Fourth Kuril Strait

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The Fourth Kuril Strait (Russian : Четвёртый курильский пролив) is a very deep strait separating the islands of Onekotan and Paramushir in the Kuril Islands, Russia. It is 46.7 km (about 29 mi) wide. It was formerly known as the Amphitrite Strait. [1] The flood tidal current in the strait sets west-northwest, while the ebb flows in the opposite direction. These currents may reach over two knots. [2]

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Russian is an East Slavic language, which is official in the Russian Federation, Belarus, Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan, as well as being widely used throughout Eastern Europe, the Baltic states, the Caucasus and Central Asia. It was the de facto language of the Soviet Union until its dissolution on 25 December 1991. Although, nowadays, nearly three decades after the breakup of the Soviet Union, Russian is used in official capacity or in public life in all the post-Soviet nation-states, as well as in Israel and Mongolia, the rise of state-specific varieties of this language tends to be strongly denied in Russia, in line with the Russian World ideology.

Onekotan island

Onekotan is an uninhabited volcanic island located near the northern end of the Kuril Islands chain in the Sea of Okhotsk in the northwest Pacific Ocean. Its name is derived from the Ainu language for "large village”. It is the second largest island, after Paramushir, in the northern subgroup of the Kurils. It is administratively included in the Severo-Kurilsky District of Sakhalin oblast, Russia.

Paramushir island

Paramushir (Russian: Парамушир, translit. Paramushir, Japanese: 幌筵島, translit. Paramushiru-tō or Horomushiro-tō, Ainu: パラムシㇼ　or パラムシㇽ, translit. Para-mu-sir, is a volcanic island in the northern portion of Kuril Islands chain in the Sea of Okhotsk in the northwest Pacific Ocean. It is separated from Shumshu by the very narrow Second Kuril Strait in the northeast 2.5 km, from Antsiferov by the Luzhin Strait to the southwest, from Atlasov in the northwest by 20 kilometres, and from Onnekotan in the south by the 40 km wide Fourth Kuril Strait. Its northern tip is 39 kilometres from Cape Lopatka at the southern tip of the Kamchatka Peninsula. Its name is derived from the Ainu language, from “broad island” or “populous island”. Severo-Kurilsk, the administrative center of the Severo-Kurilsky district, is the only permanently populated settlement on Paramushir island.

History

Between 1849 and 1874, the strait was the most common route for American whaleships entering [3] and exiting [4] the Sea of Okhotsk on their way to and from cruises for bowhead and right whales. They called it the 50 Passage or Paramushir Passage. Some even chased right whales on passage through the strait. [5]

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The United States of America (USA), commonly known as the United States or America, is a country composed of 50 states, a federal district, five major self-governing territories, and various possessions. At 3.8 million square miles, the United States is the world's third or fourth largest country by total area and is slightly smaller than the entire continent of Europe's 3.9 million square miles. With a population of over 327 million people, the U.S. is the third most populous country. The capital is Washington, D.C., and the largest city by population is New York City. Forty-eight states and the capital's federal district are contiguous in North America between Canada and Mexico. The State of Alaska is in the northwest corner of North America, bordered by Canada to the east and across the Bering Strait from Russia to the west. The State of Hawaii is an archipelago in the mid-Pacific Ocean. The U.S. territories are scattered about the Pacific Ocean and the Caribbean Sea, stretching across nine official time zones. The extremely diverse geography, climate, and wildlife of the United States make it one of the world's 17 megadiverse countries.

Whaler specialized ship designed for whaling

A whaler or whaling ship is a specialized ship, designed, or adapted, for whaling: the catching or processing of whales. The former includes the whale catcher – a steam or diesel-driven vessel with a harpoon gun mounted at its bow. The latter includes such vessels as the sail or steam-driven whaleship of the 16th to early 20th centuries and the floating factory or factory ship of the modern era. There have also been vessels which combined the two activities, such as the bottlenose whalers of the late 19th and early 20th century, and catcher/factory ships of the modern era.

Sea of Okhotsk A marginal sea of the western Pacific Ocean, between the Kamchatka Peninsula, the Kuril Islands, the island of Hokkaido, the island of Sakhalin, and eastern Siberian coast

The Sea of Okhotsk is 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 northeast corner is the Shelikhov Gulf. The sea is named after Okhotsk, the first Russian settlement in the Far East.

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Shelikhov Gulf bay

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Shantar Islands Island group in Far Eastern Federal District, Russian Federation

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Medvezhy Island Island in Far Eastern Federal District, Russian Federation

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Prokofyeva Island

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Ptichy Island (Shantar Islands)

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Seneka Point is a steep-to point in the western Sea of Okhotsk. It has sheer cliffs that are 152 m high and grayish-brown in color. It forms the eastern point of the entrance to Tugur Bay, the southeastern point of Lindholm Strait, and the western point of the entrance of Academy Bay; to its north lies Belichy Island. Numerous tide rips and eddies form near the point.

Commercial open-boat whaling by American and European ships occurred in the Sea of Okhotsk from the 1830s to the early 1900s. They primarily caught right and bowhead whales. Both populations of these species declined drastically, with the latter once thought to be extinct by western historians. Peak catches were made in the 1840s and 1850s. It's estimated that as many as 15,200 bowheads and 2,400 rights were taken in the sea.

References

  1. ↑ King, John W. (1861). The China Pilot. London: Printed for the Hydrographic Office, Admiralty.
  2. ↑ National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency. (2014). Sailing Directions (Enroute): East Coast of Russia. U.S. Government, Springfield, Virginia.
  3. ↑ Nimrod, of New Bedford, July 27, 1849, Nicholson Whaling Collection (NWC); Java, of New Bedford, April 14, 1866, Kendall Whaling Museum (KWM).
  4. ↑ Mary and Susan, of Stonington, Aug. 25, 1849, NWC; Sea Breeze, of New Bedford, Oct. 13, 1874, George Blunt White Library.
  5. ↑ Hudson, of Fairhaven, Oct. 6, 1857, KWM.

Coordinates: 49°50′N155°00′E / 49.833°N 155.000°E / 49.833; 155.000

Geographic coordinate system Coordinate system

A geographic coordinate system is a coordinate system that enables every location on Earth to be specified by a set of numbers, letters or symbols. The coordinates are often chosen such that one of the numbers represents a vertical position and two or three of the numbers represent a horizontal position; alternatively, a geographic position may be expressed in a combined three-dimensional Cartesian vector. A common choice of coordinates is latitude, longitude and elevation. To specify a location on a plane requires a map projection.

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