Which ocean does the Bering Sea belong to? Bering Sea: geographical location, description

The Bering Sea is located between 51 and 66° N. w. and 157 z. long and 163° east etc., is usually considered as a continuation of the northern part Pacific Ocean. The area of ​​the Bering Sea is 2300 thousand km2, the average volume of water is 3700 thousand km3, the average depth is 1636 m. It is second after Mediterranean Sea largest of the relatively closed (semi-enclosed) seas.

The Bering Sea, which has the shape of a sector with a radius of 1500 km, lies between the shores of the Asian continent of Russia in the west, the Alaska Peninsula in the east and the chain of the Aleutian Islands (USA) in the south. At the top Bering Sea The Bering Strait is located. The sea and the strait are named after the navigator Vitus Bering, who commanded a large Russian expedition in 1725-1742 that explored the coast of Kamchatka and Alaska.

Bottom topography of the Bering Sea

The bottom topography of the Bering Sea is unusual: the neritic (0-200 m) and abyssal (more than 1000 m) zones are almost identical in area and make up about 90% of the total area. The vast continental shelf, over 400 miles wide, in the northeastern Bering Sea is one of the largest in the world. The continental shelf continues northward across the narrow Bering Strait. To the Chukchi Sea and is sometimes referred to as the Bering-Chukchi platform.

Although the platform is currently covered with water, geological and paleontological data indicate that Siberia and Alaska are two parts of one continent, the connection between which was interrupted by periodic subsidence of the bottom several times in the last 50-60 million years. The last subsidence is believed to have occurred around the end of the Pliocene or beginning of the Pleistocene about a million years ago. The continental shelf along the Aleutian island arc and the Russian coast is very narrow. Almost along its entire length, the continental slope turns into a deep-sea bed with steep ledges. The slope is 4-5°, with the exception of the southeastern region, where the Bering Canyon, apparently the largest in the world, has a slope of 0.5°. The Alaska Peninsula and the Aleutian island arc, which limit the water exchange of the Bering Sea in the northern part of the Pacific Ocean, are of volcanic origin; their formation dates back to the end of the Cenozoic era.

The island arc, the northernmost in the Pacific Ocean, consists of six groups of islands: Komandorskie, Blizhnye, Rat, Andreyanovskie, Chetyrekhsopochnaya and Lisii, which rise from a depth of approximately 7600 m in the Aleutian Trench and from a depth of 4000 m in the Bering Sea trench.

The deepest strait (4420 m) is located in the west of the Bering Sea between Kamchatka and the western tip of Bering Island (Commander Islands). It also has the greatest depths measured in the Bering Sea.

Bering Sea climate

The average air temperature in winter ranges from - 25°C in the Bering Strait to 2°C near the Aleutian Islands, in summer - 10°C. 35% of days a year are rainy, snow is common from September to June. Mean sea level pressure ranges from 1000 mb in winter, when the low pressure area under the influence of the Aleutian low moves south of the central Bering Sea to 1011 mb in summer, when the influence of the East Pacific high pressure area takes effect. Over the Bering Sea the sky is usually overcast (average annual cloudiness in the north is 5-7 points, in the south 7-6 points per year) and there is often fog. On the rivers of the western and eastern continental coasts, ice begins to form in October. By early November, fast ice is found in most bays and harbors, and sea ice is found in the southern Bering Strait. By January, sea ice reaches its maximum development and extends to the 200 m isobath, with the exception of the Kamchatka coast, where cold air masses coming from the mainland cause the formation of ice beyond the 200 m isobath, the coasts of the Aleutian Islands and the western tip of the Alaska Peninsula, where the relatively warm Alaskan The current delays the formation of sea ice.
Sea ice typically covers 80-90% of the Bering Sea's surface, and the Bering Sea has never been observed to be completely covered by a solid ice sheet (the same applies to the Bering Strait). Ice fields are usually up to 2 m thick, but damming and hummocking, especially near the coast, can increase the ice thickness to 5-10 m.
The area occupied by ice is relatively constant until April, after which rapid destruction occurs and the ice boundary shifts to the north. First of all, the destruction of ice occurs in coastal areas, where it melts under the influence of continental runoff, and usually by the end of July the Bering Sea is free of ice.

Hydrological regime

The tides off the coast of the southwestern Bering Sea are diurnal and at approximately 60° N latitude. mixed; north of 62° N. w. Only semidiurnal tides are observed. Off the coast of Alaska from the Bering Strait to the Alaska Peninsula, mixed tides are observed, and diurnal tides occur only off the coast of the central (Rat and Andreyanovsky) and western (Chetyrekhsopochny and Fox) groups of islands of the Aleutian island arc. The average semi-monthly tides are small (from 0.5 to 1.5 m), with the exception of Anadyr and Bristol Bays, where they are 2.5 and 5.0 m, respectively.

