. The islands are still uninhabited. And the fact that most of the year the sea is hidden under ice makes navigation very difficult. Therefore, there are no sea routes here, but nature has been preserved in its original form.
Crown Prince Gustav Sea — northwestern part Sea of Prince Gustavus Adolf. Climate, ecology and natural world the same as in the neighboring sea: ice, poor flora and fauna, uninhabited coasts and cold.
Physiography Russia and the USSR
European part: Arctic, Russian Plain, Caucasus, Urals
INTRODUCTION
Introduction chapters:
- Seas washing the territory of Russia
- From the history of the geographical study of the territory of Russia
- The initial period of scientific research on the territory of Russia
- The period of major expeditionary research, including branch research
- Soviet period of branch and complex research
THE SEA WASHING THE TERRITORY OF RUSSIA
Twelve seas of three oceans wash the shores of Russia. And only one sea - the Caspian - belongs to the internal drainless basin of Eurasia. The seas are located on four lithospheric plates (Eurasian, North American, Sea of Okhotsk and Amur) in different latitudes and climatic zones; natural features.
Seas of the Arctic Ocean
The seas of the Arctic Ocean - the Barents, White, Kara, Laptev, East Siberian, Chukchi - wash the territory of Russia from the north. All these seas are marginal; only the White Sea is inland. The seas of the Arctic Ocean are separated from each other and from the Central Polar Basin by archipelagos of islands, islands (Svalbard, Franz Josef Land, Novaya Zemlya, Severnaya Zemlya, Wrangel Island, etc.). Where there is no clear boundary, it is carried out conditionally.All seas are located on the continental shelf and therefore shallow.Only the northern part of the Laptev Sea occupies the outskirts of the Nansen deep basin.The seabed here drops to 3385 m.Due to this, the average depth of the Laptev Sea is 533 m, which makes it the deepest of the seas of the Arctic Ocean. - Barents Sea (average depth 222 m, maximum depth 600 m). The most shallow are the East Siberian (average depth 54 m) and Chukchi (71 m) seas. The bottom of these seas is flat. The bottom topography of the Barents and Kara Seas is characterized by the greatest ruggedness (Table 1).
Table 1. Seas washing the territory of Russia
The total area of the seas of the Arctic Ocean adjacent to the coast of our country is more than 4.5 million km 2, and the volume of sea water is 864 thousand km 2. The average depth of all seas is 185m.
All seas of the Arctic Ocean are open. between them and central parts ocean there is free water exchange. Through a wide and deep strait between the Scandinavian Peninsula and Svalbard, warm waters The North Atlantic current, which annually brings about 74 thousand km 2 of Atlantic water *. In the north of the Norwegian Sea, this current is divided into two powerful jets - Svalbard and North Cape. In the northeast of the Barents Sea, warm and salty (34.7-34.9‰) Atlantic waters sink under the colder, but less saline, and therefore less dense, local Arctic waters.
In the east, the Arctic Ocean basin is connected to the Pacific Ocean by a narrow (86 km) and shallow (42 m) Bering Strait, so the impact of the Pacific Ocean is much less than that of the Atlantic. The small depth of the strait makes it difficult to exchange deep waters. About 30 thousand km 2 of surface water enters the Chukchi Sea from the Pacific Ocean.
The seas of the Arctic Ocean are characterized by a large runoff from the mainland (about 70% of the territory of Russia belongs to the basin of this ocean). Rivers bring here 2735 km 2 of water. Such a large influx of river waters sharply reduces the salinity of the seas and causes the emergence of currents from south to north. The deflecting Coriolis force causes the movement of surface waters from west to east along the continental coast and the compensatory current in reverse direction in the northern regions.
warm in summer river water contributes to the melting of sea ice, and in autumn and winter, by desalinating sea water, it accelerates the formation of strong ice.
The seas of the Arctic Ocean are located mainly between 70 and 80°N. with the exception of the White Sea, which crosses the North Pole. All these are polar seas. Their nature is harsh.
The climate of the seas of the Arctic Ocean is decisively affected by their position in high latitudes, to a lesser extent - the interaction of the ocean with the land. The annual total radiation in the Barents Sea is 20 kcal/cm2, in the Laptev Sea at the same latitude it is 10 kcal/cm2 per year, and in the Chukchi Sea it is 15 kcal/cm2 per year. Decrease total radiation to the east is due to an increase in albedo due to an increase in the ice cover of the seas.
During the long polar night, a deep cooling of the subpolar regions occurs, especially in the eastern part of the Arctic, and an area is formed high blood pressure- Arctic high. In the region of the East Siberian Sea, it connects with the northeastern spur of the Asian High. The formation of the climate of the Arctic seas is also influenced by the Icelandic and Aleutian lows.
