The Laptev Sea belongs to the group marginal seas Arctic Ocean. Located between Severnaya Zemlya and the New Siberian Islands. The area of the reservoir is about 678 thousand square meters. km. The volume of water reaches 363 thousand cubic meters. km. The average depth is 578 meters, and the maximum is 3385 meters. The climate in these places is arctic, the salinity of the water is low, the ice cover lasts most of the year and only partially retreats at the end of summer and beginning of autumn. The large Siberian river Lena flows into the reservoir.
origin of name
The sea was named in honor of Russian explorers and cousins Khariton and Dmitry Laptev. They developed this inhospitable region in the first half of the 18th century. Before this, in the 17th and 18th centuries, the reservoir was called either the Arctic Sea, the Siberian Sea, the Lena Sea, or the Tatar Sea. In 1883, the famous Norwegian explorer Fridtjof Nansen proposed another name - the Nordenskiöld Sea in honor of the Swedish geographer and geologist Adolf Erik Nordenskiöld.
This name lasted until the beginning of the 20th century, when the Russian Geographical Society approved modern name, and in honor of the famous Swede they named the archipelago in the Kara Sea. An official decision on this issue was made soviet government in the summer of 1935.
Laptev Sea on the map
Borders of the Laptev Sea
In the west, the reservoir is limited by the Severnaya Zemlya archipelago. The northernmost point is considered to be Cape Arktichesky on Komsomolets Island. The eastern border is considered to be the New Siberian Islands with the northernmost point on Kotelny Island being Cape Anisiy. The eastern border ends at Cape Svyatoy Nos and further west along the coast of the mainland to the Taimyr Peninsula.
Coastline
The Lena River flows into the Laptev Sea and forms a vast delta. In addition, such rivers as the Yana, Khatanga, Olenyok, and Anabar flow into the reservoir. The coastline is indented with a length of 1300 km. It has many bays and bays. The easternmost is the Ebellyakh Bay (a bay is a bay that flows far into the land, into which, as a rule, a river flows). Further to the west are Sellyakhskaya Bay, Yansky Bay, Buor-Khaya Bay, Oleneksky Bay, Anabarsky Bay, Nordvik Bay, and the westernmost is Khatanga Bay.
In the area of the southwestern coast there are such islands as Maly and Bolshoi Begichev, Preobrazhensky Island, Peschany Island, Psov Island, and Peter Islands. In total, there are several dozen islands near the coastline, and their total area is 3.8 thousand square meters. km. As a result of erosion, some islands are destroyed and disappear.
Sea bottom
More than half of the seabed is a continental shelf with a depth of no more than 60 meters. In the southern regions there are places where the depth is 25-30 meters. In the northern part of the reservoir, the bottom drops off sharply and the depth reaches 1 km or more. The maximum depth of 3385 meters was recorded in the northern part of the sea in the Nansen Basin, where the water thickness on average corresponds to 2 km.
The Laptev Sea is characterized by low temperature regimes. They vary from -1.8 degrees Celsius in the north to -0.8 degrees Celsius in the southeastern part. The temperature of the middle layers of water is 1.5 degrees Celsius. At depth, the temperature regime is colder and reaches -0.8 degrees Celsius. In the summer months, the water is heated by the sun in the bays to 8-10 degrees Celsius and up to 2-3 degrees Celsius in the open sea.
The salinity of seawater is greatly influenced by melting ice and river runoff. In winter, salinity in the southern regions is 20-25 ppm, and in the north it reaches 34 ppm. In summer it decreases by 10% and 32%, respectively.
70% of the total river flow (515 thousand cubic km) comes from the Lena River. And the river flow of all rivers flowing into the reservoir in question reaches 730 thousand cubic meters. km. Due to ice melting, 90% of the runoff occurs in June-September, and in January this figure is only 5%.
Tides are semidiurnal with an average amplitude of 0.5 meters. In Khatanga Bay they reach 2 meters. Seasonal fluctuations in water level are 40 cm. Winds are weak, so wave heights usually do not exceed 1 meter. in summer central regions In the sea there are waves 4-5 meters high, and in the fall they can reach 6 meters in height.
Climate
The Laptev Sea is remote from both the Pacific and Atlantic oceans, so the Arctic climate predominates. The polar night lasts 3 months a year in the south and 5 months in the north. The air temperature is below 0 degrees 11 months a year in the north and 9 months in the south. The average temperature in January is -32 degrees Celsius, and the minimum is -50 degrees Celsius.
In summer, temperatures in the south rise to 10 degrees Celsius. On the coast it can rise to 24 degrees Celsius. The maximum summer temperature recorded in Tiksi was 32 degrees Celsius. However, foggy weather in summer can result in snow, and winter is characterized by snowstorms and storms.
At sea, although weak, shipping is developed, and the main seaport is Tiksi. In the 30s of the last century, the Main Directorate of Northern Sea Routes was created, which was in charge of ships plying the Laptev Sea. The ships moved in a caravan behind the icebreaker. They transported timber, furs, various Construction Materials. Nowadays, the northern route is used to deliver goods to the northern regions of Russia.
Ecology
The reservoir in question is considered slightly polluted. Negative Impact provided by enterprises located on the banks of the Lena, Anabar, and Yana rivers. It is from them that sea water phenols, zinc, copper enter. The administrative center of Tiksi also contributes to pollution. Another source of pollution is rotting wood that ends up in the sea as a result of timber rafting. All this causes high concentration phenol.
Located between the Taimyr Peninsula and the Severnaya Zemlya Islands in the west and the New Siberian Islands in the east.
Area 662,000 sq. km.
The predominant depths are up to 50 m, the greatest depth is 3385 m.
Large bays: Khatanga, Olenyoksky, Faddeya, Yansky, Anabarsky, Maria Pronchishcheva Bay, Buor-Khaya. There are many islands in the western part of the sea.
The islands of Komsomolskaya Pravda are located in the southwestern part of the sea.