According to modern concepts, currents in the narrow straits of the Aleutian Islands are mainly tidal with equally strong components of high and low tide and with a speed of 150 to 400 cm/s. The main current in the Bering Sea, which is important for the water balance, is observed at longitude 170° E, where the flow converges with waters flowing north in the western subarctic circulation, resulting in the formation of a cyclonic gyre in the western part of the Aleutian Basin and an anticyclonic gyre near the Rat ridge. The main flow continues north, skirting the Rat Ridge, then turns east, forming a general cyclonic circulation over the deep-sea trench of the Bering Sea.

In the eastern part of the Bering Sea, in the area where the main current exits the continental shelf and turns north, cyclonic and anticyclonic gyres are formed. In the northern part of the Bering Sea, the current diverges, with one branch going north into the Bering Strait, the other going southwest along the coast of Kamchatka, where it apparently becomes the East Kamchatka Current and returns to the North Pacific Ocean. Currents over the mainland shelf along the coast of Alaska are mainly tidal with the exception of coastal region, where the waters of the river flow move north and exit through the Bering Strait. In the eastern part of the Bering Strait, currents were observed at speeds of up to 300 cm/s.

The current speed is approximately 3-4 times greater in August and September than in February and March, when the sea is covered with ice. The characteristics of this current, which supplies about 20% of the influx to the Arctic Basin, can generally be explained by the winds prevailing over the Arctic Basin, the Bering Sea and the Greenland Sea. In the westernmost part of the Bering Strait, a southward countercurrent, or “polar” current, periodically occurs.

Currents at depths have not been sufficiently studied. Although water temperatures in the northern areas of the continental shelf are very low in winter, the salinity of surface waters is not high enough to form deep waters in the Bering Sea

Fish and mammals

The Bering Sea is home to about 315 species of fish, of which 25 are of commercial importance. Some of the most important game fish include herring, salmon, cod, halibut, Pacific perch and flounder. Among crustaceans, Kamchatka crab and shrimp are of commercial importance. There are sea otters, sea lions and walruses, and the Pribilof and Komandorskie islands are rookeries for fur seals. There are also whales and killer whales, sperm whales and beluga whales

The Bering Sea is located in the North Pacific Ocean. It is separated from it by the Commander and Aleutian Islands and borders the Chukchi Sea through the Bering Strait. Through the Chukchi Sea you can go from the Bering Sea to the Arctic Ocean. In addition, this sea washes the coasts of two countries: Russian Federation and the United States of America.

Physiographic location of the Bering Sea

The coastline of the sea is heavily indented with capes and bays. The largest bays located on the Russian coast are the Anadyrsky, Karaginsky, Olyutorsky, Korfa, and Kresta bays. And on the coast of North America there are Norton, Bristol, and Kuskokwim bays.
Only two large rivers flow into the sea: Anadyr and Yukon.
The Bering Sea also has many islands. They are mainly located on the border of the sea. The Russian Federation includes the Diomede Islands (the western one is Ratmanov Island). Commander Islands, Karaginsky Island. To the territory of the United States of America - the Pribilof Islands, the Aleutian Islands, the Diomede Islands (the eastern one is Krusenstern Island), St. Lawrence Island, Nunivak, King Island, St. Matthews Island.
IN summer period the air temperature over the sea waters ranges from plus 7 to plus 10 degrees Celsius. In winter it drops to minus 23 degrees. The salinity of the water varies on average from 33 to 34.7 percent.

Seabed topography

The topography of the seabed in the northeastern part is marked by the continental shelf. Its length is more than 700 kilometers. The sea is quite shallow.
The southwestern section is deep-water and has depths of up to 4 kilometers. These two zones can be divided conditionally along an isobath of 200 meters.
The transition point between the continental shelf and the ocean floor is marked by a significantly steep continental slope. The Bering Sea has its maximum depth in the southern part - 4151 meters. The bottom of the shelf area is covered with a mixture of sand, shell rock and gravel. In deep-sea areas, the bottom is covered with diatomaceous silt.

Temperature and salinity

The layer at the surface of the sea, approximately 50 meters deep, throughout the entire water area warms up to 10 degrees Celsius in the summer months. In winter, the average minimum temperature is approximately minus 3 degrees. Salinity up to 50 meters in depth reaches 32 ppm.
Below 50 and up to 200 meters there is an intermediate water layer. The water here is colder, practically unchanged in temperature all year round (-1.7 degrees Celsius). Salinity reaches 34 percent.
Below 200 meters the water becomes warmer. Its temperature ranges from 2.5 to 4 degrees, and the salinity level is approximately 34 percent.

