Encyclopedia of Seas
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Encyclopedia of Seas This Encyclopedia of Seas series is designed to accumulate and systematize our knowledge about the unique natural water areas – the Aral, Caspian, Black, Arctic, Far-Eastern, and Baltic seas – their wealth, the events that took place on its waters and shores, and the remarkable people whose lives were and are closely intertwined with the seas. The Encyclopedia series contains thousands of terms and concepts related to the seas. It describes geographical features: rivers, lakes, straits, and bays; provides information about towns, seaports, transport communications, basic aquatic biological species, nature reserves, national and international programs for the study of the sea, research institutes, historical monuments, activities of prominent explorers and travelers, researchers, and scientists. Each Encyclopedia includes a chronology of major historical events connected with these seas for several centuries. More information about this series at http://www.springer.com/series/14357 Igor S. Zonn • Andrey G. Kostianoy Aleksandr V. Semenov The Eastern Arctic Seas Encyclopedia With 200 Figures Igor S. Zonn Andrey G. Kostianoy Engineering Research Production P.P. Shirshov Institute of Oceanology Center For Water Management Russian Academy of Sciences Land Reclamation and Ecology Moscow, Russia Moscow, Russia Aleksandr V. Semenov S.Yu. Witte Moscow University Moscow, Russia ISBN 978-3-319-24236-1 ISBN 978-3-319-24237-8 (eBook) ISBN 978-3-319-24238-5 (print and electronic bundle) DOI 10.1007/978-3-319-24237-8 Library of Congress Control Number: 2016953630 # Springer International Publishing Switzerland 2016 This work is subject to copyright. All rights are reserved by the Publisher, whether the whole or part of the material is concerned, specifically the rights of translation, reprinting, reuse of illustrations, recitation, broadcasting, reproduction on microfilms or in any other physical way, and transmission or information storage and retrieval, electronic adaptation, computer software, or by similar or dissimilar methodology now known or hereafter developed. The use of general descriptive names, registered names, trademarks, service marks, etc. in this publication does not imply, even in the absence of a specific statement, that such names are exempt from the relevant protective laws and regulations and therefore free for general use. The publisher, the authors and the editors are safe to assume that the advice and information in this book are believed to be true and accurate at the date of publication. Neither the publisher nor the authors or the editors give a warranty, express or implied, with respect to the material contained herein or for any errors or omissions that may have been made. Printed on acid-free paper This Springer imprint is published by Springer Nature The registered company is Springer International Publishing AG The registered company address is : Gewerbestrasse 11, 6330 Cham, Switzerland Acknowledgment We would like to thank the editors at Springer-Verlag for their timely interest in the Arctic seas and their support of the present publication. We would like to thank Springer-Verlag for the steady interest toward the Arctic Ocean, which resulted in a significant list of book publications (in chronological order since 2010 only): Ferguson SH, Loseto LL, Mallory ML, editors. A little less Arctic. Top predators in the world’s largest Northern Inland Sea, Hudson Bay. 2010. Johannessen OM, Volkov VA, Pettersson LH, Drange H, Gao Y, Maderich VS, Neelov IA, Nielsen SP, Bobylev LP, Stepanov AV,Zheleznyak MJ, Tishkov V. Radioactivity and pollution in the Nordic seas and Arctic. Obs. Model. Simul. 2010. Hovelsrud GK, Smit B, editors. Community adaptation and vulnerability in Arctic regions. 2010. Barr S, Lüdecke C, editors. The history of the International Polar Years (IPYs). 2010. Gutman G, Reissell A, editors. Eurasian Arctic land cover and land use in a changing climate. 2011. Wasum-Rainer S, Winkelmann I, Tiroch K, editors. Arctic science, interna- tional law and climate change. Legal aspects of marine science in the Arctic Ocean. 2012. Marchenko N. Russian Arctic seas. Navigational conditions and accidents. 2012. Lemke P, Jacobi H-W, editors. Arctic climate change. The ACSYS decade and beyond. 2012. Østreng W, Eger KM, Fløistad B, Jørgensen-Dahl A, Lothe L, Mejlaender- Larsen M, Wergeland T. Shipping in Arctic waters. A comparison of the northeast, northwest and trans polar passages. 2013. Berkman PA, Vylegzhanin AN, editors. Environmental security in the Arctic Ocean. 2013. Max MD, Johnson AH, Dillon WP. Natural gas hydrate – Arctic Ocean deepwater resource potential. 2013. Rösel A. Detection of melt ponds on Arctic sea ice with optical satellite data. 2013. v vi Acknowledgment Weiss J. Drift, deformation, and fracture of sea ice. A perspective across scales. 2013. Müller DK, Lundmark L, Lemelin RH, editors. New issues in polar tourism. Commun. Environ. Polit. 2013. Tedsen E, Cavalieri S, Kraemer RA, editors. Arctic marine governance. Opportunities for transatlantic cooperation. 