Over the vast expanses of the Arctic seas, depending on the location and degree of manifestation of the centers of action of the atmosphere, certain synoptic conditions develop.
In winter, the western regions are characterized by cyclonic activity, softening frosts. Cyclones move from the North Atlantic along the depression of low pressure passing over the Barents Sea to the Kara Sea. They are associated with unstable, very windy, cloudy weather in the waters of the western seas. In the eastern regions, cyclonic activity is associated with the Aleutian Low, but is less developed. An increase in the frequency of cyclonic weather is due to an increase in winter temperatures. The central seas (Laptev and East Siberian) are dominated by anticyclonic, slightly cloudy weather with calm or very weak winds.
In general, there is a change in the temperature conditions of winter when moving from west to east. Over the water area of the Barents Sea, the average January temperature varies from -5°С in the southwest to -15°С in the northeast; from -20 above the waters of the Kara Sea to -30°C - in the area of the Laptev Sea, the western part of the East Siberian Sea, and over the waters of the Chukchi Sea the temperature rises slightly - up to -28 ... -25°C. In the area of the North Pole, the average temperature in January is -40...-45°С. Thus, the Arctic seas are characterized by large differences in the nature of the cold season.
Summer leading role climate is formed by the continuous flow of solar radiation coming during the polar day. Summer cyclones are not as deep and fill up quickly, so their role in climate formation is less than in winter. The main amount of solar radiation is spent on the melting of snow and ice, so the temperature background is low. The average temperature in July northern border seas are about 0°С, and near the mainland coast +4 - +5°C. Only near the shores of the Barents Sea the average temperature rises to + 8 - + 9 ° С, and over the water area of the White Sea it reaches + 9 - + 10 ° С. Consequently, in summer the differences in the climate of the seas of the Arctic Ocean are smoothed out.
The most striking distinguishing feature northern seas is the year-round presence of ice in all Arctic seas. Most of the Arctic Ocean is ice-bound all year round. In winter, only the western part of the Barents Sea remains ice-free.
Near the coast in winter, young immovable ice is formed, attached to the coast. This is the coastline. It reaches its greatest width (several hundred kilometers) in the shallowest East Siberian Sea. Behind the fast ice strip there are fast ice polynyas. They are formed in the same places from year to year, so they even got own names according to those geographical objects near which they are located (Czech, Pechora, West Novaya Zemlya, Amderminskaya, Yanskaya, Ob-Yenisei, West Severozemelskaya, etc.). Behind them are drifting perennial ice - arctic pack (pack ice). It consists of large ice floes separated by cracks, sometimes polynyas. Average thickness multi-year ice 2.5-3 m and more. The surface of the pack ice is even or wavy, but sometimes it is broken by hummocks - disordered ice heaps up to 5-10 m high, formed as a result of collision of ice floes during compression. Hummocks are especially abundant in the marginal part of the pack ice. Sometimes, near the boundaries of pack ice and young first-year ice, there are hummocks up to 20 m high.
Except sea ice, in the polar seas there are powerful blocks continental ice- icebergs torn off from ice sheets descending to the sea surface off the coast of Franz Josef Land, Novaya Zemlya and Severnaya Zemlya.
In summer, the area of ice in the Arctic seas is reduced, but even in August their edge does not go beyond the marginal seas. In their northern parts from central regions spurs of oceanic ice masses (Svalbard, Kara, Taimyr, Ayon, Chukotka) extend even in summer. Local massifs of drifting and landfast ice persist in the marginal seas, with the exception of the Barents Sea, throughout the summer.
The East Greenland Current annually carries up to 8-10 thousand km 2 of ice from the Arctic Ocean to the Atlantic.
The ice regime in the Arctic seas varies from year to year, so the navigation conditions of one year are not similar to another. In recent decades, there has been an improvement ice conditions in connection with the general warming of the climate in the Arctic.
The position in high latitudes, the lack of solar heat led to weak heating of the waters of the Arctic seas. In summer, the water temperature at the ice edge approaches zero, and towards the coast of the mainland it rises to +4 - +6 ° С, in the southwestern part of the Barents Sea - up to + 8 - +9 ° С, and in the White Sea even up to +9 - +10°C. In winter, the average temperature in most of the water area is close to the freezing temperature, i.e. -1.2...-1.8°С. In the western part of the Barents Sea, the water temperature in January - February is + 4 - + 5 ° С.