Ichthyofauna of the Bering Sea

The Bering Sea is home to approximately 402 different species of fish. Among these 402 species, you can find 9 species of sea goby, 7 species of salmon fish and many others. About 50 species of fish are commercially caught. Crabs, shrimp and cephalopods are also caught in the sea waters.
Among the mammals living in the Bering Sea are ringed seals, seals, bearded seals, lionfish and walruses. The list of cetaceans is also extensive. Among them you can find the gray whale, narwhal, bowhead whale, Japanese (or southern) whale, fin whale, humpback whale, sei whale, and northern blue whale. There are many rookeries for walruses and seals on the Chukotka Peninsula.

Geographical encyclopedia

Bering Sea- so called cap. Golovin in honor of the Russian captain commander V. Bering. B. sea, limited to the south. about you Aleutian and Commander, to the village. gradually narrows and ends with the Bering Strait. Extreme line of the Greater Sea: lat. 52° and 66° 30′… … Military encyclopedia

The BERING SEA, a semi-enclosed sea in the north Pacific Ocean, is separated from it by the Aleutian and Komandorsky seas. 2315 thousand km2. Greatest depth 5500 m, in the north less than 200 m. Large bays: Anadyrsky and Olyutorsky (off the coast of Russia), Norton, ... ... Russian history

A semi-enclosed sea in the north of the Pacific Ocean, separated from it by the Aleutian and Commander Islands. 2315 thousand km². The greatest depth is 5500 m, in the north less than 200 m. Large bays: Anadyrsky and Olyutorsky (off the coast of the Russian Federation), Norton, ... ... Big Encyclopedic Dictionary

Modern encyclopedia

Bering Sea- Pacific Ocean, between Eurasia and North America, limited from the south by the Aleutian and Commander Islands. It is connected to the Chukchi Sea by the Bering Strait. Area 2315 thousand km2. Depth up to 5500 m. Large islands: St. Lawrence, Nunivak.... ... Illustrated Encyclopedic Dictionary

- (named after the navigator V. Bering, the semi-enclosed sea of ​​the Pacific Ocean between the continents of Asia in the west (USSR), North America in the east (USA) and the Commander (USSR) and Aleutian (USA) islands in the south. In the north it is closed by the Chukotka peninsulas And… … Great Soviet Encyclopedia

A semi-enclosed sea in the north Pacific Ocean, separated from it by the Aleutian and Commander Islands. 2315 thousand km2. The greatest depth is 5500 m, in the north less than 200 m. Large bays: Anadyrsky and Olyutorsky (off the coast of Russia), Norton, Bristol ... Encyclopedic Dictionary

Bering Sea- Pacific Ocean, between Asia (Russia: Chukotka and Koryak Autonomous Okrug, Kamchatka region) and North. America (USA, Alaska). Named in honor of captain commander V.I. Bering (1681 1741), under whose command the participants of the First and Second Kamchatka expeditions to... ... Toponymic dictionary

Or the Kamchatka Sea is the northeastern part of the Pacific Ocean, bounded from the west by North America, and from the east by Asia and connected to the Arctic Ocean through the Bering Strait. The narrowest part of this strait is the gap... ... Encyclopedic Dictionary F.A. Brockhaus and I.A. Efron

Books

• Bering Sea. Encyclopedia. Zonn I. S., Kostyanoy A. G., Kumantsov M. I., Zonn Igor Sergeevich, Kostyanoy Andrey Gennadievich, Kumantsov Mikhail Ivanovich. The publication is dedicated to one of the Russian Far Eastern seas - the Bering Sea, which is part of the Pacific Ocean. The encyclopedia contains more than 700 articles on hydrographic and geographical...
• Bering Sea. Encyclopedia, Zonn Igor Sergeevich, Kostyanoy Andrey Gennadievich, Kumantsov Mikhail Ivanovich. The publication is dedicated to one of the Russian Far Eastern seas - the Bering Sea, which is part of the Pacific Ocean. The encyclopedia contains more than 700 articles on hydrographic and geographical...

Square2,315,000 km² Volume3,796,000 km³ Greatest depth4151 m Average depth1600 m Bering Sea Bering Sea K: Water bodies in alphabetical order

Story

Name of the sea

Subsequently, the sea was named after the navigator Vitus Bering, under whose leadership it was explored in 1725-1743. The Bering Strait, which connects the sea with the Arctic Ocean, is also named after him.

