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The Laptev Sea ( rus, мо́ре Ла́птевых, r=more Laptevykh; sah, Лаптевтар байҕаллара, translit=Laptevtar baỹğallara) 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 located between the northern coast of
Siberia Siberia ( ; rus, Сибирь, r=Sibir', p=sʲɪˈbʲirʲ, a=Ru-Сибирь.ogg) is an extensive 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 part of ...
, the
Taimyr Peninsula The Taymyr Peninsula (russian: Таймырский полуостров, Taymyrsky poluostrov) is a peninsula in the Far North of Russia, in the Siberian Federal District, that forms the northernmost part of the mainland of Eurasia. Administrati ...
,
Severnaya Zemlya Severnaya Zemlya (russian: link=no, Сéверная Земля́ (Northern Land), ) is a archipelago in the Russian high Arctic. It lies off Siberia's Taymyr Peninsula, separated from the mainland by the Vilkitsky Strait. This archipelago ...
and the
New Siberian Islands The New Siberian Islands ( rus, Новосиби́рские Oстрова, r=Novosibirskiye Ostrova; sah, Саҥа Сибиир Aрыылара, translit=Saña Sibiir Arıılara) are an archipelago in the Extreme North of Russia, to the north o ...
. Its northern boundary passes from the
Arctic Cape The Arctic Cape (russian: Мыс Арктический, ''Mys Arkticheskiy'') is a headland in Severnaya Zemlya, Russia. With a distance of 990.8 km to the North Pole, the Arctic Cape is sometimes used as starting point for expeditions to ...
to a point with co-ordinates of 79°N and 139°E, and ends at the Anisiy Cape. The
Kara Sea The Kara Sea (russian: Ка́рское мо́ре, ''Karskoye more'') is a marginal sea, separated from the Barents Sea to the west by the Kara Strait and Novaya Zemlya, and from the Laptev Sea to the east by the Severnaya Zemlya archipelago. ...
lies to the west, the
East Siberian Sea The East Siberian Sea ( rus, Восто́чно-Сиби́рское мо́ре, r=Vostochno-Sibirskoye more) is a marginal sea in the Arctic Ocean. It is located between the Arctic Cape to the north, the coast of Siberia to the south, the New Si ...
to the east. The sea is named after the
Russian explorers The history of exploration by citizens or subjects of the Russian Federation, the Soviet Union, the Russian Empire, the Tsardom of Russia and other Russian predecessor states forms a significant part of the history of Russia as well as the his ...
Dmitry Laptev Dmitry Yakovlevich Laptev (russian: Дмитрий Яковлевич Лаптев) (1701 - ) was a Russian Arctic explorer and Vice Admiral (1762). The Dmitry Laptev Strait is named in his honor and the Laptev Sea is named in honor of him and ...
and
Khariton Laptev Khariton Prokofievich Laptev (russian: Харитон Прокофьевич Лаптев) (1700–1763) was a Russian naval officer and Arctic explorer. Khariton Laptev was born in a gentry family in the village of Pokarevo near Velikiye Luki (in ...
; formerly, it had been known under various names, the last being Nordenskiöld Sea (russian: link=no, мо́ре Норденшёльда), after explorer
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 ...
. The sea has a severe climate with temperatures below 0 °C (32 °F) over more than nine months per year, low water
salinity Salinity () is the saltiness or amount of salt dissolved in a body of water, called saline water (see also soil salinity). It is usually measured in g/L or g/kg (grams of salt per liter/kilogram of water; the latter is dimensionless and equal ...
, scarcity of flora, fauna and human population, and low depths (mostly less than 50 meters). It is frozen most of the time, though generally clear in August and September. The sea shores were inhabited for thousands of years by indigenous tribes of
Yukaghirs The Yukaghirs, or Yukagirs ( (), russian: юкаги́ры) are a Siberian ethnic group people in the Russian Far East, living in the basin of the Kolyma River. Geographic distribution The Tundra Yukaghirs live in the Lower Kolyma region ...
and then
Evens The Evens ( eve, эвэн; pl. , in Even and , in Russian; formerly called ''Lamuts'') are a people in Siberia and the Russian Far East. They live in regions of the Magadan Oblast and Kamchatka Krai and northern parts of Sakha east of th ...
and
Evenks The Evenks (also spelled Ewenki or Evenki based on their endonym )Autonym: (); russian: Эвенки (); (); formerly known as Tungus or Tunguz; mn, Хамниган () or Aiwenji () are a Tungusic people of North Asia. In Russia, the Eve ...
, which were engaged in fishing, hunting and
reindeer husbandry Reindeer (in North American English, known as caribou if wild and ''reindeer'' if domesticated) are deer in the genus ''Rangifer''. For the last few decades, reindeer were assigned to one species, ''Rangifer tarandus'', with about 10 subspe ...
. They were then settled by
Yakuts The Yakuts, or the Sakha ( sah, саха, ; , ), are a Turkic ethnic group who mainly live in the Republic of Sakha in the Russian Federation, with some extending to the Amur, Magadan, Sakhalin regions, and the Taymyr and Evenk Districts ...
and later by Russians. Russian explorations of the area started in the 17th century. They came from the south via several large rivers which empty into the sea, such as the prominent Lena River, the Khatanga, the
Anabar Anabar may refer to: * Anabar Bay, Laptev Sea * Anabar Constituency, Nauru * Anabar District, Nauru * Anabar District, Russia, Sakha, Russia * Anabar Highway, Russia * Anabar Plateau, Russia * Anabar (river), Sakha, Russia * Anabar Shield An ...
, the
Olenyok Olenyok or Olenek may refer to: *Olenyok (river), a river in Russia *Olenyok (rural locality), a rural locality (a ''selo'') in the Sakha Republic, Russia * Olenyok Airport, an airport in the same rural locality * Olenyok Gulf, a gulf in the Laptev ...
, the
Omoloy The Omoloy (russian: Омолой sah, Омолой) is a river in Siberia, flowing into the Laptev Sea east of the river Lena. It is long, and has a drainage basin of . Administratively the basin of the Omoloy is part of the Sakha (Yakutia) ad ...
and the
Yana Yana may refer to: Locations *Yana, Burma, a village in Hkamti Township in Hkamti District in the Sagaing Region of northwestern Burma *Yana, India, a village in the Uttara Kannada district of Karnataka, India * Yana, Nigeria, an administrative ca ...
. The sea contains several dozen islands, many of which contain well-preserved
mammoth A mammoth is any species of the extinct elephantid genus ''Mammuthus'', one of the many genera that make up the order of trunked mammals called proboscideans. The various species of mammoth were commonly equipped with long, curved tusks and, ...
remains.


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 Laptev Sea as follows:
On the West The eastern limit of
Kara Sea The Kara Sea (russian: Ка́рское мо́ре, ''Karskoye more'') is a marginal sea, separated from the Barents Sea to the west by the Kara Strait and Novaya Zemlya, and from the Laptev Sea to the east by the Severnaya Zemlya archipelago. ...

