Arctic Ocean further in 1648. Arctic Ocean
Barencevo sea
The Barents Sea washes the coasts of Russia and Norway and is limited by the northern coast of Europe and the archipelagos of Spitsbergen, Franz Josef Land and Novaya Zemlya (Fig. 39). The sea is located within continental shallows and is characterized by depths of 300–400 m. South part The sea has a predominantly leveled relief, the northern part is characterized by the presence of both hills (Central, Perseus) and depressions and trenches.The climate of the Barents Sea is formed under the influence of warm air masses from the Atlantic and cold Arctic air from the Arctic oceans, which causes greater variability in weather conditions. This leads to significant temperature variations in different parts of the water area. In the coldest month of the year—February—the air temperature varies from 25 °C in the north to -4 °C in the southwest. Usually cloudy weather prevails over the sea.
The salinity of the surface layer of water in the open sea throughout the year is 34.7-35%o in the southwest, 33-34%o in the east, and 32-33%o in the north. In the coastal strip of the sea in spring and summer, salinity drops to 30-32% o, by the end of winter it increases to 34-34.5%.
IN water balance Barents Sea great importance has water exchange with neighboring water areas. Surface currents form a counterclockwise gyre. The role of the warm North Cape Current (a branch of the Gulf Stream) is especially important in the formation of the hydrometeorological regime. In the central part of the sea there is a system of intracircular currents. The circulation of sea waters changes under the influence of changes in winds and water exchange with adjacent seas. Along the coasts, the importance of tidal currents increases, characterized as semidiurnal, the highest height of which is 6.1 m near the Kola Peninsula.
Ice cover reaches its greatest extent in April, when at least 75% of the sea surface is occupied by floating ice. However, its southwestern part remains ice-free in all seasons due to the influence of warm currents. The northwestern and northeastern margins of the sea are completely free of ice only in warm years.
The biodiversity of the Barents Sea stands out among all the waters of the Arctic Ocean, which is associated with natural and climatic conditions. There are 114 species of fish found here, 20 of which are of commercial importance: cod, haddock, herring, sea bass, halibut and others. The benthos is very diverse, among which sea urchins, echinoderms, and invertebrates are common. Introduced back in the 30s. XX century Kamchatka crab adapted to new conditions and began to reproduce intensively on the shelf. The coasts abound with bird colonies. Large mammals include the polar bear, beluga whale, and harp seal.
Haddock, a fish of the cod family, is an important fishery species in the Barents Sea region. Haddock makes long-distance feeding and spawning migrations. Haddock eggs are carried by currents over long distances from their spawning grounds. Fry and juveniles of haddock live in the water column, often hiding from predators under the domes (bells) of large jellyfish. Adult fish lead a predominantly bottom-dwelling lifestyle.
Serious environmental problems in the Barents Sea are associated with contamination from radioactive waste from Norwegian processing plants, as well as the flow of contaminated water from the land surface. The greatest pollution with oil products is typical for the Kola, Teribersky and Motovsky bays.
White Sea
White Sea belongs to the category of internal and is the smallest among the seas washing Russia (Fig. 40). It washes the southern coast of the Kola Peninsula and is separated from the Barents Sea by a line connecting Capes Svyatoy Nos and Kanin Nos. The sea is replete with small islands, among which the most famous are Solovetsky. The shores are indented by numerous bays. The bottom relief is complex; in the central part of the sea there is a closed basin with depths of 100–200 m, separated from the Barents Sea by a threshold with shallow depths. The soils in shallow water are a mixture of pebbles and sand, turning into clayey silt at depths.
The geographic location of the White Sea determines the climatic conditions, where features of both marine and continental climates appear. In winter the weather is cloudy with low temperatures and heavy snowfalls, and the climate of the northern part of the sea is somewhat warmer, which is due to the influence of warm air and water masses from the Atlantic. In summer, the White Sea is characterized by cool, rainy weather with average temperatures of +8–+13°C.
The influx of fresh water and insignificant water exchange with neighboring water areas have determined the low salinity of the sea, which is about 26%o near the coasts and 31%o in the deep zones. In the centric part, an annular flow is formed, directed counterclockwise. Tidal currents are semi-diurnal in nature and range from 0.6 to 3 m. In narrow areas, the height of the tide can reach 7 m and penetrate high up the rivers up to 120 km (Northern Dvina). Despite its small area, storm activity is widespread in the sea, especially in the autumn; the White Sea freezes annually for 6-7 months. Fast ice forms near the coast, the central part is covered with floating ice, reaching a thickness of 0.4 m, and in severe winters - up to 1.5 m.
The diversity of ecosystems in the White Sea is much lower than in the neighboring Barents Sea, however, various algae and bottom invertebrates are found here. Among marine mammals, the harp seal, beluga whale, and ringed seal should be noted. In the waters of the White Sea there are important commercial fish: navaga, White Sea herring, smelt, salmon, cod.
In 1928, Soviet hydrobiologist K.M. Deryugin noted in the White Sea the presence of a number of endemic forms due to isolation, as well as a shortage of species compared to the Barents Sea, which is associated with the peculiarities of the hydrodynamic regime. Over time, it became clear that there are no endemics in the White Sea, all of them are either reduced to synonyms, or are still found in other seas.
The water area has a large transport value, as a result of which the ecological condition of certain areas of the water area is deteriorating, especially associated with the transportation of petroleum products and chemical raw materials.
Kara Sea
The Kara Sea is the coldest sea washing the shores of Russia (Fig. 41). It is limited to the coast of Eurasia in the south and the islands: Novaya Zemlya, Franz Josef Land, Severnaya Zemlya, Heiberg. The sea is located on the shelf, where depths range from 50 to 100 m. In shallow water, sandy soil dominates, and the gutters are covered with silt.For Kara Sea It is characterized by a marine polar climate, which is due to its geographical location. Weather conditions are variable and storms are frequent. This area recorded the lowest temperature that can be set at sea: -45-50 °C. In summer, an area of high pressure forms over the water area, the air warms up from +2-+6 °C in the north and west to + 18-+20 °C on the coast. However, even in summer period Snow may occur.
The salinity of the sea near the coasts is about 34%o, which is associated with good mixing and uniform temperatures; in the inland areas the salinity increases to 35%o. At river mouths, especially when ice melts, salinity decreases sharply and the water becomes closer to fresh.
The circulation of the waters of the Kara Sea is complex, which is associated with the formation of cyclonic water circulations and river flow rivers of Siberia. The tides are semidiurnal and their height does not exceed 80 cm.
The sea is covered with ice almost all year round. In some areas, multi-year ice is found, up to 4 m thick. Fast ice forms along the Zeregovaya line, the formation of which begins in September.
The Kara Sea contains predominantly Arctic ecosystems, however, during global warming accumulations of boreal and boreal-arctic species are noted. The greatest biodiversity is confined to upwelling zones, the edge of sea ice, river estuaries, areas of underwater hydrothermal fluids and the tops of the seafloor relief. Commercial concentrations of cod, flounder, black halibut, and whitefish have been recorded in the water area. Among the environmentally unfavorable factors leading to disruption of ecosystems, it should be noted pollution with heavy metals and petroleum products. Also in the water area there are sarcophagi of radioactive reactors, the burial of which was carried out in the second half of the 20th century.
Arctic omul is a semi-anadromous fish and an important commercial species. It spawns in the Yenisei River, and feeds in the coastal zone of the Kara Sea. According to one hypothesis, the omul could reach Lake Baikal, the cause of which is a glacier. Because of the glacier, the omul was unable to return to its “historical homeland”, giving rise to a branch of the Baikal omul.
Laptev sea
The Laptev Sea is a marginal sea of the Arctic Ocean, located between the Taimyr Peninsula and the Severnaya Zemlya islands in the west and the New Siberian Islands in the east (Fig. 42). This is one of the deepest northern seas, the greatest depth is 3385 m. The coast is heavily indented. The southern part of the sea is shallow with depths of up to 50 m, bottom sediments are represented by sand, silt with admixtures of pebbles and boulders. The northern part is a deep-sea basin, the bottom of which is covered with silt.The Laptev Sea is one of the harshest seas in the Arctic Ocean. Climatic conditions are close to continental. In winter, an area of high atmospheric pressure dominates, which causes low air temperatures (-26-29 °C) and slight cloudiness. In summer, the area of high pressure gives way to low pressure, and the air temperature increases, reaching its highest point in August at +1-+5 °C, but in enclosed spaces the temperature can reach higher values. For example, in Tiksi Bay a temperature of +32.5 °C was recorded.
Water salinity varies from 15%o in the south to 28%o in the north. Near the mouth areas, salinity does not exceed 10%. Salinity increases with depth, reaching 33%. Surface currents form a cyclonic gyre. Tides are semidiurnal, up to 0.5 m high.
