Sea of Okhotsk

Last updated
Sea of Okhotsk
Sea of Ochotsk 151.75790E 53.57880N.jpg
Sea of Okhotsk
Sea of Okhotsk map with state labels.png
Map of the Sea of Okhotsk
Location North Asia and East Asia
Coordinates 55°N150°E / 55°N 150°E / 55; 150
Type Sea
Basin  countries Japan and Russia
Surface area1,583,000 km2 (611,200 sq mi)
Average depth859 m (2,818 ft)
Max. depth3,372 m (11,063 ft)

The Sea of Okhotsk [lower-alpha 1] is a marginal sea of the western Pacific Ocean. [1] 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. The northeast corner is the Shelikhov Gulf. The sea is named for the port of Okhotsk, itself named for the Okhota River. [2]

Contents

Geography

Sea of Okhotsk full map Sea-of-Okhotsk-Full-Map-Hokkaido-Kuril-Kamchatka-Sakhalin.png
Sea of Okhotsk full map
Sea of Okhotsk seasons winter and summer Sea of Okhotsk Season Winter Summer 2008.jpg
Sea of Okhotsk seasons winter and summer

The Sea of Okhotsk covers an area of 1,583,000 square kilometres (611,000 sq mi), with a mean depth of 859 metres (2,818 ft) and a maximum depth of 3,372 metres (11,063 ft). It is connected to the Sea of Japan on either side of Sakhalin: on the west through the Sakhalin Gulf and the Gulf of Tartary; on the south through the La Pérouse Strait.

In winter, navigation on the Sea of Okhotsk is impeded by ice floes. [3] Ice floes form due to the large amount of freshwater from the Amur River, lowering the salinity of upper levels, often raising the freezing point of the sea surface. The distribution and thickness of ice floes depends on many factors: the location, the time of year, water currents, and the sea temperatures. [4]

Cold air from Siberia forms sea ice in the northwestern Sea of Okhotsk. As the ice forms, it expels salt into the deeper layers. This heavy water flows east toward the Pacific, carrying oxygen and nutrients, supporting abundant sea life. The Sea of Okhotsk has warmed in some places by as much as 3°C (5.4°F) since preindustrial times, three times faster than the global mean. Warming inhibits the formation of sea ice and also drives fish populations north. The salmon catch on the northern Japanese coast has fallen 70% in the last 15 years, while the Russian chum salmon catch has quadrupled. [5]

With the exception of Hokkaido, one of the Japanese home islands, the sea is surrounded on all sides by territory administered by the Russian Federation. South Sakhalin and the Kuril Islands were administered by Japan until 1945. Japan claims the southern Kuril Islands and refers to them as Northern Territories. [6]

Extent

The International Hydrographic Organization defines the limits of the Sea of Okhotsk as follows: [7]

::On the Southwest. The Northeastern and Northern limits on the Japan Sea [In La Perouse Strait (Sôya Kaikyô). A line joining Sôni Misaki and Nishi Notoro Misaki (45°55'N). From Cape Tuik (51°45'N) to Cape Sushcheva].

::On the Southeast. A line running from Nosyappu Saki (Cape Noshap, 43°23'N) in the Island of Hokusyû (Yezo) through the Kuril or Tisima Islands to Cape Lopatka (South point of Kamchatka) in such a way that all the narrow waters between Hokusyû and Kamchatka are included in the Sea of Okhotsk.

Islands

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. Practically all of the sea's islands are either in coastal waters or belong to the various islands making up the Kuril Islands chain. These fall either under undisputed Japanese or Russian ownership or disputed ownership between Japan and Russia. Iony Island is the only island located in open waters and belongs to the Khabarovsk Krai of the Russian Federation.

The majority of the sea's islands are uninhabited, making them ideal breeding grounds for seals, sea lions, seabirds, and other sea island fauna. Large colonies of crested auklets use the Sea of Okhotsk as a nesting site.

History

Most of the Sea of Okhotsk, labelled here as the Ocho Tzkisches Meer or Tungusisches Meer ("Tungusic Sea"), had been well mapped by 1792, apart from Sakhalin. Generalkarte Russisches Reich 1792 2.jpg
Most of the Sea of Okhotsk, labelled here as the Ocho Tzkisches Meer or Tungusisches Meer ("Tungusic Sea"), had been well mapped by 1792, apart from Sakhalin.

