Okhotsk, Sea of (ōkŏtsk`), Rus. The coldest months in the sea are January and February and the warmest are July and August. In 1815 the town was moved a second time to the spit east of the harbour mouth. The first detailed summary of the hydrology of the Sea of Okhotsk was prepared and published by Stepan Makarov in 1894. The Sea of Okhotsk has one of the highest concentration of the majestic Steller's Sea eagle of anywhere in the Russian Far East. This morning, visit Shumshu, one of the northernmost of the Kurils, which consist of 56 islands that separate the Sea of Okhotsk from the Pacific. The Russian pioneers who founded the town of Okhotsk were skilled builders of river boats, but they lacked the knowledge and equipment to build seagoing vessels which meant that Okhotsk remained a coastal settlement and not a port. sea ice floe at sea of okhotsk and the way to utoro - sea of okhotsk stock pictures, royalty-free photos & images Bowhead whale near a SUP surfer in Wrangel Bay of the Sea of Okhotsk off the coast of the Khabarovsk Territory, Russia's Far East. Other sources of sediment include coastal abrasion and volcanic activity. Some of the Sea of Okhotsk's islands are quite large, including Japan's second largest island, Hokkaido, as well as Russia's largest island, Sakhalin. Iony Island is the only island in open waters. Practically all of the sea's islands are either in coastal waters or belong to the various islands making up the Kuril Islandschain. Except for the small area touching Hokkaido, the sea is almost completely enclosed by Russian territory. Islands. There was so little pasture in the area that pack horses sometimes had to be returned to Yakutsk unloaded. In 1682 the settlement of Okhotsk had just eight dwellings and five other buildings. These operations have been documented in the book Blind Man's Bluff: The Untold Story of American Submarine Espionage. With the exception of Japan’s Hokkaidō, the Sea of Okhotsk is surrounded on all sides by territory administered by the Russian Federation. In winter, navigation on the Sea of Okhotsk becomes difficult and even impossible in some places, due to the formation of large ice floes. Sea of Okhotsk, Russian Okhotskoye More, or Ochotskoje More, northwestern arm of the Pacific Ocean, bounded on the west and north by the east coast of Asia from Cape Lazarev to the mouth of the Penzhina River, on the east and southeast by the Kamchatka Peninsula and the Kuril Islands, on the south by the northern coast of the Japanese island of Hokkaido, and on the southwest by Sakhalin Island. Then in 1849 the Siberian governor Nikolay Muravyov-Amursky decided to move the Siberian Flotilla to Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky and other government facilities to Ayan. The northern and western regions of the sea experience severe weather during the winter because of the influence of the Asian continent. The only island on the open sea is the remote Jonas island in the northwestern part of the Okhotsk Sea, about halfway between Magadan and Nikolayevsk on the Amur. Shumshu is the lowest lying of the islands, and is covered with lakes and marshland. This is heavily used from the Russian side. For the next 145 years Okhotsk was the main Russian seaport on the Pacific, supplying Kamchatka and other coastal settlements. Almost the entire sea came under the supervision of the Soviet Union in 1977 when a 200-mile exclusive economic zone was established. The distribution and thickness of ice floes depends on location, time of year, water currents and sea temperatures. Did You Know That More People Drown In Deserts Than Die From Dehydration? To the south and south-east the proximity of the Pacific results in a milder marine climate. The water of the Sea of Okhotsk consists of continental drainage, precipitation and waters flowing from the Pacific Ocean through the straits of the Kuril Islands and from the Sea of Japan through the La Perouse Strait. Although the harbour inside the spit was large, three quarters of it was a mud flat during low water. Between 1850 and 1853 the majority of the fleet focused their efforts on Bowheads in the Bering Strait region and as that resource diminished the whalers began to shift their attention back to the Right Whales in the Sea of Okhotsk. These fall either under undisputed Japanese or Russian ownership or disputed ownership between Japan and Russia. Hunting here peaked in 1854 when some 160 vessels visited the region. It is probably best known as the centre of the notorious Gulags from the Stalin era, where tens of thousands of political prisoners were sent to forced labour camps in the 1930’s to 1950’s. From at early on it had been clear that Okhotsk had been built on poor