Cold climate causes active development ice in the water area, which can remain throughout the year. Hundreds of kilometers of shallow water are occupied by fast ice, and floating ice and icebergs are found in open waters.
The ecosystems of the Laptev Sea are not distinguished by species diversity, which is associated with extreme natural conditions. The ichthyofauna has only 37 species, and the bottom fauna is about 500. Fishing is developed mainly along the coasts and at river mouths. However, the Laptev Sea is of great transport importance. The port of Tiksi is of greatest importance. The ecological state of some areas of the sea is assessed as catastrophic. In coastal waters, there is an increased content of phenol, petroleum products, and organic substances. Most of the pollution comes from river waters.
From time immemorial, the Laptev Sea has been the main “workshop” for ice production in the Arctic. An international group of researchers within the Polynya project studied the climate in the water area for several years, as a result of which it was noted that since 2002, the water temperature has increased by 2 °C, which will inevitably affect its ecological state.
East-Siberian Sea
The East Siberian Sea is a marginal sea of the Arctic Ocean. It is located between the New Siberian Islands and Wrangel Island (see Fig. 42). The coasts are flat, slightly indented, and in some places there are sandy and silty dry areas. In the eastern part beyond the mouth of the Kolyma there are rocky cliffs. The sea is shallow, the greatest depth is 358 m. The northern border coincides with the edge of the continental shallows.The bottom topography is leveled and has a slight slope from southwest to northeast. Two underwater trenches stand out in the relief, which are presumably former river valleys. The soil is represented by silt, pebbles, and boulders.
The proximity to the North Pole determines the severity of the climate, which should be classified as polar marine. It is also worth noting the influence on the climate of the Atlantic and Pacific oceans, from where cyclonic air masses enter. The air temperature in January over the region is -28-30 °C, the weather is clear and calm. In summer, an area of high pressure forms over the sea, and low pressure over the adjacent land, which leads to the emergence strong winds, the speed of which is maximum at the end of summer, when the western part of the water area turns into a zone of strong storms, while the temperature does not exceed +2-+3 °C. This section of the Northern Sea Route becomes the most dangerous during this period.
The salinity of water near river mouths is no more than 5%o, increasing towards the northern outskirts to 30%o. With depth, salinity increases to 32%.
Even in summer the sea is not free of ice. They drift in a northwesterly direction, obeying the circulation of water masses. As the activity of the cyclonic gyre intensifies, ice penetrates into the water area from the northern borders. The tides in the East Siberian Sea are regular, semi-diurnal. They are most clearly expressed in the northwest and north; near the southern coasts the tide height is insignificant, up to 25 cm.
The combination of natural and climatic conditions influenced the formation of ecosystems in the East Siberian Sea. Biodiversity is much lower compared to other northern seas. In the estuary areas there are schools of white fish, polar cod, Arctic char, whitefish, and grayling. There are also marine mammals: walruses, seals, polar bears. Cold-loving brackish-water forms are common in the central parts.
East Siberian cod (ninefin) (Fig. 43) lives near the coast in brackish waters and enters river mouths. The biology of the species has hardly been studied. Spawning occurs in summer in warm coastal waters. It is an object of fishing.
Chukchi Sea
The Chukchi Sea is located between the Chukotka and Alaska peninsulas (Fig. 44). The Long Strait connects it with the East Siberian Sea, in the area of Cape Barrow it borders on the Beaufort Sea, and the Bering Strait connects it with the Bering Sea. The International Date Line runs through the Chukchi Sea. More than 50% of the sea area is occupied by depths of up to 50 m. There are shallows with depths of up to 13 m. The bottom relief is complicated by two underwater canyons with depths from 90 to 160 m. The coast is characterized by slight ruggedness. The soils are represented by loose deposits of sand, silt, and gravel. The climate of the sea is greatly influenced by proximity North Pole and the Pacific Ocean. In summer, anticyclonic circulation occurs. The sea is characterized by high storm activity.
The circulation of water masses is determined by the interaction of cold Arctic and warm Pacific waters. A cold current passes along the Eurasian coast, carrying water from the East Siberian Sea. The warm Alaskan Current enters the Chukchi Sea through the Bering Strait, heading towards the shores of the Alaska Peninsula. Tides are semidiurnal. The salinity of the sea varies from west to east from 28 to 32%. Salinity decreases near melting ice edges and river mouths.
The sea is covered with ice for most of the year. In the southern part of the sea, clearing of ice occurs during 2-3 warm months. However, floating ice brings it to the coast of Chukotka from the East Siberian Sea. The north is covered with multi-year ice more than 2 m thick.
The penetration of warm waters of the Pacific Ocean is the main reason for a slight increase in the species diversity of the Chukchi Sea. Boreal species are joining the typical Arctic species. 946 species live here. There are navaga, grayling, char, and polar cod. The most common marine mammals are polar bears, walruses, and whales. The location at a sufficient distance from industrial centers determines the absence of serious changes in marine ecosystems. Affects the ecological picture of the water area Negative influence supply of petroleum products along the Northern Sea Route, as well as water containing aerosol materials coming from the coast North America.
The Chukchi Sea serves as a link between the ports of the Far East, the mouths of Siberian rivers and the European part of Russia, as well as between the Pacific ports of Canada and the USA and the mouth of the Mackenzie River.
In terms of the number of islands and archipelagos, the Arctic Ocean ranks second after the Pacific Ocean. This ocean contains such large islands and archipelagos as Greenland, Franz Josef Land, Novaya Zemlya, Severnaya Zemlya, Wrangel Island, the New Siberian Islands, and the Canadian Arctic Archipelago.
The Arctic Ocean is divided into three large water areas:
- Arctic Basin; The center of the ocean, its deepest section reaches 4 km.
- North European Basin; It includes the Greenland Sea, the Norwegian Sea, the Barents Sea and the White Sea.
- Mainland Shoal; Includes the seas that wash the continents: the Kara Sea, the Laptev Sea, the East Siberian Sea, the Chukchi Sea, the Beaufort Sea and the Baffin Sea. These seas account for more than 1/3 of the total ocean area.
It is quite simple to imagine the topography of the ocean floor in a simplified manner. The continental shelf (maximum width 1300 km) ends with a sharp decrease in depth to 2-3 km, forming a kind of step that surrounds the central deep-sea part of the ocean.
This natural bowl is more than 4 km deep in the center. dotted with many underwater ridges. In the 50s of the 20th century, bottom echolocation showed that the Arctic Ocean is dissected by three trans-oceanic ridges: Mendeleev, Lomonosov and Gakkel.
The waters of the Arctic Ocean are fresher than other oceans. This is explained by the fact that they fall into it large rivers Siberia, thereby desalinating it.
Climate
From January to April, there is an area of high pressure in the center of the ocean, better known as the Arctic High. In the summer months, on the contrary, lower pressure prevails in the Arctic basin. The pressure difference constantly brings cyclones, precipitation and winds of up to 20 m/s to the Arctic Ocean from the Atlantic. On their way to the center of the ocean, a huge number of cyclones pass through the North European basin, causing sudden changes in weather, heavy rainfall and fog.
The air temperature ranges from -20 to -40 degrees. In winter, when 9/10 of the ocean area is covered with drifting ice, the water temperature does not rise above 0 degrees Celsius, dropping to -4. The thickness of the drifting ice floes is 4-5 meters. Icebergs are constantly found in the seas surrounding Greenland (Baffin Sea and Greenland Sea). By the end of winter, the ice area reaches 11 million square meters. km. Only the Norwegian, Barents and Greenland Seas remain ice-free. The warm waters of the North Atlantic Current flow into these seas.
In the Arctic basin, ice islands drift, the ice thickness of which is 30-35 meters. The “lifetime” of such islands exceeds 6 years and they are often used to operate drifting stations.
By the way, Russia is the first and only country that uses drifting polar stations. Such a station consists of several buildings where expedition members live and a set of necessary equipment is located. The first such station appeared in 1937 and was called “North Pole”. The scientist who proposed this method of exploring the Arctic is Vladimir Wiese.
Fauna of the Arctic Ocean
Until the 20th century, the Arctic Ocean was a “dead zone”; research was not carried out there due to very harsh conditions. Therefore, knowledge about the animal world is very scarce.
The number of species decreases as you approach the center of the ocean in the Arctic basin, but phytoplankton develops everywhere, including under drifting ice. This is where feeding fields for various minke whales are located.
The colder areas of the Arctic Ocean are favored by animals that can easily withstand harsh climatic conditions: narwhal, beluga whale, polar bear, walrus, seal.
In the more favorable waters of the North European basin, the fauna is more diverse due to fish: herring, cod, sea bass. There is also the habitat of the now almost exterminated bowhead whale.
The fauna of the ocean is gigantic. Giant mussels, giant cyanide jellyfish, and sea spider live here. The slow progression of life processes endowed the inhabitants of the Arctic Ocean with longevity. Recall that the bowhead whale is the longest-living vertebrate on Earth.