The following rivers flow into the sea: Khatanga, Anabar, Olenyok, Lena, Yana.
The main port is Tiksi.
Most of the year (October to May) Laptev sea covered with ice. Ice formation begins at the end of September and occurs simultaneously throughout the entire sea. In winter, in its shallow eastern part, extensive fast ice up to 2 m thick is developed. The limit of the distribution of fast ice is a depth of approximately 25 m, which in this area of the sea is several hundred kilometers away from the coast. The area of fast ice is approximately 30% of the area of the entire sea. In the western and northwestern parts of the sea, fast ice is small, and in some winters it is completely absent. To the north of the fast ice zone there are drifting ice.
The average air temperature in January is about –30°С; in the coastal part there are frosts down to –60°С. Most of the year is covered with ice; There is wide fast ice along the coast, the Siberian polynya extends to the north, and the Taimyr ice massif is preserved to the east of the Vilkitsky Strait. Salinity from 10 (or less) in the south to 34 ‰ in the north; The tides are semidiurnal, up to 0.5 m.
IN Laptev sea The tides are well defined and have an irregular semidiurnal pattern everywhere. The tidal wave enters from the north from the Central Arctic Basin, attenuating and deforming as it moves south. The magnitude of the tide is usually small, mostly about 0.5 m. Only in the Khatanga Bay the range of tidal level fluctuations exceeds 2 m at syzygy. Other rivers flowing into Laptev sea, the tide is almost out. It fades very close to the mouths, since the tidal wave is extinguished in the deltas of these rivers.
Fauna and flora of the Laptev Sea
are typically arctic. Phytoplankton is represented by marine diatoms and diatoms of desalinated waters. The most widespread species of zooplankton here are planktonic marine ciliates, rotifers, copepods and amphipods. Benthic organisms include foraminifera, polychaetes, isopods, bryozoans and molluscs. Fish are represented by Siberian whitefish, Arctic char, omul, nelma, sturgeon, etc.
Mammals include walruses, seals and beluga whales, bearded seals, and seals; there are bird colonies on the banks; There are many commercial fish: char, muksun, nelma, taimen, perch, sturgeon, sterlet. Polar bears live on ice islands and large ice fields in the open sea. Colonies of sea gulls live near the coasts.
In the west of the Laptev Sea are the Vilkitsky Straits. Shokapisky and the Red Army is connected to the Kara Sea, in the east by the Dm straits. Laptev, Eterikan and Sannikova - with the East Siberian Sea Laptev Sea (former names Siberian, Nordenskiöld) Laptev Sea area about 672 thousand km "-, volume 363 thousand km3, average depth 540 m, greatest depth 2980 m. The greatest extent of the Laptev Sea from SE to NW is between 71 and 82 ° with a latitude of 1300 km. Coastline length 7523 km, of which 5254 km along the mainland, 2269 km along the coast of its islands.
Largest bays— Khatanga, Olenyoksky, Buorkhaya Bay, etc. Many rivers flow into the Laptev Sea, the annual flow of which is about 730 km3 (the Lena River provides 77% of the continental flow). Some rivers form large deltas. There are several dozen islands in the Laptev Sea with total area 5900 km2. Most of the islands are located in the western part of the Laptev Sea. The islands are diverse in origin and landscape.
Ice melting and the wave-breaking process greatly accelerate the denudation of the shores of the Laptev Sea and sometimes lead to the destruction of small islands. For example, the open islands of Semenovsky and Vasilyevsky (74° 12" N, 133° 20" E) Numerous remains of pre-glacial animals are found in the layers of ice exposed by erosion. Shore in the Dm Strait. Laptev is called the Mammoth Coast, since the Quaternary strata are replete with the remains of these extinct animals.
As studies have shown, in the modern era the mainland coast of the Laptev Sea is rising. The relative rate of isostatic uplift increases from west to east from +2.2 mm/year in Bulunkan Bay (Tiksi Bay) to + 6.7 mm/year at Cape Shalaurov.
The geological past of the Laptev Sea is closely connected with the history of the development of the Arctic Ocean, which determined the structure of its bed and shores. The Severnaya Zemlya archipelago is a continuation of the Paleozoic and Mesozoic folding of the Taimyr Peninsula, and the New Siberian Islands are for the most part a continuation of the Mesozoic and Cenozoic folding of the Verkhoyansk Range. Main features The bottom topography of the Laptev Sea was determined by late Neogene - early Pleistocene tectonic ruptures. In the process of geological development, the Laptev Sea has repeatedly undergone transgression and regression. Ancient arosion forms of the bottom relief were formed at the end of the Pliocene - beginning of the Pleistocene with a relative decrease in sea level (400-500 m below the modern level). In this period coastline was located on the site of the upper edge of the continental slope. At the beginning of the Upper Pleistocene, sea level was 80-100 m higher than today. Later, it began to gradually decrease and reached a position close to the modern one, during the period of the Sartan mountain-valley glaciation, i.e. 20 thousand years ago.
Bottom topography and bottom sediments
In terms of its relief, the Laptev Sea is a bathyal plain, gently sloping in its southern part and steeplyending towards the ocean floor. Depths less than 100 m occupy about 70%, and more than 1000 m - 18% of the area of the Laptev Sea.
The bottom topography of the southern (shelf) part of the Laptev Sea is very complex; here there are numerous depressions of erosional and tectonic origin, continuations of the underwater channels of modern rivers, as well as shallow waters and banks. The continental slope is cut by the deep-sea Sadko Trench, which in the north turns into the Nansen Basin.
In shallow areas of the Laptev Sea, sediments consist of sand and silt, sometimes with the addition of pebbles and boulders. Silts are observed at great depths. Sedimentation in the coastal zone of the Laptev Sea is greatly influenced by rivers, especially the Lena (11.3 million tons of suspended sediment per year) and the Yana (6.2 million tons of suspended sediment per year). The influx of sediments and coastal erosion contribute to the fact that the rate of sedimentation in the coastal zone can reach 25 cm/year. In the eastern part of the Laptev Sea, relict ice is often found under a layer of sediment.