Komsomolets Island Komsomolets Island in Severnaya Zemlya Komsomolets Island (russian: остров Комсомолец) is the northernmost island of the Severnaya Zemlya group in the Russian Arctic, and the third largest island in the group. It is the 82nd lar ...
from Cape Molotov to South Eastern Cape; thence to Cape Vorochilov, Oktiabrskaya Revolutziya Island to Cape Anuchin. Then to Cape Unslicht on
Bolshevik Island __NOTOC__ Bolshevik Island (russian: о́стров Большеви́к, ) is an island in Severnaya Zemlya, Krasnoyarsk Krai, Russian Arctic. The island is named after the political faction of the same name. History The island, together with ...
. Bolshevik Island to
Cape Yevgenov Cape Yevgenov () is an ice-covered cape midway along the northeast side of Krylov Peninsula, forming the west entrance to Lauritzen Bay, Antarctica. Photographed by U.S. Navy Operation Highjump (1946–47), Soviet Antarctic Expedition The Sovi ...
. Thence to Cape Pronchisthehev on the main land (see Russian chart No. 1484 of the year 1935). On the North A line joining Cape Molotov to the Northern extremity of Kotelni Island (). On the East From the Northern extremity of Kotelni Island – through Kotelni Island to Cape Madvejyi. Then through Malyi Island /nowiki> /nowiki>Little_Lyakhovsky_Island">Little_Lyakhovsky_Island.html"_;"title="/nowiki>Little_Lyakhovsky_Island">/nowiki>Little_Lyakhovsky_Island/nowiki>,_to_Cape_Vaguin_on_Bolshoy_Lyakhovsky_Island.html" ;"title="Little_Lyakhovsky_Island.html" ;"title="Little_Lyakhovsky_Island.html" ;"title="/nowiki>
/nowiki>Little_Lyakhovsky_Island">Little_Lyakhovsky_Island.html"_;"title="/nowiki>Little_Lyakhovsky_Island">/nowiki>Little_Lyakhovsky_Island/nowiki>,_to_Cape_Vaguin_on_Bolshoy_Lyakhovsky_Island">Great_Liakhov_Island._Thence_to_Cape_Sviatoy_Nos_on_the_main_land.
Using_current_geographic_names_and_
/nowiki>Little_Lyakhovsky_Island">Little_Lyakhovsky_Island.html"_;"title="/nowiki>Little_Lyakhovsky_Island">/nowiki>Little_Lyakhovsky_Island/nowiki>,_to_Cape_Vaguin_on_Bolshoy_Lyakhovsky_Island">Great_Liakhov_Island._Thence_to_Cape_Sviatoy_Nos_on_the_main_land. Using_current_geographic_names_and_Phonetic_transcription">transcription_ Transcription_refers_to_the_process_of_converting_sounds_(voice,_music_etc.)_into_letters_or_musical_notes,_or_producing_a_copy_of_something_in_another_medium,_including: _Genetics *_Transcription_(biology),_the_copying_of_DNA_into_RNA,_the_fir_...
_this_definition_corresponds_to_the_area_shown_in_the_map. #_The_sea's_border_starts_at_Arctic_Cape_ The_Arctic_Cape_(russian:_Мыс_Арктический,_''Mys_Arkticheskiy'')_is_a_headland_in_Severnaya_Zemlya,_Russia. With_a_distance_of_990.8 km_to_the_North_Pole,_the_Arctic_Cape_is_sometimes_used_as_starting_point_for_expeditions_to__...
_(formerly_Cape_Molotov)_on_Komsomolets_Island_ _Komsomolets_Island_in_Severnaya_Zemlya Komsomolets_Island_(russian:_остров_Комсомолец)_is_the_northernmost_island_of_the_Severnaya_Zemlya_group_in_the_Russian_Arctic,_and_the_third_largest_island_in_the_group._It_is_the__82nd_lar_...
_at__and_connects_to_Cape_Rosa_Luxemburg_''(Mys_Rozy_Lyuksemburg)'',_the_southeastern_Cape_(geography).html" "title="Phonetic_transcription.html" "title="Little Lyakhovsky Island">/nowiki>Little Lyakhovsky Island">Little_Lyakhovsky_Island.html" ;"title="/nowiki>Little Lyakhovsky Island">/nowiki>Little Lyakhovsky Island/nowiki>, to Cape Vaguin on Bolshoy Lyakhovsky Island">Great Liakhov Island. Thence to Cape Sviatoy Nos on the main land. Using current geographic names and Phonetic transcription">transcription Transcription refers to the process of converting sounds (voice, music etc.) into letters or musical notes, or producing a copy of something in another medium, including: Genetics * Transcription (biology), the copying of DNA into RNA, the fir ...
 this definition corresponds to the area shown in the map. # The sea's border starts at
Arctic Cape The Arctic Cape (russian: Мыс Арктический, ''Mys Arkticheskiy'') is a headland in Severnaya Zemlya, Russia. With a distance of 990.8 km to the North Pole, the Arctic Cape is sometimes used as starting point for expeditions to ...
(formerly Cape Molotov) on
Komsomolets Island Komsomolets Island in Severnaya Zemlya Komsomolets Island (russian: остров Комсомолец) is the northernmost island of the Severnaya Zemlya group in the Russian Arctic, and the third largest island in the group. It is the 82nd lar ...
at and connects to Cape Rosa Luxemburg ''(Mys Rozy Lyuksemburg)'', the southeastern Cape (geography)">cape A cape is a clothing accessory or a sleeveless outer garment which drapes the wearer's back, arms, and chest, and connects at the neck. History Capes were common in medieval Europe, especially when combined with a hood in the chaperon. Th ...
 of the island. # The next segment crosses Red Army Strait and leads to Cape Vorochilov on October Revolution Island and afterwards through that island to Cape Anuchin at . # Next, the border crosses Shokalsky Strait to Cape Unslicht at on
Bolshevik Island __NOTOC__ Bolshevik Island (russian: о́стров Большеви́к, ) is an island in Severnaya Zemlya, Krasnoyarsk Krai, Russian Arctic. The island is named after the political faction of the same name. History The island, together with ...
. It goes further through the island to
Cape Yevgenov Cape Yevgenov () is an ice-covered cape midway along the northeast side of Krylov Peninsula, forming the west entrance to Lauritzen Bay, Antarctica. Photographed by U.S. Navy Operation Highjump (1946–47), Soviet Antarctic Expedition The Sovi ...
at . # From there, the border goes through
Vilkitsky Strait : Vilkitsky Strait (russian: link=no, пролив Вилькицкого) is a strait between the Taimyr Peninsula and Bolshevik Island in the Severnaya Zemlya archipelago. The strait connects the Kara and Laptev Seas. The length of the Vilkits ...
to Cape Pronchishchev at on the Tamyr peninsula. # The southern boundary is the shore of the Asian mainland. Prominent features are the
Khatanga Gulf The Khatanga Gulf or Khatanga Bay (russian: Хатангский залив) is a large tidal estuary in the Laptev Sea. It is relatively narrow, its length being with a maximum width of . Geography The Bolshoy Begichev Island divides the gulf i ...
(
estuary An estuary is a partially enclosed coastal body of brackish water with one or more rivers or streams flowing into it, and with a free connection to the open sea. Estuaries form a transition zone between river environments and maritime environment ...
of the
Khatanga River The Khatanga (russian: Хатанга) is a river in Krasnoyarsk Krai in Russia. The river is navigable. The river port of Khatanga is located on the river. Course It begins at the confluence of the rivers Kotuy and Kheta. The Khatanga is lo ...
) and the
delta Delta commonly refers to: * Delta (letter) (Δ or δ), a letter of the Greek alphabet * River delta, at a river mouth * D ( NATO phonetic alphabet: "Delta") * Delta Air Lines, US * Delta variant of SARS-CoV-2 that causes COVID-19 Delta may also ...
of the Lena River. # In the east, the polygon crosses the
Dmitry Laptev Strait Laptev Strait (; sah, Миитэрэй Лаптев силбэһиитэ, ''Miiterey Laptev silbehiite'') is a 60 km-wide strait in Russia. It separates Great Lyakhovsky Island of the Lyakhovsky Islands from the mainland, and connects the La ...
. It connects Cape Svyatoy Nos at with Cape Vagin at in the very east of
Bolshoy Lyakhovsky Island Bolshoy Lyakhovsky Island (russian: Большой Ляховский остров), or Great Lyakhovsky, is the largest of the Lyakhovsky Islands belonging to the New Siberian Islands archipelago between the Laptev Sea and the East Siberian Sea ...
. # Next, the Laptev Sea border crosses the Eterikan Strait to
Little Lyakhovsky Island Maly Lyakhovsky Island (russian: Малый Ляховский) is the second largest of the Lyakhovsky Islands belonging to the New Siberian Islands archipelago in Laptev Sea in northern Russia. It has an area of . The Lyakhovsky Islands are ...
(aka Malyi Island) at up to Cape Medvezhiy. # Finally, there is a segment through
Kotelny Kotelny Island ( rus, Остров Котельный, r=Ostrov Kotelny; sah, Олгуйдаах Aрыы, translit=Olguydaax Arııta) is part of the Anzhu Islands subgroup of the New Siberian Islands located between the Laptev Sea and the East ...
Island to Cape Anisy, its northernmost headland . # The last link reaches from there back to Arctic Cape.