The flora of the Arctic Ocean is unusually sparse, because... drifting ice does not allow passage Sun rays. With the exception of the Barents and White Seas, the organic world is represented by unpretentious algae, which predominate in the continental shallows. But in terms of the amount of phytoplankton, the seas of the Arctic Ocean can easily compete with more southern seas. There are more than 200 species of phytoplakton in the ocean, almost half of them are diatoms. Some of them have adapted to live on the very surface of the ice and during the flowering period they cover it with a brown-yellow film, which, by absorbing more light, causes the ice to melt faster.
- the smallest of the Earth's oceans. Its area is almost 15 million km2. The ocean is located in.
and occupies vast areas around the North Pole.
Exploration of the Arctic Ocean is a chain of heroic exploits of many generations of sailors. In ancient times, Russian Pomors set out on journeys on fragile wooden boats and boats. They fished, hunted and knew well the conditions of navigation in the polar latitudes. One of the most accurate maps of the western part of the ocean was compiled following the voyage of Willem Barents in the 16th century, who attempted to find the shortest route from the countries of the East. The beginning of a systematic study of the ocean shores is associated with the names of many sailors and travelers: S.I. Chelyuskin, who identified the northern tip and described part of it; Lapteva D.Ya. and Laptev Kh.P., who examined the ocean coast to the east and west of the river mouth; I.D. Papanin, who with three polar explorers made a heroic drift on an ice floe from the North Pole to develop new methods of ocean research, and others. The names of many of them remained in the names on the map.
The maximum depth of the ocean is 5527 meters. A characteristic feature is a large shelf, the width of which sometimes reaches 1300-1500 km. The central part is crossed mountain ranges and deep faults, between which lies a basin.
The presence of ice is the most characteristic feature of this ocean. Their formation is associated with low temperature and low salinity of ocean waters. and currents cause the movement of ice, which forms huge piles - hummocks - due to strong lateral compression. There are known cases when ships caught in ice were crushed or squeezed upward.
The bulk of organisms in the ocean are algae, which can live in cold water and even on ice. Life is rich only in the Atlantic region and on the shelf near the mouths of rivers. Fish live here: cod, navaga, halibut. Whales, seals, and walruses live in the ocean. The bulk of ocean plankton is formed. This attracts many birds here in the summer, forming bird “bazaars” on the rocks.
The Arctic Ocean is extremely important for many: Russia, Canada and others. The harsh nature makes it difficult to search there. But deposits have already been explored both on the shelf and seas, off the coast of Alaska and. At the bottom, sediments rich in various ores were found.
Biological riches are small. In the Atlantic latitudes they fish and obtain seaweed, and hunt seals.
Location: between Eurasia and.
Square: 14.75 million km2
Average depth: 1225 m.
Greatest depth: 5527 m (sea).
Currents: current, East Greenland Current.
Additional Information: The Arctic Ocean is the least studied of all the others; in winter, almost its entire surface is covered with drifting ice; ice that drifts for up to 6 years or more is often found.
It washes the shores of Norway and Russia. Area 1.4 million sq. km, average depth - 222 m.
In the old days, this sea was called Russian, Northern, Arctic, Siversky, Moscow, but most often - Murmansk. It was named Barentsev in 1834 in honor of the Dutch navigator V. Barents. The southeastern part is distinguished as a separate water area - this is the Pechora Sea.
In the north and northwest, the Barents Sea is covered with ice all year round; the central part of the sea is replete with floating ice until April. Only the southern and southeastern parts, warmed by the warm North Cape Current, do not freeze. The only ice-free port in the Arctic region, Murmansk, is also located here.
The sea is of great importance for the Russian economy - industrial fishing is developed here, natural resources are mined, hydroelectric power stations operate, and the main Arctic sea routes lie.
- the southeastern part of the Barents Sea, limited by the islands of Vaygach and Kolguev. It washes only the shores of Russia. This is the shallowest Arctic sea, area - 81 thousand sq. km, average depth - 6 m, greatest depth - 210 m.
The sea is cold and covered with an ice crust from September to May. But a large number of seals, beluga whales, and cod live here.
The Pechora reservoir is famous for the fact that the first Arctic oil was found here on the Russian shelf. This is the Prirazlomnoye field, where oil production is already underway. Three more fields are being developed.
The sea is named after the Pechora River, the only large river that flows into the Barents Sea.
Washes west bank Greenland. The hydronym has many synonyms: Baffin Bay, Bilot Bay. The area of the sea is 689 thousand sq. km, the average depth is 861 m.
The sea is named after the English navigator William Baffin, who was one of the first to compile a detailed description of the water area. Although the honor of discovering the Baffin Sea belongs to another Englishman - John Davis.
In winter, the sea is covered with floating ice; only in the south there remains a small strip of water free from ice.
The sea is almost entirely located beyond the Arctic Circle, so Arctic flora and fauna predominate here. But the proximity of the warm waters of the Atlantic affects the diversity of the underwater world. Numerous mollusks, crustaceans, more than 60 species of fish, pinnipeds, bowhead whales, polar bears and walruses live here. Baffin Sea - native home beluga whales In polar waters you can also find an ice shark, whose size reaches 5-6 meters.
- one of the smallest Russian seas, located between the continent and the Kola Peninsula. The area of the sea is 90 thousand sq. km, the average depth is 67 m.
This sea has been known since ancient times. It was called Cold, Northern, Calm, White Bay, Snake Bay and Gandvik. Already in the 11th century, fish and fur were mined here; in the 14th century, the first large settlement appeared - Kholmogory, which became the first Russian international port. Most of the sea trade routes connecting Russia and Europe lay here. The importance of the sea as a transport route decreased after the founding of St. Petersburg.
The entire water area is conventionally divided into several parts, each of which has its own name: Gorlo (Girlo), Basin, Kandalaksha Bay, Funnel, Mezen Bay, Dvina Bay, Onega Bay. Individual parts of the coast also have their own names.
Separates Canada's Northwest Territories and Alaska. Area - 476 thousand sq. km, average depth - 1004 m.
This marginal sea has a harsh climate. There is ice here all year round, only in August - September part of the sea is briefly freed from ice captivity.
The sea is located far from the main shipping routes, so it is an excellent habitat for whales and beluga whales. In addition, there are more than 70 species of phytoplankton, about 80 species of zooplankton and almost 700 species of crustaceans.
But the main wealth of the Beaufort Sea is oil deposits. The first oil production platform became operational back in 1986.
The sea is named after the famous British hydrographer Francis Beaufort, the same one who developed a scale for measuring wind speed.
Located off the southwest coast of Greenland.
This body of water is still little studied, since most of the time it is covered with ice, and the coast is difficult to access. The sea is rarely indicated on maps, and only a couple of lines are written about it in dictionaries and atlases. It is known that the sea was named after the polar explorer and explorer from Denmark K.F. Vandelya. Although sometimes this sea is called the McKinley Sea.
The inaccessibility for development and the severity of the climate, in turn, had a very beneficial effect on the environment. All species of the Arctic natural world are represented here, and some populations are preserved in their original form.
- Russian water area located between Wrangel Island and the New Siberian Islands. Area - 944 thousand sq. km, average depth - 66 m. The official name was proposed by Yu. M. Shokalsky and legalized in a decree of 1935. Before that it was called differently: Indigirskoye, Kolymskoye (in honor of the rivers that flow into the sea ).
The sea is located in the Arctic, so it has a harsh climate and low temperatures. The sea is covered with ice all year round; in summer the ice crust disappears briefly, but the floating ice drifts for several years.
Here is the northernmost port of Russia - Pevek, which received the status of the first city beyond the Arctic Circle. And since 1932, the Northern Sea Route has stretched across the entire sea.
Spread between Iceland, Greenland and Spitsbergen. Named after the largest peninsula on our planet. This is one of the largest and deepest seas in the Arctic Ocean. The area is 1.2 million sq. km, the average depth is 1444 m, the greatest reaches 4846 m (according to other sources - 5527 m).
There are two currents in the sea - the cold East Greenland and the warm Spitsbergen. But, despite the proximity of the Atlantic and the warm current, the Greenland Sea has a harsh climate. In winter, most of the reservoir is hidden under ice, making navigation impossible.
This sea is one of the largest fishing areas in the entire World Ocean. Popular commercial fish species include herring, cod, pollock, and haddock.
Prince Gustav Adolf Sea and Crown Prince Gustav Sea
Prince Gustav Adolf Sea- a small body of water located between the islands of the Canadian Arctic archipelago.
The sea is named after the Swedish prince Gustav Adolf, who later occupied the Swedish throne and was called Gustav VI. And the sea was named in honor of the prince by the Norwegian polar explorer Otto Sverdrup during the Norwegian Arctic expedition of 1898-1902.