Climate of the Laptev Sea
In terms of climate, the Laptev Sea is one of the harshest Arctic seas. The polar night lasts for about 3 months in the south and 4 months in the north. Air temperatures below zero remain in the northern part of the Laptev Sea for about 11 months, in the southern part for 9 months. The average air temperature of the coldest month (January) is -31, -34 ° C, the average minimum is -54 ° C, the absolute minimum is -61 ° C.Average wind speeds in January from 3-4 m/s in the southern part to 5-6 m/s in the northern part of the Laptev Sea, the highest wind speed is 49 m/s. In spring (mainly in April), the duration of sunshine reaches 250 hours per month (almost 2 times more than in Moscow). The total radiation on the coast of the Laptev Sea in April is 8-11 kcal/cm2, in May 14-16 kcal/cm2, but the radiation balance becomes positive only in May. The average air temperature in April is -19.2°C in the south of the Laptev Sea and -20.8°C in the north; in May -7 and -9°C, respectively.
A stable transition of air temperatures through zero to positive values occurs in the first ten days of June. The waters of the Laptev Sea receive 25% of the annual solar radiation in June.
The average air temperature of the warmest month (July) is 1° C in the south, 5-7° C in the south and on the sea coast; the maximum air temperature is 22-24 ° C, the minimum is -4, -1 C, respectively. The number of days with frost in July in the north is 25, in the south 6. The transition from average daily values to negative values in the north occurs in the first ten days of September, in the south - in the second. The average air temperature in September in the north is -1.6° C, in the south 1.5° C, and in October -10.5 and -11.9° C, respectively.
Hydrological regime
The Laptev Sea is determined primarily by the fact that most of the year its water area is covered with ice. Ice formation begins in September in the north of the Laptev Sea and in October in the south. The Laptev Sea is characterized by low water temperatures. In winter, the temperature of the subglacial layer of water is about -0.8 ° C in the southeastern part of the Laptev Sea and about -1.8 ° C in the northern part. At depths from 25 to 100 m, water temperatures range from -1.6 to -1.8 ° C.The deep-sea part of the Laptev Sea of the Arctic basin receives relatively warm Atlantic waters with temperatures up to 1.5 ° C (at a depth of 250-300 m). Below the layer of Atlantic waters to the bottom, the temperature is about -0.8° C. Warming up of the waters of the Laptev Sea begins in the areas of river mouths. According to Antonov, the thermal runoff of rivers in the Laptev Sea is 3120 10^12 kcal (62% of the thermal runoff in June-July, 25% in August). The heat brought by river waters contributes to the breaking of fast ice and the clearing of ice from near-mouth areas and the formation of near-mouth rarefaction. Under the influence of solar radiation, near-estuarine depressions, as well as french polynyas, become centers of ice melting and warming up of the waters of the Laptev Sea.
In summer, in areas cleared of ice, a thin layer of surface water warms up to 8-10° C in bays, lips and bays. The waters of the western part of the Laptev Sea, diluted by the cold waters of the Arctic basin brought by the Taimyr Current, colder than the waters eastern part, where it spreads most of continental runoff waters. If in the eastern part of the Laptev Sea the water temperature can reach 4-6 ° C, then in the western part it does not exceed 2-3 ° C. In the northern part of the Laptev Sea and near the ice edge, water temperatures rise to 0-1 ° C.
On the salinity of the waters of the Laptev Sea A strong influence is exerted by the melting of ice (in the northern part) and river flow, which within a year could form a layer of fresh water 135 cm thick over the entire area of the Laptev Sea (the second thickest in the World Ocean after the Kara Sea).
Posted Mon, 04/27/2015 - 06:59 by Cap
The Laptev Sea (Yakut: Laptevtar baikallar) is a marginal sea of the Arctic Ocean. Located between the northern coast of Siberia in the south, the Severnaya Zemlya islands in the west and.
The sea is named after Russian polar explorers - cousins Dmitry and Khariton Laptev. In the past it was known by different names, the most recent of which is the Nordenskiöld Sea.
The sea has a harsh climate with temperatures below 0°C for more than nine months of the year, low salinity, sparse flora and fauna, and low population along the coast. Most of the time, with the exception of August and September, it is under ice.
map of the Laptev Sea 
For thousands of years, the sea coast was inhabited by the indigenous tribes of the Yukaghirs, and later the Evens and Evenks, who were engaged in fishing, hunting and nomadic reindeer herding. Then the shores were inhabited by Yakuts and Russians. The development of the territory by Russian explorers began in the 17th century from the south, along the beds of rivers flowing into the sea.
There are several dozen islands in the Laptev Sea, many of which contain well-preserved remains of mammoths.
The main human activities in this area are mining and navigation along the Northern Sea Route; Fishing and hunting are practiced but have no commercial importance. The largest village and port is Tiksi.
Length and boundaries
Main physical and geographical features. Between the archipelago of Severnaya Zemlya and in the west lies the sea, which bears the name of the Laptev brothers. It is limited by natural boundaries and conditional lines. Its western border runs along the eastern side of Cape Arkticheskiy (Komsomolets Island), then through the Red Army Strait along the eastern shore of Komsomolets Island. October Revolution to cape Anuchina, through the Shokalsky Strait to cape Peschany on the island. Bolshevik and along its eastern shore to Cape Vaygach, then along the eastern border of the Vilkitsky Strait and further along the mainland shore to the top of Khatanga Bay.
