Bering Strait

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Bering Strait
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The Bering Strait
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Bering Strait
US NOAA nautical chart of Bering Strait.png
Nautical chart of the Bering Strait
Location North Asia and Northern America
Coordinates 65°45′00″N168°58′37″W / 65.75000°N 168.97694°W / 65.75000; -168.97694
Basin  countries Russia, United States
Min. width82 km (51 mi)
Average depth30–50 m (98–164 ft)
Max. depth90 m (300 ft)
Islands Diomede Islands

The Bering Strait (Russian : Берингов пролив, romanized: Beringov proliv) is a strait between the Pacific and Arctic oceans, separating the Chukchi Peninsula of the Russian Far East from the Seward Peninsula of Alaska. The present Russia-United States maritime boundary is at 168° 58' 37" W longitude, slightly south of the Arctic Circle at about 65° 40' N latitude. The Strait is named after Vitus Bering, a Danish-born Russian explorer.

Contents

The Bering Strait has been the subject of the scientific theory that humans migrated from Asia to North America across a land bridge known as Beringia when lower ocean levels – a result of glaciers locking up vast amounts of water – exposed a wide stretch of the sea floor, [1] both at the present strait and in the shallow sea north and south of it. This view of how Paleo-Indians entered America has been the dominant one for several decades and continues to be the most accepted one. Numerous successful crossings without the use of a boat have also been recorded since at least the early 20th century.

Geography and science

Satellite image of Bering Strait. Cape Dezhnev, Russia, is on the left, the two Diomede Islands are in the middle, and Cape Prince of Wales, Alaska, is on the right. Bering Strait.jpeg
Satellite image of Bering Strait. Cape Dezhnev, Russia, is on the left, the two Diomede Islands are in the middle, and Cape Prince of Wales, Alaska, is on the right.

The Bering Strait is about 82 kilometers (51 mi) wide at its narrowest point, between Cape Dezhnev, Chukchi Peninsula, Russia, the easternmost point (169° 39' W) of the Asian continent and Cape Prince of Wales, Alaska, United States, the westernmost point (168° 05' W) of the North American continent. Its deepest point is only 90 m (300 ft) in depth. It borders the Chukchi Sea (part of the Arctic Ocean) to the north and the Bering Sea to the south. [2] [3] The strait is a unique habitat sparsely populated by the Yupik, Inuit, and Chukchi people who have cultural and linguistic ties to each other. [4]

Expeditions

Defense Mapping Agency topographical map of the Bering Strait, 1973 Operational Navigation Chart C-8, 2nd edition.jpg
Defense Mapping Agency topographical map of the Bering Strait, 1973

From at least 1562, European geographers thought that there was a Strait of Anián between Asia and North America. In 1648, Semyon Dezhnyov probably passed through the strait, but his report did not reach Europe. Danish-born Russian navigator Vitus Bering entered it in 1728. In 1732, Mikhail Gvozdev crossed it for the first time, from Asia to America. It was visited in 1778 by the third voyage of James Cook.

American vessels were hunting for bowhead whales in the strait by 1847. [5]

In March 1913, Captain Max Gottschalk (German) crossed from the east cape of Siberia to Shishmaref, Alaska, on dogsled via Little and Big Diomede islands. He was the first documented modern voyager to cross from Russia to North America without the use of a boat. [6]

In 1987, swimmer Lynne Cox swam a 4.3-kilometer (2.7 mi) course between the Diomede Islands from Alaska to the Soviet Union in 3.3 °C (37.9 °F) water during the last years of the Cold War. [7] [8] She was congratulated jointly by American President Ronald Reagan and Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev. [7]

In June and July 1989, three independent teams attempted the first modern sea-kayak crossing of the Bering Strait. The groups were: seven Alaskans, who called their effort Paddling Into Tomorrow (i.e. crossing the international dateline); a four-man British expedition, Kayaks Across the Bering Strait; and a team of Californians in a three-person baidarka, led by Jim Noyes (who launched his ambitious expedition as a paraplegic). Accompanying the Californians was a film crew in a umiak, a walrus-skin boat traditional to the region; they were filming the 1991 documentary Curtain of Ice, directed by John Armstrong. [9] [10]

In March 2006, Briton Karl Bushby and French-American adventurer Dimitri Kieffer crossed the strait on foot, walking across a frozen 90-kilometer (56 mi) section in 15 days. [11] They were soon arrested for not entering Russia through a regular port of entry. [12]

August 2008 marked the first crossing of the Bering Strait using an amphibious road-going vehicle. The specially modified Land Rover Defender 110 was driven by Steve Burgess and Dan Evans across the straits on its second attempt following the interruption of the first by bad weather. [13]

