The Bering Sea (, ; rus, Бе́рингово мо́ре, r=Béringovo móre) 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 Northern Pacific Ocean. It forms, along with the Bering Strait, the divide between the two largest landmasses on Earth:

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 ...

and

The Americas The Americas, which are sometimes collectively called America, are a landmass comprising the totality of North and South America. The Americas make up most of the land in Earth's Western Hemisphere and comprise the New World. Along with th ...

. It comprises a deep water basin, which then rises through a narrow slope into the shallower water above the continental shelves. The Bering Sea is named for

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 ...

, a Danish navigator in Russian service, who, in 1728, was the first European to systematically explore it, sailing from the Pacific Ocean northward to the Arctic Ocean. The Bering Sea is separated from the

Gulf of Alaska The Gulf of Alaska (Tlingit: ''Yéil T'ooch’'') is an arm of the Pacific Ocean defined by the curve of the southern coast of Alaska, stretching from the Alaska Peninsula and Kodiak Island in the west to the Alexander Archipelago in the east ...

by the Alaska Peninsula. It covers over and is bordered on the east and northeast by

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. ...

, on the west by the

Russian Far East The Russian Far East (russian: Дальний Восток России, r=Dal'niy Vostok Rossii, p=ˈdalʲnʲɪj vɐˈstok rɐˈsʲiɪ) is a region in Northeast Asia. It is the easternmost part of Russia and the Asian continent; and is admin ...

and the

Kamchatka Peninsula The Kamchatka Peninsula (russian: полуостров Камчатка, Poluostrov Kamchatka, ) is a peninsula in the Russian Far East, with an area of about . The Pacific Ocean and the Sea of Okhotsk make up the peninsula's eastern and w ...

, on the south by the Alaska Peninsula and the

Aleutian Islands The Aleutian Islands (; ; ale, Unangam Tanangin,”Land of the Aleuts", possibly from Chukchi ''aliat'', "island"), also called the Aleut Islands or Aleutic Islands and known before 1867 as the Catherine Archipelago, are a chain of 14 large v ...

and on the far north by the Bering Strait, which connects the Bering Sea to 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 ...

's Chukchi Sea. Bristol Bay is the portion of the Bering Sea between the Alaska Peninsula and Cape Newenham on mainland Southwest Alaska. The Bering Sea ecosystem includes resources within the jurisdiction 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

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 ...

, as well as

international waters The terms international waters or transboundary waters apply where any of the following types of bodies of water (or their drainage basins) transcend international boundaries: oceans, large marine ecosystems, enclosed or semi-enclosed region ...

in the middle of the sea (known as the "Donut Hole"). The interaction between currents, sea ice, and weather makes for a vigorous and productive ecosystem.

History

Most scientists think that during the most recent ice age,

sea level Mean sea level (MSL, often shortened to sea level) is an average surface level of one or more among Earth's coastal bodies of water from which heights such as elevation may be measured. The global MSL is a type of vertical datuma standardise ...

was low enough to allow humans to migrate east on foot from

Asia Asia (, ) is one of the world's most notable geographical regions, which is either considered a continent in its own right or a subcontinent of Eurasia, which shares the continental landmass of Afro-Eurasia with Africa. Asia covers an are ...

to North America across what is now the Bering Strait. Other animals including megafauna migrated in both directions. This is commonly referred to as the "

Bering land bridge Beringia is defined today as the land and maritime area bounded on the west by the Lena River in Russia; on the east by the Mackenzie River in Canada; on the north by 72 degrees north latitude in the Chukchi Sea; and on the south by the tip of ...

" and is accepted by most, though not all scientists, to be the first point of entry of humans into the

Americas The Americas, which are sometimes collectively called America, are a landmass comprising the totality of North and South America. The Americas make up most of the land in Earth's Western Hemisphere and comprise the New World. Along with th ...

. There is a small portion of the Kula Plate in the Bering Sea. The Kula Plate is an ancient

tectonic plate Plate tectonics (from the la, label=Late Latin, tectonicus, from the grc, τεκτονικός, lit=pertaining to building) is the generally accepted scientific theory that considers the Earth's lithosphere to comprise a number of large te ...

that used to

subduct Subduction is a geological process in which the oceanic lithosphere is recycled into the Earth's mantle at convergent boundaries. Where the oceanic lithosphere of a tectonic plate converges with the less dense lithosphere of a second plate, the ...

under Alaska. On 18 December 2018, a large meteor exploded above the Bering Sea. The meteor exploded at an altitude of 25.6km releasing 49 kilotons of energy.

