East Siberian Sea

Located in the Arctic Ocean, the East Siberian Sea is bordered by the coast of Siberia, the New Siberian Islands, the Arctic Cape, the Wrangel Island, and the Cape Billings. With a very harsh climate, the East Siberian Sea has few plants, animals, and people living around it.

East Siberian Sea Facts for Kids

The East Siberian Sea covers a total surface area of 381,000 square miles
The sea coast was initially inhabited by the Chukchi people of northern Siberia and the Yukaghir. In the 2nd century, the Chukchi and the Yukaghir people were joined by the Evenks and the Evens. As time went on, the Yakuts came to join them as well.
Before the year 1935, the East Siberian Sea was not assigned an official name. As a result, it had several names given to it which include Severnoe, Ledovitoe, and Kolymskoe. The Soviet Union government gave the sea the name – the East Siberian Sea – in 1935.
The East Siberian Sea has no islands located within it. The few islands which are located near the East Siberian Sea include the Ayon Island, and the Medvyzehi Island group.
The main gulfs found in the East Siberian Sea are the Chaunskaya Bay, the Kolyma Gulf, and the Kolyma Bay.
The East Siberian Sea is being flooded by rivers some of which are Kolyma, Chaun, Raucha, Pgtymel, Alazeya, Indigirka, Uyandina, and Chukochyna. Few of these rivers are navigable.
The East Siberian Sea has a coastline of about 3,016 kilometers in length.
The East Siberian Sea has shallow depths that are mostly below 50 meters. Approximately 70% of the East Siberian Sea has depths below 50 meters. The greatest depth of the sea is about 150 meters which is found around the northeastern part of the East Siberian Sea.
In the summer, there are slow sea currents, frequent fogs, and low tides. The ice fields fully melt only during August-September.
The East Siberian Seas has a total catchment area of about 1,342,000 square kilometers. The coastline of the East Siberia Sea is about 3,016 square kilometers long. The sea sometimes makes larger bends really stretching deep on the land.
The climate of the East Siberian Sea is majorly influenced by its location, particularly the Pacific Ocean and the Atlantic Ocean. During the winter, there are southerly winds with speed of about 6-7 meter per second which is 15 miles per hour or 25 kilometers per hour. Hence, in January, the average temperature of the East Siberian Sea is -30 degrees.
As early as the 17th century, Russian sea-farers navigated the sea and they moved from a certain river mouth on to another in their kochs. Fedot Alekseev and Semyon Dezhnev sailed the coast in 1648 from the Kolyma to Anadyr River in the Bering region.
The coastal settlement of Ambarchik which is located around the delta of the Kolyma River was used in the 1930s transport prisoners to other northern camps of the Gulag system. During their period of staying at the Ambarchik, the prisoners were engaged in building many of the infrastructures while also unloading the incoming ships. Today, Ambarchik is no more a prisoner ground as it hosts a meteorological station and few of the staff members.
The only city around the East Siberian Sea is the Pevek which has a population of more than 5,000 people.
Gold mines have been discovered near Pevek and Leningradsky. However, many of these mines have been discontinued. For instance, the tin mines discovered at Pevek during the 1990s resulted in an increase in population. Hence, many settlements, ports, and mines were abolished.