The northern border of the sea runs from Cape Arkticheskiy to the point of intersection of the meridian of the northern tip of the island. Kotelny (139° E) with the edge of the continental shelf (79° N, 139° E), the eastern border from the indicated point is to the western shore of the island. Boiler room, further along western border Sannikov Strait, goes around western shores Bolshoy and Maly Lyakhovskie islands and then goes along the western border of the Dmitry Laptev Strait. The southern border of the sea runs along the mainland coast from Cape Svyatoy Nos to the top of Khatanga Bay. Within these boundaries, the sea lies between parallels 81°16′ and 70°42′ N. w. and meridians 95°44′ and 143°30′ E. d.
By geographical location and hydrological conditions different from the ocean, with which the sea freely communicates, it belongs to the type of continental marginal seas. Within the accepted boundaries, the Laptev Sea has the following dimensions: area - 662 thousand km2, volume 353 thousand km3, average depth 533 m, greatest depth 3385 m.
The Laptev Sea on the shores of the northernmost sea 
Physiographic location
The sea surface area is 672,000 km².
The largest river flowing into the Laptev Sea (and the second largest of the Arctic rivers after the Yenisei) is the Lena with its large delta. The following rivers also flow into the sea: Khatanga, Anabar, Olenyok, Yana.
The shores are heavily indented and form bays and bays of various sizes. The coastal landscape is varied, with low mountains.
Large bays: Khatanga, Olenyoksky, Faddeya, Yansky, Anabarsky, Maria Pronchishcheva Bay, Buor-Khaya.
In the western part of the sea and river deltas there are several dozen islands with a total area of 3,784 km². Frequent storms and currents due to melting ice lead to severe erosion of the islands, for example, Semenovsky and Vasilievsky islands, discovered in 1815, have already disappeared.
Most Komsomolskaya Pravda and Thaddeus.
The largest single islands: Bolshoi Begichev (1764 km²), Belkovsky (500 km²), Maly Taimyr (250 km²), Stolbovoy (170 km²), Starokadomskogo Island (110 km²), and Peschany (17 km²)
Bottom relief
The predominant depths are up to 50 m, the greatest depth is 3385 meters, the average depth is 540 meters. More than half of the sea (53%) is a gently sloping continental shelf with an average depth of less than or slightly more than 50 meters, in addition, the bottom areas south of the 76th parallel are at a depth of less than 25 meters. In the northern part of the sea, the bottom drops steeply to the ocean floor with depths of about one kilometer (22% of the sea area). In shallow areas, the bottom is covered with sand and silt mixed with pebbles and boulders. River sediments accumulate at high speed near the coast, up to 20-25 centimeters per year. At great depths the bottom is covered with silt.
The continental slope is cut through by the Sadko Trench, which passes in the north into the Nansen Basin with depths of over 2 kilometers; maximum depth Laptev Sea - 3385 meters (79°35′ N 124°40′ E).
aurora in the Laptev Sea 
Climate
The climate of the Laptev Sea is Arctic continental and, due to its distance from the Atlantic and Pacific oceans, is one of the harshest among the Arctic seas. The polar night and polar day last about 3 months a year in the south and 5 months in the north. Air temperatures remain below 0 °C 11 months a year in the north and 9 months in the south.
The average temperature in January (the coldest month) varies depending on the location between −31 °C and −34 °C, with a minimum of −50 °C. In July, temperatures rise to 0 °C (maximum 4 °C) in the north and to 5 °C (maximum 10 °C) in the south, however, it can reach 22-24 °C on the coast in August. A maximum of 32.7 °C was recorded in Tiksi. Strong winds, snowstorms and snow storms are common in winter. Snow falls even in summer and alternates with fog. Winds in winter blow from the south and southwest with an average speed of 8 m/s and subside in spring. In summer they change direction to the north, and their speed is 3-4 m/s. Relatively weak wind speeds lead to low convection in surface waters, which occurs only to a depth of 5-10 meters.
Tiksi Bay Laptev Sea 
SEA HYDROLOGY
Hydrological characteristics.
Generally large continental runoff, distribution of desalinated waters over vast expanses of the sea along with other factors (climate severity, free water exchange with the Arctic Ocean, year-round existing ice over large areas) significantly affect the hydrological conditions of the Laptev Sea. This is primarily manifested in the distribution and spatiotemporal variability of oceanological characteristics in the sea under consideration.
For most of the year, water temperatures are close to freezing. In cold seasons, it quickly decreases in autumn, and in winter on the surface it varies across the sea from −0.8° (near Mostakh Island) to −1.7° (near Cape Chelyuskin). Similar values are observed at this time in other areas. In the first months of spring warming up, the ice melts, so the water temperature remains almost the same as in winter. Only in coastal areas, especially near estuarine areas that are cleared of ice earlier than others, do water temperatures rise. Its values generally decrease from south to north and from east to west. In summer, the sea surface warms up. In August in the south (Buor-Khaya Bay) the water temperature on the surface can reach +10° and even +14°, in the central regions it is +3-5°, at the northern tip of the island. Kotelny and near Cape Chelyuskin +0.8-1.0°. In general, the western part of the sea, where the cold waters of the Arctic basin arrive, is characterized by lower values (+2-3°) of water temperature than the eastern part, where the bulk of the warm waters are concentrated. river waters, so the surface temperature here can reach +6-8°.
The vertical distribution of water temperature is not the same in cold and warm seasons. Its change with depth is clearly expressed only in summer. In winter, in areas with depths of up to 50-60 m, the water temperature is the same from surface to bottom. In the coastal zone it is equal to −1.0–1.2°, and in the open sea about −1.6°. At greater depths at horizons of 50–60 m, the water temperature increases by 0.1–0.2°. This is explained by the influx of other waters, since at the same time the salinity increases slightly.
In the north, in areas of the deep trench, the negative temperature extends from the surface to approximately 100 m. From here it begins to increase to 0.6-0.8°. This temperature persists up to about 300 m, and below it again slowly decreases towards the bottom. High temperature values in the 100–300 m layer are associated with the penetration of warm Atlantic waters from the Central Arctic Basin into the Laptev Sea.
