The Eastern Arctic Seas Encyclopedia

402 Pages·2016·23.15 MB·English

by  Igor S. Zonn

Encyclopedia of Seas
Igor S. Zonn
Andrey G. Kostianoy
Aleksandr V. Semenov
The Eastern Arctic
Seas Encyclopedia
Encyclopedia of Seas
This Encyclopedia of Seas series is designed to accumulate and systematize
ourknowledgeabouttheuniquenaturalwaterareas–theAral,Caspian,Black,
Arctic,Far-Eastern,andBalticseas–theirwealth,theeventsthattookplaceon
its waters and shores, and the remarkable people whose lives were and are
closelyintertwinedwiththeseas.TheEncyclopediaseriescontainsthousands
of terms and concepts related to the seas. It describes geographical features:
rivers, lakes, straits, and bays; provides information about towns, seaports,
transport communications, basic aquatic biological species, nature reserves,
nationalandinternationalprogramsforthestudyofthesea,researchinstitutes,
historical monuments, activities of prominent explorers and travelers,
researchers, and scientists. Each Encyclopedia includes a chronology of
majorhistoricaleventsconnectedwiththeseseasforseveralcenturies.
Moreinformationaboutthisseriesathttp://www.springer.com/series/14357
(cid:129)
Igor S. Zonn Andrey G. Kostianoy
Aleksandr V. Semenov
The Eastern Arctic Seas
Encyclopedia
With 200 Figures
IgorS.Zonn AndreyG.Kostianoy
EngineeringResearchProduction P.P.ShirshovInstituteofOceanology
CenterForWaterManagement RussianAcademyofSciences
LandReclamationandEcology Moscow,Russia
Moscow,Russia
AleksandrV.Semenov
S.Yu.WitteMoscowUniversity
Moscow,Russia
ISBN978-3-319-24236-1 ISBN978-3-319-24237-8 (eBook)
ISBN978-3-319-24238-5(printandelectronicbundle)
DOI10.1007/978-3-319-24237-8
LibraryofCongressControlNumber:2016953630
#SpringerInternationalPublishingSwitzerland2016
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Acknowledgment
WewouldliketothanktheeditorsatSpringer-Verlagfortheirtimelyinterestin
theArcticseasandtheirsupportofthepresentpublication.Wewouldliketo
thankSpringer-VerlagforthesteadyinteresttowardtheArcticOcean,which
resultedinasignificantlistofbookpublications(inchronologicalordersince
2010only):
Ferguson SH, Loseto LL, Mallory ML, editors. A little less Arctic. Top
predatorsintheworld’slargestNorthernInlandSea,HudsonBay.2010.
JohannessenOM,VolkovVA,PetterssonLH,DrangeH,GaoY,MaderichVS,
NeelovIA,NielsenSP,BobylevLP,StepanovAV,ZheleznyakMJ,Tishkov
V.RadioactivityandpollutionintheNordicseasandArctic.Obs.Model.
Simul.2010.
Hovelsrud GK, Smit B, editors. Community adaptation and vulnerability in
Arcticregions.2010.
Barr S, Lüdecke C, editors. The history of the International Polar Years
(IPYs).2010.
Gutman G, Reissell A, editors. Eurasian Arctic land cover and land use in a
changingclimate.2011.
Wasum-Rainer S, Winkelmann I, Tiroch K, editors. Arctic science, interna-
tionallawandclimatechange.LegalaspectsofmarinescienceintheArctic
Ocean.2012.
Marchenko N. Russian Arctic seas. Navigational conditions and
accidents.2012.
LemkeP,JacobiH-W,editors.Arcticclimatechange.TheACSYSdecadeand
beyond.2012.
Østreng W, Eger KM, Fløistad B, Jørgensen-Dahl A, Lothe L, Mejlaender-
Larsen M, Wergeland T. Shipping in Arctic waters. A comparison of the
northeast,northwestandtranspolarpassages.2013.
BerkmanPA,VylegzhaninAN,editors.EnvironmentalsecurityintheArctic
Ocean.2013.