In February 2012, a Korean team led by Hong Sung-Taek crossed the straits on foot in six days. They started from Chukotka Peninsula, the east coast of Russia on February 23 and arrived in Wales, the western coastal town in Alaska on February 29. [14]

In July 2012, six adventurers associated with "Dangerous Waters", a reality adventure show under production, made the crossing on Sea-Doos but were arrested and permitted to return to Alaska on their Sea-Doos after being briefly detained in Lavrentiya, the administrative center of the Chukotsky District. They were treated well and given a tour of the village's museum, but not permitted to continue south along the Pacific coast. The men had visas but the western coast of the Bering Strait is a closed military zone. [15]

Between August 4 and 10 (US time), 2013, a team of 65 swimmers from 17 countries performed a relay swim across the Bering Strait, the first such swim in history. They swam from Cape Dezhnev, Russia, to Cape Prince of Wales, United States (roughly 110 kilometers (68 mi), due to the current). [16] [17] They had direct support from the Russian Navy, using one of its ships, and assistance with permission.

Proposed crossing

A physical link between Asia and North America via the Bering Strait nearly became a reality in 1864 when a Russian-American telegraph company began preparations for an overland telegraph line connecting Europe and America via the east. It was abandoned when the undersea Atlantic Cable proved successful. [18]

A further proposal for a bridge-and-tunnel link from eastern Russia to Alaska was made by French engineer Baron Loicq de Lobel in 1906. Czar Nicholas II of Russia issued an order authorising a Franco-American syndicate represented by de Lobel to begin work on the Trans-Siberian Alaska railroad project, but no physical work ever commenced. [19] [20] [21] [22] [23]

Suggestions have been made to construct a Bering Strait bridge between Alaska and Siberia. Despite the unprecedented engineering, political, and financial challenges, Russia green-lit a US$65-billion TKM-World Link tunnel project in August 2011. If completed, the 103-kilometer (64 mi) tunnel would be the world's longest. [24] China considered construction of a "China-Russia-Canada-America" railroad line that would include construction of a 200-kilometer-long (120 mi) underwater tunnel that would cross the Bering Strait. [25]

Proposed dam

In 1956, the Soviet Union proposed to the US a joint bi-national project to warm the Arctic Ocean and melt some of the ice cap. As designed by Petr Borisov, the Soviet project called for a 90-kilometer-wide (56 mi) dam across the Bering Strait. It would block the cold Pacific current from entering the Arctic. By pumping low-salinity cold surface water across the dam to the Pacific, warmer and higher salinity sea water from the Atlantic Ocean would be introduced into the Arctic Ocean. [26] [27] [28] However, citing national security concerns, the CIA and FBI experts opposed the Soviet plan by arguing that while the plan was feasible, it would compromise NORAD and thus the dam could be built at only an immense cost. [29] Soviet scientist D. A. Drogaytsev also opposed the idea, stating that the sea north of the dam and north-flowing rivers in Siberia would become unnavigable year round, and the Gobi and other deserts would be extended to the northern Siberia coastline. [26]

American Charles P. Steinmetz (1865–1923) earlier proposed to widen the Bering Strait by removing St. Lawrence Island and parts of Seward and Chukotski Peninsulas. A strait 320 kilometers (200 mi) wide would let the Japan Current melt the Arctic Ocean. [26]

In the 21st century, a 300-kilometer (190 mi) dam has also been proposed. However, the aim of the proposal is to preserve the Arctic ice cap against global warming. [30]

"Ice Curtain" border

Little Diomede Island (US, left) and Big Diomede Island (Russia, right) Diomede Islands Bering Sea Jul 2006.jpg
Little Diomede Island (US, left) and Big Diomede Island (Russia, right)

During the Cold War, the Bering Strait marked the border between the Soviet Union and the United States. The Diomede Islands—Big Diomede (Russia) and Little Diomede (US)—are only 3.8 km (2.4 mi) apart. Traditionally, the indigenous people in the area had frequently crossed the border back and forth for "routine visits, seasonal festivals and subsistence trade", but were prevented from doing so during the Cold War. [31] The border became known as the "Ice Curtain". [32] [33] It was completely closed, and there was no regular passenger air or boat traffic.