In Russian cartography, this sea is often referred to as the Prince Gustav August Strait.
The Earth's magnetic north pole is located in the southern part of the sea.
The shores of the sea are little studied, as is the water area itself. The islands are still uninhabited. And the fact that most of the year the sea is hidden under ice makes navigation very difficult. Therefore, there are no sea routes here, but the nature has been preserved in its original form.
Sea of Crown Prince Gustav- the northwestern part of the Prince Gustav Adolf Sea. The climate, ecology and natural world are the same as in the neighboring sea: ice, poor flora and fauna, uninhabited coasts and cold.
Posted Tue, 19/05/2015 - 08:23 by Cap
Many scientific secrets and mysteries of the Arctic Ocean, which worried the best minds of past generations, have been left as a legacy to our era. One of them is climate fluctuations and the influence of the Arctic on weather in temperate latitudes. It has long been noticed that from time to time cold air masses from the Arctic spread south. Some of these invasions reach the Black Sea coast at the speed of a train and dramatically worsen the weather there.
During such periods, it can be rightly said that the Arctic Ocean is the “key of weather” for a significant part of our country. However, this “weather key” does not always work. There are also periods when the Arctic experiences powerful invasions of warmer air masses from the North Atlantic Ocean.
Meteorologists have surrounded the Arctic Ocean with a network of weather stations and are continuously monitoring weather changes. Their task is to reveal the reasons why the Arctic either becomes or ceases to be a “weather key” for temperate latitudes, and learn to predict in advance the frequency and power of Arctic invasions of the continents.
Arctic Ocean map 
Another mystery of the Arctic Ocean is the distribution of waters of different origins and changes in currents. The work of our scientists has already made it possible to find out where and what kind of waters lie, in what ways they spread. Now we need to find out at what speed they move and how the speed of currents can change in different years and seasons.
Third the most important task- disclosure of the laws of changes in ice conditions in the Arctic seas. This is very important for navigation in ice.
Our scientists have created interesting industry science - the science of ice forecasts, which makes it possible to calculate the ice situation in the seas in advance. What a fascinating thing it is to follow the ice, its movement, growth and melting, consolidation and rarefaction. Scientists make these observations in the Arctic from aboard a transport vessel, cautiously approaching the ice; from a special expedition ship or icebreaker boldly invading the kingdom of ice; from the shore of the mainland or a distant island, lost in the vastness of the sea. Recently, they are increasingly taking to the air by plane and inspecting vast areas of the seas in a few hours.
Observations of the behavior of ice are also carried out in quiet rooms, in which desks There are multi-colored maps with ice conditions drawn on them. Information about it has just been brought by a radiotelegraph connecting the office with the polar station, expedition, ship and plane. And it is quite understandable to feel proud of the successes of our science when scientists, having calculated possible changes in ice, indicate the time when ships enter the route and their route, bypassing the heaviest accumulations of ice.
There are others scientific problems in the fields of geography, geophysics and oceanology, which scientists are working on. Now the development of mining in the Northern region is becoming very urgent.
IN last years many countries have gained interest in the Arctic.
This is mainly due to the fact that huge reserves of oil and gas have been explored here. According to preliminary data, the Arctic contains about 100 billion tons of oil and about 50 trillion. cubic meters of gas. This was the reason that oil-producing countries began to actively explore new fields and develop open fields. As a result, a conflict between Russia and Norway over ownership zones even arose. In 2010, Russia and Norway were forced to conclude an agreement on the division of borders in Russia, but the disputes have not yet subsided.
In 2014, Gazprom already began oil production on the Arctic shelf. In 2014, almost 300 thousand tons of oil were produced, and in general, by 2020, it is planned to expand oil production to 6 million tons per year. The issue of gas production in the Arctic remains open, but scientists from many countries are working on it. Currently, several expeditions are operating in the Arctic Ocean. Some of them are not entirely scientific. Most often, their task is to create conditions for the deployment of military contingents that can influence the political situation in the Arctic. So American submarines are increasingly appearing in
In response to these claims, Russia is also not standing still. Over the past couple of years, the presence of Russian armed forces has begun to be restored in the Arctic. For this purpose, several old ones are being reactivated and new bases are being built. Thus, the base on Kotelny Island was completely reconstructed, where a practically new military camp and an airfield were built, which had not functioned for 27 years, where Russian Air Force aircraft will be on duty around the clock. The restoration of the Russian military base on the New Siberian Islands has begun, where the presence of the Russian Navy will be ensured on a permanent basis.
The Rogachevo military base and airfield on Novaya Zemlya are being restored and reconstructed. MiG-31 fighters will be stationed here to reliably cover the airborne northern borders of the Russian Federation. The use of a former nuclear test site in the south of the archipelago is being reviewed.
Seas
The area of the seas, bays and straits of the Arctic Ocean is 10.28 million km² (70% of the total ocean area), the volume is 6.63 million km³ (37%).
Marginal seas (from west to east): Chukchi Sea, Beaufort Sea, Lincoln Sea, Greenland Sea, Norwegian Sea. Inland seas: White Sea, Baffin Sea. The largest bay is Hudson Bay.
Beaufort Sea
The Beaufort Sea is a northern sea with a fairly harsh climate with a unique hydro-regime and stunning icy landscapes.
The Beaufort Sea is located between the Canadian Arctic Archipelago to the east and the Chukchi Sea to the west.
It washes the northern coast of Canada and the USA (Alaska Peninsula). This sea was named after the famous English admiral Francis Beaufort. In general, the Beaufort Sea in its physiological and oceanographic parameters does not differ from the Arctic Basin and is an integral part of it. But historically, the name of the sea has firmly established itself behind it.
The Beaufort Sea lies partly on the continental shelf. It stretches along coastline. In addition, this shelf is the narrowest of all continental shelves among the seas of the Arctic basin. Its width is only 50 kilometers. Ice underwater in the Beaufort Sea - more-boforta-led-pod-vodoiBeyond its borders, a sharp decline in the ocean floor begins. The decrease occurs to a level of 3940 meters. This is the deepest point of the Canadian Basin. Along the coast, the shelf is dotted with small islands, mainly consisting of gravel, whose height above sea level does not exceed a few meters. Their sizes and outlines are also not constant. They change under the influence crushing ice and strong coastal currents.
Hirshal and Barter are among the largest of these islands. Their area is 19 and 14 square kilometers, respectively. Many features in the behavior of microrelief continental shelf The Beaufort Sea and the Chukchi Rise are explained through the erosive activity of ice, as well as erosion during the Quaternary glaciation phenomena. The shelf is divided into 4 sections by three bottom valleys. The largest in area is Alaska. It reaches a width of 45 kilometers and begins at Cape Barrow.
Three major rivers flow into the Beaufort Sea: Anderson, Colville and Mackenzie. A huge number of small rivers flowing into the sea carry copious amounts of sediment into coastal areas and estuaries, which ultimately significantly influences oceanography. A variety of geological and aeromagnetic data suggest that the bottom of the Beaufort Basin consists almost entirely of a thick layer of sedimentary deposits with a crystalline basement. There is a slope of the foundation towards the East. Depression also forms, the cause is the effect of sedimentation load.
Hydrological regime of the Beaufort Sea
In the Canadian Basin and the Beaufort Basin, a cyclonic water cycle occurs. It quite strongly influences the entire water circulation system in the sea. At a great distance from the coast, the current speed of the cyclonic gyre reaches up to 2-4 kilometers per day. However, those currents that are directed along the coasts of Canada and Alaska are changeable, because they depend on the behavior and nature of local winds. Other clockwise currents bring huge masses of multi-year ice to the coast. This phenomenon makes navigation limited by certain deadlines. It is very short and long in the second half of August - September. This fact has a huge impact on the study of the Beaufort Sea and explains the small amount of observational data in this area.
In the sea area, four main water masses can be distinguished. Seasonal changes can be observed in the surface layer of Arctic waters. Temperature and salinity change. It depends on the melting and freezing of pack ice. Below the surface layer, a stable and uniform distribution of salinity and temperature can be observed throughout the year. The thickness of the water in the surface Arctic layer is approximately 100 meters. Among all water masses, this one stands out as the coldest. average temperature it does not rise to 1.4 degrees Celsius below zero in the summer months, and to minus 1.7 in the winter. Salinity in winter is up to 32 ppm. Under this layer there is another, warmer layer. It is a Pacific intermediate body of water that enters the Beaufort Sea through the Bering Strait. This creates unique conditions among the water columns of the World Ocean.
Below the intermediate Pacific water mass there is another - the Atlantic. The depth of its location is approximately 500-700 meters. These waters are the warmest. Their average temperature is 0 degrees, and sometimes reaches 1 degree Celsius. Salinity remains equal to the salinity of deep waters and averages 35 ppm. The temperature at a depth of 500 meters reaches 0 degrees. Then it decreases with depth. At a depth of 900 meters, bottom waters begin. The salinity of this water mass is uniform and practically does not change. Most of the area of the Beaufort Sea is covered by floating ice. But every summer, the coastal areas of Canada and Alaska are free of ice.