Salinity sea waters decreases from the northern margins of the seas to the southern ones. In the northwestern part of the Arctic basin, the salinity of sea water is 34-35‰, in the northern and northeastern regions - 32-33‰, and near the mouths major rivers decreases to 3-5‰. Therefore, among the inhabitants of the seas, most of which are represented by arctic forms, brackish-water and freshwater forms are common in coastal waters.
severe climatic conditions northern seas, the polar night and ice cover in their water areas are unfavorable for the development of phyto- and zooplankton, so the overall biological productivity of the seas is low. The species diversity of organisms living in these seas is also relatively small. Following the change in the severity of the nature of the seas from west to east, the number of inhabitants of the seas is decreasing in the same direction. Thus, the ichthyofauna of the Barents Sea includes 114 species, the Kara Sea - 54 species, and the Laptev Sea - 37 species. The species diversity of benthic fauna is also decreasing from 1800 species in the Barents Sea to 500 species in the Laptev Sea, but in the Chukchi Sea the species diversity of animals slightly increases due to a decrease in severity due to penetration here from
This ocean is recognized as the smallest in area and depth. It is located in the central part of the Arctic. Its location is the key to answering the question of which continents the Arctic Ocean washes. Its second name is Polar, and the waters reach the shores of the North American and Eurasian continents.
Characterization of ocean conditions
The area occupied by the Arctic Ocean is small, and it does not interfere with the appearance in the basin a large number islands. And these are not small rocks that come to the surface, but mainland archipelagos large area(Novaya Zemlya, Svalbard, Greenland, etc.).
The continents that are washed by the Arctic Ocean are the northernmost on the planet. Cold waters are partly warmed by warm currents, which come from the Atlantic, bypassing Northern Europe. A slightly heated current comes from the side passing through. The circulation of warm air masses also has a certain effect. AT winter period the ocean is bound by a thick ice crust, the temperature usually does not rise above -40 ºC.
What continents are washed by the Arctic Ocean?
While studying water shell Earth is an unmissable space that connects two continents. The polar ocean is limited by the following and North America. Access to other oceans occurs through the straits between the continents.
The main part of the water area consists of seas, most of which are marginal and only one is inland. Many islands are located near the continents. washes the continents, the coasts of which are beyond the Arctic Circle. Its waters are located in the harsh Arctic climate zone.
ocean climate
At geography lessons, schoolchildren are explained which shores are washed by the Arctic Ocean, and what are its climatic features. Arctic air is much warmer than Antarctic air. Because the polar waters receive heat from adjacent oceans. With the last of them, the interaction is less active. As a result, it turns out that North hemisphere“heated” by the Arctic Ocean.
The impact of air currents from the west and southwest led to the formation of the North Atlantic Current. are transported parallel to the coast of the Eurasian continent in eastbound. They are met by streams passing through the Bering Strait from the Pacific Ocean.
Known natural feature these latitudes - the presence of an ice crust on the waters. The polar ocean washes the shores of the continents where the polar circle is dominated by low temperatures. Ice cover also occurs due to the low concentration of salts in the surface layer of water. The cause of desalination is abundant river runoff from the continents.
Economic use
What continents are washed by the Arctic Ocean? North America and Eurasia. However economic importance it represents more for the countries that have access to it. The harsh local climate prevents the search for deposits of natural resources. But, despite this, scientists managed to explore hydrocarbon deposits in the shelf of some northern seas, as well as off the coast of Canada and Alaska.
The fauna and flora of the ocean are not rich. Near the Atlantic, fishing and algae production, as well as seal hunting, are carried out. Whaling ships operate within tight quotas. (NSR) began to be mastered only in the 20th century. Through it, ships can get from Europe to Far East. Its role in the development of the Siberian region is great. They are transported by sea forest resources and ore, but deliver products and equipment to the region.
The duration of navigation is 2-4 months a year. Icebreakers help extend this period in some areas. The work of the NSR in Russian Federation provide different services: polar aviation, a complex of stations for observing the weather.
History of study
What continents are washed by the Arctic Ocean? What are the weather and natural conditions beyond the polar circle? Polar explorers were looking for answers to these and many questions. The first trips by sea were made on wooden boats. People hunted, fished, studied the peculiarities of northern navigation.
Western navigators polar ocean tried to scout short cut from Europe to India and China. Huge contribution made an expedition that began in 1733 and lasted a decade. The feat of scientists and navigators cannot be underestimated: they mapped the outlines of coastline from Pechora to the Bering Strait. Information about flora, fauna and weather conditions collected in late XIX century. In the first half of the next century, a passage through the ocean was made during one navigation. The sailors made measurements of depths, the thickness of the ice crust and meteorological observations.