In summer upper layer 10-15 m thick, it warms up well and has a temperature of 8-10° in the southeastern part and 3-4° in the central part. Deeper than these horizons, the temperature drops sharply, reaching −1.4–1.5° at a horizon of 25 m. These values or values close to them are maintained to the very bottom. In the western part of the sea, where the heating is less than in the east, such sharp differences in temperature are not observed.
The salinity in the Laptev Sea is unequal and variable in space and time. Its differences are very large (from 1 to 34‰), but desalinated waters with a salinity of 20–30‰ predominate. The distribution of salinity over the surface is very complex. In general, it increases from southeast to northwest and north.
In winter, with minimal river flow and intense ice formation, salinity is highest. Moreover, in the west it is higher than in the east. In M. Chelyuskin it is almost 34‰, and in Fr. Boiler room only 25‰. At the beginning of spring, salinity remains quite high, but in June, with the beginning of ice melting, it begins to decrease. In summer, at maximum flow, salinity is characterized by low values (see Fig. 26, b). The southeastern part of the sea is the most desalinated. In Buor-Khaya Bay, salinity drops to 5‰ and below, to the north of it it is slightly higher, to 10-15‰. In the west of the sea, saltier waters (30-32‰) spread. They are located slightly north of the island line. Petra - m. Anisiy. Thus, desalinated waters wedge out to the north in the eastern part of the sea, and salty waters descend in a wide tongue to the south in the western part of the sea.
In autumn, river flow decreases, and in October, ice formation begins and surface water becomes salinized. Salinity generally increases with depth. However, its vertical distribution has seasonal differences in different areas of the sea. In winter, in shallow waters, it increases from the surface to 10-15 m, and then remains almost unchanged to the bottom. At great depths, a noticeable increase in salinity begins not from the surface itself, but from underlying horizons, from which it slowly increases towards the bottom. The spring type of vertical distribution of salinity, different from the winter one, begins with the intensive melting of ice. At this time, salinity sharply decreases in the surface layer and retains fairly high values in the lower horizons.
In summer, in the zone of influence of river waters, the upper layer of 5-10 m is very strongly desalinated; below, a very sharp increase in salinity is observed. In the layer from 10 to 25 m, the salinity gradient in some places reaches 20‰ per 1 m. From here, the salinity either remains unchanged or gradually increases by tenths of ppm. In the northern part of the sea, salinity increases relatively quickly from the surface to 50 m, from here to 300 m it increases more slowly, ranging from 29 to 33-34‰, and remains almost unchanged deeper.
In autumn, in the southern regions, salinity values increase with depth and the summer jump gradually levels out. In the north, the same salinity covers the upper layer, and below it increases with depth. The temperature and salinity of water determine its density, and in the Laptev Sea, salinity has a great influence on the density. In accordance with changes in salinity and temperature in space and time, the density of water also changes. It increases from southeast to northwest. In winter and autumn, the water is denser than in summer and spring. Density increases with depth. In winter and early spring it is almost the same from surface to bottom. In summer, a jump in salinity and temperature at a horizon of 10-15 m determines a pronounced jump in density here. In autumn, salinity and cooling of surface waters increase their density.
Density stratification of waters is clearly visible from late spring to early autumn; it is most pronounced in the southeastern and central regions of the sea and at the edge of the ice. Various degrees The vertical interlayering of waters determines unequal opportunities for the development of mixing in different areas of the Laptev Sea. Laptev sea 
Wind mixing in the ice-free areas of this sea is poorly developed due to the relatively calm wind conditions in the warm season, the high ice cover of the sea and the stratification of its waters. During spring and summer, the wind mixes only the uppermost layers up to 5-7 m thick in the east and up to 10 m in the western part of the sea.
Strong autumn-winter cooling and intense ice formation cause active, but unequal development of convection from place to place. It begins in the northeast and north, then occurs in the central part, in the south and southeast of the sea. Due to the relatively low degree of stratification and early ice formation, density mixing penetrates most deeply (to horizons of 90-100 m) in the north of the sea, where its distribution is limited by the density structure of the waters. In the central regions, convection reaches the bottom (40-50 m) by the beginning of winter, and in the southern part, influenced by continental runoff, even at shallow (up to 25 m) depths it spreads to the bottom only by the end of winter as a result of a significant increase in salinity over due to winter ice formation, which is explained here by the stratification of water in depth.
The natural features of the Laptev Sea determine the noticeably pronounced heterogeneity of its waters. Due to a certain similarity between the sea under consideration and the Kara Sea, their hydrological structure and the mechanism of its formation are close and are shown in the section on the Kara Sea. Thus, in the Laptev Sea (like the Kara Sea) surface Arctic waters predominate with their characteristic characteristics and seasonal stratification in temperature and salinity. In zones of strong influence of coastal runoff, as a result of mixing river and surface Arctic waters, water with relatively high temperature and low salinity. At their interface (horizon 5–7 m), large gradients of salinity and density are created. In the north, in a deep trench under the surface Arctic water, warm Atlantic waters are common, but their temperatures are somewhat lower than in the trenches of the Kara Sea. They penetrate here 2.5-3 years after the start of their journey near Spitsbergen. In the deeper Laptev Sea compared to the Kara Sea, the horizons from 800–1000 m to the bottom are occupied by cold bottom water with a temperature of −0.4–0.9° and almost uniform (34.90–34.95‰) salinity. Its formation is associated with the descent of cooled sea waters along the continental slope to great depths. The determining role in the hydrological conditions of the Laptev Sea belongs to the processes occurring in surface Arctic waters and in zones of their mixing with river waters.