You understand that tourism and excursions in the Beaufort region are not particularly developed, but if you have to visit, then have a safe trip!
Greenland Sea
The Greenland Sea belongs to the oceanic marginal sea, which is rich not only in its history, but also one of the largest fishing areas in the entire World Ocean.
Some scientists continue to argue that this body of water belongs to the Atlantic Ocean, and not the Arctic Ocean. Note that the North Ocean has very arbitrary boundaries.
For the first time this sea began to be explored in the 70s of the last century. After this, the number of research expeditions in this direction increased. Russians, Norwegians, and Icelanders visited the shores of the pool.
The total area of the reservoir is 1.205 million square meters. km. A more detailed description of the sea was made in 1909 by the Norwegian explorer Fridtjof Nansen. As for the islands washed by the Greenland Sea, Greenland is considered the largest of them.
Islands such as Iceland, the Spitsbergen archipelago and Jan Mayen, famous among polar scientists, are of particular interest to tourists. If the infrastructure on the archipelago is still developed, but only scientists live on Jan Mayen, monitoring meteorological stations and radio communications.
Three others are adjacent to the sea - Barents and Norwegian with Vandel. One of the straits runs between the Spitsbergen archipelago and Bear Island. Thanks to Denmark Strait The Greenland Sea has access to the Atlantic Ocean.
Greenland Sea photo The Greenland Sea is only part of a single basin, to which the Norwegian Sea is also adjacent. Both reservoirs have a not entirely smooth topography. Moreover, both basins are united by a single mid-ocean ridge framed by basins. The latter are formed with the help of continental slopes and shelves belonging not only to the northwestern part of Europe, but also to East Greenland.
The average depth of the seabed is 1640 m, but the lowest point is at a depth of 5527 m. The surface of the reservoir is covered most of the time with drifting ice. This is especially true for the central and northern parts of the Greenland Sea, where modern shipping faces quite serious obstacles to movement.
The washed islands have mostly rocky shores with a fairly rugged shore structure. Visiting travelers can admire small bays, picturesque fjords and equally beautiful bays. It is in these places that tourists most often observe the so-called “bird colonies” of seabirds.
The Greenland Sea basin is noticeably isolated from other seas and water basins, especially at great depths. This separation is due to the presence of underwater uplifts. Their dimensions can reach 2000 m. The Icelandic-Greenland threshold does not allow the Denmark Strait to go into the deeper regions of the North Atlantic. And the elevations located in the northwestern part of the Spitsbergen archipelago act as a separator between the Greenland Sea basin and the ocean basin.
Hydrological regime of the Greenland Sea
Cold currents predominate in this region, although warm ones such as the Gulf Stream also occur. As a result of this natural feature, the water flow in the central part of the sea moves counterclockwise. Very often the waters are choppy due to strong winds. Fogs and icebergs moving in a southerly direction are considered a frequent phenomenon here.
As for the structure of water, it is divided into several types at once. One of the largest is the East Greenland type, which has become widespread throughout the eastern side of Greenland. The coldest waters belong to the Arctic Ocean - their temperature can reach -1.30. The warmest should be considered intermediate waters, whose temperature is 1.50 and salinity is 35 ‰. In deep waters, the salinity level is almost the same as on the surface of the sea.
Flora and fauna of the Greenland Sea
A striking representative of the flora of this sea is various types of plankton. In addition to these organisms, coastal algae and diatoms are often found. Thanks to the rich food environment in the sea, cetaceans thrive well: dolphins, killer whales, giant whales, etc.
In addition to the above-mentioned animals, seals, polar bears, hooded seals, reindeer and musk oxen can be observed in this area. Among the fish world of the Greenland Sea, it is worth highlighting sea bass, representatives of the cod and herring families, as well as several species of sharks - Greenland, katran and giant. Some scientists have suggested that the most ancient species of the shark family, the frilled shark, may live in the sea.
If desired, fans of extreme tourism can watch whaling and bird colonies. You can also book a sea excursion or fishing trip as a service.
Vandel Sea
The Vandel Sea (unofficial name) is the most mysterious body of water in the Arctic. Its research is still difficult to this day, and there are many “blank spots” in the history of this water area.
Vandel Sea (McKinley) photo The sea itself is located between two capes called Nordostrunningen and Peary Land. Its waters wash the shores of the Spitsbergen archipelago, as well as the islands of Greenland. In addition, the water area is adjacent to such bodies of water as the Greenland Sea and the Lincoln Sea. As for the northern boundaries of the water area, it does not have them as such. This reservoir belongs to one of the basins of the Arctic Ocean.
The discovery of the reservoir occurred as a result of another polar expedition, during which the coastal areas of the island of Greenland were thoroughly examined. This event was headed by the famous polar explorer and hydrographer named Karl Frederick Wandel. The open sea was named in his honor.
In the second half of the 20th century, several more attempts were made to study the area. The last expedition took place in 2008, but no significant progress was made in the study of the water area. For the same reason, the McKinley Sea cannot be found on all geographical maps. Even if it is possible to find any information about him, it is very scarce and is limited to only a couple of lines.
Also on the territory of the reservoir there are two large bays, which are also fjords. Their names are quite unusual - Independence and Danmark. The total area of the sea is about 57 thousand square meters. km.
This issue is also poorly studied, like other geographical characteristics of the reservoir. You are unlikely to find such a sea not only in the Arctic region, but throughout the entire World Ocean.
The main problem in studying the water area is that its surface is almost completely covered with ice, and getting into this area is not as easy for researchers as in the case of other seas in the Arctic region.
Scientists suggest that average depths vary between 100-300 meters. Researchers are also inclined to think that the reservoir is currently considered almost the deepest in these parts.
As for the bottom itself, it is a kind of underwater cornice, located in front of two large basins - Amundsen and Nansen.
In terms of its climatic conditions, this water area is very close to the climate prevailing in the inland waters of Antarctica. Almost all year round, the surface of the reservoir is covered with an ice crust, the thickness of which in some cases reaches 15 meters! Something similar is extremely difficult to find in other bodies of water in the Arctic Ocean.
The water temperature here generally does not reach zero and even in summer can remain low. It is not for nothing that the McKinley Sea is called the harshest region of the Arctic. Unfortunately, nothing more is known about the other features of these waters.
Flora and fauna of the Vandel Sea
The local region remains extremely inaccessible to researchers and anyone wishing to explore this inhospitable area. Thanks to the harsh climatic features, all living organisms living in the Arctic natural world are safely preserved. Environmental problems not observed here either.
On the surface of the waters here you can often spot a polar bear, seal or beluga whale. Harp seals are also not uncommon in this area. It is also worth noting that in the Vandel Sea there is a huge number of different organisms of plant and animal origin - plankton. It is these representatives of the living world that are the main food for the fish living here.
By the way, there are more than 100 species of the latter in this region, and many of them include invertebrates. Algae live on the southern coasts of the sea. The main types of commercial fish include flounder, horse mackerel, catfish, sea bass, haddock, mackerel and many others. etc.
However, let us immediately stipulate that the fishery here has not been put on a massive scale only for the simple reason that even icebreakers find it difficult to pass through the ice barrier that lies in a thick layer on the sea surface.
Despite this, the most intrepid travelers are not averse to entertaining themselves from time to time with fishing from the shore or motor boat. Some tour operators even offer their clients to go on such an extreme type of holiday as entertainment.
Perhaps the only attraction of this region is the scientific research and military base under the very apt name Nord. You can also enjoy the noisy calls coming from the local bird colonies. The main species of birds that can be observed here are kittiwake gulls, guillemots and guillemots.
Islands
In terms of the number of islands, the Arctic Ocean ranks second after the Pacific Ocean. In the ocean there is (2175.6 thousand km²) the second largest archipelago: the Canadian Arctic Archipelago (1372.6 thousand km², including the largest islands: Baffin Island, Ellesmere, Victoria, Banks, Devon, Melville, Axel-Heiberg, Southampton , Prince of Wales, Somerset, Prince Patrick, Bathurst, King William, Bylot, Ellef-Ringnes).
The largest islands and archipelagos: , North-Eastern Land), New Siberian Islands (Kotelny Island), ), Kong Oscar Islands, Kolguev Island, Milna Land, Vaygach Island.
Back at the beginning of the 17th century. Henry Hudson, William Baffin and other explorers penetrated very high latitudes in search of the Northwest Sea Route. However, the idea of organizing an expedition to the North Pole arose much later. Initially, attempts were made to find a path to the pole from the Greenland Sea, and then the search was carried out mainly from the area of Smith Bay and Kennedy Strait between Ellesmere Island and Greenland. During the British Arctic Expedition of 1875-1876, George Nurse managed to guide the ships Discovery and Alert to the edge of thick pack ice. In 1893, Norwegian explorer Fridtjof Nansen's ship, the Fram, froze into sea ice in the northern Russian Arctic and drifted with it into the Arctic Ocean.