First time title Bering Sea was proposed by the French geographer S. P. Fliorier at the beginning of the 19th century, but was introduced into use only in 1818 by the Russian navigator V. M. Golovnin. However, on New geographic road map Russian Empire 1833 it is still marked - Beaver Sea .

Modern history

Physiographic location

Area 2.315 million sq. km. The average depth is 1600 meters, the maximum is 4,151 meters. The length of the sea from north to south is 1,600 km, from east to west - 2,400 km. Water volume - 3,795 thousand cubic meters. km.

The Bering Sea is marginal. It is located in the North Pacific Ocean and separates the Asian and North American continents. In the northwest it is limited by the coasts of Northern Kamchatka, the Koryak Highlands and Chukotka; in the northeast - the coast of Western Alaska. The southern border of the sea is drawn along the chain of the Commander and Aleutian Islands, forming a giant arc curved to the south and separating it from the open waters of the Pacific Ocean. The Bering Strait in the north connects it with the Arctic Ocean and numerous straits in the Komandor-Aleutian chain in the south with the Pacific Ocean.

The islands are mainly located on the edge of the sea:

• US territory (state of Alaska): Pribilof Islands, Aleutian Islands, Diomede Islands (eastern - Krusenstern Island), St. Lawrence Island, Nunivak, King Island, St. Matthews Island.
• territory of Russia. Chukotka Autonomous Okrug: Diomede Islands (western - Ratmanov Island). Kamchatka Territory: Commander Islands, Karaginsky Island.

The large rivers Yukon and Anadyr flow into the sea.

The air temperature over the water area is up to +7, +10 °C in summer and −1, −23 °C in winter. Salinity 33-34.7‰.

Every year, from the end of September, ice forms, which melts in July. The surface of the sea (except for the Bering Strait) is covered with ice for about ten months annually (about five months, half of the sea, about seven months, from November to May, the northern third of the sea). The Gulf of Lawrence is not clear of ice at all in some years. In the western part of the Bering Strait, ice brought by currents can occur even in August.

Bottom relief

The seabed is covered with terrigenous sediments - sand, gravel, shell rock in the shelf zone and gray or green diatomaceous silt in deep-sea areas.

Temperature and salinity

The surface water mass (up to a depth of 25-50 meters) throughout the sea has a temperature of 7-10 °C in summer; In winter, temperatures drop to −1.7-3 °C. The salinity of this layer is 22-32 ppm.

The intermediate water mass (layer from 50 to 150-200 m) is colder: the temperature, which varies little by season, is approximately −1.7 °C, salinity is 33.7-34.0‰.

Below, at depths of up to 1000 m, there is a warmer water mass with temperatures of 2.5-4.0 °C and salinity of 33.7-34.3 ‰.

The deep water mass occupies all bottom areas of the sea with depths of more than 1000 m and has temperatures of 1.5-3.0 °C, salinity - 34.3-34.8 ‰.

Ichthyofauna

The Bering Sea is home to 402 species of fish from 65 families, including 9 species of gobies, 7 species of salmon, 5 species of eelpout, 4 species of flounder and others. Of these, 50 species and 14 families are commercial fish. Fishing objects also include 4 types of crabs, 4 types of shrimp, 2 types of cephalopods.

The main marine mammals of the Bering Sea are animals from the order Pinnipeds: ringed seal (akiba), common seal (larga), seal hare (bearded seal), lionfish and Pacific walrus. Among the cetaceans - narwhal, gray whale, bowhead whale, humpback whale, fin whale, Japanese (southern) whale, sei whale, northern blue whale. Walruses and seals form rookeries along the coast of Chukotka.

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Notes

1. on the World Digital Library website
2. // Military Encyclopedia: [in 18 volumes] / ed. V. F. Novitsky [and others]. - St. Petersburg. ; [M.]: Type. t-va I.V. Sytin, 1911-1915.
3. Leontyev V.V., Novikova K. A. Bering Sea // Toponymic Dictionary of the North-East of the USSR / scientific. ed. G. A. Menovshchikov; Far Eastern Branch of the USSR Academy of Sciences. North-East complex. Research Institute Lab. archaeology, history and ethnography. - Magadan: Magad. book publishing house, 1989. - P. 86. - 15,000 copies. - ISBN 5-7581-0044-7.
4. A new geographical road map of the Russian Empire with the meaning of 57 provinces, 8 regions, 4 city administrations, 4 directorates, 8 voivodeships, the Land of Greater and Lesser Kabarda and Kyrgyz Kaisakov. With an indication of educational districts, cities, notable places, water communications, postal roads, and the distance between them in miles. Compiled and published by Captain Mednikov, an employee at the Military Printing Depot. 1833. St. Petersburg. The publication of this map serves as the only guide for teachers and students of Russian geography in the course of G. G. Professor. Arsenyev and Zyaslavsky and for those traveling around Russia
5. Leonov A.K. Regional oceanography. - Leningrad, Gidrometeoizdat, 1960. - T. 1. - P. 164.
6. .