Pre-modern

The Okhotsk people and the later Ainu culture, a coastal fishing and hunter-gatherer people, were located around the lands surrounding the Sea of Okhotsk, as well as in northern Japan. [8]

European exploration and settlement

Russian explorers Vassili Poyarkov(1639) and Ivan Moskvitin (1645) were the first Europeans to visit the Sea of Okhotsk [9] (and, probably, the island of Sakhalin [10] ) in the 1640s. The Dutch captain Maarten Gerritsz Vries in the Breskens entered the Sea of Okhotsk from the south-east in 1643, and charted parts of the Sakhalin coast and Kuril Islands, but failed to realize that either Sakhalin or Hokkaido are islands. During this period, the sea was sometimes known as the Sea of Kamchatka. [11]

The first and foremost Russian settlement on the shore was the port of Okhotsk, which relinquished commercial supremacy to Ayan in the 1840s. The Russian-American Company all but monopolized the commercial navigation of the sea in the first half of the 19th century.

The Second Kamchatka Expedition under Vitus Bering systematically mapped the entire coast of the sea, starting in 1733. Jean-François de Galaup, comte de Lapérouse and William Robert Broughton were the first non-Russian European navigators known to have passed through these waters other than Vries. Ivan Krusenstern explored the eastern coast of Sakhalin in 1805. Mamiya Rinzō and Gennady Nevelskoy determined that Sakhalin was indeed an island separated from the mainland by a narrow strait. The first detailed summary of the hydrology of the Sea of Okhotsk was prepared and published by Stepan Makarov in 1894.

Fishing

The Sea of Okhotsk is rich in biological resources, with various kinds of fish, shellfish and crabs.

The harsh conditions of crab fishing in the Sea of Okhotsk is the subject of the most famous novel of the Japanese writer Takiji Kobayashi, The Crab Cannery Ship (1929).

The Peanut Hole

The Peanut Hole (named for its shape) was an area of open ocean at the center of the Sea of Okhotsk, about 55 km (30 mi) wide and 480 km (300 mi) long, that was surrounded by Russia's exclusive economic zone (EEZ). Since the Peanut Hole was not in the Russian EEZ, any country could fish there, and some began doing so in large numbers in 1991, catching perhaps as much as one million metric tons of pollock in 1992. This was seen by the Russian Federation as presenting a danger to Russian fish stocks, since the fish move in and out of the Peanut Hole from the Russian EEZ.

The Russian Federation petitioned the United Nations to declare the Peanut Hole to be part of Russia's continental shelf. In November 2013, a United Nations subcommittee accepted the Russian argument, and in March 2014 the full United Nations Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf ruled in favor of the Russian Federation.

Whaling

Bowhead whales were first caught in 1847, and dominated the catch between 1852 and the late 1860s. [12] Between 1850 and 1853 the majority of the fleet went to the Bering Strait region to hunt bowheads, but intense competition, poor ice conditions, and declining catches forced the fleet back to the Sea of Okhotsk. From 1854 to 1856, an average of over 160 vessels cruised in the sea each year. As catches declined between 1858 and 1860 the fleet shifted back to the Bering Strait region. [13]

The Russian military marine mammal program reportedly sources some of its animals from the Sea of Okhotsk. [14]

Modern

South Sakhalin was administered by Japan as Karafuto Prefecture from 1907 to 1949. The Kuril Islands were Japanese from 1855 and 1875 till the end of World War II in 1945. Afterward, the Soviet Union occupied the territory.

During the Cold War, the Sea of Okhotsk was the scene of several successful U.S. Navy operations (including Operation Ivy Bells) to tap Soviet Navy undersea communications cables. These operations were documented in the book Blind Man's Bluff: The Untold Story of American Submarine Espionage . The sea (and surrounding area) were also the scene of the Soviet attack on Korean Air Lines Flight 007 in 1983. The Soviet Pacific Fleet used the sea as a ballistic missile submarine bastion, [15] a strategy that Russia continues.

Despite its proximity to Japan, the Sea of Okhotsk has no native etymology in the Japanese language; its name, Ohōtsuku-kai (オホーツク海), is a transcription of the Russian name. This is also reflected in the name of Hokkaidō's Okhotsk Subprefecture, which faces the Sea of Okhotsk and is also known as the Okhotsk region (オホーツク地方, Ohōtsuku-chihō).

