Chukchi Sea ( rus, Чуко́тское мо́ре, r=Chukotskoye more, p=tɕʊˈkotskəjə ˈmorʲɪ), sometimes referred to as the Chuuk Sea, Chukotsk Sea or the Sea of Chukotsk, 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.
Terminology
* Ocean – the four to seven largest named bodies of water in the World Ocean, all of which have "Ocea ...
of the
Arctic Ocean
The Arctic Ocean is the smallest and shallowest of the world's five major oceans. It spans an area of approximately and is known as the coldest of all the oceans. The International Hydrographic Organization (IHO) recognizes it as an ocean, a ...
. It is bounded on the west by the
Long Strait
The Long Strait (russian: пролив Лонга; ''Proliv Longa'') is a body of water in the Russian Federation.
History
This strait was named after the American whaling captain Thomas W. Long.
In August 1983, it was the site of a disaster whe ...
, off
Wrangel Island
Wrangel Island ( rus, О́стров Вра́нгеля, r=Ostrov Vrangelya, p=ˈostrəf ˈvrangʲɪlʲə; ckt, Умӄиԓир, translit=Umqiḷir) is an island of the Chukotka Autonomous Okrug, Russia. It is the 91st largest island in the w ...
, and in the east by
Point Barrow
Point Barrow or Nuvuk is a headland on the Arctic coast in the U.S. state of Alaska, northeast of Utqiaġvik (formerly Barrow). It is the northernmost point of all the territory of the United States, at , south of the North Pole. (The nor ...
,
Alaska
Alaska ( ; russian: Аляска, Alyaska; ale, Alax̂sxax̂; ; ems, Alas'kaaq; Yup'ik: ''Alaskaq''; tli, Anáaski) is a state located in the Western United States on the northwest extremity of North America. A semi-exclave of the U.S. ...
, beyond which lies the
Beaufort Sea. The
Bering Strait forms its southernmost limit and connects it to the
Bering Sea and the
Pacific Ocean
The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean (or, depending on definition, to Antarctica) in the south, and is bounded by the contin ...
. The principal port on the Chukchi Sea is
Uelen
Uelen (russian: Уэлéн; Chukchi: , ''Uvèlèn''; Siberian Yupik: Улыӄ, ''Ulyḳ''; Naukan Yupik: Олыӄ, ''Oleq''; also known as Whalen in older English-language sources and Ugelen on USCGS charts) is a rural locality (a '' selo'') ...
in Russia. The
International Date Line crosses the Chukchi Sea from northwest to southeast. It is displaced eastwards to avoid Wrangel Island as well as the
Chukotka Autonomous Okrug on the Russian
mainland
Mainland is defined as "relating to or forming the main part of a country or continent, not including the islands around it egardless of status under territorial jurisdiction by an entity" The term is often politically, economically and/or dem ...
.
Geography
The sea has an approximate area of and is only navigable about four months of the year. The main geological feature of the Chukchi Sea bottom is the
Hope Basin, which is bound to the northeast by the Herald Arch. Depths less than occupy 56% of the total area.
The Chukchi Sea has very few islands compared to other seas of the Arctic. Wrangel Island lies at the northwestern limit of the sea,
Herald Island is located off Wrangel Island's
Waring Point
Waring Point (russian: Мыс Уэринг) is a headland of the Chukchi Sea. Administratively, it belongs to the Chukotka, Russian Federation.
It is the easternmost point of Wrangel Island.
This headland was named in 1881 after Lieutenant Wa ...
, near the northern limit of the sea. A few small islands lie along the
Siberia
Siberia ( ; rus, Сибирь, r=Sibir', p=sʲɪˈbʲirʲ, a=Ru-Сибирь.ogg) is an extensive region, geographical region, constituting all of North Asia, from the Ural Mountains in the west to the Pacific Ocean in the east. It has been a ...
n and
Alaska
Alaska ( ; russian: Аляска, Alyaska; ale, Alax̂sxax̂; ; ems, Alas'kaaq; Yup'ik: ''Alaskaq''; tli, Anáaski) is a state located in the Western United States on the northwest extremity of North America. A semi-exclave of the U.S. ...
n coasts.