Literature

• // Encyclopedic Dictionary of Brockhaus and Efron: in 86 volumes (82 volumes and 4 additional). - St. Petersburg. , 1890-1907.
• Shlyamin B. A. Bering Sea. - M.: Gosgeografgiz, 1958. - 96 p.: ill.
• Shamraev Yu. I., Shishkina L. A. Oceanology. - L.: Gidrometeoizdat, 1980.

Links

• in the book: A. D. Dobrovolsky, B. S. Zalogin. Seas of the USSR. - M.: Publishing house Moscow. University, 1982.
• [nationalatlas.rf/cd1/274-275.html Bering Sea ( physical map, scale 1:5,000,000)] // National Atlas of Russia. - M.: Roscartography, 2004. - T. 1. - P. 274-275. - 496 s. - 3000 copies. - ISBN 5-85120-217-3.

Excerpt describing the Bering Sea

Princess Marya, lowering her head, left the circle and went into the house. Having repeated the order to Drona that there should be horses for departure tomorrow, she went to her room and was left alone with her thoughts.

For a long time that night, Princess Marya sat at the open window in her room, listening to the sounds of men talking coming from the village, but she did not think about them. She felt that no matter how much she thought about them, she could not understand them. She kept thinking about one thing - about her grief, which now, after the break caused by worries about the present, had already become past for her. She could now remember, she could cry and she could pray. As the sun set, the wind died down. The night was quiet and fresh. At twelve o'clock the voices began to fade, the rooster crowed, the full moon began to emerge from behind the linden trees, a fresh, white mist of dew rose, and silence reigned over the village and over the house.
One after another, pictures of the close past appeared to her - illness and her father’s last minutes. And with sad joy she now dwelled on these images, driving away from herself with horror only one last image of his death, which - she felt - she was unable to contemplate even in her imagination at this quiet and mysterious hour of the night. And these pictures appeared to her with such clarity and with such detail that they seemed to her now like reality, now the past, now the future.
Then she vividly imagined that moment when he had a stroke and was dragged out of the garden in the Bald Mountains by the arms and he muttered something with an impotent tongue, twitched his gray eyebrows and looked at her restlessly and timidly.
“Even then he wanted to tell me what he told me on the day of his death,” she thought. “He always meant what he told me.” And so she remembered in all its details that night in Bald Mountains on the eve of the blow that happened to him, when Princess Marya, sensing trouble, remained with him against his will. She did not sleep and at night she tiptoed downstairs and, going up to the door to the flower shop where her father spent the night that night, listened to his voice. He said something to Tikhon in an exhausted, tired voice. He obviously wanted to talk. “And why didn’t he call me? Why didn’t he allow me to be here in Tikhon’s place? - Princess Marya thought then and now. “He will never tell anyone now everything that was in his soul.” This moment will never return for him and for me, when he would say everything he wanted to say, and I, and not Tikhon, would listen and understand him. Why didn’t I enter the room then? - she thought. “Maybe he would have told me then what he said on the day of his death.” Even then, in a conversation with Tikhon, he asked about me twice. He wanted to see me, but I stood here, outside the door. He was sad, it was hard to talk with Tikhon, who did not understand him. I remember how he spoke to him about Lisa, as if she were alive - he forgot that she died, and Tikhon reminded him that she was no longer there, and he shouted: “Fool.” It was hard for him. I heard from behind the door how he lay down on the bed, groaning, and shouted loudly: “My God! Why didn’t I get up then?” What would he do to me? What would I have to lose? And maybe then he would have been consoled, he would have said this word to me.” And Princess Marya said out loud the kind word that he said to her on the day of his death. “Darling! – Princess Marya repeated this word and began to sob with soul-easing tears. She now saw his face in front of her. And not the face that she had known since she could remember, and which she had always seen from afar; and that face - timid and weak, which on the last day, bending down to his mouth to hear what he said, she examined up close for the first time with all its wrinkles and details.
“Darling,” she repeated.
“What was he thinking when he said that word? What is he thinking now? - suddenly a question came to her, and in response to this she saw him in front of her with the same expression on his face that he had in the coffin on his face tied with a white scarf. And the horror that gripped her when she touched him and became convinced that it was not only not him, but something mysterious and repulsive, gripped her now. She wanted to think about other things, wanted to pray, but could do nothing. She looked with large open eyes at the moonlight and shadows, every second she expected to see his dead face and felt that the silence that stood over the house and in the house shackled her.
- Dunyasha! – she whispered. - Dunyasha! – she screamed in a wild voice and, breaking out of the silence, ran to the girls’ room, towards the nanny and girls running towards her.