Geography

The Lena River, with its large
delta Delta commonly refers to: * Delta (letter) (Δ or δ), a letter of the Greek alphabet * River delta, at a river mouth * D ( NATO phonetic alphabet: "Delta") * Delta Air Lines, US * Delta variant of SARS-CoV-2 that causes COVID-19 Delta may also ...
, is the biggest river flowing into the Laptev Sea, and is the second largest river in the Russian Arctic after
Yenisei The Yenisey (russian: Енисе́й, ''Yeniséy''; mn, Горлог мөрөн, ''Gorlog mörön''; Buryat: Горлог мүрэн, ''Gorlog müren''; Tuvan: Улуг-Хем, ''Uluğ-Hem''; Khakas: Ким суғ, ''Kim suğ''; Ket: Ӄук, ...
.Ecological assessment of pollution in the Russian Arctic region
, Global International Waters Assessment Final Report Other important rivers include the Khatanga, the
Anabar Anabar may refer to: * Anabar Bay, Laptev Sea * Anabar Constituency, Nauru * Anabar District, Nauru * Anabar District, Russia, Sakha, Russia * Anabar Highway, Russia * Anabar Plateau, Russia * Anabar (river), Sakha, Russia * Anabar Shield An ...
, the Olenyok or Olenek, the
Omoloy The Omoloy (russian: Омолой sah, Омолой) is a river in Siberia, flowing into the Laptev Sea east of the river Lena. It is long, and has a drainage basin of . Administratively the basin of the Omoloy is part of the Sakha (Yakutia) ad ...
and the
Yana Yana may refer to: Locations *Yana, Burma, a village in Hkamti Township in Hkamti District in the Sagaing Region of northwestern Burma *Yana, India, a village in the Uttara Kannada district of Karnataka, India * Yana, Nigeria, an administrative ca ...
. The sea shores are winding and form gulfs and bays of various sizes. The coastal landscape is also diverse, with small mountains near the sea in places. The main gulfs of the Laptev Sea coast are the
Khatanga Gulf The Khatanga Gulf or Khatanga Bay (russian: Хатангский залив) is a large tidal estuary in the Laptev Sea. It is relatively narrow, its length being with a maximum width of . Geography The Bolshoy Begichev Island divides the gulf i ...
, the Olenyok Gulf, the
Buor-Khaya Gulf The Buor-Khaya Gulf or Buor-Khaya Bight (russian: Губа Буор-Хая) is one of the most important gulfs of the Laptev Sea. Administratively the Buor-Khaya Gulf belongs to the Sakha Republic (Yakutia) of the Russian Federation. There is an ...
and the
Yana Bay Yana may refer to: Locations *Yana, Burma, a village in Hkamti Township in Hkamti District in the Sagaing Region of northwestern Burma *Yana, India, a village in the Uttara Kannada district of Karnataka, India * Yana, Nigeria, an administrative ca ...
. There are several dozens of islands with the total area of , mostly in the western part of the sea and in the river deltas. Storms and currents due to the ice thawing significantly erode the islands, so the Semenovsky and Vasilievsky islands (74°12"N, 133°E) which were discovered in 1815 have already disappeared. The most significant groups of islands are
Severnaya Zemlya Severnaya Zemlya (russian: link=no, Сéверная Земля́ (Northern Land), ) is a archipelago in the Russian high Arctic. It lies off Siberia's Taymyr Peninsula, separated from the mainland by the Vilkitsky Strait. This archipelago ...
, Komsomolskaya Pravda, Vilkitsky and Faddey, and the largest individual islands are
Bolshoy Begichev Bolshoy Begichev (russian: Большой Бегичев, translation= Big Begichev) is an island in the Laptev Sea, in the Sakha Republic, Russia. Geography The area of the island is . Bolshoy Begichev is located within the Khatanga Gulf (russ ...
(1764 km2), Belkovsky (500 km2), Maly Taymyr (250 km2), Stolbovoy (170 km2), Starokadomsky (110 km2), and Peschanyy (17 km2). (see
Islands of the Laptev Sea An island (or isle) is an isolated piece of habitat that is surrounded by a dramatically different habitat, such as water. Very small islands such as emergent land features on atolls can be called islets, skerries, cays or keys. An island ...
) More than half of the sea (53%) rests on a
continental shelf A continental shelf is a portion of a continent that is submerged under an area of relatively shallow water, known as a shelf sea. Much of these shelves were exposed by drops in sea level during glacial periods. The shelf surrounding an island ...
with the average depths below , and the areas south from 76°N are shallower than 25 m.Arnoldus Schytte Blix (2005
Arctic animals and their adaptations to life on the edge
pp. 57–58 In the northern part, the sea bottom sharply drops to the ocean floor with the depth of the order of (22% of the sea area). There it is covered with
silt Silt is granular material of a size between sand and clay and composed mostly of broken grains of quartz. Silt may occur as a soil (often mixed with sand or clay) or as sediment mixed in suspension with water. Silt usually has a floury feel when ...
, which is mixed with ice in the shallow areas. The Laptev Sea is bound to the south by the East Siberian Lowland, an alluvial plain mainly composed of sediments of marine origin dating back to the time when the whole area was occupied by the
Verkhoyansk Sea Verkhoyansk ( rus, Верхоянск, p=vʲɪrxɐˈjansk; sah, Верхоянскай, ''Verkhoyanskay'') is a town in Verkhoyansky District of the Sakha Republic, Russia, located on the Yana River in the Arctic Circle, from Batagay, the ...
, an ancient sea at the edge of the
Siberian Craton Siberia, also known as Angaraland (or simply Angara) and Angarida, is an ancient craton in the heart of Siberia. Today forming the Central Siberian Plateau, it was an independent continent before the Permian period. The Verkhoyansk Sea, a passive ...
in the
Permian The Permian ( ) is a geologic period and stratigraphic system which spans 47 million years from the end of the Carboniferous Period million years ago (Mya), to the beginning of the Triassic Period 251.9 Mya. It is the last period of the Paleoz ...
period. As centuries went by, gradually, most of the area limiting the sea to the south became filled with the alluvial deposits of modern rivers.Sea basins and land of the East Siberian Lowland
/ref>