Geography

Extent

The International Hydrographic Organization defines the limits of the Bering Sea as follows: ::''On the North.'' The Southern limit of the

Chuckchi Sea 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 of the Arctic Ocean. It is bounded on the west b ...

he_Arctic_Circle_between_Siberia.html" ;"title="Arctic_Circle.html" ;"title="he Arctic Circle">he Arctic Circle between Siberia">Arctic_Circle.html" ;"title="he Arctic Circle">he Arctic Circle between Siberia and

]. ::''On the South.'' A line running from Kabuch Point () in the Alaska Peninsula, Alaskan Peninsula, through the

to the South extremes of the Komandorski Islands and on to Cape

Kamchatka The Kamchatka Peninsula (russian: полуостров Камчатка, Poluostrov Kamchatka, ) is a peninsula in the Russian Far East, with an area of about . The Pacific Ocean and the Sea of Okhotsk make up the peninsula's eastern and west ...

in such a way that all the narrow waters between Alaska and Kamchatka are included in the Bering Sea.

Islands

Islands of the Bering Sea include: *

Pribilof Islands The Pribilof Islands (formerly the Northern Fur Seal Islands; ale, Amiq, russian: Острова Прибылова, Ostrova Pribylova) are a group of four volcanic islands off the coast of mainland Alaska, in the Bering Sea, about north ...

, including St. Paul Island * Komandorski Islands, including

Bering Island Bering Island (russian: о́стров Бе́ринга, ''ostrov Beringa'') is located off the Kamchatka Peninsula in the Bering Sea. Description At long by wide, it is the largest and westernmost of the Commander Islands, with an area of . ...

* St. Lawrence Island *

Diomede Islands The Diomede Islands (; russian: острова́ Диоми́да, translit=ostrová Diomída), also known in Russia as Gvozdev Islands (russian: острова́ Гво́здева, translit=ostrová Gvozdjeva), consist of two rocky, mesa-like i ...

* King Island * St. Matthew Island * Karaginsky Island * Nunivak Island *

Sledge Island Sledge Island, or Ayak Island, is a small island in the Bering Sea. It is located from the southwestern shore of the Seward Peninsula, off the shores of Alaska. Geography Sledge Island is of volcanic origin and is only across. The average elev ...

* Hagemeister Island

Regions

Regions of the Bering Sea include: * Bering Strait * Bristol Bay *

Gulf of Anadyr The Gulf of Anadyr, or Anadyr Bay (russian: Анадырский залив), is a large bay on the Bering Sea in far northeast Siberia. It has a total surface area of Location The bay is roughly rectangular and opens to the southeast. The corn ...

Norton Sound Norton Sound (russian: Нортон-Саунд) is an inlet of the Bering Sea on the western coast of the U.S. state of Alaska, south of the Seward Peninsula. It is about 240 km (150 mi) long and 200 km (125 mi) wide. The Yukon ...

The Bering Sea contains 16

submarine canyon A submarine canyon is a steep-sided valley cut into the seabed of the continental slope, sometimes extending well onto the continental shelf, having nearly vertical walls, and occasionally having canyon wall heights of up to 5 km, from c ...

s including the largest submarine canyon in the world, Zhemchug Canyon.

Ecosystem

The Bering Sea

shelf break 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 ...

is the dominant driver of

primary productivity In ecology, primary production is the synthesis of organic compounds from atmospheric or aqueous carbon dioxide. It principally occurs through the process of photosynthesis, which uses light as its source of energy, but it also occurs through c ...

in the Bering Sea. This zone, where the shallower continental shelf drops off into the North Aleutians Basin is also known as the "Greenbelt". Nutrient upwelling from the cold waters of the Aleutian basin flowing up the slope and mixing with shallower waters of the shelf provide for constant production of phytoplankton. The second driver of productivity in the Bering Sea is seasonal sea ice that, in part, triggers the spring phytoplankton bloom. Seasonal melting of sea ice causes an influx of lower salinity water into the middle and other shelf areas, causing stratification and hydrographic effects which influence productivity. In addition to the hydrographic and productivity influence of melting sea ice, the ice itself also provides an attachment substrate for the growth of algae as well as interstitial ice algae. Some evidence suggests that great changes to the Bering Sea ecosystem have already occurred. Warm water conditions in the summer of 1997 resulted in a massive bloom of low energy coccolithophorid phytoplankton (Stockwell et al. 2001). A long record of carbon isotopes, which is reflective of primary production trends of the Bering Sea, exists from historical samples of bowhead whale baleen. Trends in carbon isotope ratios in whale baleen samples suggest that a 30–40% decline in average seasonal primary productivity has occurred over the last 50 years. The implication is that the carrying capacity of the Bering Sea is much lower now than it has been in the past.