Fridtjof Nansen 
When the Fram was closest to the Pole, Nansen and his companion Frederik Johansen tried to reach the North Pole, but, having reached 86 ° 14 "N, were forced to turn back. In 1898, Otto Sverdrup (participating in Nansen's expedition) landed in the central part of the eastern coast of Ellesmere Island, where he spent the first of four winterings in high latitudes. During his expeditions, maps of vast areas of the Arctic were drawn up, but the American admiral Robert Peary set himself such a task. In 1898, he wintered on. aboard his ship Windward, almost 100 km north of the point reached by Sverdrup on the Fram. Another American, Dr. Frederick Cook, claimed to have reached the Pole in 1908. Peary claimed to have reached the Pole on April 6, 1909, with his black servant. Matt Hanson and four Eskimos It is currently believed that neither Cook nor Peary actually managed to visit the Pole.
Russian polar explorer - Georgy Sedov
Subsequent expeditions.
In the first half of the 20th century. expeditions to the Arctic were carried out for both scientific and sporting purposes. The Canadian government, in order to assert its power, organized patrols and created police posts on the Arctic islands. In 1926, American Admiral Richard E. Byrd left the base on Spitsbergen for the first time and returned back.
Somewhat later, Byrd, American explorer Lincoln Ellsworth and Italian aviator Umberto Nobile crossed the Arctic Ocean through the North Pole to Alaska on the airship Norway. In 1928, Hubert H. Wilkins and pilot Carl Ben Eielson flew in the opposite direction - from Alaska to Spitsbergen. Two successful flights from the USSR to the USA across the Arctic Ocean were carried out by Soviet pilots in 1936-1937, but the third attempt turned out to be fatal: the pilot S.A. Levanevsky, along with the plane, disappeared without a trace in the icy expanses of the Arctic. In 1937, under the leadership of I.D. Papanin, a polar scientific expedition of a new type was organized. Together with his companions I.P. Shirshov (hydrobiologist), E.K. Fedorov (geophysicist) and E.T. Krenkel (radio operator), he was landed near the pole on a drifting ice floe, on which a tent camp was built. During this expedition, regular meteorological and geophysical measurements and hydrobiological observations were carried out, and measurements of the sea depths were taken. After a 9-month drift, the detachment was picked up by the Soviet icebreakers "Taimyr" and "Murman" near Jan Mayen Island. Since the 1950s, many similar drifting stations have operated in the Arctic Ocean. The governments of the USA, Canada and the USSR organized long-term research bases on large ice islands, where the ice thickness reached 50 m.
Roald Amundsen
Modern Arctic.
In North America - in Alaska, Canada and Greenland, thanks to the creation of meteorological and military early warning radar stations, new jobs have opened up for many local residents. The construction and maintenance of these stations entailed the development of air and sea communications using icebreakers. Communication systems have improved significantly. Today, receiving a television signal from a satellite is possible in almost all settlements.
Various government programs and administrative measures are aimed at expanding the network of permanent settlements and gradually eliminating small settlements. Growing interest in the Arctic regions is leading to increased political tension over their status. In the early 1950s, the Canadian government established police posts and built two Inuit settlements, Resolute and Gris Fiord, in the high Arctic to assert its sovereignty. Canada's sovereignty over the waters between the islands of the Canadian Arctic Archipelago has been disputed by the United States. Economic interests, which previously concentrated mainly on the harvesting of marine animals, gradually shifted to the field of mineral exploration, especially oil and natural gas. In the 1970s and 1980s, Norway, the USSR, the USA, Canada and Denmark began large-scale research programs natural resources. Huge projects were carried out in the USSR, and following the discovery of a large oil and gas basin in northern Alaska, the Trans-Alaska oil pipeline was built.
Modern technologies for extracting large volumes of oil and gas were introduced in the Canadian Arctic, but then production had to be abruptly curtailed as world energy prices fell below the minimum level at which the use of expensive equipment is justified from an economic point of view.
Waves in the Arctic seas depend on wind patterns and glacial conditions. In general, the ice regime in the Arctic Ocean is unfavorable for the development of wave processes. The White Sea is an exception. In winter, stormy phenomena develop here, during which wave heights in the open sea reach 10-11 m. In the Kara Sea, waves of 1.5-2.5 m have the greatest frequency, in the fall sometimes up to 3 m. With north-eastern winds in the East In the Siberian Sea, the wave height does not exceed 2-2.5 m, with a north-west wind in rare cases reaching 4 m. In July - August the waves are weak, but in the fall storms occur with a maximum wave height of up to 7 m. In the southern part of the sea there are powerful waves may be observed until early November. In the Canadian Basin, significant disturbances are possible in the summer in the Baffin Sea, where they are associated with stormy southeasterly winds. In the North European basin, strong storm waves are possible throughout the year, associated in winter with western and southwestern winds, and in summer - mainly with northern and northeastern winds. Maximum height waves of the southern part Norwegian Sea can reach 10-12 m.
It hardly needs to be said that this was a poorly explored area, about which there was debate among scientists for a long time. Some of them insisted that there was unknown earth Garissa, a semblance of the mythical Land of Sannikov, others - that there is no life here at all, others that, on the contrary, there is life on Garissa Land. Only in April 1941, the famous pilot I. Cherevichny made unprecedented landings of his plane in this area directly on an ice field, establishing that there was no land here. Further research in this area was interrupted by the Great Patriotic War.
And now, 45 years later, the vast region adjacent to the Pole of Inaccessibility, in the difficult conditions of the polar night with severe cold, overcoming numerous leads and cracks masked by snow along the way, was crossed from east to west by D. Shparo’s expedition.
“The Pole of Inaccessibility has become accessible,” the daredevils announced on their radio station on February 15. “Its coordinates are 84 degrees north and 175 degrees west.” After a brief respite, the brave researchers moved to the final destination of their route - the North Pole 27 station, which they reached on March 7. So, 11 brave ones once again proved that long journeys on drifting ice in the very heart of the Arctic, after appropriate preparation, are possible at any time of the year. Another geographical page has been written in the history of the development of the North.
And in 1988, D. Shparo, at the head of a group of Russian and Canadian skiers, completed another unusual, this time the longest, trans-Arctic super marathon from the shores of Russia through the North Pole to the shores of Canada. After lengthy training to determine the final composition, an international group of 9 Russians and 4 Canadian skiers, led by D. Shparo, left the Arctic Cape on Sredny Island in the New Siberian Islands group and set off on an unprecedented trans-Arctic passage to the Canadian Cape Columbia on Ellesmere Island. For the first time, they had to overcome over 1800 km of icy desert.
The group this time included 13 people: doctor Maxwell Buxton, engineer Alexander Belyaev, engineer Richard Weber, priest Lawrence Dexter, artist Fyodor Konyukhov, researcher Vladimir Ledenev, doctor Mikhail Malakhov, engineers Anatoly Melnikov and Anatoly Fedyakov, mathematician Yuri Khmelevsky, programmer Christopher Halloway, worker Vasily Shishkarev and teacher at the Moscow Institute of Steel and Alloys Dmitry Shparo.
Thus began the “construction” of a polar bridge between the Eurasian and North American continents, between the former USSR and Canada. Each of them had an oversized backpack weighing more than 50 kg behind their shoulders. In addition, the harsh northern weather showed all its “charms” from the first days of the hike. At first, a hopeless arctic snowstorm swirled, and then sunny weather set in with frosts of 30 degrees C and a “fresh” tailwind pushing at our backs. From time to time we had to overcome numerous hummocks. On April 25, the brave souls reached an intermediate milestone - the North Geographic Pole, where they were given a warm, solemn welcome by numerous members of the public who had flown here. Naturally, such a difficult journey of almost one and a half months was not without difficulties: skis broke, some people were frostbitten... but the temperature rose to -15 degrees Celsius.
A rally took place at the pole, after which, according to established tradition, holding hands, everyone set off to " trip around the world"around earth's axis. A box with a “Kyiv” cake and flowers was dropped from an AN-74 plane by parachute.
The address of the participants of the trans-Arctic expedition to the people of the Earth said: “We represent different countries, different peoples, different political systems... But we are united common goal. We have the same tent, we eat the same food, we are exposed to the same difficulties, we lay the same ski trail. We have one common goal: to unite two continents, two countries - Russia and Canada - through dear friendship. We are at the North Pole. May this wonderful point always unite and not divide people, unite and not divide countries. Let the Arctic become a place of good cooperation, and the North Pole be a pole of friendship. May peace reign on Earth."
After a two-day rest, on April 29, the brave travelers began their journey from the top of the planet to the south, to the shores of Canada.