The sea is named after the
Chukchi people
The Chukchi, or Chukchee ( ckt, Ԓыгъоравэтԓьэт, О'равэтԓьэт, ''Ḷygʺoravètḷʹèt, O'ravètḷʹèt''), are a Siberian indigenous people native to the Chukchi Peninsula, the shores of the Chukchi Sea and the Beri ...
, who reside on its shores and on the
Chukotka Peninsula
The Chukchi Peninsula (also Chukotka Peninsula or Chukotski Peninsula; russian: Чуко́тский полуо́стров, ''Chukotskiy poluostrov'', short form russian: Чуко́тка, ''Chukotka''), at about 66° N 172° W, is the eastern ...
. The coastal Chukchi traditionally engaged in fishing, whaling and the hunting of
walrus
The walrus (''Odobenus rosmarus'') is a large flippered marine mammal with a discontinuous distribution about the North Pole in the Arctic Ocean and subarctic seas of the Northern Hemisphere. The walrus is the only living species in the fami ...
in this cold sea.
In
Siberia
Siberia ( ; rus, Сибирь, r=Sibir', p=sʲɪˈbʲirʲ, a=Ru-Сибирь.ogg) is an extensive region, geographical region, constituting all of North Asia, from the Ural Mountains in the west to the Pacific Ocean in the east. It has been a ...
places along the coast are:
Cape Billings
Cape Billings (russian: Мыс Биллингса - ''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 lan ...
,
Cape Schmidt
Cape Schmidt ( rus, Мыс Шми́дта; ''Mys Shmidta'' or Мыс Отто Шмидта; ''Mys Otto Shmidta''; Chukchi: Ир-Каппея ; ''Il-Kappeya''), formerly known as Cape North, is a headland in the Chukchi Sea, part of Iultinsky Di ...
,
Amguyema River,
Cape Vankarem
Cape Vankarem is a cape in the Chukchi Sea on the northern coast of Chukotka between Cape Schmidt to the west and Kolyuchinskaya Bay to the east. It projects from a sandspit across the mouth of a lagoon into which flows the Vankarem River.
At ...
, the large
Kolyuchinskaya Bay,
Neskynpil'gyn Lagoon,
Cape Serdtse-Kamen,
Enurmino,
Chegitun River,
Inchoun
Inchoun (russian: Инчоун, Chukchi: ,[Inchoun Information](_blank)
, Beringia Nature Park We ...
,
Uelen
Uelen (russian: Уэлéн; Chukchi: , ''Uvèlèn''; Siberian Yupik: Улыӄ, ''Ulyḳ''; Naukan Yupik: Олыӄ, ''Oleq''; also known as Whalen in older English-language sources and Ugelen on USCGS charts) is a rural locality (a '' selo'') ...
and
Cape Dezhnev
Cape Dezhnyov or Cape Dezhnev (; ), formerly known as East Cape or Cape Vostochny, is a cape that forms the easternmost mainland point of Asia. It is located on the Chukchi Peninsula in the very sparsely populated Chukotka Autonomous Okrug o ...
.
In Alaska, the rivers flowing into the Chukchi Sea are the
Kivalina, the
Kobuk, the
Kokolik, the
Kukpowruk, the
Kukpuk, the
Noatak, the
Utukok, the
Pitmegea, and the
Wulik, among others. Of rivers flowing in from its Siberian side, the Amguyema,
Ioniveyem, and the Chegitun are the most important.
Extent
The
International Hydrographic Organization
The International Hydrographic Organization (IHO) is an intergovernmental organisation representing hydrography. , the IHO comprised 98 Member States.