Climate

The climate of the Laptev Sea is Arctic continental and, owing to the remoteness from both the Atlantic and Pacific oceans, is one of the most severe among the Arctic seas.
Polar night The polar night is a phenomenon where the nighttime lasts for more than 24 hours that occurs in the northernmost and southernmost regions of Earth. This occurs only inside the polar circles. The opposite phenomenon, the polar day, or midnig ...
and
midnight sun The midnight sun is a natural phenomenon that occurs in the summer months in places north of the Arctic Circle or south of the Antarctic Circle, when the Sun remains visible at the local midnight. When the midnight sun is seen in the Arctic, t ...
last about 3 months per year on the south and 5 months on the north. Air temperatures stay below 0 °С 11 months a year on the north and 9 months on the south. The average temperature in January (coldest month) varies across the sea between and and the minimum is . In July, the temperature rises to 0 °С (maximum 4 °С) in the north and to 5 °С (maximum 10 °С) in the south, however, it may reach 22–24 °С on the coast in August. The maximum of was recorded in
Tiksi Tiksi ( rus, Ти́кси, , ˈtʲiksʲɪ; sah, Тиксии, ''Tiksii'' – lit. ''a moorage place'') is an urban locality (an urban-type settlement) and the administrative center of Bulunsky District in the Sakha Republic, Russia, located o ...
. Strong winds, blizzards and snow storms are common in winter. Snow falls even in summer and is alternating with fogs. The winds blow from south and south-west in winter with the average speed of 8 m/s which subsides toward the spring. In summer, they change direction to the northerly, and their speed is 3–4 m/s. Relatively weak winds result in low convection in the surface waters, which occurs only to the depth of 5–10 meters.


Ice

The Laptev Sea is a major source of
arctic sea ice The Arctic ice pack is the sea ice cover of the Arctic Ocean and its vicinity. The Arctic ice pack undergoes a regular seasonal cycle in which ice melts in spring and summer, reaches a minimum around mid-September, then increases during fall ...
. With an average outflow of 483,000 km2 per year over the period 1979–1995, it contributes more sea ice than the
Barents Sea The Barents Sea ( , also ; no, Barentshavet, ; russian: Баренцево море, Barentsevo More) is a marginal sea of the Arctic Ocean, located off the northern coasts of Norway and Russia and divided between Norwegian and Russian territo ...
,
Kara Sea The Kara Sea (russian: Ка́рское мо́ре, ''Karskoye more'') is a marginal sea, separated from the Barents Sea to the west by the Kara Strait and Novaya Zemlya, and from the Laptev Sea to the east by the Severnaya Zemlya archipelago. ...
,
East Siberian Sea The East Siberian Sea ( rus, Восто́чно-Сиби́рское мо́ре, r=Vostochno-Sibirskoye more) is a marginal sea in the Arctic Ocean. It is located between the Arctic Cape to the north, the coast of Siberia to the south, the New Si ...
and Chukchi Sea combined. Over this period, the annual outflow fluctuated between 251,000 km2 in 1984–85 and 732,000 km2 in 1988–89. The sea exports substantial amounts of sea ice in all months but July, August and September. Usually, ice formation starts in September on the north and October on the south, though it has progressively begun later because of human-driven
climate change In common usage, climate change describes global warming—the ongoing increase in global average temperature—and its effects on Earth's climate system. Climate change in a broader sense also includes previous long-term changes to E ...
. In 2020 Siberia experienced record-breaking heat and formation did not begin until late October, marking the latest start ever recorded. The ice formation results in a large continuous sheet of ice, with the thickness up to in the south-eastern part of the sea as well as near the coast. The coastal sheet ends at the water depth of 20–25 m which occurs at several hundred kilometers from the shore, thus this coastal ice covers some 30% of the sea area. Ice is drifting north to this coastal band, and several
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 re ...
s are formed by the warm south winds around there. They have various names, such as the Great Siberian Polynya, and can stretch over many hundreds kilometers. The ice sheet usually starts melting from late May to early June, creating fragmented ice agglomerates on the north-west and south-east and often revealing remains of the mammoths. The ice formation varies from year to year, with the sea either clear or completely covered with ice.


Hydrology

The sea is characterized by the low water temperatures, which ranges from in the north to in the south-eastern parts. The medium water layer is warmer, up to 1.5 °С because it is fed by the warm Atlantic waters. It takes them 2.5–3 years to reach the Laptev Sea from their formation near
Spitsbergen Spitsbergen (; formerly known as West Spitsbergen; Norwegian: ''Vest Spitsbergen'' or ''Vestspitsbergen'' , also sometimes spelled Spitzbergen) is the largest and the only permanently populated island of the Svalbard archipelago in northern Norw ...
. The deeper layer is colder at about −0.8 °С. In summer, the surface layer in the ice-free zones warms up by the sun up to 8–10 °С in the bays and 2–3 °С in the open sea, and remains close to 0 °С under ice. The water
salinity Salinity () is the saltiness or amount of salt dissolved in a body of water, called saline water (see also soil salinity). It is usually measured in g/L or g/kg (grams of salt per liter/kilogram of water; the latter is dimensionless and equal ...
is significantly affected by the thawing of ice and river runoff. The latter amounts to about 730 km3 and would form a 135 cm freshwater layer over the entire sea; it is the second largest in the world after the
Kara Sea The Kara Sea (russian: Ка́рское мо́ре, ''Karskoye more'') is a marginal sea, separated from the Barents Sea to the west by the Kara Strait and Novaya Zemlya, and from the Laptev Sea to the east by the Severnaya Zemlya archipelago. ...
. The salinity values vary in winter from 20 to 25‰ (parts per thousand) in the south-east to 34‰ in the northern parts of the sea; it decreases in summer to 5–10‰ and 30–32‰ respectively. Most of the river runoff (about 70% or 515 km3/year) is contributed by the Lena River. Other major contributions are from Khatanga (more than 100 km3), Olenyok (35 km3), Yana (greater than 30 km3) and Anabar (20 km3), with other rivers contributing about 20 km3. Owing to the ice melting season, about 90% of the annual runoff occurs between June and September with 35–40% in August alone, whereas January contributes only 5%. Sea currents form a cyclone consisting of the southward stream near Severnaya Zemlya which reaches the continental coast and flows along it from west to east. It is then amplified by the Lena River flow and diverts to the north and north-west toward the Arctic Ocean. A small part of the cyclone leaks through the
Sannikov Strait Sannikov Strait (пролив Санникова; proliv Sannikova) is a 50 km-wide strait in Russia. It separates Anzhu Islands from Lyakhovsky Islands, and connects the Laptev Sea in the west with the East Siberian Sea in the east. It is n ...
to the East Siberian Sea. The cyclone has a speed of 2 cm/s which decreases toward the center. The center of the cyclone drifts with time that slightly alters the flow character. The tides are mostly semi-diurnal (rise twice a day), with the average amplitude of . In the
Khatanga Gulf The Khatanga Gulf or Khatanga Bay (russian: Хатангский залив) is a large tidal estuary in the Laptev Sea. It is relatively narrow, its length being with a maximum width of . Geography The Bolshoy Begichev Island divides the gulf i ...
it may reach 2 m because of the funnel-like shape of the gulf. This tidal wave is then noticeable up to the unusually long distance of 500 km up to the
Khatanga River The Khatanga (russian: Хатанга) is a river in Krasnoyarsk Krai in Russia. The river is navigable. The river port of Khatanga is located on the river. Course It begins at the confluence of the rivers Kotuy and Kheta. The Khatanga is lo ...
– the tidal wave is damped at much shorter distance in other rivers of the Laptev Sea. The seasonal variations of the sea level are relatively small – the sea level rises up to in summer near the river deltas and lowers in winter. Wind-induced changes are observed all through the year, but are more frequent in autumn when the winds are strong and steady. In general, the sea level rises with northern and lowers with southern winds, but depending on the area, the maximum amplitude is observed for a specific wind direction (e.g. western and north-western in the south-eastern part of the sea). They average amplitudes are 1–2 m and may exceed near Tiksi. Owing to the weak winds and shallow waters, the sea is relatively calm with the waves typically within . In July–August waves up to 4–5 m are observed near the sea center, and they may reach in autumn.