On August 17, Rostov and Ilyin, accompanied by Lavrushka, who had just returned from captivity, and the messenger hussar, from their Yankovo ​​camp, fifteen miles from Bogucharovo, went horseback riding - to try a new horse, bought by Ilyin, and to find out if there was any hay in the villages.
Bogucharovo had been located for the last three days between two enemy armies, so that the Russian rearguard could have entered there just as easily as the French vanguard, and therefore Rostov, as a caring squadron commander, wanted to take advantage of the provisions that remained in Bogucharovo before the French.
Rostov and Ilyin were in the most cheerful mood. On the way to Bogucharovo, to the princely estate with an estate, where they hoped to find large servants and pretty girls, they either asked Lavrushka about Napoleon and laughed at his stories, or drove around, trying Ilyin’s horse.
Rostov neither knew nor thought that this village to which he was traveling was the estate of that same Bolkonsky, who was his sister’s fiancé.
Rostov and Ilyin let the horses out for the last time to drive the horses into the drag in front of Bogucharov, and Rostov, having overtaken Ilyin, was the first to gallop into the street of the village of Bogucharov.
“You took the lead,” said the flushed Ilyin.
“Yes, everything is forward, and forward in the meadow, and here,” answered Rostov, stroking his soaring bottom with his hand.
“And in French, your Excellency,” Lavrushka said from behind, calling his sled nag French, “I would have overtaken, but I just didn’t want to embarrass him.”
They walked up to the barn, near which stood a large crowd of men.
Some men took off their hats, some, without taking off their hats, looked at those who had arrived. Two long old men, with wrinkled faces and sparse beards, came out of the tavern and, smiling, swaying and singing some awkward song, approached the officers.
- Well done! - Rostov said, laughing. - What, do you have any hay?
“And they are the same...” said Ilyin.
“Vesve...oo...oooo...barking bese...bese...” the men sang with happy smiles.
One man came out of the crowd and approached Rostov.
- What kind of people will you be? he asked.
“The French,” Ilyin answered, laughing. “Here is Napoleon himself,” he said, pointing to Lavrushka.
- So, you will be Russian? – the man asked.
- How much of your strength is there? – asked another small man, approaching them.
“Many, many,” answered Rostov. - Why are you gathered here? - he added. - A holiday, or what?
“The old people have gathered on worldly business,” the man answered, moving away from him.
At this time, along the road from the manor's house, two women and a man in a white hat appeared, walking towards the officers.
- Mine in pink, don’t bother me! - said Ilyin, noticing Dunyasha resolutely moving towards him.
- Ours will be! – Lavrushka said to Ilyin with a wink.
- What, my beauty, do you need? - Ilyin said, smiling.
- The princess ordered to find out what regiment you are and your last names?
“This is Count Rostov, squadron commander, and I am your humble servant.”
- B...se...e...du...shka! - the drunk man sang, smiling happily and looking at Ilyin talking to the girl. Following Dunyasha, Alpatych approached Rostov, taking off his hat from afar.
“I dare to bother you, your honor,” he said with respect, but with relative disdain for the youth of this officer and putting his hand in his bosom. “My lady, the daughter of General Chief Prince Nikolai Andreevich Bolkonsky, who died this fifteenth, being in difficulty due to the ignorance of these persons,” he pointed to the men, “asks you to come... would you like,” Alpatych said with a sad smile, “to leave a few, otherwise it’s not so convenient when... - Alpatych pointed to two men who were running around him from behind, like horseflies around a horse.

The Bering Sea is the largest of the Far Eastern seas washing the shores of Russia, located between two continents - Asia and North America - and is separated from the Pacific Ocean by the islands of the Commander-Aleutian Arc.

The Bering Sea is one of the largest and deepest seas in the world. Its area is 2315 thousand km2, volume - 3796 thousand km3, average depth - 1640 m, greatest depth - 5500 m. The area with depths less than 500 m occupies about half of the entire area of ​​the Bering Sea, which belongs to the marginal seas of the mixed continental-oceanic type.

There are few islands in the vast expanses of the Bering Sea. Not counting the border Aleutian island arc and, in the sea there are: the large Karaginsky Island in the west and several islands (St. Matthew, Nunivak, Pribilof) in the east.

The coastline of the Bering Sea is highly indented. It forms many bays, bays, capes and straits. For the formation of many natural processes of this sea, straits are especially important, providing water exchange with. The waters of the Chukchi Sea have virtually no effect on the Bering Sea, but the Bering Sea waters play a very significant role in.