Since 2012, the Russian coast of the Bering Strait has been a closed military zone. Through organized trips and the use of special permits, it is possible for foreigners to visit. All arrivals must be through an airport or a cruise port, near the Bering Strait only at Anadyr or Provideniya. Unauthorized travelers who arrive on shore after crossing the strait, even those with visas, may be arrested, imprisoned briefly, fined, deported and banned from future visas. [15]

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bering Sea</span> Sea of the northern Pacific Ocean off the coast of Alaska and Russia

The Bering Sea is a marginal sea of the Northern Pacific Ocean. It forms, along with the Bering Strait, the divide between the two largest landmasses on Earth: Eurasia and the Americas. It comprises a deep water basin, which then rises through a narrow slope into the shallower water above the continental shelves. The Bering Sea is named after Vitus Bering, a Danish-born Russian navigator, who, in 1728, was the first European to systematically explore it, sailing from the Pacific Ocean northward to the Arctic Ocean.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cape Dezhnyov</span> Easternmost point of the Asian continent

Cape Dezhnyov or Cape Dezhnev, formerly known as East Cape or Cape Vostochny, is a cape that forms the easternmost mainland point of Asia. It is located on the Chukchi Peninsula in the very sparsely populated Chukotka Autonomous Okrug of Russia. This cape is located between the Chukchi Sea and the Bering Strait, 82 kilometres (51 mi) across from Cape Prince of Wales in Alaska; the Bering Strait is delimited by the two capes. The Diomede Islands and Fairway Rock are located in the midst of the strait.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Diomede, Alaska</span> City in northwest Alaska

Diomede is an incorporated town and is the only habitable area on Little Diomede Island. The island is located in the Nome Census Area of the Unorganized Borough of the U.S. state of Alaska. All the buildings are on the west coast of Little Diomede, which is the smaller of the two Diomede Islands located in the middle of the Bering Strait between the United States and the Russian Far East. Diomede is the only settlement on Little Diomede Island. The population is 82 people, down from 115 at the 2010 census and 146 in 2000.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Chukotka Autonomous Okrug</span> First-level administrative division of Russia

Chukotka, officially the Chukotka Autonomous Okrug, is the easternmost federal subject of Russia. It is an autonomous okrug situated in the Russian Far East, and shares a border with the Sakha Republic to the west, Magadan Oblast to the south-west, and Kamchatka Krai to the south, as well as a maritime border on the Bering Strait with the U.S. state of Alaska to the east. Anadyr is the largest town and the capital, and the easternmost settlement to have town status in Russia. It is the closest point from Russia to the United States, measuring at 88.51 kilometres or 55 miles.

Semyon Ivanovich Dezhnyov was a Russian explorer of Siberia and the first European to sail through the Bering Strait, 80 years before Vitus Bering did. In 1648 he sailed from the Kolyma River on the Arctic Ocean to the Anadyr River on the Pacific. His exploit was forgotten for almost a hundred years and Bering is usually given credit for discovering the strait that bears his name.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Diomede Islands</span> Islands between Alaska and Russia

The Diomede Islands, also known in Russia as Gvozdev Islands, consist of two rocky, mesa-like islands:

<span class="mw-page-title-main">St. Lawrence Island</span> Island in the Bering Sea, part of Alaska, United States

St. Lawrence Island is located west of mainland Alaska in the Bering Sea, just south of the Bering Strait. The village of Gambell, located on the northwest cape of the island, is 50 nautical miles from the Chukchi Peninsula in the Russian Far East. The island is part of Alaska, but closer to Russia and Asia than to the Alaskan and North American mainland. St. Lawrence Island is thought to be one of the last exposed portions of the land bridge that once joined Asia with North America during the Pleistocene period. It is the sixth largest island in the United States and the 113th largest island in the world. It is considered part of the Bering Sea Volcanic Province. The Saint Lawrence Island shrew is a species of shrew endemic to St. Lawrence Island. The island is jointly owned by the predominantly Siberian Yupik villages of Gambell and Savoonga, the two main settlements on the island.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Big Diomede Island</span> Island in the Bering Strait, territory of Russia

Big Diomede Island or Tomorrow Island is the western island of the two Diomede Islands in the middle of the Bering Strait. The island is home to a Russian military base which is located midway along the island's North shore. The island is a part of the Chukotsky District of the Chukotka Autonomous Okrug of Russia. The border separating Russia and the United States runs north–south through the 2.5 mile wide strait that runs between the two Islands.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Little Diomede Island</span> Island in the Bering Strait off Alaska, U.S.