History and exploration

The coast of the Laptev Sea was inhabited for ages by the native peoples of northern Siberia such as
Yukaghirs The Yukaghirs, or Yukagirs ( (), russian: юкаги́ры) are a Siberian ethnic group people in the Russian Far East, living in the basin of the Kolyma River. Geographic distribution The Tundra Yukaghirs live in the Lower Kolyma region ...
and Chuvans (sub-tribe of Yukaghirs). Those tribes were engaged in fishing, hunting and
reindeer husbandry Reindeer (in North American English, known as caribou if wild and ''reindeer'' if domesticated) are deer in the genus ''Rangifer''. For the last few decades, reindeer were assigned to one species, ''Rangifer tarandus'', with about 10 subspe ...
, as reindeer sleds were essential for transportation and hunting. They were joined and absorbed by
Evens The Evens ( eve, эвэн; pl. , in Even and , in Russian; formerly called ''Lamuts'') are a people in Siberia and the Russian Far East. They live in regions of the Magadan Oblast and Kamchatka Krai and northern parts of Sakha east of th ...
and
Evenks The Evenks (also spelled Ewenki or Evenki based on their endonym )Autonym: (); russian: Эвенки (); (); formerly known as Tungus or Tunguz; mn, Хамниган () or Aiwenji () are a Tungusic people of North Asia. In Russia, the Eve ...
around the 2nd century and later, between 9th and 15th centuries, by much more numerous
Yakuts The Yakuts, or the Sakha ( sah, саха, ; , ), are a Turkic ethnic group who mainly live in the Republic of Sakha in the Russian Federation, with some extending to the Amur, Magadan, Sakhalin regions, and the Taymyr and Evenk Districts ...
. All those tribes moved north from the
Baikal Lake Lake Baikal (, russian: Oзеро Байкал, Ozero Baykal ); mn, Байгал нуур, Baigal nuur) is a rift lake in Russia. It is situated in southern Siberia Siberia ( ; rus, Сибирь, r=Sibir', p=sʲɪˈbʲirʲ, a=Ru-Сиб ...
area avoiding confrontations with Mongols. Whereas they all practiced
shamanism Shamanism is a religious practice that involves a practitioner (shaman) interacting with what they believe to be a Spirit world (Spiritualism), spirit world through Altered state of consciousness, altered states of consciousness, such as tranc ...
, they spoke different languages. Russians started exploring the Laptev Sea coast and the nearby islands some time in the 17th century, going through the rivers emptying into the sea. Many early explorations were likely unreported, as indicated by graves found on some of the islands by their official discoverers. In 1629,
Siberian Cossacks Siberian Cossacks were Cossacks who settled in the Siberian region of Russia from the end of the 16th century, following Yermak Timofeyevich's conquest of Siberia. In early periods, practically the whole Russian population in Siberia, especially ...
went through the Lena River and reached its delta. They left a note that the river flows into a sea. In 1633, another group reached the delta of Olenyok.Лаптевых море
(in Russian) By 1712,
Yakov Permyakov Yakov Permyakov (russian: Яков Пермяков; died 1712) was a Russian seafarer, explorer, merchant, and Cossack. In 1710, while sailing from the Lena River to the Kolyma River, Permyakov observed the silhouette of two unknown island group ...
and
Merkury Vagin Merkury Vagin ( Russian: ''Меркурий Вагин'') (died 1712) was a Russian Arctic explorer. In 1712, together with Yakov Permyakov, Vagin explored the region of the eastern Laptev Sea coast. His exploration included Bolshoy Lyakhovsky Is ...
explored the eastern part of the Laptev Sea and discovered
Bolshoy Lyakhovsky Island Bolshoy Lyakhovsky Island (russian: Большой Ляховский остров), or Great Lyakhovsky, is the largest of the Lyakhovsky Islands belonging to the New Siberian Islands archipelago between the Laptev Sea and the East Siberian Sea ...
. However, they were killed on the way back from their expedition by mutineering team members. In 1770, the merchant
Ivan Lyakhov Ivan Lyakhov (russian: Иван Ляхов), died around 1800, was a Russian merchant who explored large sections of the New Siberian Islands in the 18th century. Expedition Lyakhov began his explorations in the spring of 1770 on dogsleds in ord ...
revisited the islands and then asked the government for permission to commercially develop their ivory resources.
Catherine II , en, Catherine Alexeievna Romanova, link=yes , house = , father = Christian August, Prince of Anhalt-Zerbst , mother = Joanna Elisabeth of Holstein-Gottorp , birth_date = , birth_name = Princess Sophie of Anha ...
granted permission and named the islands after Lyakhov. While exploring the area in the 1770s, Lyakhov described several other islands, including Kotelny, which he named so after a large kettle (russian: link=no, котёл – kotel) left there by previous visitors. He also established first permanent settlements on those islands.M. I. Belo
По следам полярных экспедиций. Часть II. На архипелагах и островах
/ref> In 1735, Russian explorer of Siberia
Vasili Pronchishchev Vasili Vasilyevich Pronchishchev (russian: Василий Васильевич Прончищев) (1702–) was a Russian explorer. In 1718, Vasili Pronchishchev graduated from Moscow School of Mathematics and Navigation and was promoted to nava ...
sailed from
Yakutsk Yakutsk (russian: Якутск, p=jɪˈkutsk; sah, Дьокуускай, translit=Djokuuskay, ) is the capital city of the Sakha Republic, Russia, located about south of the Arctic Circle. Fueled by the mining industry, Yakutsk has become one ...
down the Lena River on his sloop ''Yakutsk''. He explored the eastern coast of the Lena delta, and stopped to winter at the mouth of the
Olenyok River The Olenyok (russian: Оленёк, sometimes spelled ''Оленек'', ''Olenek''; sah, Өлөөн, Ölöön) is a major river in northern Siberian Russia, west of the lower Lena and east of the Anabar. It is long, of which around is navigable ...
. Unfortunately many members of his crew fell ill and died, mainly from
scurvy Scurvy is a disease resulting from a lack of vitamin C (ascorbic acid). Early symptoms of deficiency include weakness, feeling tired and sore arms and legs. Without treatment, decreased red blood cells, gum disease, changes to hair, and bleeding ...