Oil and gas exploration

Twenty-nine zones of possible oil and gas accumulation have been identified on the Sea of Okhotsk shelf, which runs along the coast. Total reserves are estimated at 3.5 billion tons of equivalent fuel, including 1.2 billion tons of oil and 1.5 billion cubic meters of gas. [16]

On 18 December 2011, the Russian oil drilling rig Kolskaya [17] [18] capsized and sank in a storm in the Sea of Okhotsk, some 124 km (77 mi) from Sakhalin island, where it was being towed from Kamchatka. Reportedly, its pumps failed, causing it to take on water and sink. The platform carried 67 people, of which 14 were rescued by the Magadan and the tugboat Natftogaz-55. The platform was subcontracted to a company working for the Russian energy giant Gazprom. [19] [20] [21]

Notable seaports

See also

Explanatory notes

  1. ↑ Russian :Охотское море, tr. Okhotskoye more, IPA: [ɐˈxotskəjəˈmorʲe] ; Historically also known as Ламутское море, Lamutskoye more, or as Камчатское море, Kamchatskoye more; Japanese: オホーツク海, romanized: Ohōtsuku-kai)

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sea of Japan</span> Marginal sea between Japan, Russia and Korea

The Sea of Japan(see below for other names) is the marginal sea between the Japanese archipelago, Sakhalin, the Korean Peninsula, and the mainland of the Russian Far East. The Japanese archipelago separates the sea from the Pacific Ocean. Like the Mediterranean Sea, it has almost no tides due to its nearly complete enclosure from the Pacific Ocean. This isolation also affects faunal diversity and salinity, both of which are lower than in the open ocean. The sea has no large islands, bays or capes. Its water balance is mostly determined by the inflow and outflow through the straits connecting it to the neighboring seas and the Pacific Ocean. Few rivers discharge into the sea and their total contribution to the water exchange is within 1%.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kuril Islands</span> Island chain located in Northeast Asia

The Kuril Islands or Kurile Islands are a volcanic archipelago administered as part of Sakhalin Oblast in the Russian Far East. The islands stretch approximately 1,300 km (810 mi) northeast from Hokkaido in Japan to Kamchatka Peninsula in Russia, separating the Sea of Okhotsk from the north Pacific Ocean. There are 56 islands and many minor islets. The Kuril Islands consist of the Greater Kuril Chain and, at the southwest end, the parallel Lesser Kuril Chain. They cover an area of around 10,503.2 square kilometres (4,055.3 sq mi), with a population of roughly 20,000.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Okhotsk Subprefecture</span> Place in Hokkaido

Okhotsk Subprefecture is a subprefecture of Hokkaido Prefecture, Japan. It was renamed from the earlier Abashiri Subprefecture on April 1, 2010. Abashiri Subprefecture was established in 1897.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Atlasov Island</span> Northernmost island of the Kuril islands

Atlasov Island, known in Russian as Ostrov Atlasova (Остров Атласова), or in Japanese as Araido (阿頼度島), is the northernmost island and volcano and also the highest volcano of the Kuril islands, part of the Sakhalin Oblast in Russia. The Russian name is sometimes rendered in English as Atlasova Island. Other names for the island include Uyakhuzhach, Oyakoba (Ainu) and Alaid, the name of the volcano on the island.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kamchatka Peninsula</span> Peninsula in the Russian Far East

The KamchatkaPeninsula is a 1,250-kilometre-long (777 mi) peninsula in the Russian Far East, with an area of about 270,000 km2 (100,000 sq mi). The Pacific Ocean and the Sea of Okhotsk make up the peninsula's eastern and western coastlines, respectively. Immediately offshore along the Pacific coast of the peninsula runs the 10,500-metre-deep (34,449 ft) Kuril–Kamchatka Trench.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kuril–Kamchatka Trench</span> Oceanic trench in the northwest Pacific

The Kuril–Kamchatka Trench or Kuril Trench is an oceanic trench in the northwest Pacific Ocean. It lies off the southeast coast of Kamchatka and parallels the Kuril Island chain to meet the Japan Trench east of Hokkaido. It extends from a triple junction with the Ulakhan Fault and the Aleutian Trench near the Commander Islands, Russia, in the northeast, to the intersection with the Japan Trench in the southwest.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Okhotsk microplate</span> Minor tectonic plate in Asia

The Okhotsk microplate is a proposed minor tectonic plate covering the Kamchatka Peninsula, Magadan Oblast, and Sakhalin Island of Russia; Hokkaido, Kantō and Tōhoku regions of Japan; the Sea of Okhotsk, as well as the disputed Kuril Islands.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Urup</span> Island in the Kuril Islands