A principal aim of the IHO is to ensure that the world's seas, oceans and navigable waters a ...
defines the limits of the "Chuckchi Sea" as follows:
Common usage is that the southern extent is further south, at the narrowest part of the
Bering Strait which is on the
66th parallel north.
Chukchi Sea Shelf
The Chukchi Sea Shelf is the westernmost part of the
continental shelf of the
United States
The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...
and the easternmost part of the continental shelf of
Russia
Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and Northern Asia. It is the largest country in the world, with its internationally recognised territory covering , and encompassing one-eig ...
. Within this shelf, the Chukchi Corridor acts as a passageway for one of the largest marine mammal migrations in the world. Species that have been documented migrating through this corridor include the
bowhead whale,
beluga whale
The beluga whale () (''Delphinapterus leucas'') is an Arctic and sub-Arctic cetacean. It is one of two members of the family Monodontidae, along with the narwhal, and the only member of the genus ''Delphinapterus''. It is also known as the ...
,
Pacific walrus
The walrus (''Odobenus rosmarus'') is a large flippered marine mammal with a discontinuous distribution about the North Pole in the Arctic Ocean and subarctic seas of the Northern Hemisphere. The walrus is the only living species in the fa ...
, and
bearded seals
History
In 1648,
Semyon Dezhnyov
Semyon Ivanovich Dezhnyov ( rus, Семён Ива́нович Дежнёв, p=sʲɪˈmʲɵn ɪˈvanəvʲɪtɕ dʲɪˈʐnʲɵf; sometimes spelled Dezhnyov; c. 1605 – 1673) was a Russian explorer of Siberia and the first European to sail through t ...
sailed from the
Kolyma River
The Kolyma ( rus, Колыма, p=kəlɨˈma; sah, Халыма, translit=Khalyma) is a river in northeastern Siberia, whose basin covers parts of the Sakha Republic, Chukotka Autonomous Okrug, and Magadan Oblast of Russia.
The Kolyma is fro ...
on the Arctic to the
Anadyr River
The Anadyr (russian: Ана́дырь; Yukaghir: Онандырь; ckt, Йъаайваам) is a river in the far northeast of Siberia which flows into the Gulf of Anadyr of the Bering Sea and drains much of the interior of Chukotka Autonomous ...
on the Pacific, but his route was not practical and was not used for the next 200 years. In 1728,
Vitus Bering
Vitus Jonassen Bering (baptised 5 August 1681 – 19 December 1741),All dates are here given in the Julian calendar, which was in use throughout Russia at the time. also known as Ivan Ivanovich Bering, was a Danish cartographer and explorer in ...
and in 1779, Captain
James Cook entered the sea from the Pacific.
On 28 September 1878, during
Adolf Erik Nordenskiöld
Nils Adolf Erik Nordenskiöld (18 November 183212 August 1901) was a Finland-Swedish aristocrat, geologist, mineralogist and Arctic explorer. He was a member of the Fenno-Swedish Nordenskiöld family of scientists and held the title of a friher ...
's expedition that made the whole length of the
Northeast passage for the first time in history, the steamship ''Vega'' got stuck in
fast ice
Fast ice (also called ''land-fast ice'', ''landfast ice'', and ''shore-fast ice'') is sea ice that is "fastened" to the coastline, to the sea floor along shoals or to grounded icebergs.Leppäranta, M. 2011. The Drift of Sea Ice. Berlin: Springer- ...
in the Chukchi Sea. Since further progress for that year was impossible, the ship was secured in winter quarters. Even so, members of the expedition and the crew were aware only a few miles of ice-blocked sea lay between them and the open waters. The following year, two days after ''Vega'' was released, she passed the
Bering Strait and steamed towards the Pacific Ocean.
In 1913,
''Karluk'', abandoned by expedition leader
Vilhjalmur Stefansson
Vilhjalmur Stefansson (November 3, 1879 – August 26, 1962) was an Arctic explorer and ethnologist. He was born in Manitoba, Canada.
Early life
Stefansson, born William Stephenson, was born at Arnes, Manitoba, Canada, in 1879. His parents had ...