site. The Sea of Okhotsk is one of the world’s most biologically productive seas. 10 History "Facts" That Are Actually Totally Wrong. The town had been built on a low narrow spit blocking the mouths of two rivers. In 1714, Peter the Great sent a party of shipbuilders to Okhotsk to allow faster access to the furs of Kamchatka. the Kamchatka Peninsula to the eastern cape of Hokkaido. In 1845 the head of the Russian-America Company depot at Okhotsk, Vasily Zavoyko, oversaw the relocation of the company post south to Ayan. In the short summer months when temperatures warm the sea, there is a marked increase in activity. The sea water temperature varies from -1.8 to +18 degrees C The Okhotsk Sea - The Most Beautiful Seas in the World Waterfowl and many migratory species are also well represented. Portuguese Jew, Anton de Vieira, was governor of the town at that time. The Sea of Okhotsk is a marginal sea of the western Pacific Ocean, lying between the Kamchatka Peninsula on the east, the Kuril Islands on the southeast, the Japanese island of Hokkaidō to the south, the island of Sakhalin along the west, and a long stretch of eastern Siberian coast (including the Shantar Islands) along the west and north. It is connected with the Sea of Japan by the Tatar and La Pérouse straits and with the Pacific Ocean by passages through the Kuril Islands. Practically all of the sea's islands are either in coastal waters or belong to the various islands making up the Kuril Islands chain. Lying in the western sector of the Sea of Okhotsk close to the continent, the islands in this archipelago are amongst the last place in the Sea of Okhotsk to become ice free each year. Bounded to the north and west by the Russian continent and the Kamchatka Peninsula to the east, with the Kuril Islands and Sakhalin Island guarding the … The two images above, acquired by the Operational Land Imager (OLI) on Landsat 8, show thin sea ice in the Sea of Okhotsk on March 12, 2020. The ice retreats in June, except in the Sakhalin gulfs and the region around Shantar Island, where ice floes are not uncommon in July and sometimes even until August. However, 21 species of birds constantly live there, so the small island is … |state=expanded: {{Sea of Okhotsk Islands|state=expanded}} to show the template expanded, i.e., fully visible |state=autocollapse : {{Sea of Okhotsk Islands|state=autocollapse}} shows the template collapsed to the title bar if there is a {{ navbar }} , a {{ sidebar }} , or some other table on … From 1737 to 1837 there was a salt works on the coast which produced up to 36 tons of salt annually. In this northern sea winter navigation is usually difficult, and at times impossible due to ice. In 1742 there were 57 dwellings and 45 other buildings in Bering's ‘expedition settlement’ and eight ships in the harbour. The islands of the Sea of Okhotsk include the second largest island of Japan, Hokkaido. However, Japan still maintains a claim to the four southernmost islands of the Kuril Archipelago, including Kunashir, Iturup, Shikotan, and the Habomai rocks. The general movement of water in the sea is counter-clockwise. Salmon, Herring, Pollack, Flounder, Cod, Crab and Shrimp are all commercially harvested. In the coastal areas it extends to the shore and floating ice appears in the open sea. Similar conditions prevail in the East China Sea and the Andaman Sea. Iony Island is the only island located in open waters and belongs to the Khabarovsk Krai of the Russian Federation. The largest island of Russia, Sakhalin, is also one of the islands of the Sea of Okhotsk. These include Japan's second largest island, Hokkaidō, as well as Russia's largest island, Sakhalin. Feeding the Russian Fur Trade: Provisionment of the Okhotsk Seaboard and the Kamchatka Peninsula 1639–1856, James R Gibson, 1969, Blind Man's Bluff: The Untold Story of American Submarine Espionage, by Sherry Sontag, Christopher Drew and Annette Lawrence Drew, 1998, Magadan, Michael Solomon, 1971, Auerbach Publishers, May Day in Magadan, Anthony Olcott, 1984, Bantam Publishers, The Gulag Archipelago, Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, three volumes published 1973–78. The Sea of Okhotsk is home to the majestic Steller’s Sea Eagle and numerous seabirds such as guillemots, puffins, auklets and fulmars. The Sea of Okhotsk was the site of the attack on Korean Air Flight 007 which the Soviets accused of spying in 1983 and was also used by the Soviet Pacific Fleet as a ballistic missile submarine bastion, a strategy that Russia continues to this day. This recalibrated yet again the strategic value of the disputed South Kuril Islands. Practically all of the sea's islands are either in coastal waters or belong to the various islands making