Biodiversity

The sea supports many whale species, including the

beluga The beluga whale (/bɪˈluːɡə/) (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 wh ...

humpback whale The humpback whale (''Megaptera novaeangliae'') is a species of baleen whale. It is a rorqual (a member of the family Balaenopteridae) and is the only species in the genus ''Megaptera''. Adults range in length from and weigh up to . The hu ...

, bowhead whale, gray whale and

blue whale The blue whale (''Balaenoptera musculus'') is a marine mammal and a baleen whale. Reaching a maximum confirmed length of and weighing up to , it is the largest animal known to have ever existed. The blue whale's long and slender body can ...

, the vulnerable sperm whale, and the endangered

fin whale The fin whale (''Balaenoptera physalus''), also known as finback whale or common rorqual and formerly known as herring whale or razorback whale, is a cetacean belonging to the parvorder of baleen whales. It is the second-longest species of ce ...

, sei whale and the rarest in the world, the

North Pacific right whale The North Pacific right whale (''Eubalaena japonica'') is a very large, thickset baleen whale species that is extremely rare and endangered. The Northeast Pacific population, which summers in the southeastern Bering Sea and Gulf of Alaska, may ...

. Other marine mammals include

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 ...

, Steller sea lion, northern fur seal,

orca The orca or killer whale (''Orcinus orca'') is a toothed whale belonging to the oceanic dolphin family, of which it is the largest member. It is the only extant species in the genus '' Orcinus'' and is recognizable by its black-and-white ...

and polar bear. The Bering Sea is very important to the seabirds of the world. Over 30 species of seabirds and approximately 20 million individuals breed in the Bering Sea region. Seabird species include tufted puffins, the endangered

short-tailed albatross The short-tailed albatross or Steller's albatross (''Phoebastria albatrus'') is a large rare seabird from the North Pacific. Although related to the other North Pacific albatrosses, it also exhibits behavioural and morphological links to the alb ...

spectacled eider The spectacled eider (pronounced ) (''Somateria fischeri'') is a large sea duck that breeds on the coasts of Alaska and northeastern Siberia. The spectacled eider is slightly smaller than the common eider at 52–57 cm (20–22 inches) in l ...

, and

red-legged kittiwake The red-legged kittiwake (''Rissa brevirostris'') is a seabird species in the gull family Laridae. It breeds in the Pribilof Islands, Bogoslof Island and Buldir Island in the Bering Sea off the coast of Alaska, and the Commander Islands, Russia ...

s. Many of these species are unique to the area, which provides highly productive foraging habitat, particularly along the shelf edge and in other nutrient-rich upwelling regions, such as the Pribilof, Zhemchug, and Pervenets canyons. The Bering Sea is also home to colonies of crested auklets, with upwards of a million individuals. Two Bering Sea species, the Steller's sea cow (''Hydrodamalis gigas'') and spectacled cormorant (''Phalacrocorax perspicillatus''), are extinct because of overexploitation by man. In addition, a small subspecies of Canada goose, the Bering Canada goose (''Branta canadensis asiatica'') is extinct due to overhunting and the introduction of rats to their breeding islands. The Bering Sea supports many species of fish, some of which support large and valuable commercial fisheries. Commercial fish species include

Pacific cod The Pacific cod (''Gadus macrocephalus)'' is a species of ray-finned fish in the family Gadidae. It is a bottom-dwelling fish found in the northern Pacific Ocean, mainly on the continental shelf and upper slopes, to depths of about . It can gro ...

, several species of flatfish,

sablefish The sablefish (''Anoplopoma fimbria'') is one of two members of the fish family Anoplopomatidae and the only species in the genus ''Anoplopoma''. In English, common names for it include sable (US), butterfish (US), black cod (US, UK, Canada), b ...

, Pacific

salmon Salmon () is the common name for several commercially important species of euryhaline ray-finned fish from the family Salmonidae, which are native to tributaries of the North Atlantic (genus ''Salmo'') and North Pacific (genus '' Oncorhy ...