Urup is an uninhabited volcanic island in the Kuril Islands chain in the south of the Sea of Okhotsk, northwest Pacific Ocean. Its name is derived from the Ainu language word for salmon trout.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Paramushir</span> Volcanic island in the Kurile island chain

Paramushir is a volcanic island in the northern portion of the 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 (1.6 mi), from Antsiferov by the Luzhin Strait to the southwest, from Atlasov in the northwest by 20 km (12 mi), and from Onekotan in the south by the 40 km (25 mi) wide Fourth Kuril Strait. Its northern tip is 39 km (24 mi) 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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Onekotan</span> Volcanic island in the Kurile island chain

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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ekarma</span> Volcanic island in the Kurile island chain

Ekarma is an uninhabited volcanic island near the center of the Kuril Islands chain in the Sea of Okhotsk in the northwest Pacific Ocean, separated from Shiashkotan by the Ekarma Strait. Its name is derived from the Ainu language, from “safe anchorage”.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kharimkotan</span> Volcanic island in the Kurile island chain

Kharimkotan ; Japanese 春牟古丹島; Harimukotan-tō, alternatively Harumukotan-tō or 加林古丹島; Karinkotan-tō) is an uninhabited volcanic island located 15 km (9 mi) from Onekotan 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, from “village of many Cardiocrinum”.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Makanrushi</span> Uninhabited volcanic island located in the Kuril Islands chain

Makanrushi 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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Shumshu</span> Island in the Kurile island chain

Shumshu is the easternmost and second-northernmost island of the Kuril Islands chain, which divides the Sea of Okhotsk from the northwest Pacific Ocean. The name of the island is derived from the Ainu language, meaning "good island". It is separated from Paramushir by the very narrow Second Kuril Strait in the northeast 2.5 kilometres (1.6 mi), and its northern tip is 11 kilometres (6.8 mi), from Cape Lopatka at the southern tip of the Kamchatka Peninsula. The island has a seasonal population of around 100 inhabitants.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Okhotsk culture</span> 5th–10th-century archaeological culture around the Sea of Okhotsk

The Okhotsk culture is an archaeological coastal fishing and hunter-gatherer culture that developed around the southern coastal regions of the Sea of Okhotsk, including Sakhalin, northeastern Hokkaido, and the Kuril Islands during the last half of the first millennium to the early part of the second. The Okhotsk are often associated to be the ancestors of the Nivkhs, while others argue them to be identified with early Ainu-speakers. It is suggested that the bear cult, a practice shared by various Northern Eurasian peoples, the Ainu and the Nivkhs, was an important element of the Okhotsk culture but was uncommon in Jomon period Japan. Archaeological evidence indicates that the Okhotsk culture proper originated in the 5th century AD from the Susuya culture of southern Sakhalin and northwestern Hokkaido.

<i>Kolskaya</i> (jack-up rig)

Kolskaya was a jack-up rig operating in the Russian Far East. It was built by Rauma-Repola in Pori, Finland in 1985 and was owned by the Russian company ArktikmorNeftegazRazvedka (AMNGR), a subsidiary of Zarubezhneft.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Peanut Hole</span> Area in the Sea of Okhotsk

The Peanut Hole was an area of open ocean at the center of the Sea of Okhotsk until 2014. From 1991 to 2014 its status was the subject of international disputes, although since March 2014 Peanut Hole's seabed and subsoil is legally part of the continental shelf of Russia.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Japan–Russia border</span> International border

The Japan–Russia border is the de facto maritime boundary that separates the territorial waters of the two countries. According to the Russia border agency, the border's length is 194.3 km (120.7 mi).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Geography of Hokkaido</span> Overview of the Geography of Hokkaido

The island of Hokkaidō is located in the north of Japan, near Russia. It has coastlines on the Sea of Japan, the Sea of Okhotsk, and the Pacific Ocean. The center of the island is mountainous, with volcanic plateaux. Hokkaidō has multiple plains such as the Ishikari Plain 3,800 km2 (1,500 sq mi), Tokachi Plain 3,600 km2 (1,400 sq mi), the Kushiro Plain 2,510 km2 (970 sq mi) and Sarobetsu Plain 200 km2 (77 sq mi). Hokkaidō is 83,423.84 km2 (32,210.12 sq mi) which makes it the second-largest island of Japan.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sea of Okhotsk Coast</span>

The Sea of Okhotsk Coast is split into natural major parts according to the delineation of the Sea of Okhotsk: its northwestern part, which is part of the mainland of Eastern Siberia, the west coast of the Kamchatka Peninsula (Russia), the coasts of the Kuril Islands, the northeastern coast of Hokkaido (Japan), the north and east coasts of Sakhalin (Russia), as well as the coasts of the inner islands.