up the Kuril Islands chain. Japan calls them the Northern Territories. By 1827 150 exiles and around 100 guards and overseers worked there. In autumn and in spring the northern part of the Okhotsk Sea is covered with ice. The sea has a high bio-productivity and is rich in fish. Sea of Okhotsk Positioned between the Kamchatka Peninsula, the Russian coastline, Sakhalin Island, the Japanese island of Hokkaido and the Kuril Islands, the Sea of Okhotsk is an extension of the North Pacific Ocean. Heritage Expeditions 2020-21 Southern Ocean season made the national news this week appearing in TVNZ 1 News piece. Land mammals such as the Kamchatka Brown Bear, Snow Sheep and the Marmot can also be found in this region. Sea of Okhotsk The Sea of Okhotsk is a marginal sea of the western Pacific Ocean. The deepest part is the Kuril Basin (west of the Kuril Islands) at about 2,500 metres (8,200 feet). Some of the Sea of Okhotsk's islands are quite large, including Japan's second largest island, Hokkaido, as well as Russia's largest island, Sakhalin. The sea was formed within the past two million years through the combined action of repeated glaciation. Sea of Okhotsk. All maps, graphics, flags, photos and original descriptions © 2020 worldatlas.com. The Second Kamchatka Expedition under Vitus Bering in 1733 systematically mapped the entire coast of the sea. More than 140 species of birds can be found on the island, most of them migratory. It belongs to the Khabarovsk Krai of the Russian Federation. Okhotskoye More, 590,000 sq mi (1,528,100 sq km), northwest arm of the Pacific Ocean, W of the Kamchatka peninsula and the Kuril Islands. Gradually much business activity shifted south which severely diminished the importance of the town of Okhotsk and the population declined from 1,660 in 1839 to just 100 in 1865. From October until April these areas experience very cold air temperatures, are constantly covered with ice and have very little precipitation – a classic continental climate. In the Bering Sea the trough north of Buldir in the Aleutian Islands sinks to 2237 fathoms, and in the Sea of Okhotsk, north-west of the Kuriles, to 1859 fathoms. Russian explorers Ivan Moskvitin and Vassili Poyarkov were the first Europeans to visit the Sea of Okhotsk in the 1640s. Because of the influence of these currents, the waters of the eastern half of the sea are warmer than those of the western part. The area is approximately of 1,600 million square kilometers. The latest earthquakes in Sea Of Okhotsk. The Sea of Okhotsk was a magnet for whalers in the mid 19th Century. River drainage combined with intense intermingling of waters by straits and wind and the upwelling of deep, nutrient-laden ocean waters are all favourable to marine life. Regardless, commerce still flows most of the year through the important Russian ports of Magadan, Palana and Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk. The northeast corner is the Shelikhov Gulf. Media in category "Islands of the Sea of Okhotsk" This category contains only the following file. The population of Magadan grew rapidly as facilities were developed for the expanding mining activities in the area. Little known outside of Russia and seldom visited by westerners, Russia's Sea of Okhotsk dominates the Northwest Pacific. The area shown is just off the southeastern coast of Sakhalin, Russia’s largest island. Practically all of the sea's islands are either in coastal waters or belong to the various islands making up the Kuril Islands chain. In addition to a difficult track inland, the harbour was poor and the short growing season and lack of arable land meant that food had to be imported. The town also provided the port for exporting the gold and other metals mined in the Kolyma region. In the north-eastern part the average monthly air temperature during February is −20°C (−4°F), while in August the average is 12°C (54°F). [7] If we place the Sea of Okhotsk and adjacent Beringia into a broader context of the Northern Hemisphere’s ma- Harder to find, but not uncommon on this expedition, are the magnificent Kamchatka brown bears and other impressive land mammals such as snow sheep. The Sea of Okhotsk is a marginal sea of the western Pacific Ocean, lying between the Kamchatka Peninsula on the east, the Kuril Islands on the southeast, the Japanese island of Hokkaidō to the south, the island of Sakhalin along the west, and a long stretch of eastern Siberian coast (including the Shantar Islands) along the west and north. Okhotsk, Sea of (ōkŏtsk`), Rus. About the Okhotsk Sea The Okhotsk Sea is situated in the Pacific Ocean and washes Russia and Japan. In 1736 Okhotsk was moved two miles downstream to a spit of land at the mouth of the Okhota