The general circulation of the waters of the Laptev Sea is not yet clear enough in detail, especially with regard to movement in the lower horizons, vertical components, etc. There are quite definite ideas about constant currents on the surface of the sea. In general, this sea is characterized by cyclonic circulation of surface waters. It is formed by a coastal flow moving along the continent from west to east, where it is intensified by the Lena Current. With further movement, most of it deviates to the north and northwest and, in the form of the Novosibirsk Current, goes beyond the sea, connecting with the Trans-Arctic Current. At the northern tip of Severnaya Zemlya, the East Taimyr Current branches off, which moves south along the eastern shores of Severnaya Zemlya and closes the cyclonic ring into the sea. A small part of the waters of the coastal stream flows through the Sannikov Strait into the East Siberian Sea.
sunbathing on the shores of the Laptev Sea 
ICE CONDITIONS
For most of the year (from October to May), the entire Laptev Sea is covered with ice of varying thickness and age (see Fig. 28). Ice formation begins at the end of September and occurs simultaneously throughout the entire sea. In winter, in its shallow eastern part, extremely extensive fast ice, up to 2 m thick, develops. The boundary of the distribution of fast ice is a depth of 20-25 m, which in this area of the sea lies at a distance of several hundred kilometers from the coast. The area of fast ice is approximately 30% of the area of the entire sea. In the western and northwestern parts of the sea, fast ice is small, and in some winters it is completely absent. To the north of the fast ice zone there are drifting ice.
With the almost constant removal of ice from the sea to the north in winter, significant areas of polynyas and young ice remain behind the fast ice. The width of this zone varies from tens to several hundred kilometers. Its individual sections are called the East Severozemelskaya, Taimyr, Lena and Novosibirsk polynyas. The last two at the beginning of the warm season reach enormous sizes (thousands of square kilometers) and become centers for clearing the sea of ice. Ice melting begins in June - July and by August large areas of the sea are free of ice. In summer, the ice edge often changes its position under the influence of winds and currents. The western part of the sea is generally more icy than the eastern. From the north, a spur of the oceanic Taimyr ice massif descends into the sea, in which heavy multi-year ice. It persists steadily until new ice formation, depending on the prevailing winds, moving either north or south. The local Yana ice massif, formed by fast ice, usually melts in place or is partially carried north out of the sea by the second half of August.
Andrey Island Laptev Sea 
Flora and fauna
Flora and fauna are sparse due to the harsh climate. The sea vegetation is represented mainly by diatoms, of which there are more than 100 species. For comparison, there are about 10 species of each of green, blue-green algae and flagellates. The total concentration of phytoplankton is 0.2 mg/l. There are also about 30 species of zooplankton in the sea with a total concentration of 0.467 mg/l. The coastal flora consists mainly of mosses, lichens and several species of flowering plants, including arctic poppy, saxifrage, saxifrage and small populations of arctic and creeping willow. Vascular plants are rare and are represented mainly by woodweed and saxifrage. Non-vascular ones, on the contrary, are very diverse: mosses of the genera Ditrichum, Dicranum, Pogonatum, Sanionia, Bryum, Orthothecium and Tortula, as well as lichens of the genera Cetraria, Thamnolia, Cornicularia, Lecidea, Ochrolechia and Parmelia.
39 species of fish have been recorded in the sea, most of them typical of brackish water environments. The main ones are different kinds grayling and whitefish, such as muksun, broad whitefish, omul. Sardines, Bering Sea omul, polar smelt, navaga, cod, flounder, Arctic char and nelma are also common.
Mammals that permanently live here include walrus, bearded seal, ringed seal, harp seal, hoofed lemming, arctic fox, reindeer, wolf, ermine, arctic hare and polar bear. The beluga whale makes seasonal migrations to the shore (for flight). Laptev Sea walruses are sometimes classified as a separate subspecies, Odobenus rosmarus laptevi, but this issue remains controversial.
Several dozen species of birds live here. Some of them are sedentary and live here permanently, such as the snow bunting, sandpiper, snowy owl and brent goose. While others wander around the polar regions or migrate from the south, creating large colonies on the islands and the coast of the mainland. The latter include the razorbill, kittiwakes, guillemots, ivory gulls, guillemots, Charadriiformes and Arctic gulls. Also found are skuas, terns, fulmars, glaucous gulls, pink gulls, long-tailed ducks, eiders, loons and ptarmigan.
In 1985, the Ust-Lena Nature Reserve was organized in the Lena River delta. In 1993, it was also included in its protective zone. The territory of the reserve is 14,330 km². It contains numerous species of plants (402 species of vascular plants), fish (32 species), birds (109 species) and mammals (33 species), many of which are included in the Red Books of the USSR and Russia.
Khatanga Bay Laptev Sea 
History and development
The coast of the Laptev Sea has long been inhabited by aboriginal tribes northern Siberia, such as the Yukaghirs and Chuvans. The traditional activities of these tribes were fishing, hunting, nomadic reindeer herding, and hunting wild deer. Starting from the 2nd century, the gradual assimilation of the Yukaghirs by the Evens and Evenks began, and from the 9th century by the much more numerous Yakuts, and later by the Koryaks and Chukchi. Many of these tribes moved north from the territories of Lake Baikal to avoid clashes with the Mongols. All these tribes practiced shamanism, but the languages were different. In the 17th-19th centuries, the number of Yukaghirs decreased due to epidemics and civil strife.
Development by Russians
Russians began exploring the Laptev Sea coast and nearby islands around the 17th century by rafting down the Siberian rivers. Many early expeditions do not appear to have been documented, as evidenced by the graves found on the islands by their official discoverers. In 1629, Siberian Cossacks crossed the entire Lena River in boats and reached its delta. They left a record that the river flows into the sea. In 1633, another group reached the Olenyok River delta.
In 1712, Yakov Permyakov and Mercury Vagin explored the eastern part of the Laptev Sea and the Bolshoi Lyakhovsky Island, which they had discovered two years earlier. When repeated, they, however, were killed by the rebellious Cossacks of their detachment. In the spring of 1770, industrialist Ivan Lyakhov succeeded. Having discovered a fossil mammoth bone there, upon his return he asked for a monopoly on its collection and eventually received it by a special decree of Catherine II. During his sleigh ride, he described several other islands, including Kotelny, which he named so because of the copper cauldron found on it. In 1775, he compiled a detailed map of Bolshoy Lyakhovsky Island.