. Despite these difficulties, in 1736, he reached the eastern shore of the
Taymyr Peninsula The Taymyr Peninsula (russian: Таймырский полуостров, Taymyrsky poluostrov) is a peninsula in the Far North of Russia, in the Siberian Federal District, that forms the northernmost part of the mainland of Eurasia. Administrat ...
and went north surveying its coastline. Pronchishchev and his wife succumbed to scurvy and died on the way back.
Maria Pronchishcheva Bay Maria Pronchishcheva Bay (russian: Бухта Марии Прончищевой, or ''Bukhta Marii Pronchishchevoy'') is a body of water in Krasnoyarsk Krai, Russian Federation. It was named after pioneering Russian explorer Vasili Pronchishchev ...
in the Laptev Sea is named after the wife of Pronchishchev. During the 1739–1742
Great Northern Expedition The Great Northern Expedition (russian: Великая Северная экспедиция) or Second Kamchatka Expedition (russian: Вторая Камчатская экспедиция) was one of the largest exploration enterprises in hi ...
, Russian Arctic explorer and Vice Admiral
Dmitry Laptev Dmitry Yakovlevich Laptev (russian: Дмитрий Яковлевич Лаптев) (1701 - ) was a Russian Arctic explorer and Vice Admiral (1762). The Dmitry Laptev Strait is named in his honor and the Laptev Sea is named in honor of him and ...
described the sea coastline from the mouth of the Lena River, along the Buor-Khaya and Yana gulfs, to the strait that bears his name,
Dmitry Laptev Strait Laptev Strait (; sah, Миитэрэй Лаптев силбэһиитэ, ''Miiterey Laptev silbehiite'') is a 60 km-wide strait in Russia. It separates Great Lyakhovsky Island of the Lyakhovsky Islands from the mainland, and connects the La ...
. As part of the same expedition, Dmitry's cousin
Khariton Laptev Khariton Prokofievich Laptev (russian: Харитон Прокофьевич Лаптев) (1700–1763) was a Russian naval officer and Arctic explorer. Khariton Laptev was born in a gentry family in the village of Pokarevo near Velikiye Luki (in ...
's led a party that surveyed the coast of the Taimyr Peninsula starting from the mouth of the Khatanga River. Detailed mapping of the coast of the Laptev Sea and New Siberian Islands was performed by Pyotr Anjou, who in 1821–1823 traveled some over the region on sledges and small boats, searching for the
Sannikov Land Sannikov Land (russian: Земля Санникова) was a phantom island in the Arctic Ocean. Its supposed existence became something of a myth in 19th-century Russia. History Yakov Sannikov and Matvei Gedenschtrom claimed to have seen the ...
and demonstrating that large-scale coastal observations can be performed without ships.
Anzhu Islands The Anzhu Islands or Anjou Islands ( rus, Анжу Oстрова, r=Anzhu Ostrova; sah, Анжу Aрыыларa, translit=Anju Arıılara) are an archipelago and geographical subgroup of the New Siberian Islands archipelago. They are located betwe ...
(the northern part of New Siberian Islands) were named after him. In 1875,
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 ...
was the first to travel across the whole sea on a steamship ''Vega''. In 1892–1894, and again in 1900–1902,
Baron Eduard von Toll Eduard Gustav Freiherr von Toll (russian: Эдуа́рд Васи́льевич Толль, translit=Eduárd Vasíl'evič Toll'; 1902), better known in Russia as Eduard Vasilyevich Toll and often referred to as Baron von Toll, was a Russian ge ...
explored the Laptev Sea in the course of two separate expeditions. On the ship '' Zarya'', Toll carried out geological and geographical surveys in the area on behalf of the Russian Imperial Academy of Sciences. In his last expedition Toll disappeared off the New Siberian Islands under mysterious circumstances. Toll notedEduard Von Toll (1895) ''Wissenschaftliche Resultate der Von der Kaiserlichen Akademie der Wissenschaften sur Erforschung des Janalandes und der Neusibirischen Inseln in den Jahren 1885 und 1886 Ausgesandten expedition.'' 'Scientific Results of the Imperial Academy of Sciences of the Investigation of Janaland and the New Siberian Islands from the Expeditions Launched in 1885 and 1886''Abtheilung III: Die fossilen Eislager und ihre Beziehungen su den Mammuthleichen. Memoires de L'Academie imperials des Sciences de St. Petersbouro, VII Serie, Tome XLII, No. 13, Commissionnaires de I'Academie Imperiale des sciences, St. Petersbourg, Russia. sizable and economically significant accumulations of perfectly preserved
fossil A fossil (from Classical Latin , ) is any preserved remains, impression, or trace of any once-living thing from a past geological age. Examples include bones, shells, exoskeletons, stone imprints of animals or microbes, objects preserved ...
ivory Ivory is a hard, white material from the tusks (traditionally from elephants) and teeth of animals, that consists mainly of dentine, one of the physical structures of teeth and tusks. The chemical structure of the teeth and tusks of mammals is ...
in recent beaches, drainage areas,
river terrace Fluvial terraces are elongated terraces that flank the sides of floodplains and fluvial valleys all over the world. They consist of a relatively level strip of land, called a "tread", separated from either an adjacent floodplain, other fluvial te ...
s and river beds within the New Siberian Islands. The later scientific studies demonstrated that the ivory accumulated over a period of some 200,000 years.Andreev, A.A., G. Grosse, L. Schirrmeister, S.A. Kuzmina, E. Y. Novenko, A.A. Bobrov, P.E. Tarasov, B.P. Ilyashuk, T.V. Kuznetsova, M. Krbetschek, H. Meyer, and V.V. Kunitsky, 2004, , 3.41 MB PDF file, Boreas. vol. 33, pp. 319–348.Makeyev, V.M., D.P. Ponomareva, V.V. Pitulko, G.M. Chernova and D.V. Solovyeva, 2003
''Vegetation and Climate of the New Siberian Islands for the past 15,000 Years''
Arctic, Antarctic, and Alpine Research, vol. 35, no. 1, pp. 56–66.Ivanova, A. M., V. Ushakov, G. A. Cherkashov, and A. N. Smirnov, 1999, ''Placer Minerals of the Russian Arctic Shelf.'' Polarforschung. vol. 69, pp. 163–167.