River, converting it to a proper port. Ice-choked water during the spring breakup frequently flooded the town (20 times from 1723 to 1813), as did high surf on a number of occasions. During the Cold War, the Sea of Okhotsk was the scene of several successful US Navy operations to tap Soviet Navy undersea communications cables. Fresh water was also a challenge, and had to delivered to the settlement from two and a half miles away. In 1810 the Okhota River, its mouth jammed by ice, cut a new channel through the spit and isolated the town. In this photo, we see nearly 1,000 kilometers (600 miles) of the East Sakhalin Current, which is carrying winter ice south toward Japan’s Hokkaido Island. Islands. Explore Okhotsk Town and interact with the friendly locals Visit Tyulenly Island, with one of the largest northern fur seal colonies View abundant birdlife, including the majestic Steller’s sea eagles Learn about the Gulags of the Kolyma Goldfields - a legacy of sorrow It is connected with the Sea of Japan by the Tatar and La Pérouse straits and with the Pacific Ocean by passages through the Kuril Islands. Sea of Okhotsk Sea of Okhotskis a marginal sea of the western Pacific Ocean, between the Kamchatka Peninsula on the east, the Kuril Islands on the southeast, the island of Hokkaido to the south, the island of Sakhalin along the west, and a long stretch of eastern Siberian coast along the west and north. the Kuril Islands, and the Japanese island of Hokkaido. the sea’s southwest portion. From 1932 to 1953 it was the administrative centre of the Dalstroy organization which coordinated a large scale and brutal forced-labor gold-mining and forced-labour camp operation. Sea Otters and Largha Seals abound along its shores. The main population centre of the region is Magadan with approximately 100,000 people. It covers an area of 1,583,000-square-kilometres (611,000-square-miles) and it has a mean depth of about 859 metres (2,818 feet). The sea’s maximum depth is 3,372 metres or 11,063 feet. The sea is named after Okhotsk, the first Russian settlement in the Far East. Article … Goods now had to be unloaded and barged across the shallow harbour where Yakuts would wade with loads from barge to shore. In this northern sea winter navigation is usually difficult, and … The recession of Arctic sea ice in recent years due to global climate change had led to increased international legal manoeuvring over the rights to exploit the region's vast untapped hydrocarbon reserves. The seabed generally slopes from north to south, with a continental shelf along the northern and western margins to a depth of 200m (650 feet). Around 1750 there were only 37 peasant families and a number of Yakut cattlemen. Dutch captain Maarten Gerritsz Vries entered the Sea of Okhotsk in his ship the Breskens in 1643 and charted parts of the Sakhalin coast and Kuril Islands, but failed to realize that Sakhalin and Hokkaido were islands. Warm water is also carried into the sea by Pacific currents. It is located between Russia 's Kamchatka Peninsula on the east, the Kuril Islands on the southeast, Japan 's island of Hokkaido on the south, the island of Sakhalin along the west, and a stretch of eastern Siberian coast along the west and north. Okhotsk was also a launch site of sounding rockets which reached altitudes of up to 1,000 kilometres between 1981 and 2005. The Sea of Okhotsk is a marginal sea of the western Pacific Ocean. This provided the Soviets favourable conditions to develop fisheries and embark on mineral exploitation. This decision means that Russia has exclusive rights to the 52,000-square-kilometres area described as a 'real Ali Baba's cave' that contains reserves of valuable minerals and other natural resources. With the exception of Japan's Hokkaido Island, the Sea of Okhotsk is surrounded on all sides by territory administered and controlled by the Russian Federation. These are generated by the large amount of freshwater from the Amur River which lowers the salinity and results in raising the freezing point of the sea. Viewed from the International Space Station, patterns of sea ice in the Sea of Okhotsk reveal the dynamics of ocean currents that could otherwise only be seen in sunglint. Some of the Sea of Okhotsk's islands are quite large. The sea now supplies a large portion of the catches in eastern Russia and valuable deposits of oil and natural gas have been discovered on the sea’s northern shelf. Sea Of Okhotsk has had: (M1.5 or greater) 0 earthquakes in the past 24 hours 1 earthquake in the past 30 days By 1858 the catches had declined, sending most of the fleet back to the Bering Strait region, although ships continued to hunt whales in the Sea of Okhotsk until the early 20th Century. Bering's