References

  1. ↑ Kon-Kee Liu; Larry Atkinson (June 2009). Carbon and Nutrient Fluxes in Continental Margins: A Global Synthesis. Springer. pp. 331–333. ISBN   978-3-540-92734-1 . Retrieved 29 November 2010.
  2. ↑ Everett-Heath, John (2020). "Okhotsk, Sea of (Okhotskoye More)" . Concise Oxford Dictionary of World Place Names (6th ed.). Oxford University Press. ISBN   9780191905636.
  3. ↑ "Sea of Okhotsk - Economic aspects". Encyclopedia Britannica. Retrieved 2019-11-14.
  4. ↑ Watanabe, Tatsuro; Ikeda, Motoyoshi; Wakatsuchi, Masaaki (2004). "Thermohaline effects of the seasonal sea ice cover in the Sea of Okhotsk". Journal of Geophysical Research: Oceans. 109 (C9). Bibcode:2004JGRC..109.9S02W. doi: 10.1029/2003JC001905 . ISSN   2156-2202.
  5. ↑ "How climate change is triggering a chain reaction that threatens the heart of the Pacific". Washington Post. Retrieved 2019-11-14.. Print 15nov19, pp A1, A12, A13.
  6. ↑ Bruce A. Elleman, Michael R. Nichols and Matthew J. Ouimet, A Historical Reevaluation of America's Role in the Kuril Islands Dispute, Pacific Affairs, Vol. 71, No. 4 (Winter, 1998–1999), pp. 489–504
  7. ↑ Limits of Oceans and Seas (PDF). Vol. 172 (3rd ed.). 1953. pp. 32–33. Bibcode:1953Natur.172R.484.. doi:10.1038/172484b0. S2CID   36029611 . Retrieved 15 June 2020.{{cite book}}: |work= ignored (help)
  8. ↑ "ウェブマガジン カムイミンタラ ～北海道の風土・文化誌 ：オホーツク文化人とモヨロ貝塚 網走 流氷とともにやってきた古代民族の謎とロマンに魅せられた父子三代と研究者たち" ["Web Magazine Kamuy Mintara ~Hokkaido's Climate and Culture Magazine: Okhotsk Culture and Moyoro Shell Mounds Abashiri Three generations of fathers and sons and researchers fascinated by the mystery and romance of ancient peoples who came along with the drift ice".]. kamuimintara.net. Retrieved 2019-07-10.
  9. ↑ Pavel Ushakov  [ ru ], Sea of Okhotsk, In: Морской сборник, Issue 1, 1940, pp.69-92
  10. ↑ Stephan, John J. (1971), Sakhalin: a history, Clarendon Press, p. 11
  11. ↑ "Plate LXXXVII. Fig. 2. World.", Encyclopaedia Britannica , vol. II (1st ed.), Edinburgh: Colin Macfarquhar, 1771.
  12. ↑ Vaughan, R. (1984). "Historical survey of the European whaling industry". In Arctic Whaling: Proceedings of the International Symposium, pp. 121-145. University of Groningen.
  13. ↑ Bockstoce, John (1986). Whales, Ice, & Men: The History of Whaling in the Western Arctic . University of Washington Press. ISBN   0-295-97447-8.
  14. ↑ Jabr, Ferris (2024-01-04). "The Whale Who Went AWOL". New York Times.
  15. ↑ Acharya, Amitav (March 1988). "The United States Versus the USSR in the Pacific: Trends in the Military Balance". Contemporary Southeast Asia. 9 (4). Institute of Southeast Asian Studies: 293. ISSN   1793-284X. JSTOR   25797972.
  16. ↑ "Magadan Region". Kommersant, Russia's Daily Online. Archived from the original on October 25, 2007. Retrieved January 22, 2007.
  17. ↑ Technical details of the rig www.amngr.ru
  18. ↑ "Rig Data: Kolskaya". Rigzone. Archived from the original on 2012-01-03. Retrieved 2011-12-19.
  19. ↑ "Russian oil rig sinks, leaving many missing". CNN. December 18, 2011. Retrieved December 18, 2011.
  20. ↑ "Kolskaya Sinks Offshore Russia". Rigzone. Retrieved August 13, 2012.
  21. ↑ "Blog Archive » Rig Kolskaya Lost". Shipwreck Log. December 18, 2011. Retrieved August 13, 2012.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.