2014. Grebmeier JM, Maslowski W, editors. The Pacific Arctic region. Ecosystem status and trends in a rapidly changing environment. 2014. Weidemann L. International governance of the Arctic marine environment. With particular emphasis on high seas fisheries. 2014. Evengård B, Nymand Larsen J, Paasche Ø, editors. The new Arctic. 2015. Kroner U. The geology of the Arctic. 2015. Keupp MM, editor. The northern sea route. A military and business analysis. 2015. Kallenborn R, editor. Long-range transport of man-made Contamination into the Arctic and Antarctica. 2016. We are very grateful to Academician Gennadiy G. Matishov, the Chair of the Southern Scientific Center of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Director of the Murmansk Marine Biological Institute RAS, and to Sergey L. Dzhenyuk, Senior scientist at the Murmansk Marine Biological Institute, for their review of the part of the manuscript related to the East Siberian Sea, valuable comments, and careful editing, which made the text more complete and accurate. We express special thanks to Elena V. Kostyanaya (Oceanological Scientific-Coordination Centre at P.P. Shirshov Institute of Oceanology RAS) for the time she lavishly spent on the search and selection of materials for various articles of the Encyclopedia, as well as to Dr. Sergey M. Shapovalov, the Head of the Oceanological Center and Vice-President of SCOR, for supporting our efforts to create encyclopedias of the Russian seas. Invaluable assistance in the preparation of the Encyclopedia was done by Tatyana I. Abakumova, whose endless patience and professionalism allowed to bring this work to completion. The authors would like to offer a special thanks to the “Integrated Training Centre” for translating the Encyclopedia into the English language and ensur- ing accuracy and top-notch quality of the offered translation. Specifically, we are grateful to Helen Panovich, the company’s director; to Sergey Chelnokov, Project Manager and Chief Translator and Editor; and to the translators: Irina Champuridze, Dmitry Glushenko, Gennady Golovin, Polina Ivkova, Polina Kiseleva, Yulia Kurganova, Daria Raskova, Ekaterina Tatarenko, and Daria Turkina. Without your contributions and tedious work, the publication of the Encyclopedia would not have been possible. Acknowledgment vii The authors express their deep gratitude to the leadership of the S.Yu. Witte Moscow University, charitable foundation “CREATION XXI Century” and to Nikolai G. Malyshev, the Chairman of its Board of Trustees, for financial support of translation and preparation of the manuscript. The work on “The Eastern Arctic Seas Encyclopedia” was supported by the Russian Science Foundation under the project N 14-50-00095. Moscow, Russia Prof. Igor S. Zonn 9 May 2015 Prof. Andrey G. Kostianoy Prof. Aleksandr V. Semenov Introduction “The Eastern Arctic Seas Encyclopedia” is the fourth one in the new series of encyclopedias about the seas of the former Soviet Union published by Springer-Verlag. The first volume “The Aral Sea Encyclopedia” was published by Springer in 2009, “The Caspian Sea Encyclopedia” in 2010, and “The Black Sea Encyclopedia” in 2015. We have to note that in 2004–2015, in Russian edition we published 13 volumes of the encyclopedias for every sea of the former Soviet Union. Springer publishes the updated and upgraded ver- sions of these books in English by compiling several seas in one volume for the present “The Eastern Arctic Seas Encyclopedia” for the Laptev Sea, East Siberian Sea, and Chukchi Sea, and for the next volumes to be published in 2015–2016: “The Western Arctic Seas Encyclopedia” for the Barents Sea, White Sea, and Kara Sea; “The Far Eastern Seas Encyclopedia” for the Sea of Japan, Sea of Okhotsk, and Bering Sea. The last book “The Baltic Sea Encyclopedia” will appear as a separate volume in this book series. The Eastern Arctic seas of the Arctic Ocean include the Laptev, East Siberian, and Chukchi seas. These are transit marginal seas of the Arctic Ocean, located on the Northern Sea Route. In the west, these seas border with the Western seas of the Russian Arctic and, in particular, with the Kara Sea. In the east, where the Chukchi Sea is connected to the Bering Sea through the Bering Strait, there is a state border between Russia and the United States. In the Eastern Arctic seas, there are a number of large islands – New Siberian Islands, Anjou Islands, Lyakhovskiy Islands, Medvezhii Islands, Wrangel Island, Ayon Island, Gerald Island, etc. Several rivers run to the seas, among them one of the largest Siberian rivers – the Lena, as well as Khatanga, Olenyok, Yana, Anabar, Indigirka, Kolyma, and Alazeya rivers. ix x Introduction The Eastern Arctic seas (http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/58/East_Siberian_Sea_map.png) These seas are one of the most severe and coldest Arctic seas due to their high-latitude location and the presence of polar ice caps, which cover the seas from October to May–June. Shores are strongly indented, and although there are bays they are shallow and there is a lack of sheltered anchorage areas. Their main purpose is transit. The only significant ports are Tiksi, Pevek, and low-density port Ambarchik.