men had found valuable Sea Otters east of Kamchatka and fur hunters began island-hopping along the Aleutian Islands. American ships began hunting Right Whales in south-eastern Okhotsk near the Kuril Islands in 1845 and the first Bowheads were caught there in 1847, leading to a preference for this species. For the most part, the currents flow clockwise around the Kuril Islands. Atlasova Island is named after the Russian explorer Vladimir Atlasov, and it was the first of the Kuril Islands to be discovered. The tiny island in the north of the Sea of Okhotsk, really beautiful place with birds, and very interesting for lovers of wild life. It is between the Kamchatka Peninsula on the east, the Kuril Islands on the southeast, the island of Hokkaidō to the south, the island of Sakhalin along the west, and a long stretch of eastern Siberian coast (including the Shantar Islands) along the west and north. Large ships could only cross the bar on an incoming or outgoing high tide and sailing ships sometimes had to wait for days for the wind to blow in the right direction. Early in 2014 a United Nations commission officially recognized the Sea of Okhotsk enclave as part of Russia’s continental shelf. At this time the algae and seaweed flourish, resulting in a population explosion for crayfish, sea mussels, crabs, sea urchins, polyps and various types of fish. Some of the Sea of Okhotsk's islands are quite large, including Japan's second largest island, Hokkaido, as well as Russia's largest island, Sakhalin. The northeast corner is the Shelikhov Gulf. Jean-François de La Pérouse and William Robert Broughton were the first non-Russian European navigators known to have passed through these waters after Maarten Gerritsz Vries. The bottom of the Kuril Basin is predominantly covered with a clay-diatom silt, but closer to the shore are fine, silt-covered sands, coarse sands and pebbles mixed with mussel shells. Sea of Okhotsk, and the East China Sea. It is an archipelago of 6,852 islands, most of which are mountainous, and many are volcanic. Their furs were brought back to Okhotsk and most were carried inland to be sold to the Chinese at Kyakhta. In the northern half of the straits they flow into the sea, but in the southern half they return into the Pacific. These islands offer a fascinating primitive ad authentic beauty. Some of the Sea of Okhotsk's islands are quite large, including Japan's second largest island, Hokkaidō, as well as Russia's largest island, Sakhalin. The town of Magadan, founded in 1929 on the site of an earlier settlement, was a major transit centre during the Stalin era for the predominantly political prisoners sent to forced-labour camps. The Sea of Okhotsk is the coldest sea in East Asia and in winter the climate over much of the region differs only slightly from that found in the Arctic. unpublished], a broad Okhotsk-Sea ice stream not only ex-isted, but it moved at the rate of 2 km yr−1, despite its lower (floating) part being buttressed by the Kurile Island Arc. Vitus Bering's two Pacific expeditions (1725–1729 and 1733–1742) swelled the population and the first scholars and expert sailors arrived leading to a great deal of building. Head south to the Kuril Islands, a vast chain of volcanic islands separating the Sea of Okhotsk and the Pacific Ocean. Okhotskoye More, 590,000 sq mi (1,528,100 sq km), northwest arm of the Pacific Ocean, W of the Kamchatka peninsula and the Kuril Islands. If the Philippines is divided into 3 major islands, Japan is subdivided deinto four (4) namely Honshu, Shikoku, Kyushu, and Hokkaido. Some of the Sea of Okhotsk's islands are quite large, including Japan's second largest island, Hokkaido, as well as Russia's largest island, Sakhalin. During the summer months the sea is warmed to a depth of 30 to 50 metres (100 to 165 feet). Positioned between the Kamchatka Peninsula, the Russian coastline, Sakhalin Island, the Japanese island of Hokkaido and the Kuril Islands, the Sea of Okhotsk is an extension of the North Pacific Ocean. By 1716 they had built the Vostok which Kozma Sokolov sailed to Kamchatka. Ice cover makes an appearance at the end of October and reaches its greatest extent in March. Water flows from the Sea of Japan into the Sea of Okhotsk, accounting for the comparative warmth of the south-western area. The majorit… The harbour was ice-free from May to November but the sailing season was only four months between June and September. Large quantities of continental sediment flow into the sea, primarily from the Amur River. Marine mammals include four species of ‘Ice Seal’ – Bearded, Ringed, Largha and the beautifully marked Ribbon Seal – Steller Sea Lions, Northern Fur Seals, Sea Otters, Bowhead, Gray and other whale species.