, drifted in the ice along the northern expanses of the Chukchi Sea and sank, crushed by ice near
Herald Island. The survivors made it to Wrangel Island, where they found themselves in a hopeless situation. Then Captain
Robert Bartlett walked hundreds of kilometers with
Kataktovik, an
Inuit
Inuit (; iu, ᐃᓄᐃᑦ 'the people', singular: Inuk, , dual: Inuuk, ) are a group of culturally similar indigenous peoples inhabiting the Arctic and subarctic regions of Greenland, Labrador, Quebec, Nunavut, the Northwest Territories ...
man, on the ice of the Chukchi Sea in order to look for help. They reached
Cape Vankarem
Cape Vankarem is a cape in the Chukchi Sea on the northern coast of Chukotka between Cape Schmidt to the west and Kolyuchinskaya Bay to the east. It projects from a sandspit across the mouth of a lagoon into which flows the Vankarem River.
At ...
on the Chukotka coast, on April 15, 1914. Twelve survivors of the ill-fated expedition were found on Wrangel island nine months later by the
''King & Winge'', a newly built Arctic fishing schooner.
In 1933, the steamer
''Chelyuskin'' sailed from
Murmansk
Murmansk (Russian: ''Мурманск'' lit. "Norwegian coast"; Finnish: ''Murmansk'', sometimes ''Muurmanski'', previously ''Muurmanni''; Norwegian: ''Norskekysten;'' Northern Sámi: ''Murmánska;'' Kildin Sámi: ''Мурман ланнҍ'') ...
, east bound to attempt a transit of the
Northern Sea Route
The Northern Sea Route (NSR) (russian: Се́верный морско́й путь, ''Severnyy morskoy put'', shortened to Севморпуть, ''Sevmorput'') is a shipping route officially defined by Russian legislation as lying east of No ...
to the Pacific, in order to demonstrate such a transit could be achieved in one season. The vessel became beset in heavy ice in the Chukchi Sea, and after drifting with the ice for over two months, was crushed and sank on 13 February 1934 near
Kolyuchin Island
Kolyuchin Island or Koliuchin Island (russian: Остров Колючин, ) is a small island in the Chukchi Sea. It is not far from the coast, being only from the northern shore of the Chukotka Peninsula. Its latitude is 67° 28' N and its long ...
. Apart from one fatality, her entire complement of 104 was able to establish a camp on the sea ice. The Soviet government organized an impressive aerial evacuation, under which all were rescued.
Captain Vladimir Voronin and expedition leader
Otto Schmidt
Otto Yulyevich Shmidt, be, Ота Юльевіч Шміт, Ota Juljevič Šmit (born Otto Friedrich Julius Schmidt; – 7 September 1956), better known as Otto Schmidt, was a Soviet scientist, mathematician, astronomer, geophysicist, statesm ...
became heroes.
Following several unsuccessful attempts, the wreck was located on the bed of the Chukchi Sea by a Russian expedition, Chelyuskin-70, in mid-September 2006. Two small components of the ship's superstructure were recovered by divers and were sent to the ship's builders,
Burmeister & Wain
Burmeister & Wain was a large established Danish shipyard and leading diesel engine producer headquartered in Copenhagen, Denmark. Founded by two Danes and an Englishman, its earliest roots stretch back to 1846. Over its 150-year history, it ...
of
Copenhagen
Copenhagen ( or .; da, København ) is the capital and most populous city of Denmark, with a proper population of around 815.000 in the last quarter of 2022; and some 1.370,000 in the urban area; and the wider Copenhagen metropolitan ar ...
, for identification.
In July 2009, a
large mass of organic material was found floating in the sea off the northwest Alaskan coast. Analysis by the
U.S. Coast Guard
The United States Coast Guard (USCG) is the maritime security, search and rescue, and law enforcement service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the country's eight uniformed services. The service is a maritime, military, mul ...
has identified it as a large body of
algal bloom
An algal bloom or algae bloom is a rapid increase or accumulation in the population of algae in freshwater or marine water systems. It is often recognized by the discoloration in the water from the algae's pigments. The term ''algae'' encompass ...