Naming

The name of the Laptev Sea changed several times. It was apparently known as the Tartar Sea (russian: link=no, Татарское мо́ре) in the 16th century, the Lena Sea (russian: link=no, Ленское мо́ре) in the 17th century, the Siberian Sea (russian: link=no, Сибирское мо́ре) in the 18th century and the Icy Sea (russian: link=no, Ледовитое мо́ре) in the 19th century. It acquired the name Nordenskjold Sea (russian: link=no, мо́ре Норденшельда) in 1893. On 27 June 1935, the sea finally received its current name after the cousins
Dmitry Laptev Dmitry Yakovlevich Laptev (russian: Дмитрий Яковлевич Лаптев) (1701 - ) was a Russian Arctic explorer and Vice Admiral (1762). The Dmitry Laptev Strait is named in his honor and the Laptev Sea is named in honor of him and ...
and
Khariton Laptev Khariton Prokofievich Laptev (russian: Харитон Прокофьевич Лаптев) (1700–1763) was a Russian naval officer and Arctic explorer. Khariton Laptev was born in a gentry family in the village of Pokarevo near Velikiye Luki (in ...
who first mapped its shores in 1735–1740.


Flora and fauna

Both flora and fauna are scarce owing to the harsh climate. Vegetation of the sea is mostly represented by
diatom A diatom (Neo-Latin ''diatoma''), "a cutting through, a severance", from el, διάτομος, diátomos, "cut in half, divided equally" from el, διατέμνω, diatémno, "to cut in twain". is any member of a large group comprising sev ...
s, with more than 100 species. In comparison, the number of
green algae The green algae (singular: green alga) are a group consisting of the Prasinodermophyta and its unnamed sister which contains the Chlorophyta and Charophyta/Streptophyta. The land plants (Embryophytes) have emerged deep in the Charophyte alga as ...
,
blue-green algae Cyanobacteria (), also known as Cyanophyta, are a phylum of gram-negative bacteria that obtain energy via photosynthesis. The name ''cyanobacteria'' refers to their color (), which similarly forms the basis of cyanobacteria's common name, bl ...
and flagellate species is about 10 each. The
phytoplankton Phytoplankton () are the autotrophic (self-feeding) components of the plankton community and a key part of ocean and freshwater ecosystems. The name comes from the Greek words (), meaning 'plant', and (), meaning 'wanderer' or 'drifter'. Ph ...
is characteristic of brackish waters and has a total concentration of about 0.2 mg/L. There are about 30 species of
zooplankton Zooplankton are the animal component of the planktonic community ("zoo" comes from the Greek word for ''animal''). Plankton are aquatic organisms that are unable to swim effectively against currents, and consequently drift or are carried along by ...
with the concentration reaching 0.467 mg/L. The coastal flora mainly consists of mosses and lichens and a few flowering plants including Arctic poppy (''Papaver radicatum''), ''
Saxifraga ''Saxifraga'' is the largest genus in the family Saxifragaceae, containing about 465 species of holarctic perennial plants, known as saxifrages or rockfoils. The Latin word ''saxifraga'' means literally "stone-breaker", from Latin ' ("rock" or " ...
'', ''
Draba ''Draba'' is a large genus of flowering plants in the family Brassicaceae, commonly known as whitlow-grasses (though they are not related to the true grasses). Species There are over 400 species: *'' Draba abajoensis'' Windham & Al-Shehbaz *'' ...
'' and small populations of polar ('' Salix polaris'') and creeping (''
Salicaceae The Salicaceae is the willow family of flowering plants. The traditional family (Salicaceae ''sensu stricto'') included the willows, poplar, aspen, and cottonwoods. Genetic studies summarized by the Angiosperm Phylogeny Group (APG) have greatly ...
'') willows.Северная Земля. Часть II
(Severnaya Zemlyua, part 2, in Russian) Rare
vascular plants Vascular plants (), also called tracheophytes () or collectively Tracheophyta (), form a large group of land plants ( accepted known species) that have lignified tissues (the xylem) for conducting water and minerals throughout the plant. They al ...
include species of ''
Cerastium ''Cerastium'' is a genus of annual, winter annual, or perennial plants belonging to the family Caryophyllaceae. They are commonly called mouse-ear chickweed. Species are found nearly worldwide but the greatest concentration is in the northern tem ...
'' and ''
Saxifraga ''Saxifraga'' is the largest genus in the family Saxifragaceae, containing about 465 species of holarctic perennial plants, known as saxifrages or rockfoils. The Latin word ''saxifraga'' means literally "stone-breaker", from Latin ' ("rock" or " ...
''. Non-vascular plants include the
moss Mosses are small, non-vascular flowerless plants in the taxonomic division Bryophyta (, ) '' sensu stricto''. Bryophyta (''sensu lato'', Schimp. 1879) may also refer to the parent group bryophytes, which comprise liverworts, mosses, and hor ...
genera '' Detrichum'', '' Dicranum'', ''
Pogonatum ''Pogonatum'' is a genus of mosses — commonly called spike moss — which contains approximately 70 species that cover a cosmopolitan distribution. It can be seen mostly in Asian countries with a tropical climate. Species There ar ...
'', '' Sanionia'', ''
Bryum ''Bryum'' is a genus of mosses in the family Bryaceae. It was considered the largest genus of mosses, in terms of the number of species (over 1000), until it was split into three separate genera in a 2005 publication. As of 2013, the classificat ...
'', '' Orthothecium'' and '' Tortura'', as well as the
lichen A lichen ( , ) is a composite organism that arises from algae or cyanobacteria living among filaments of multiple fungi species in a mutualistic relationship.Cetraria ''Cetraria'' is a genus of fruticose lichens that associate with green algae as photobionts. Most species are found at high latitudes, occurring on sand or heath. Species have a characteristic "strap-like" form, with spiny lobe edges. '' Cetra ...
'', ''Thamnolia'', ''Cornicularia'', ''Lecidea'', ''Ochrolechia'' and ''Parmelia (lichen), Parmelia''. Permanent mammal species include ringed seal (''Phoca hispida''), bearded seal (''Erignathus barbatus''), harp seal (''Pagophilus groenlandicus''), walrus (''Odobenus rosmarus''), collared lemming (''Dicrostonyx torquatus''), Arctic fox (''Alopex lagopus''),S. Heileman and I. Belki
Laptev Sea: LME #56
, in Sherman, K. and Hempel, G. (Editors) 2008. The UNEP Large Marine Ecosystem Report reindeer (''Rangifer tarandus'') wolf (''Canis lupus''), Stoat, ermine (''Mustela erminea''), Arctic hare (''Lepus timidus'') and polar bear (''Ursus maritimus''), whereas beluga whales (''Delphinapterus leucas'') visit the region seasonally. The walrus of the Laptev Sea is sometimes distinguished as a separate subspecies ''Odobenus rosmarus laptevi'', though this attribution is questioned. There are several dozens species of birds. Some belong to permanent (tundra) species, such as snow bunting (''Plectrophenax nivalis''), purple sandpiper (''Calidris maritima''), snowy owl (''Bubo scandiacus'') and brent goose and other make large colonies on the islands and sea shores. The latter include little auk (''Alle alle''), black-legged kittiwake (''Rissa tridactyla''), black guillemot (''Cepphus grylle''), ivory gull (''Pagophila eburnea''), ''uria'', ''charadriiformes'' and glaucous gull (''Larus hyperboreus''). Among other bird species are skua, sterna, northern fulmar, (''Fulmarus glacialis''), ivory gull (''Pagophila eburnea''), glaucous gull (''Larus hyperboreus''), Ross's gull (''Rhodostethia rosea''), long-tailed duck (''Clangula hyemalis''), eider, loon and willow grouse (''Lagopus lagopus'').Bird Observations in Severnaya Zemlya, Siberia
(PDF) . Retrieved on 2010-10-19. There are 39 fish species, mostly typical of braskish environment; the major ones are Thymallus, grayling and ''Coregonus'' (whitefishes), such as muksun (''Coregonus muksun''), broad whitefish (''Coregonus nasus'') and omul (''Coregonus autumnalis''). Also common are sardine, Arctic cisco, Bering cisco, polar European smelt, smelt, saffron cod, polar cod, flounder and Arctic char and Stenodus leucichthys, inconnu. In 1985, the Ust-Lena Nature Reserve was established in the delta (from russian: link=no, устье – ''ust'', meaning ''delta'') of the Lena River with an area of 14,300 km2. In 1986, New Siberian Islands were included into the reserve. The reserve hosts numerous plants (402 species), fishes (32 species), birds (109 species) and mammals (33 species).