Ship 50 Years of Victory at the North Pole
“It will be easier for you to walk now,” they were told as parting words. - “If before you went uphill, now you go downhill.”
The sun shone all day and night. It's warmer. Frosts did not exceed 10, and sometimes even 5 degrees C. But much more often there appeared ice holes that had to be avoided, and this led to surprises on the routes. In addition, the group was drifting to the west and constantly had to make adjustments while covering extra kilometers.
When there were only a few tens of kilometers left to the Earth, a message was received that there was a wide strip ahead clean water. This threatened significant difficulties for the expedition members. After all, they only had one rescue boat and a small shuttle. However, fortunately, no boats were needed - the ice fields closed together, however, forming high hummocks. On June 1, the participants in the trans-Arctic crossing reached the Canadian island of Ward Hunt, which somewhat lengthened the route, successfully overcoming the icy desert.
In assessing this unusual expedition, in our opinion, much can begin with the words “for the first time.”
For the first time, almost two thousand kilometers were skied on drifting ice on one route.
For the first time in the history of human exploration of the Arctic, a ski track connected two opposite continents - the Western and Eastern Hemispheres.
A unique complex was completed for the first time medical research with the participation of scientific centers of two countries - Russia and Canada.
Unity, friendship and mutual assistance reigned among the members of the expedition, and the language barrier was successfully overcome.
Thus, the unprecedented ski crossing from Russia to Canada worthily completed the many years of Arctic epics led by D. Shparo.
A glorious feat was accomplished by the young participants of another polar transcontinental expedition. On November 6, 1982, from Cape Uelen, located on the Chukotka Peninsula, in the extreme east of Eurasia on the shores of the Bering Strait, separating the continents of Eurasia and North America, six travelers set off on dog sleds heading west. In addition to its leader S. Samoilov, research fellow Ural branch Academy of Sciences, it included P. Ardeev, Yu. Borisikhin, V. Karpov, V. Rybin and P. Smolin.
For the first time, they had to cover a long distance of 10 thousand km, moving west along the Arctic coast of Russia all the way to Murmansk. And all this in the harsh Arctic winter with its frosts, often with strong winds, and partly during the polar night. Nevertheless, the best time was chosen for the expedition. After all, in the summer, due to countless swamps, lakes and rivers devoid of ice cover, and clouds of annoying and predatory midge insects, it would be impossible to be here, and even to overcome such long distances. All-terrain vehicles would not be able to withstand such a long journey, and besides, they would need huge stock fuel. Therefore, the most reliable and trouble-free mode of transport was chosen - dog sleds. But how will these devoted animals behave under long-term conditions? constant movement? The circumstances were further complicated by the fact that typical townspeople, members of the expeditionary detachment, with the exception of one P. Ardeev, had no experience in driving sledges. But people and dogs quickly became friends and understood each other well. As full members of the expedition, the animals, together with people, courageously overcame all the difficulties that arose during the unusual journey.
The travelers walked a significant part of the route, helping the dogs drag heavy sleds on difficult sections of the route, and when the snow reached their chests and the frost reached -45 degrees C, they moved ahead on skis, paving the way for the dog sleds.
During one of these transitions, the doctor of the group, V. Rybin, had a special insulating mask frozen to his face so tightly that he had to take it off... along with his skin.
At times, when due to the whirlwind of snow, visibility at arm's length completely disappeared, dogs came to the rescue.
Using the experience of the local population, the members of the expedition ate the same food all the time: they ate raw planed fish, cut into pieces the meat of walruses, ringed seals, and seals. Even at a temperature of -46 degrees C and a wind speed of 24-25 m per second, they never used tents and slept with the animals in the open air, burying themselves in the snow where possible. But this did not always save us from the cold. After about an hour I had to get up and dance the traditional “tap dance”.
In addition, it was necessary to take care of the dogs all the time, cover them with a blanket of snow so that they would not freeze, inspect whether any of them were tangled in the lines, or simply support them with affection. And like this every night. With several “dance breaks” and taking care of the “little brothers”, the travelers slept only 3-4 hours. Once, during a severe snowstorm, they had to lie in the snow for more than a day and a half - a whole 38 hours! Clothes made from skins, the Nenets malitsa, helped them withstand the cold well. However, despite the difficulties of this hike, none of the travelers got sick. To prevent dogs from injuring their paws on the hard, icy snow crust, they often had to be “shoeed” in special soft boots. And with the onset of relative warmth, at the last stage of the journey from the mouth of the Pechora, it was necessary to change the sledges to special carts on wheels. Water obstacles were overcome in an inflatable boat. We crossed the White Sea by boat.
The main scientific goal of the expedition was medical and biological research into the condition of people and animals in extreme conditions when they were constantly under open air on months-long journeys. Therefore, the expedition members systematically kept diaries and observations of the behavior of their comrades and dogs.
Receiving a report on the successful completion of the transcontinental expedition on July 4, 1983 in Murmansk, the head of the organizing committee and inspirer of this expedition, the famous polar explorer, Doctor of Geographical Sciences I. D. Papanin noted the special courage of its participants. And indeed, having covered 10,000 km in 8 months (240 days), i.e., almost half the length of the Arctic Circle from the extreme east to the west along the Arctic coast of our country, and courageously overcoming difficulties, the young enthusiasts showed extraordinary determination in achieving the goal and continued their heroic traditions of Russian explorers. Such a long journey, and even in the unfavorable, harsh conditions of the Arctic, has never been accomplished by any expedition before. The transcontinental voyage, as well as the voyages on the ice of the Arctic Ocean by D. Shparo’s group, expanded the understanding of human capabilities.
MYSTERIOUS HYPERBOREA - ARCTIA
ARCTIA (Hyperborea) is a hypothetical ancient continent or large island that existed in the north of the Earth, near the North Pole and was inhabited by a once powerful civilization. The name is derived precisely from the location, Hyperborea is what is located in the far north, “behind the north wind Boreas,” in the Arctic. Until now, the fact of the existence of Arctida-Hyperborea had no confirmation, except for ancient Greek legends and the image of this landmass in old engravings, for example, on the map of Gerardus MERCATOR, published by his son Rudolf in 1595. This map depicts the legendary continent of Arctida in the center, with the coast around it Northern Ocean with easily recognizable modern islands and rivers.
By the way, this map itself raised many questions among researchers. For example, on this map, in the area near the mouth of the Ob, the inscription “Golden Woman” is placed. Is this really the same legendary miraculous statue, a symbol of knowledge and power that has been sought throughout Siberia for centuries? Its exact reference to the area is also given here - go and find it!
According to the descriptions of the same ancient Greek chroniclers, Arctida supposedly had a favorable climate, where 4 large rivers flowed out of the central sea (lake) and flowed into the ocean, thanks to which on the map Arctida looks like a “round shield with a cross.” The Hyperboreans, the inhabitants of Arctida, which was ideal in its structure, were especially loved by the god Apollo (his priests and servants existed in Arctida). According to some ancient schedule, Apollo appeared in these lands every time exactly 19 years. In general, the Hyperboreans were no less, and perhaps more, close to the gods than the “God-loved” Ethiopians, Phaeacians and Lotophagi. By the way, many Greek gods, the same Apollo, the also well-known Hercules, Perseus and other less famous heroes had one epithet - Hyperborean...
Perhaps this is also why life in happy Arctida, along with reverent prayers, was accompanied by songs, dances, feasts and general never-ending fun. In Arctida, even death occurred only from fatigue and satiety with life, more precisely from suicide - having experienced all types of pleasure and tired of life, the old Hyperboreans usually threw themselves into the sea.
The wise Hyperboreans owned a huge amount knowledge, the most advanced at that time. It was the people from these places, the Apollonian sages Abaris and Aristaeus (considered both servants and a hypostasis of Apollo), who taught the Greeks to compose poems and hymns, and for the first time discovered the basic wisdom, music, and philosophy. Under their leadership, the famous Delphic Temple was built... These teachers, as the chronicles reported, also owned the symbols of the god Apollo, including the arrow, raven, and laurel with miraculous powers.
The following legend has been preserved about Arctida: once its inhabitants presented the first harvest grown in these places to Apollo himself on Delos. But the girls sent with gifts were forcibly left on Delos, and some were even raped. After this, faced with the savagery of other peoples, the cultural Hyperboreans no longer went far from their land for the purpose of sacrifice, but deposited gifts on the border with neighboring country, and then before Apollo, other peoples carried gifts for a fee.