.
On 15 October 2010, Russian scientists opened a floating polar research station in the Chukchi Sea at the margin of the Arctic Ocean. The name of the station was Severny Polyus-38 and it was home to 15 researchers for a year. They conducted polar studies and gathered scientific evidence to reinforce Russia's claims to the Arctic.
Fauna
The
polar bears
The polar bear (''Ursus maritimus'') is a hypercarnivorous bear whose native range lies largely within the Arctic Circle, encompassing the Arctic Ocean, its surrounding seas and surrounding land masses. It is the largest extant bear specie ...
living on the
pack ice
Drift ice, also called brash ice, is sea ice that is not attached to the shoreline or any other fixed object (shoals, grounded icebergs, etc.).Leppäranta, M. 2011. The Drift of Sea Ice. Berlin: Springer-Verlag. Unlike fast ice, which is "fasten ...
of the Chukchi Sea are one of the five
genetically
Genetics is the study of genes, genetic variation, and heredity in organisms.Hartl D, Jones E (2005) It is an important branch in biology because heredity is vital to organisms' evolution. Gregor Mendel, a Moravian Augustinian friar working i ...
distinct
Eurasia
Eurasia (, ) is the largest continental area on Earth, comprising all of Europe and Asia. Primarily in the Northern and Eastern Hemispheres, it spans from the British Isles and the Iberian Peninsula in the west to the Japanese archipelago ...
n populations of the species.
Phytoplankton
In 2012, scientists from the
Cold Regions Research and Engineering Laboratory
The Cold Regions Research and Engineering Laboratory (CRREL) is a United States Army Corps of Engineers, Engineer Research and Development Center research facility headquartered in Hanover, New Hampshire, that provides scientific and engineering ...
published findings describing the discovery of the largest-known oceanic
phytoplankton algal bloom
An algal bloom or algae bloom is a rapid increase or accumulation in the population of algae in freshwater or marine water systems. It is often recognized by the discoloration in the water from the algae's pigments. The term ''algae'' encompass ...
in the world. The findings were unexpected as it was previously believed that the plankton grows only after the seasonal ice melt, yet some algae was discovered under several metres of intact sea ice.
Anderson et al 2021 documents two cyst beds of the dinoflagellate ''
Alexandrium catenella'' in Ledyard Bay and
Barrow Canyon within the Chukchi sea.
Although the cyst beds consist of ''A. catenella'' in a dormant state, if environmental conditions are right, they can germinate and create
harmful algal bloom
A harmful algal bloom (HAB) (or excessive algae growth) is an algal bloom that causes negative impacts to other organisms by production of natural phycotoxin, algae-produced toxins, mechanical damage to other organisms, or by other means. HABs are ...
s. In its active state, ''A. catenella'' produces
saxitoxin
Saxitoxin (STX) is a potent neurotoxin and the best-known paralytic shellfish toxin (PST). Ingestion of saxitoxin by humans, usually by consumption of shellfish contaminated by toxic algal blooms, is responsible for the illness known as paralyt ...
, a potent
neurotoxin that is responsible for
paralytic shellfish poisoning
Paralytic shellfish poisoning (PSP) is one of the four recognized syndromes of shellfish poisoning, which share some common features and are primarily associated with bivalve mollusks (such as mussels, clams, oysters and scallops). These shellfi ...
(PSP) if consumed. The toxin can bioaccumulate through the food-chain and poses a threat to local communities that rely on the marine food web for sustenance.
The total area of the cyst beds is 145,600 km
2, comparable to the area of the state of Iowa. These beds are six times larger than previously reported beds in other areas, and cyst concentration in the sediment is among the highest globally. Germination can only occur in the upper few millimeters of a bed, as cysts must be in oxic conditions to enter their more active life stage in which reproduction is possible.