Human activities

The coast of the sea is shared by the Sakha Republic (Anabarsky District, Anabarsky, Bulunsky District and Ust-Yansky District, Ust-Yansky districts) on the east and Krasnoyarsk Krai (Taymyrsky Dolgano-Nenetsky District) of Russia on the west. The coastal settlements are few and small, with the typical population of a few hundred or less. The only exception is
Tiksi Tiksi ( rus, Ти́кси, , ˈtʲiksʲɪ; sah, Тиксии, ''Tiksii'' – lit. ''a moorage place'') is an urban locality (an urban-type settlement) and the administrative center of Bulunsky District in the Sakha Republic, Russia, located o ...
(population 5,873), which is the administrative center of the Bulunsky District.


Fishery and navigation

Fishery and hunting have relatively small volume and are mostly concentrated in the river deltas. Data are available for the Khatanga Bay and deltas of the Lena and Yana rivers from 1981 to 1991 which translate into about 3,000 tonnes of fish annually. Extrapolated, they give the following annual estimates (in thousand tonnes) by species: sardine (1.2), Arctic cisco (2.0), Bering cisco (2.7), broad whitefish (2.6), Muksun (2.4) and others (3.6). Hunting sea mammals is only practiced by native people. In particular, walrus hunting is only allowed by scientific expeditions and local tribes for subsistence. Despite freezing, navigation is a major human activity on the Laptev Sea with the major port in
Tiksi Tiksi ( rus, Ти́кси, , ˈtʲiksʲɪ; sah, Тиксии, ''Tiksii'' – lit. ''a moorage place'') is an urban locality (an urban-type settlement) and the administrative center of Bulunsky District in the Sakha Republic, Russia, located o ...
. During USSR, Soviet times, the Laptev Sea coastal areas experienced a limited boom owing to the first icebreaker convoys plying the Northern Sea Route and the creation of the Chief Directorate of the Northern Sea Route. The route was difficult even for icebreakers – so ''Lenin (1916 icebreaker), Lenin'' (pictured) and her convoy of five ships were trapped in ice in the Laptev Sea around September 1937. They spent an enforced winter there and were rescued by another icebreaker ''Krasin (1916 icebreaker), Krasin'' in August 1938. The major transported goods were timber, fur and construction materials. Tiksi had an active airport, and Nordvik (Laptev Sea), Nordvik harbor further west was "a growing town," though it was closed in the mid-1940s.Нордвикские записки
(notes of the Nordvik expedition)

посёлок Нордвик
dead-cities.ru (in Russian) After the break-up of the Soviet Union commercial navigation in the Siberian Arctic went into decline in the 1990s. More or less regular shipping is to be found only from Murmansk to Dudinka in the west and between Vladivostok and Pevek in the east. Ports between Dudinka and Pevek see next to no shipping at all. Logashkino was abandoned in 1998 and is now a ghost town.Resolution No. 443 of 29 September 1998 ''On Exclusion of Inhabited Localities from the Records of Administrative and Territorial Division of the Sakha (Yakutia) Republic''


Mining

In the 1930, deposits of coal, oil and salt were discovered around the Nordvik Bay. In order to explore them in the extreme Arctic conditions, a Gulag penal labor camp was established in Nordvik. Drilling revealed only small, shallow oil pockets in connection with salt structures with little commercial significance. However the salt was extracted on a large scale by means of forced laborers in a penal colony. From the 1930s onwards Nordvik became an important source of salt supply for the northern fisheries. Although the original prospects for oil at Nordvik did not materialize, experience was gained in the exploration for hydrocarbons within the continuous permafrost zones. This experience proved invaluable in the later exploration and exploitation of the massive oil and gas fields of Western
Siberia Siberia ( ; rus, Сибирь, r=Sibir', p=sʲɪˈbʲirʲ, a=Ru-Сибирь.ogg) is an extensive 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 part of ...
. The penal colony was closed and its traces erased in the mid-1940s right before Americans arrived in Nordvik as allies of the Soviet Union. In 2017, Rosneft found oil in the Laptev Sea at its Tsentralno-Olginskaya-1 well. In the Anabar District of Sakha, in the village of Mayat there is one of the northernmost diamond mines. There are also tin and gold mines in the Ust-Yansky District.


Research

The meteorological station of Tiksi has been renovated in 2006 (for example, it has internet connection and security cameras with a wireless interface) and has become part of the Atmospheric Observatory program of the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration agency. The program aims at long-term, systematic and thorough measurements of clouds, radiation, aerosols, surface energy fluxes and chemistry in the Arctic. It is based on :File:NOAA Arctic Atmospheric Observing Network.jpg, four Arctic stations at one of the world's Northernmost cities and towns, northernmost settlements, namely Eureka, Nunavut, Eureka and Alert, Nunavut, Alert in Canada (in particular, Alert is the northernmost permanently inhabited place on Earth, only from the North Pole ("Twice a year, the military resupply Alert, the world's northernmost settlement.")), Tiksi in Russia, and Utqiagvik, Alaska, Utqiagvik in Alaska.A Study of Environmental Arctic Change (SEARCH) Arctic Atmospheric Observatories
NOAA


Pollution

The water pollution is relatively low and mostly originates from the numerous plants and mines standing on the Lena, Yana and Anabar rivers. Their waste is contaminated with phenols (0.002–0.007 mg/L), copper (0.001–0.012 mg/L) and zinc (0.01–0.03 mg/L) and is continuously washed down the rivers into the sea. Another regular polluter is the coastal Urban-type settlement of Tiksi. Occasional petrol spills occurred due to navigation and petrol mining. Another major contaminant is associated with floating and sunken wood in the sea, due to decades of rafting activities. As a result, the phenol concentration in the Laptev Sea is the highest over the Arctic waters. Laptev sea sunset.JPG, Laptev Sea. Sunset. Laptev sea ice hummocks.JPG, Laptev Sea. Ice hummocks. Laptev sea.JPG, Hivus-10 hovercraft on Laptev Sea


See also

* Sea#List of seas, List of seas


References


External links

* {{Authority control Laptev Sea, Marginal seas of the Arctic Ocean Seas of Russia Bodies of water of Krasnoyarsk Krai Bodies of water of the Sakha Republic Bodies of water of the Laptev Sea,