As part of the Great Northern Expedition, two detachments were engaged in exploring the Laptev Sea:
At the head of the Lena-Yenisei detachment, on June 30, 1735, Vasily Pronchishchev set off from Yakutsk down the Lena on the double boat “Yakutsk” with a crew of more than 40 people. He explored the eastern coast of the Lena delta, putting it on a map, and stopped for the winter at the mouth of the Olenyok River. Despite the difficulties, in 1736 he managed to row north further than the 77th latitude, almost to Cape Chelyuskin - the extreme northern point of the mainland. However, due to poor visibility, the travelers were unable to see land.
On the way back, Pronchishchev himself and his wife, Tatyana Pronchishcheva, died: on August 29, Pronchishchev went on a reconnaissance boat and broke his leg. Returning to the ship, he lost consciousness and soon died of a fat embolism. The wife (her participation in the expedition was unofficial) survived her husband by only 14 days and died on September 12 (23), 1736. Maria Pronchishcheva Bay (“Maria” - due to an error made during the preparation of the publication of maps) in the Laptev Sea was named after her.
In December 1737, Khariton Laptev was appointed the new leader of the detachment. Under his leadership, the detachment again reached Taimyr, wintered on Khatanga, and after the ship was crushed by ice, continued to describe the shores of Taimyr from land. One of the groups of this detachment, led by Semyon Chelyuskin, managed to reach the northern tip of the peninsula, which now bears his name, by land.
At the head of the Lena-Kolyma detachment, Dmitry Laptev (who replaced P. Lassineus, who died during the winter in 1736), on the boat “Irkutsk”, described the sea coast from the Lena delta to the strait in the East Siberian Sea, which was later named after him.
Detailed mapping of the Laptev Sea coast was carried out by Peter Anzhu, who in 1821-1823 covered about 14,000 km across this territory on sleighs and boats, in search of Sannikov Land and thus demonstrating that large-scale coastal exploration can be carried out without ships. The Anjou Islands were named in his honor. Northern part New Siberian Islands). In 1875, Adolf Erik Nordenskiöld was the first to sail across the entire Laptev Sea on the steamship Vega.
In 1892–1894, and then in 1900–1902, Baron Eduard Toll explored the Laptev Sea during two separate expeditions. He conducted geological and geographical research on the ship "Zarya" on behalf of the Imperial St. Petersburg Academy of Sciences. During his second expedition, Toll went missing somewhere on the New Siberian Islands under unclear circumstances. He was able to note large, economically significant accumulations of perfectly preserved mammoth bone on beaches, in reservoirs, river terraces and river beds of the New Siberian Islands. Later Scientific research showed that these clusters formed over about 200,000 years.
Etymology of the name
Historical names: Tatar, Lenskoe (on maps of the 16th-17th centuries), Siberian, Ledovitoe (18th-19th centuries). In 1883, polar explorer Fridtjof Nansen named the sea after Nordenskiöld.
In 1913, at the suggestion of the oceanographer Yu. M. Shokalsky, the Russian Geographical Society approved the current name - in honor of the cousins Dmitry and Khariton Laptev, but it was officially confirmed only by the decision of the USSR Central Executive Committee of June 27, 1935.
camp in Olenyoksky Bay, Laptev Sea 
Pyasina, Upper and Lower Taimyr, Khatanga.
The southern shores of Severnaya Zemlya are located only 55 kilometers from the northern tip of Asia - Cape Chelyuskin - and can be seen on a clear day. It is now well known that Russian navigators quite early, at the end of the 16th - beginning of the 17th centuries, entered the Laptev Sea through the Strait separating Severnaya Zemlya from the mainland. Perhaps these brave sailors had the opportunity to see a high, bizarre mountainous country, and we owe the first information about it to them. True, on ancient geographical maps this country has fantastic outlines. But what's in it! After all, the continents on the world maps of the 15th and 16th centuries had no less fantastic shapes; Greenland had no less bizarre outlines on maps of the 16th and even 18th centuries, despite the fact that it became known to Europeans in the 9th, 10th, and especially in the 11th and 12th centuries.
- Russian archipelago in the Arctic Ocean. Administratively part of the Taimyr (Dolgano-Nenets) municipal district Krasnoyarsk Territory.
The area of the archipelago is about 37 thousand km². Uninhabited.
On Severnaya Zemlya there is the northernmost island point of Asia - Cape Arktichesky on Komsomolets Island.
Story
The archipelago was discovered on September 4, 1913 by the hydrographic expedition of 1910-1915 by Boris Vilkitsky. It was first named by the expedition members with the word “Taiwai” (after the first syllables of the expedition icebreakers “Taimyr” and “Vaigach”). The official name is “Land of Emperor Nicholas II” in honor of the then reigning Russian Emperor the archipelago received on January 10 (23), 1914, when it was announced by order No. 14 of the Minister of the Navy. Disputes continue about who initiated this name. It is known that Boris Vilkitsky was his supporter both before the appearance of Order No. 14 and two decades later. It was originally assumed that the archipelago was one island.
On January 11, 1926, the Presidium of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee, by its resolution, renamed the Land of Emperor Nicholas II to Severnaya Zemlya. The island of Tsarevich Alexei was renamed the island of Maly Taimyr. Subsequently, in 1931-1933, the islands forming the archipelago were discovered, which received from the Soviet discoverers (Nikolai Urvantsev and Georgy Ushakov) the names Pioneer, Komsomolets, Bolshevik, October Revolution, Schmidt.
