Chukchi Sea

The Chukchi Sea, sometimes called the Chuuk Sea, Chukotsk Sea, or the Sea of Chukotsk, is a part of the Arctic Ocean. It is located near the top of the world. On the west, it is bounded by the Long Strait, near Wrangel Island. On the east, it is bounded by Point Barrow in Alaska, and beyond that lies the Beaufort Sea. The Bering Strait forms its southern edge and connects it to the Bering Sea and the Pacific Ocean.

The main port on the Chukchi Sea is Uelen in Russia. The International Date Line passes through the Chukchi Sea, moving eastward to avoid Wrangel Island and the Chukotka Autonomous Okrug on the Russian mainland. This sea is an important part of the Arctic and plays a role in the lives of people living nearby.

Etymology

In 1928, a Norwegian explorer named Harald Sverdrup found that the sea between Point Barrow and Wrangel Island was different from a nearby sea. Because of this, people gave the sea a name based on the people who lived on the Chukotka Peninsula. The name was made official in 1935.

Geography

The Chukchi Sea is part of the Arctic Ocean. It covers about 595,000 square kilometres. You can only sail through it for about four months each year because of the ice. The sea floor has a long area called the Hope Basin, and much of the sea is less than 50 meters deep.

There are not many islands in the Chukchi Sea. Wrangel Island is at the northwest edge, and a few small islands lie along the coasts of Siberia and Alaska. The sea is named after the Chukchi people who live along its shores. They have traditionally fished, hunted whales, and caught walrus in these cold waters.

The sea stretches from Cape Billings and other places along the Siberian coast to rivers such as the Kivalina and Kobuk in Alaska.

The International Hydrographic Organization says the Chukchi Sea’s borders are set by certain points from Wrangel Island to Point Barrow in Alaska, and down to the Arctic Circle. Many people consider the southern edge to be the narrowest part of the Bering Strait.

The area of the sea known as the Chukchi Sea Shelf is part of both the United States and Russia. The Chukchi Corridor, a narrow path within this shelf, is used by many large sea animals, including bowhead whales, beluga whales, Pacific walrus, and bearded seals, as they move through the area.

History

In 1648, Semyon Dezhnyov sailed from the Kolyma River in the Arctic to the Anadyr River in the Pacific. Later, Vitus Bering and James Cook also entered the sea from the Pacific.

In 1878, a ship named Vega, led by Adolf Erik Nordenskiöld, got stuck in thick ice in the Chukchi Sea. The next year, it was freed and passed through the Bering Strait to the Pacific Ocean.

In 1913, a ship called Karluk was stuck in the ice of the Chukchi Sea. It sank, but the people on board were safe after a long journey.

In 1933, a ship named Chelyuskin tried to sail through the area but got stuck in ice. It sank in 1934, but all the people were saved by a rescue mission.

In 2010, Russian scientists set up a research station in the Chukchi Sea to study the Arctic.

Fauna

The Chukchi Sea is home to polar bears that live on the pack ice. These polar bears are one of the five groups of polar bears found in Eurasia.

Phytoplankton

See also: The blob (Chukchi Sea algae)

In 2012, scientists found a big group of tiny plants called phytoplankton in the Chukchi Sea. This was surprising because people thought these plants could only grow after the ice melted. But, they found some plants even under thick ice.

Scientists also found special spots of a tiny plant called Alexandrium catenella in the Chukchi Sea. If conditions are right, these spots can wake up and create harmful groups of plants that can make shellfish unsafe to eat. These spots cover a large area and are some of the biggest found anywhere in the world.

Oil and gas resources

The Chukchi shelf might have a lot of oil and gas. In 2008, companies spent money to look for it. Some people were worried about the environment. In 2015, Shell Oil got permission to drill, but stopped because it was too expensive. Shell said it might come back but kept most of its areas.