The historian of the Ancient World Pliny the Elder took the description of an unknown country very seriously. From his records the location of the little-known country is almost unambiguously traced. Getting to Arctida, according to Pliny, was difficult (for people, but not for the Hyperboreans, who could fly), but not so impossible, you just had to jump over some northern Hyperborean mountains: “Behind these mountains, on the other side of Aquilon, happy people... who are called Hyperboreans, reach very advanced years and are glorified by wonderful legends... The Sun shines there for six months, and this is only one day when the Sun does not hide... from spring equinox until autumn, the luminaries there rise only once a year at the summer solstice, and set only at the winter solstice... This country is entirely in the sun, has a favorable climate and is devoid of any harmful wind. The homes for these residents are groves and forests; the cult of the Gods is carried out by individuals and the whole society; Discord and all sorts of diseases are unknown there. Death comes there only from satiety with life... One cannot doubt the existence of this people..."
There is another indirect evidence of the former existence of a highly developed polar civilization. Seven years before Magellan's first circumnavigation of the world, the Turk Piri Reis drew up a map of the world, which indicated not only America and the Strait of Magellan, but also Antarctica, which Russian navigators were to discover only 300 years later...
The coastline and some details of the relief are presented on it with such precision that can only be achieved with aerial photography, or even shooting from space. The southernmost continent of the planet on the Piri Reis map is devoid of ice cover! It has rivers and mountains. The distances between the continents have been slightly changed, which confirms the fact of their drift. A short entry in the diaries of Piri Reis suggests that he compiled his map based on materials from the era of Alexander the Great. How did they know about Antarctica in the 4th century BC? By the way, in the 1970s, a Soviet Antarctic expedition established that the ice shell covering the continent is at least 20 thousand years old, which means that the age of the real primary source of information is at least 200 centuries.
And if so, then it turns out that when the map was compiled, perhaps there was a developed civilization on Earth that, in such ancient times, was able to achieve such colossal successes in cartography? The best contender for the best cartographers of that time could be the Hyperboreans, fortunately they also lived at the pole, only not at the south, but at the north, which, let us recall, were both free from ice and cold at that time. The ability to fly that the Hyperboreans had made it possible to fly from pole to pole. Perhaps this explains the mystery of why the original map was drawn up as if the observer were in Earth orbit...
But soon, as we already know, the polar cartographers died or disappeared, and the polar regions were covered with ice... Where do their further traces lead? It is believed that the highly developed civilization of Hyperborea, which perished as a result of a climate cataclysm, left behind descendants in the form of the Aryans, and they, in turn, the Slavs and Russians...
The search for Hyperborea is akin to the search for the lost Atlantis, with the only difference that a part of the land still remains from the sunken Hyperborea - this is the north of present-day Russia. However, unclear interpretations (this is our own private opinion) allow us to say that Atlantis and Hyperborea could actually be one and the same continent... Whether this is true or not, to some extent future expeditions should approach the solution to the great mystery. In the north of Russia, numerous geological parties have repeatedly encountered traces of the activity of the ancients, however, none of them purposefully set as their goal the search for the Hyperboreans.
In 1922, in the area of Seydozero and Lovozero in Murmansk region an expedition led by Barchenko and Kondiaina took place, which was engaged in ethnographic, psychophysical and simply geographical studies. By chance or not, the search engines came across a strange manhole going underground. The scientists were unable to penetrate inside - a strange, unaccountable fear, an almost tangible horror, literally bursting out from the black throat, was in the way.
One local resident said that “it felt like you were being skinned alive!” A collective photograph has been preserved [published in NG-nauka, October 1997], in which 13 members of the expedition were photographed next to the mystical hole. After returning to Moscow, the materials of the expedition were very carefully studied, including at Lubyanka. It’s hard to believe, but A. Barchenko’s expedition was personally supported by Felix DZERDZHINSKY even at the preparation stage. And this was during the most hungry years for Soviet Russia, immediately after the end civil war! Which indirectly suggests that not all the goals of the expedition are known to us reliably. It is now difficult to figure out exactly what Barchenko went to Seydozero for; the leader was repressed and shot, and the materials he obtained were never published.
In the 1990s, Doctor of Philosophy Valery Nikitich DEMIN drew attention to the very scant memories that have reached us about Barchenko’s finds, and when he studied local legends in detail and compared them with Greek ones, he came to the conclusion that we must look here!
The places are truly amazing; Seydozero still evokes awe or at least respect among local residents. Just a century or two ago, its southern shore was the most honorable place for burial in a stone grave for shamans and other respected members of the Sami people. For them, the name Seydozer and the afterlife paradise were simply one and the same. Here, even fishing was allowed only one day a year... In Soviet times, the area north of the lake was considered strategic raw material base, large reserves of rare earth metals were discovered here. Now Seydozero and Lovozero are famous for the frequent appearance of various anomalous phenomena, and even... a small tribe of snow people who were extremely rampant in the local taiga...
In 1997-1999, in the same place, under the leadership of V. Demin, searches were again undertaken, only this time for the remains of the ancient civilization of Arctida. And the news was not long in coming. So far, during the expeditions "Hyperborea-97" and "Hyperborea-98" the following were found: several destroyed ancient buildings, including a stone "observatory" on Mount Ninchurt, a stone "road", "staircase", "Etruscan anchor", a well under Mount Kuamdespahk; some artificial ancient products were selected (for example, a repairman from Revda, Alexander FEDOTOV, found a strange metal “matryoshka doll” in the Chivruay gorge); Several images of the “trident”, “lotus” were studied, as well as the giant (70 m) rock cross-shaped image of a man known to all local old-timers, “old man Koivu” (according to legends, the defeated “alien” Swedish god was defeated and embedded in the rock south of Karnasurta).. .
As it turned out, “old man Koivu” is formed by blackened stones, along which water has been oozing from the rock for centuries. With other finds, things are not so simple either. Professional geologists and archaeologists are skeptical about the above finds, considering all of them to be nothing more than a play of nature, constructions of the Sami up to several centuries ago, and remnants of the activities of Soviet geologists in the 1920-30s.
However, when studying the arguments for and against, one cannot ignore the fact that it is always easier to criticize than to obtain evidence. There have been many cases in the history of science when researchers who were criticized to smithereens eventually got their way. A classic example is the “non-professional” Heinrich SCHLIEMANN, who discovered Troy where it “should not be.” To repeat such success, you need to at least be passionate. All of Professor Demin’s opponents call him “over-enthusiastic.” So, we can say that there is some hope for the success of the search.
It is necessary to search, since we are talking not just about the traces of one of the ancient peoples, but about a very highly developed civilization, perhaps, as V. Demin believes, the ancestral homeland of the Aryan, Slavic people, the place “where the peoples came from.” Could this actually happen in our inhospitably cold, mosquito-ridden North? Don’t rush to answer; once upon a time the climate of the current Russian North was much more favorable. As Lomonosov wrote, “in the northern regions in ancient times there were great heatwaves, where elephants could be born and reproduce... it was possible.” Perhaps the sharp cooling occurred as a result of some kind of cataclysm or as a result of a slight displacement of the earth's axis (according to the calculations of ancient Babylonian astronomers and Egyptian priests, this happened 399 thousand years ago). However, the option with turning the axis does not work - after all, according to the ancient Greek chronicles, a highly developed civilization lived in Hyperborea only a few thousand years ago and precisely at or near the NORTH POLE (this is clearly seen from the descriptions, and these descriptions can be trusted, because it is impossible to invent and describe “out of your head” the polar day as it is seen at the pole and nowhere else).
Where this could be is unclear; at first glance, there are not even islands near the North Pole. But... there is a powerful underwater ridge, named after the discoverer, the Lomonosov Ridge, and nearby is the Mendeleev Ridge. They really went to the bottom of the ocean relatively recently - according to geological concepts. If so, then the possible inhabitants of this hypothetical "Arctida", at least some of them, would have had time to move to the current continent in the area of the Canadian Arctic Archipelago or on the Kola, Taimyr Peninsulas, and most likely in Russia east of the Lena delta (exactly where the ancients advised looking for the famous "Golden Woman")!
If Arctida-Hyperborea is not a myth, then what then maintained the warm climate in the large circumpolar territory? Powerful geothermal heat? A small country may well be warmed by the warmth of gushing geysers (like Iceland), but this will not save it from the onset of winter. And in the messages of the ancient Greeks there is no mention of thick plumes of steam (it was impossible not to notice them). And this is a completely good hypothesis: volcanoes and geysers warmed Hyperborea, and then one fine day they destroyed it... Hypothesis two: perhaps the cause of the heat is the warm Gulf Stream current? But now its heat is not enough to heat a large area (as any resident of the Murmansk region, where the “warm” Gulf Stream ends its course, will tell you). Maybe the current was more powerful before? It may well be. Otherwise, we will be forced to assume that the heat in Hyperborea was generally of artificial origin! If, according to the same Greek historians, there, in this heavenly place of God, the problems of longevity, rational land use, free flight in the atmosphere and many others were solved, then why shouldn’t the Hyperboreans “at the same time” solve the problem of climate control!?
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SOURCE OF INFORMATION AND PHOTO:
Team Nomads
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