At bottom water temperatures of approximately 3 °C, ''A. catenella'' cysts take approximately 28 days to germinate, and at bottom water temperatures of 8°, the germination time is shortened to 10 days. In situ blooms in 2018 and 2019 have been attributed to these cyst beds and occurred in the months of July and August. With warmer summer water temperatures and increasingly destabilized oceanic currents associated with climate change, bloom initiation has been advanced by three weeks over the last two decades, and the time window for harmful surface blooms has been extended.
Oil and gas resources
The Chukchi shelf is believed to hold oil and gas reserves as high as . Several oil companies have competed for leases on the area, and on 6 February 2008, the U.S. government announced the successful bidders would pay
US$
The United States dollar (symbol: $; code: USD; also abbreviated US$ or U.S. Dollar, to distinguish it from other dollar-denominated currencies; referred to as the dollar, U.S. dollar, American dollar, or colloquially buck) is the official ...
2.6 billion for extraction rights. The auction drew considerable criticism from environmentalists. In May 2015, the
Obama administration's
Bureau of Ocean Energy Management
The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) is an agency within the United States Department of the Interior, established in 2010 by Secretarial Order.
The Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act (OCSLA) states: "...the outer Continental Shelf is a v ...
gave a conditional approval for
Shell Oil to drill in shallow ( deep) Chukchi Sea waters. In September 2015, Shell announced that it was ending its oil exploration in the region, citing tremendous cost and declining oil prices. Shell vowed to return, but eventually gave up all but one of the corporation's leases in the Arctic.
See also
*
Arctic Alaska-Chukotka terrane
The Arctic Alaska-Chukotka terrane (AAC) is a microcontinent that today encompasses the North Slope, Brooks Range, and Seward Peninsula of northern Alaska; the Chukotka Peninsula, New Siberia Islands, and Wrangel Island in eastern Siberia; and ...
*
Continental shelf of Russia
*
List of seas
*
Seven seas
The "Seven Seas" is a figurative term for all the seas of the known world. The phrase is used in reference to sailors and pirates in the arts and popular culture and can be associated with the Mediterranean Sea, the Arabian Seven Seas east of Af ...
References
Further reading
*
*
Albert Hastings Markham
Admiral Sir Albert Hastings Markham (11 November 1841 – 28 October 1918) was a British explorer, author, and officer in the Royal Navy. In 1903 he was invested as a Knight Commander of the Order of the Bath. He is also remembered for desig ...
. ''Arctic Exploration,'' 1895
* Armstrong, T., ''The Russians in the Arctic'', London, 1958.
*
William Barr
William Pelham Barr (born May 23, 1950) is an American attorney who served as the 77th and 85th United States attorney general in the administrations of Presidents George H. W. Bush and Donald Trump.
Born and raised in New York City, Barr ...
, ''Discovery of the wreck of the Soviet steamer Chelyuskin on the bed of the Chukchi Sea''
Early Soviet ExplorationHistory of Russian Arctic Exploration
* Niven, J., ''The Ice Master, The Doomed 1913 Voyage of the Karluk.''
*
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 полынья (), which r ...
s in the Chukchi Sea
* Polar bear protection in the Chukchi Sea
Polar bears shared by US, Russia to be managed jointly * Vinogradov V.A., Gusev E.A., Lopatin B.G. Structure of the Russian Eastern Arctic Shelf
External links
Ecological assessmentAudubon Alaska's Arctic Marine Synthesis: Atlas of the Chukchi and Beaufort Seas
{{Authority control
Chukchi Sea,
Seas of the Arctic Ocean
Seas of Russia
Seas of the United States
Bodies of water of Alaska
Bodies of water of Chukotka Autonomous Okrug
Bodies of water of Nome Census Area, Alaska
Bodies of water of North Slope Borough, Alaska
Bodies of water of Northwest Arctic Borough, Alaska
Russia–United States border
Beringia