The continental flow into the sea is approximately 400 km3 per year. Most of the river water falls into its northernmost part, where the largest rivers flow: Yukon (176 km3), Kuskokuim (50 km3 per year). About 85% of the total annual flow occurs in the summer months. The influence of river waters on sea waters is felt mainly in the coastal zone on the northern edge of the sea in the summer.

In the Bering Sea, the main morphological zones are clearly distinguished: the shelf and island shoals, the continental slope, etc. The shelf zone with depths of up to 200 m is mainly located in the northern and eastern parts of the sea and occupies more than 40% of its area. The bottom in this area is a vast, very flat underwater plain 600–1000 km wide, within which there are several islands, troughs and small rises in the bottom. The continental shelf off the coast of Kamchatka and the islands of the Komandorsko-Aleutian ridge is narrow, and its relief is very complex. It borders the shores of geologically young and very mobile land areas, within which there are usually intense and frequent manifestations of seismic activity.

The continental slope extends from northwest to southeast approximately along a line from Cape Navarin to Unimak Island. Together with the island slope zone, it occupies approximately 13% of the sea area and is characterized by a complex bottom. The continental slope zone is dissected by underwater valleys, many of which are typical underwater canyons, deeply cut into the bottom of the sea and having steep and even steep slopes.

The deep-water zone (3000–4000 m) is located in the southwestern and central parts of the sea and is bordered by a relatively narrow strip of coastal shallows. Its area exceeds 40% of the sea area. It is characterized by an almost complete absence of isolated depressions. Among the positive forms, the Shirshov and Bowers ridges stand out. The bottom topography determines the possibility of water exchange between individual parts of the sea.

Different areas of the Bering Sea coast belong to different geomorphological types of shores. Mostly the banks are abrasive, but there are also. The sea is surrounded mainly by high and steep shores; only in the middle part of the western and eastern coasts are wide strips of flat, low-lying tundra approaching it. Narrower strips of low-lying coastline are located near the mouths in the form of a deltaic alluvial valley or border the tops of bays and bays.

Geographical location and large spaces determine the main features of the climate of the Bering Sea. It is almost entirely located in the subarctic climate zone, only the northernmost part belongs to the arctic zone, and the southernmost part belongs to the zone. North of 55–56° N. w. In the seas, continental features are noticeably expressed, but in areas far from the coast they are much less pronounced. To the south of these parallels the climate is mild, typically maritime. Throughout the year, the Bering Sea is under the influence of permanent centers of action - the Polar and Hawaiian maxima. It is no less influenced by seasonal large-scale pressure formations: the Aleutian minimum, the Siberian maximum, the Asian depression.

In the cold season, northwest, north and northeast winds predominate. Wind speeds in the coastal zone average 6–8 m/s, and in open areas it varies from 6 to 12 m/s. Above the sea, predominantly the masses of continental Arctic and marine polar air interact, at the border of which they form, along which cyclones move to the northeast. The western part of the sea is characterized by storms with wind speeds of up to 30–40 m/s and lasting more than a day.

The average monthly temperature of the coldest months - January and February - is –1…–4°С in the southwestern and southern parts of the sea and – –15…–20°С in the northern and northern parts eastern regions. In the open sea it is higher than in the coastal zone.

In the warm season, southwestern, southern and southeastern winds predominate, the speed of which in the western part open sea 4–6 m/s, and in the eastern regions - 4–7 m/s. In summer, the frequency of storms and wind speeds are lower than in winter. IN southern part The seas are penetrated by tropical cyclones (), causing severe storms with hurricane force. Average monthly temperatures air most warm months- July and August - within the sea they vary from 4°C in the north to 13°C in the south, and near the coast they are higher than in the open sea.

Water exchange is critical to the water balance of the Bering Sea. Very large quantities of surface and deep ocean water flow through the Aleutian Straits and flow out through the waters into the Chukchi Sea. Water exchange between sea and ocean affects the temperature distribution, formation of the structure and waters of the Bering Sea.

The bulk of the waters of the Bering Sea are characterized by a subarctic structure, main feature which is the existence of a cold intermediate layer in summer, as well as a warm intermediate layer located underneath it.

The water temperature on the sea surface generally decreases from south to north, with water in the western part of the sea being somewhat colder than in the eastern part. In coastal shallow areas, surface water temperatures are slightly higher than in open areas of the Bering Sea.

In winter, the surface temperature, equal to approximately 2°C, extends to horizons of 140–150 m, below it rises to approximately 3.5°C at 200–250 m, then its value remains almost unchanged with depth. In summer, the surface water temperature reaches 7–8°C, but drops very sharply (up to 2.5°C) with depth to a horizon of 50 m.

