Everything about The Kara Sea totally explained
The
Kara Sea (
Russian:
Ка́рское мо́ре) is part of the
Arctic Ocean north of
Siberia. It is separated from the
Barents Sea to the west by the
Kara Strait and
Novaya Zemlya, and the
Laptev Sea to the east by the
Severnaya Zemlya.
The Kara Sea's Northern limit is marked geographically by a line running from
Cape Kohlsaat in
Graham Bell Island,
Franz Josef Land, to
Cape Molotov (Arctic Cape), the northernmost point of
Komsomolets Island in
Severnaya Zemlya.
The Kara Sea is roughly 1,450 kilometres long and 970 kilometres wide with an area of around 880,000 km² and a mean depth of 110 m.
Compared to the
Barents Sea, which receives relatively warm currents from the
Atlantic, the Kara Sea is much colder, remaining frozen for over nine months a year.
The Kara receives a large amount of fresh water from the
Ob,
Yenisei,
Pyasina, and
Taimyra rivers, so its salinity is very variable.
Its main ports are
Novy Port and
Dikson and it's important as a fishing ground although the sea is ice-bound for all but two months of the year. Significant discoveries of
petroleum and
natural gas, an extension of the West Siberian Oil Basin, have been made but have not yet been developed.
Compared with the other Arctic seas, there are many islands and island groups in the Kara Sea, not only along the coasts, but also in its central regions. The largest group is the
Nordenskjold Archipelago. Other important islands in the Kara Sea are the
Arkticheskiy Institut Islands,
Bely Island,
Dikson Island, the
Izvesti Tsik Islands, the
Kamennyye Islands, the
Kirov Islands,
Oleni Island,
Uedineniya or Lonely Island,
Vize Island, and
Voronina Island.
History
The Kara Sea was formerly known as
Oceanus Scythicus or
Mare Glaciale and it appears with these names in old 16th century maps. Since it's closed by ice most of the year it remained largely unexplored until the late nineteenth century.
In 1556
Stephen Borough sailed in the
Searchthrift to try to reach the
Ob River, but he was stopped by ice and fog at the entrance to the Kara Sea. Not until 1580 did another English expedition, under
Arthur Pet and
Charles Jackman, attempt its passage. They too failed to penetrate it, and
England lost interest in searching for the
Northeast Passage.
In 1736-1737
Russian Admiral
Stepan Malygin undertook a voyage from
Dolgiy Island in the
Barents Sea. The two ships in this early expedition were the
Perviy, under Malygin's command and the
Vtoroy under Captain A. Skuratov. After entering the little-explored Kara Sea, they sailed to the mouth of the
Ob River. Malygin took careful observations of these hitherto almost unknown areas of the Russian Arctic coastline. With this knowledge he was able to draw the first somewhat accurate map of the Arctic shores between the
Pechora River and the
Ob River.
In 1878, Swedish explorer
Adolf Erik Nordenskiöld on ship
Vega sailed across the Kara Sea from
Göteborg, along the coast of Siberia, and despite the ice packs, got to 180° longitude by early September. Frozen in for the winter in the
Chukchi Sea, Nordenskiöld waited and bartered with the local
Chukchi people. The following July, the Vega was freed from the ice, and continued to
Yokohama, Japan. He became the first to force the
Northeast Passage. The largest group of islands in the Kara Sea, the
Nordenskiöld Archipelago, has been named in his honour.
1912 was a tragic year for Russian explorers in the Kara Sea. In that fateful year unbroken consolidated ice blocked the way for the
Northern Sea Route and three expeditions that had to cross the Kara Sea became trapped and failed:
Sedov's on vessel
St. Foka,
Brusilov's on the
St. Anna, and
Rusanov's on the
Gercules. Georgy Sedov intended to reach Franz Josef Land on ship, leave a depot over there, and sledge to the pole. Due to the heavy ice the vessel could only reach
Novaya Zemlya the first summer and wintered in
Franz Josef Land. In February 1914 Sedov headed to the
North Pole with two sailors and three sledges, but he fell ill and died on
Rudolf Island.
Georgy Brusilov attempted to navigate the
Northeast Passage, was trapped in the Kara Sea, and drifted northward for more than two years reaching latitude 83°17 N. Thirteen men, headed by
Valerian Albanov, left the vessel and started across the ice to
Franz Josef Land, but only Albanov and one sailor (
Alexander Konrad) survived after a gruesome three month ordeal. The survivors brought the ship log of
St. Anna, the map of her drift, and daily meteorological records, but the destiny of those who stayed onboard remains unknown.
In the same year the expedition of
Vladimir Rusanov was lost in the Kara Sea. The prolonged absence of those three expeditions stirred public attention, and a few small rescue expeditions were launched, including Nagursky's five air flights over the sea and ice from a base on
Novaya Zemlya.
After the
Russian Revolution in 1917, the scale and scope of exploration of the Kara Sea increased greatly as part of the work of developing the Northern Sea Route. Polar stations, of which five already existed in 1917, increased in number, providing meteorologic, ice reconnaissance, and radio facilities. By 1932 there were 24 stations, by 1948 about 80, and by the 1970s more than 100. The use of icebreakers and, later, aircraft as platforms for scientific work was developed. In 1929 and 1930 the
Icebreaker Sedov carried groups of scientists to
Severnaya Zemlya, the last major piece of unsurveyed territory in the Soviet Arctic; the archipelago was completely mapped under
Georgy Ushakov between 1930 and 1932.
Particularly worth noting are three cruises of the
Icebreaker Sadko, which went farther north than most; in 1935 and 1936 the last unexplored areas in the northern Kara Sea were examined and small and elusive
Ushakov Island was discovered.
In the summer of 1942, German
Kriegsmarine warships and submarines entered the Kara Sea in order to destroy as many Russian vessels as possible. This naval campaign was named "
Operation Wunderland". Its success was limited by the presence of ice floes, as well as bad weather and fog. These effectively protected the Soviet ships, preventing the damage that could have been inflicted on the
Soviet fleet under fair weather conditions.
Presently there's concern about the levels of nuclear waste the former
Soviet Union dumped in the sea which included six
nuclear submarine reactors and ten
nuclear reactors, and the effect this will have on the marine environment. An
International Atomic Energy Agency appraisal showed that releases are low and localised.
Nature Reserve
The
Great Arctic State Nature Reserve – the largest nature reserve of Russia and the whole Europe - was founded on May 11, 1993 by Resolution No.431 of the Government of the Russian Federation (RF).
The Kara Sea Islands section (4,000 km²) of the Great Arctic Nature Reserve includes: the
Sergei Kirov Archipelago, the
Voronina Island, the
Izvestiy TSIK Islands, the
Arctic Institute Islands, the
Svordrup Island, the
Uedineniya Island and a number of smaller islands. This section represents rather fully the natural and biological diversity of Arctic sea islands of the eastern part of the Kara Sea.
Further Information
Get more info on 'Kara Sea'.
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