Max MD, Johnson AH, Dillon WP. Natural gas hydrate – Arctic Ocean
deepwaterresourcepotential.2013.
Rösel A. Detection of melt ponds on Arctic sea ice with optical satellite
data.2013.
v
vi Acknowledgment
Weiss J. Drift, deformation, and fracture of sea ice. A perspective across
scales.2013.
MüllerDK,LundmarkL,LemelinRH,editors.Newissuesinpolartourism.
Commun.Environ.Polit.2013.
Tedsen E, Cavalieri S, Kraemer RA, editors. Arctic marine governance.
Opportunitiesfortransatlanticcooperation.2014.
Grebmeier JM, Maslowski W, editors. The Pacific Arctic region. Ecosystem
statusandtrendsinarapidlychangingenvironment.2014.
Weidemann L. International governance of the Arctic marine environment.
Withparticularemphasisonhighseasfisheries.2014.
EvengårdB,NymandLarsenJ,PaascheØ,editors.ThenewArctic.2015.
KronerU.ThegeologyoftheArctic.2015.
Keupp MM, editor. The northern sea route. A military and business
analysis.2015.
KallenbornR,editor.Long-rangetransportofman-madeContaminationinto
theArcticandAntarctica.2016.
WeareverygratefultoAcademicianGennadiyG.Matishov,theChairof
theSouthernScientificCenteroftheRussianAcademyofSciences,Director
of the Murmansk Marine Biological Institute RAS, and to Sergey
L. Dzhenyuk, Senior scientist at the Murmansk Marine Biological Institute,
fortheirreviewofthepartofthemanuscriptrelatedtotheEastSiberianSea,
valuablecomments,andcarefulediting,whichmadethetextmorecomplete
andaccurate.
We express special thanks to Elena V. Kostyanaya (Oceanological
Scientific-Coordination Centre at P.P. Shirshov Institute of Oceanology
RAS)forthetimeshelavishlyspentonthesearchandselectionofmaterials
for various articles of the Encyclopedia, as well as to Dr. Sergey
M.Shapovalov,theHeadoftheOceanologicalCenterandVice-Presidentof
SCOR,forsupportingoureffortstocreateencyclopediasoftheRussianseas.
Invaluableassistance inthepreparation oftheEncyclopedia was doneby
TatyanaI.Abakumova,whoseendlesspatienceandprofessionalismallowed
tobringthisworktocompletion.
Theauthorswouldliketoofferaspecialthankstothe“IntegratedTraining
Centre”fortranslatingtheEncyclopediaintotheEnglishlanguageandensur-
ingaccuracyandtop-notchqualityoftheofferedtranslation.Specifically,we
aregratefultoHelenPanovich,thecompany’sdirector;toSergeyChelnokov,
ProjectManagerandChiefTranslatorandEditor;andtothetranslators:Irina
Champuridze, Dmitry Glushenko, Gennady Golovin, Polina Ivkova, Polina
Kiseleva, Yulia Kurganova, Daria Raskova, Ekaterina Tatarenko, and Daria
Turkina.Withoutyourcontributionsandtediouswork,thepublicationofthe
Encyclopediawouldnothavebeenpossible.
Acknowledgment vii
TheauthorsexpresstheirdeepgratitudetotheleadershipoftheS.Yu.Witte
MoscowUniversity,charitablefoundation“CREATIONXXICentury”andto
Nikolai G. Malyshev, the Chairman of its Board of Trustees, for financial
supportoftranslationandpreparationofthemanuscript.
Theworkon“TheEasternArcticSeasEncyclopedia”wassupportedbythe
RussianScienceFoundationundertheprojectN14-50-00095.