, and Pacific herring. Shellfish include

red king crab The red king crab (''Paralithodes camtschaticus''), also called Kamchatka crab or Alaskan king crab, is a species of king crab native to the Bering Sea and Gulf of Alaska. It was introduced to the Barents Sea. It grows to a leg span of , and is ...

and

snow crab ''Chionoecetes'' is a genus of crabs that live in the northern Pacific and Atlantic Oceans. The genus ''Chionoecetes'' currently contains seven distinct species. Other names for crabs in this genus include "queen crab" (in Canada) and " spider ...

. Fish biodiversity is high, and at least 419 species of fish have been reported from the Bering Sea.

Fisheries

The Bering Sea is world-renowned for its productive and profitable fisheries, such as

king crab King crabs are a taxon of decapod crustaceans chiefly found in cold seas. Because of their large size and the taste of their meat, many species are widely caught and sold as food, the most common being the red king crab (''Paralithodes camtsch ...

, opilio and tanner crabs, Bristol Bay salmon, pollock and other groundfish. These fisheries rely on the productivity of the Bering Sea via a complicated and little understood food web. Commercial fishing is lucrative business in the Bering Sea, which is relied upon by the largest seafood companies in the world to produce fish and shellfish. On the U.S. side, commercial fisheries catch approximately $1 billion worth of seafood annually, while Russian Bering Sea fisheries are worth approximately $600 million annually. The Bering Sea also serves as the central location of the Alaskan

and

seasons, which are chronicled on the Discovery Channel television program '' Deadliest Catch''. Landings from Alaskan waters represents half the U.S. catch of fish and shellfish.

Change

Because of the changes going on in the Arctic, the future evolution of the Bering Sea climate and ecosystem is uncertain. Between 1979 and 2012, the region experienced small growth in sea ice extent, standing in contrast to the substantial loss of summer sea ice in the Arctic Ocean to the north.

In media

'The White Seal', one of many chapters on

Rudyard Kipling Joseph Rudyard Kipling ( ; 30 December 1865 – 18 January 1936)''The Times'', (London) 18 January 1936, p. 12. was an English novelist, short-story writer, poet, and journalist. He was born in British India, which inspired much of his work. ...

's The Jungle Book, features the Bering Sea as the birthplace and homeland of Kotick, a rare white

fur seal Fur seals are any of nine species of pinnipeds belonging to the subfamily Arctocephalinae in the family '' Otariidae''. They are much more closely related to sea lions than true seals, and share with them external ears (pinnae), relatively l ...

. The film '' Harbinger Down'', which was released on August 7, 2015, was about a group of grad students who booked passage on the crabbing boat Harbinger to study the effects of

global warming 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 ...

on a pod of

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 ...

s in the Bering Sea. One of the central characters in the 1949 film '' Down to the Sea in Ships'' has the given name "Bering" due to having been born in a ship crossing the Bering Sea. The 2002 supernatural thriller, ''

Ghost Ship A ghost ship, also known as a phantom ship, is a ship, vessel with no living crew aboard; it may be a fictional ghostly vessel, such as the ''Flying Dutchman'', or a physical Flotsam, jetsam, lagan and derelict, derelict found adrift with its cre ...

'', directed by Steve Beck, follows a marine salvage crew in the Bering Sea who discover the lost Italian ocean liner, ''Antonia Graza'' that disappeared in 1962.

Gallery

File:Bering Sea ESA376705.tiff, In the top-right corner of the image is Alaska's mainland blanketed with snow, as well as Nunivak Island. At the centre of the image are the islands of Saint Paul and Saint George – part of the Pribilof Islands. Also note the

von Kármán vortex street The term ''von'' () is used in German language surnames either as a nobiliary particle indicating a noble patrilineality, or as a simple preposition used by commoners that means ''of'' or ''from''. Nobility directories like the ''Almanach de Go ...

(swirly clouds) in the middle right. File:BeringSea.jpg, Satellite photo of the Bering Sea – Alaska is on the top right, Siberia on the top left File:Bering Sea Location.png, Bering Sea in the North Pacific Ocean

References

External links

Bering Sea Climate and Ecosystem
from NOAA
North Pacific Ocean theme page
from NOAA
Groundfish fisheries and harvest, 2005
from

Alaska Department of Fish and Game The Alaska Department of Fish and Game (ADF&G) is a department within the government of Alaska. ADF&G's mission is to protect, maintain, and improve the fish, game, and aquatic plant resources of the state, and manage their use and development in ...

Video of research on Bering Sea

Nautical Chart of the Bering Sea (Southern Part)
{{Authority control Marginal seas of the Pacific 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 Kamchatka Krai Pacific Coast of Russia Marine ecoregions Russia–United States border Seas of Asia Beringia