Little Diomede Island or Yesterday Island is an inhabited island of Alaska. It is the smaller of the two Diomede Islands located in the Bering Strait between the Alaskan mainland and Siberia. The island has one town, also called Diomede.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Chukchi Sea</span> Marginal sea of the Arctic Ocean north of the Bering Strait

The Chukchi Sea, sometimes referred to as the Chuuk Sea, Chukotsk Sea or the Sea of Chukotsk, is a marginal sea of the Arctic Ocean. It is bounded on the west by the Long Strait, off Wrangel Island, and in the east by Point Barrow, Alaska, beyond which lies the Beaufort Sea. The Bering Strait forms its southernmost limit and connects it to the Bering Sea and the Pacific Ocean. The principal port on the Chukchi Sea is Uelen in Russia. The International Date Line crosses the Chukchi Sea from northwest to southeast. It is displaced eastwards to avoid Wrangel Island as well as the Chukotka Autonomous Okrug on the Russian mainland.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cape Prince of Wales</span> Westernmost mainland point of the Americas

Cape Prince of Wales is the westernmost mainland point of the Americas. It was named in 1778 by Captain James Cook of the British Royal Navy, presumably for the Prince of Wales at the time, George Augustus Frederick. Discovered in 1732, by an expedition led by a Russian military geodesist Mikhail Gvozdev in Sviatoi Gavriil ; later, the cape was named by Vitus Bering for Gvozdev as Mys Gvozdeva. The Yupik name of the cape, published by Gavril Sarychev in 1826, was Nykhta. The current name was approved by a decision of the U.S. Board on Geographic Names in 1944.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Seward Peninsula</span> Peninsula on the western coast of Alaska

The Seward Peninsula is a large peninsula on the western coast of the U.S. state of Alaska whose westernmost point is Cape Prince of Wales. The peninsula projects about 200 mi (320 km) into the Bering Sea between Norton Sound, the Bering Strait, the Chukchi Sea, and Kotzebue Sound, just below the Arctic Circle. The entire peninsula is about 210 mi (330 km) long and 90–140 mi (145–225 km) wide. Like Seward, Alaska, it was named after William H. Seward, the United States Secretary of State who fought for the U.S. purchase of Alaska.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lynne Cox</span> American swimmer (born 1957)

Lynne Cox is an American long-distance open water swimmer, writer, and speaker. She is best known for being the first person to swim between the United States and the Soviet Union, in the Bering Strait, a feat which has been recognized for easing the Cold War tensions between U.S. President Ronald Reagan and Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Chukchi Peninsula</span> Peninsula on the eastern coast of Siberia

The Chukchi Peninsula, at about 66° N 172° W, is the easternmost peninsula of Asia. Its eastern end is at Cape Dezhnev near the village of Uelen. The Chukotka Mountains are located in the central/western part of the peninsula, which is bounded by the Chukchi Sea to the north, the Bering Sea to the south, and the Bering Strait to the east, where at its easternmost point it is only about 60 km (37 mi) from Seward Peninsula in Alaska; this is the smallest distance between the land masses of Eurasia and North America. The peninsula is part of Chukotka Autonomous Okrug of Russia.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bering Strait crossing</span> Proposed bridge or tunnel connection between Russia and Alaska

A Bering Strait crossing is a hypothetical bridge or tunnel that would span the relatively narrow and shallow Bering Strait between the Chukotka Peninsula in Russia and the Seward Peninsula in the U.S. state of Alaska. The crossing would provide a connection linking the Americas and Afro-Eurasia.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dmitry Shparo</span> Russian Arctic explorer, endurance skier, and author

Dmitry Shparo is a Russian Arctic explorer and endurance skier. He is internationally known for twice reaching the North Pole on snow skis.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Vladimir Voronin (captain)</span> Soviet naval explorer (1890–1952)

Vladimir Ivanovich Voronin was a Soviet Navy captain, born in Sumsky Posad, in the present Republic of Karelia, Russia. In 1932 he commanded the expedition of the Soviet icebreaker A. Sibiryakov which made the first successful crossing of the Northern Sea Route in a single navigation without wintering. This voyage was organized by the All-Union Arctic Institute.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Arctic Ocean</span> Ocean in the north polar region

The Arctic Ocean is the smallest and shallowest of the world's five oceanic divisions. It spans an area of approximately 14,060,000 km2 (5,430,000 sq mi) and is the coldest of the world's oceans. The International Hydrographic Organization (IHO) recognizes it as an ocean, although some oceanographers call it the Arctic Mediterranean Sea. It has also been described as an estuary of the Atlantic Ocean. It is also seen as the northernmost part of the all-encompassing world ocean.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Naukan people</span> Ethnic group

The Naukan, also known as the Naukanski, are a Siberian Yupik people and an Indigenous people of Siberia. They live in the Chukotka Autonomous Region of eastern Russia.