The salinity of the surface waters of the sea varies from 33–33.5‰ in the south to 31‰ in the east and northeast and up to 28.6‰ in the Bering Strait. Water is desalinated most significantly in spring and summer in the areas where the Anadyr, Yukon and Kuskokwim rivers confluence. However, the direction of the main currents along the coasts limits the influence on the deep sea areas. The vertical distribution of salinity is almost the same in all seasons of the year. From the surface to a horizon of 100–125 m, it is approximately equal to 33.2–33.3‰. Salinity increases slightly from horizons of 125–150 m to 200–250 m; deeper it remains almost unchanged to the bottom. In accordance with small spatiotemporal changes in temperature and salinity, the density of water also changes slightly.

The distribution of oceanological characteristics by depth indicates a relatively weak vertical stratification of the waters of the Bering Sea. In combination with strong winds, this creates favorable conditions for the development of wind mixing. In the cold season, it covers the upper layers to horizons of 100–125 m; in the warm season, when the waters are stratified more sharply and the winds are weaker than in autumn and winter, wind mixing penetrates to horizons of 75–100 m in deep areas and up to 50–60 m in coastal areas.

The speeds of constant currents in the sea are low. The highest values ​​(up to 25–50 cm/s) are observed in the areas of the straits, and in the open sea they are equal to 6 cm/s, and the speeds are especially low in the zone of the central cyclonic circulation.

Tides in the Bering Sea are mainly caused by the propagation of tidal waves from the Pacific Ocean. Tidal currents in the open sea are circular in nature, and their speed is 15–60 cm/s. Near the coast and in the straits, the currents are reversible, and their speed reaches 1–2 m/s.

For most of the year, much of the Bering Sea is covered in ice. Ice in the sea is of local origin, that is, it is formed, destroyed and melted in the sea itself. The process of ice formation begins first in the northwestern part of the Bering Sea, where ice appears in October and gradually moves south. Ice appears in the Bering Strait in September. In winter the strait is filled with solid broken ice, drifting north. However, even during the peak of ice formation, the open part of the Bering Sea is never covered with ice. In the open sea, under the influence of winds and currents, ice is in constant motion, and strong compression often occurs. This leads to the formation of hummocks, maximum height which can reach up to 20 m. Fixed ice, which forms in winter in closed bays and bays, can be broken up and carried out to sea during stormy winds. The ice from the eastern part of the sea is carried north into the Chukchi Sea. During July and August the sea is completely clear of ice, but even during these months ice can be found in the Bering Strait. Strong winds contribute to the destruction of the ice cover and the clearing of ice from the sea in summer.

The nature of the distribution of nutrients in the sea is associated with the biological system (product consumption, destruction) and therefore has a pronounced seasonal pattern.

The horizontal and vertical distribution of all forms of nutrients is significantly affected by numerous mesocycles of water, which are associated with patchiness in the distribution of nutrients.

For the Bering Sea, with its highly developed shelf, large and very intense water dynamics, the average annual primary production is estimated at 340 gC/m2.

The annual production of the main groups of aquatic organisms that are components of the Bering Sea ecosystem is (in million tons of wet weight): phytoplankton - 21,735; bacteria - 7607; protozoa - 3105; peaceful zooplankton - 3090; predatory zooplankton - 720; peaceful zoobenthos - 259; predatory zoobenthos - 17.2; fish - 25; squid - 12; bottom commercial invertebrates - 1.42; seabirds and marine mammals - 0.4.

No deposits have yet been discovered on the Russian shelf of the Bering Sea. Within East Coast Chukotsky Autonomous Okrug, in the area of ​​the village. Three small oil fields were discovered in Khatyrka: Verkhne-Echinskoye, Verkhne-Telekaiskoye and Uglovoye; A small Zapadno-Ozernoe gas field was discovered in the Anadyr River basin. However, the Bering Sea shelf is assessed as promising for the search for hydrocarbon deposits in Cretaceous, Paleogene and Neogene deposits, and within the Gulf of Anadyr - as a promising placer-bearing region of the Far East.

The coastal parts of the sea are subject to the most intense anthropogenic load: the Anadyr Estuary, Ugolnaya Bay, as well as the shelf of the peninsula (Kamchatka Bay).

The Anadyr Estuary and Ugolnaya Bay are polluted mostly with wastewater from housing and communal services enterprises. Petroleum hydrocarbons and organochlorines enter the Kamchatka Bay with the flow of the Kamchatka River.

Coastal and open sea areas experience minor heavy metal pollution.