Moscow,Russia Prof.IgorS.Zonn
9May2015 Prof.AndreyG.Kostianoy
Prof.AleksandrV.Semenov
Introduction
“TheEasternArcticSeasEncyclopedia”isthefourthoneinthenewseriesof
encyclopedias about the seas of the former Soviet Union published by
Springer-Verlag.Thefirstvolume“TheAralSeaEncyclopedia”waspublished
by Springer in 2009, “The Caspian Sea Encyclopedia” in 2010, and “The
Black Sea Encyclopedia” in 2015. We have to note that in 2004–2015, in
Russianeditionwepublished13volumesoftheencyclopediasforeveryseaof
the former Soviet Union. Springer publishes the updated and upgraded ver-
sionsofthesebooksinEnglishbycompilingseveralseasinonevolumeforthe
present “The Eastern Arctic Seas Encyclopedia” for the Laptev Sea, East
Siberian Sea, and Chukchi Sea, and for the next volumes to be published in
2015–2016: “The Western Arctic Seas Encyclopedia” for the Barents Sea,
WhiteSea,andKaraSea;“TheFarEasternSeasEncyclopedia”fortheSeaof
Japan, Sea of Okhotsk, and Bering Sea. The last book “The Baltic Sea
Encyclopedia”willappearasaseparatevolumeinthisbookseries.
The Eastern Arctic seas of the Arctic Ocean include the Laptev, East
Siberian, and Chukchi seas. These are transit marginal seas of the Arctic
Ocean, located on the Northern Sea Route. In the west, these seas border
with theWestern seas oftheRussianArctic and,inparticular,with theKara
Sea.Intheeast,wheretheChukchiSeaisconnectedtotheBeringSeathrough
theBeringStrait,thereisastateborderbetweenRussiaandtheUnitedStates.
IntheEasternArcticseas,thereareanumberoflargeislands–NewSiberian
Islands, Anjou Islands, Lyakhovskiy Islands, Medvezhii Islands, Wrangel
Island,AyonIsland,GeraldIsland,etc.Severalriversruntotheseas,among
them one of the largest Siberian rivers – the Lena, as well as Khatanga,
Olenyok,Yana,Anabar,Indigirka,Kolyma,andAlazeyarivers.
ix
x Introduction
TheEasternArcticseas(http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/58/East_Siberian_Sea_map.png)
TheseseasareoneofthemostsevereandcoldestArcticseasduetotheir
high-latitudelocationandthepresenceofpolaricecaps,whichcovertheseas
fromOctobertoMay–June.Shoresarestronglyindented,andalthoughthere
are bays they are shallow and there is a lack of sheltered anchorage areas.
Theirmainpurposeistransit.TheonlysignificantportsareTiksi,Pevek,and
low-density port Ambarchik. Severe nature, sparse population, and remote-
ness from the central regions of Russia significantly limit the ability of the
economicuseoftheseseas.
ExplorationoftheshoresoftheEasternArcticseasstartedintheseventeenth
century, when the Russian Arctic navigators and explorers went on the koch
boats along the coasts between the rivers Lena and Kolyma, in other words,
whenRussiansadvancedalongtheGreatNorthernSeaRoutetoEasternSiberia.
In 1633, Tobolsk Cossacks Ivan Rebrov and Ilya Perfiliev discovered the
Olenyok River mouth, and in 5 years they also discovered Yana Bay. Ivan
RebrovwasthefirstwhopassedDmitryLaptevStrait.In1642,CossackMikhail
Stadukhinwithagroupofservitorsandindustrialpeopleonkochboatsreached
theAlazeyaRiver,andinthenextyearthemouthoftheKolymaRiver.Thereis
nodoubtthatRussianCossacksandexplorersfirstsawtheislandslyingalong
the coasts of the East Siberian Sea. In 1646, the pioneer of the East Siberian
Sea, Pomor Isay Ignatiev, on his koch boat for the first time in history of
Russian navigation moved from the mouth of the Kolyma River to the east
andexploredabout300kmoftheNorthAsiancoastandAyonIsland.In1648,
twoRussiansailorsSemenDezhnevandFedotPopovfirstroundedtheextreme
north-eastern point of Asia and proved the existence of the passage from the
ChukchiSeatotheBeringSea,orfromtheArcticOceantothePacificOcean.