References

  1. ↑ Beck, Roger B.; Linda Black; Larry S. Krieger; Phillip C. Naylor; Dahia Ibo Shabaka (1999). World History: Patterns of Interaction . Evanston, IL: McDougal Littell. ISBN   978-0-395-87274-1.
  2. ↑ Woodgate, Rebecca. "CIRCULATION AND OUTFLOWS OF THE CHUKCHI SEA". psc.apl.washington.edu. Archived from the original on February 25, 2001. Retrieved April 27, 2021.
  3. ↑ Dr. Alexander, Vera. "Why is the Bering Sea Important?". Archived from the original on December 5, 2003. Retrieved April 27, 2021.
  4. ↑ Betsy Baker. Polar Institute. (November 2021). Beyond the Northern Sea Route:Enhancing Russian-United States Cooperation in the Bering Strait Region. Series:Polar Perspectives No. 8. Wilson Center website Retrieved January 10, 2022.
  5. ↑ Willian John Dakin (1938), Whalemen Adventures, Sydney, Angus & Robertson, p.127.
  6. ↑ "The Victoria Advocate – Google News Archive Search". news.google.com.
  7. 1 2 Watts, Simon (August 8, 2012). "Swim that broke Cold War ice curtain". BBC News. Retrieved March 8, 2021.
  8. ↑ "Swimming to Antarctica", CBS News, September 17, 2003
  9. ↑ "Soviet kayakers cross Bering Strait". UPI.
  10. ↑ "Curtain of Ice" – via www.imdb.com.
  11. ↑ "Epic explorer crosses frozen sea". BBC News. April 3, 2006. Retrieved January 13, 2012.
  12. ↑ "Epic explorer detained in Russia". BBC News. April 4, 2006. Retrieved January 13, 2012.
  13. ↑ "Cape to Cape Expedition" . Retrieved January 13, 2012.
  14. ↑ The Korea Herald (March 2012). "Korean team crosses Bering Strait". koreaherald.com.
  15. 1 2 Andrew Roth (July 11, 2012). "Journey by Sea Takes Awkward Turn in Russia". The New York Times. Retrieved July 12, 2012.
  16. ↑ "ТАСС: Спорт – На Аляске завершилась международная эстафета "моржей", переплывших Берингов пролив". ТАСС.
  17. ↑ "Bering Strait Swim – Russia to America". Facebook.
  18. ↑ Vevier, Charles (1959). "The Collins Overland Line and American Continentalism". Pacific Historical Review. 3 (3): 237–253. doi:10.2307/3636469. JSTOR   3636469.
  19. ↑ "San Francisco to St Petersburg by Rail! If the Tunnel is driven under Bering Strait will Orient meet Occident with Smile – or with Sword?". San Francisco Call. September 2, 1906. Retrieved April 23, 2016.
  20. ↑ Thinking Big: Roads and Railroads to Siberia. InterBering LLC. 1899. ISBN   9780665155185 . Retrieved April 23, 2016.
  21. ↑ Loicq de Lobel (August 2, 1906). Le Klondyke, l'Alaska, le Yukon et les Iles Aléoutienne. Société Française d'Editions d'Art. ISBN   9780665155185 . Retrieved April 23, 2016.
  22. ↑ "FOR BERING STRAIT BRIDGE" (PDF). New York Times. August 2, 1906. Retrieved April 23, 2016.
  23. ↑ James A. Oliver (2006). The Bering Strait Crossing: A 21st Century Frontier Between East and West.
  24. ↑ Halpin, Tony (August 20, 2011). "Russia plans $65bn tunnel to America". The Sunday Times .
  25. ↑ Tharoor, Ishaan (May 9, 2014). "China may build an undersea train to America". The Washington Post . Retrieved May 14, 2014.
  26. 1 2 3 Ley, Willy (June 1961). "The Strait Named After Vitus Bering". For Your Information. Galaxy Science Fiction. pp. 37–51.
  27. ↑ Fleming, James Rodger (November 11, 2010). "How the USSR Tried to Melt the Arctic".
  28. ↑ "The Soviet Scientist Who Dreamed of Melting the Arctic with a 55-Mile-Long Dam". April 25, 2013.
  29. ↑ "Ocean Dams Would Thaw North" Popular Mechanics, June 1956, p. 135.
  30. ↑ "Diomede Crossroads: Saving the Arctic sea ice? Thoughts on plausibility".
  31. ↑ State of Alaska website Archived August 31, 2009, at the Wayback Machine
  32. ↑ "Lifting the Ice Curtain", Peter A. Iseman, The New York Times, October 23, 1988
  33. ↑ Borger, Julian (October 6, 2022). "Two Russians flee Ukraine draft by crossing Bering Sea by boat to Alaska". the Guardian. Retrieved February 1, 2023.

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