December 1, 2006 by the Duma of Taimyr (Dolgano-Nenets) Autonomous Okrug a resolution was adopted that proposed the former name Land of Emperor Nicholas II, as well as renaming the island of Maly Taimyr into the island of Tsarevich Alexei, the island October revolution- to the island of St. Alexandra, Bolshevik Island - to the island of St. Olga, Komsomolets Island - to the island of St. Mary, Pioneer Island - to the island of St. Tatiana and Domashny Island - to the island of St. Anastasia.
However, after the unification of the Krasnoyarsk Territory and the Taimyr (Dolgano-Nenets) Autonomous Okrug, the Legislative Assembly of the Krasnoyarsk Territory did not support this initiative.
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SOURCE OF INFORMATION AND PHOTO:
Team Nomads
Shamraev Yu. I., Shishkina L. A. Oceanology. L.: Gidrometeoizdat, 1980
http://tapemark.narod.ru/more/14.html
Ust-Lena State Nature Reserve
M. I. Belov In the footsteps of polar expeditions. Part II. On archipelagos and islands
Lyakhov Ivan, Great Soviet Encyclopedia
http://znayuvse.ru/geografiya/zagadka-zemli-sannikova
Dmitry Laptev, Khariton Laptev, Great Soviet Encyclopedia
Wiese V. Yu. Laptev Sea // Seas of the Soviet Arctic: Essays on the history of research. — 2nd ed. - L.: Publishing house of the Main Northern Sea Route, 1939. - P. 180-217. — 568 p. — (Polar Library). — 10,000 copies.
History of the discovery and development of the Northern Sea Route: In 4 volumes / Ed. Ya. Ya. Gakkel, A. P. Okladnikova, M. B. Chernenko. - M.-L., 1956-1969.
Belov M.I. Scientific and economic development of the Soviet North 1933-1945. - L.: Hydrometeorological Publishing House, 1969. - T. IV. — 617 p. — 2,000 copies.
http://www.photosight.ru/
photo by E. Gusev, S. Anisimov, L. Shvarts.
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The Laptev Sea is a marginal sea of the Arctic Ocean. It is located between the northern shores of Siberia in the south, the Taimyr Peninsula, the Severnaya Zemlya islands in the west and the New Siberian Islands in the east, and received its name in honor of the Russian polar explorers - cousins Dmitry and Khariton Laptev. The harsh northern sea has a complicated history of exploring it and establishing its precise boundaries.
Geographical position
The area of the Laptev Sea is 672 thousand square meters. km. The largest river flowing into the Laptev Sea is the Lena with its large delta. The following rivers also flow into the sea: Khatanga, Anabar, Olenek, Yana.
By type of location, the Laptev Sea is marginal. The neighboring sea is the Kara Sea, with which the Laptev Sea is connected by the Vilkitsky Strait, as well as the East Siberian Sea, with which it is connected by the Sannikov and Dmitry Laptev Straits.
Rice. 1. Laptev Sea on the map
The coastline is heavily indented and forms bays and bays of various sizes. The coastal landscape is varied, with low mountains. Large bays:
- Khatanga;
- Oleneksky;
- Thaddeus;
- Yansky;
- Anabarsky;
- Maria Pronchishcheva Bay;
- Ebelyakh Bay;
- Buor-Khaya Bay.
Bottom relief
The maximum depth is 3385 meters, the average depth is 540 meters. More than half of the sea is occupied by a gently sloping continental shelf. Where the shelf is located, the average depth is about 50 meters. In the northern part of the sea, the bottom drops steeply to the ocean floor with depths of about one kilometer. In shallow areas, the bottom is covered with sand and silt mixed with pebbles and boulders. At great depths the bottom is covered with silt.
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a brief description of
The main characteristic of the Laptev Sea is low temperature water. In winter, under the ice, the water temperature ranges from −0.8 °C in the southeastern part to −1.8 °C. Above a depth of 100 meters, the entire layer of water has negative temperatures (up to −1.8 °C). In summer, the nature of the temperature distribution of surface waters is largely related to the position of the ice edge, which determines the area of the sea subject to summer heating.
The salinity of the Laptev Sea increases rapidly with increasing depth. This indicator is strongly influenced by:
- melting ice;
- flow of Siberian rivers.
Due to relatively weak winds and shallow depths, the Laptev Sea is relatively calm, with waves usually within 1 m. In July-August, waves up to 4-5 m high can be observed in the open sea, and in the autumn they can reach 6 m.
Rice. 2. The Laptev Sea is almost always covered with ice
Frosty Arctic winters cause significant formation sea ice, which covers the sea area almost all year. The development of ice is also facilitated by the shallowness of the sea and the low salinity of its surface waters. As a result, the Laptev Sea is the largest source of Arctic sea ice.
Despite the frozen sea, navigation is the main activity human activity in the region, and one of the major ports is Tiksi.
Rice. 3. Port of Tiksi
Biological resources of the Laptev Sea
The peculiarities of the organic world of the Laptev Sea are determined by its extremely harsh climate. The marine vegetation is represented by diatoms and a small amount of green and blue-green algae. There are also about 30 species of zooplankton in the sea. The coastal flora is represented by mosses, lichens and several species of flowering plants.
Mammals that permanently live here include walrus, bearded seal, ringed seal, harp seal, arctic fox, reindeer, wolf, ermine, polar hare and polar bear.
Despite the extremely harsh climate, several dozen species of birds live on the sea coast. Some of them are sedentary and live here permanently (bunny bunting, snowy owl, black goose), while others roam around the polar regions or migrate from the south, creating large colonies on the islands and the coast of the mainland (auk, ivory and polar gulls, guillemot).
The main environmental problems of the Laptev Sea include:
- pollution from numerous factories and mines;
- periodic oil spills;
- sunken and floating decaying wood.
What have we learned?
According to the plan for the 8th grade geography course, we learned which ocean basin the Laptev Sea belongs to, whether it is marginal or internal, who discovered and after whom this northern sea is named. To briefly describe it, it is a shallow, not too salty sea of the Arctic Ocean, with a harsh climate, which is covered with ice almost the entire year.
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