Laptev Sea

A map showing the location of the Laptev Sea.

The Laptev Sea (Russian: мо́ре Ла́птевых) is a marginal sea of the Arctic Ocean. It is located between the eastern coast of Siberia, Taimyr Peninsula, the Severnaya Zemlya and the New Siberian Islands. Its northern boundary passes from the Arctic Cape to point with coordinates 79°N and 139°E and closes at the Anisiy Cape. The Kara Sea lies to the west, the East Siberian Sea to the east. The sea area is approximately 672,000 km². It is navigable during August and September.

The Laptev Sea is named after Russian explorers Dmitry Laptev and Khariton Laptev. Formerly the Laptev Sea had been known as Nordenskjold Sea (Russian: мо́ре Норденшельда), after explorer Adolf Erik Nordenskiöld.^[1]

The mighty Lena River, with its great delta, is the biggest river flowing into the Laptev Sea. Other important rivers include the Khatanga, the Anabar, the Olenyok or Olenek, the Omoloy and the Yana.

The main gulfs of the Laptev Sea coast are the Khatanga Gulf, the Olenyok Gulf, the Buor-Khaya Gulf and the Yana Bay.

History

An early French 18th-century cartographer called the Laptev Sea "Lena Gulf" (Golfe du Len), mentioning that the behemot (walrus?) fishery is conducted there, but the navigation is difficult

In 1712 Yakov Permyakov and his companion Merkury Vagin explored the eastern part of the Laptev Sea and discovered Bolshoy Lyakhovsky Island. Unfortunately Permyakov and Vagin were killed on the way back from their exploration by mutineering expedition members.

In 1735, Russian explorer of Siberia Vasili Pronchishchev sailed from Yakutsk down the Lena River on his sloop Yakutsk. He explored the eastern coast of the Lena delta, and stopped for wintering at the mouth of the Olenyok River. Unfortunately many members of his crew fell ill and died, mainly owing to scurvy. Despite these difficulties, in 1736, he reached the eastern shore of the Taymyr Peninsula and went north surveying its coastline. Pronchishchev and his wife Maria (also referred to as Tatyana Feodorovna) succumbed to scurvy and died on the way back.

Exploration by the Laptevs

During the 1739—1742 Second Kamchatka Expedition Russian Arctic explorer and Vice Admiral Dmitry Laptev described the sea coastline from the mouth of the Lena River, along the Buor-Khaya and Yana gulfs, to the strait that bears his name, Dmitry Laptev Strait. As part of the same expedition, Dmitry's cousin Khariton Laptev's led a party that surveyed the coast of the Taimyr Peninsula starting from the mouth of the Khatanga River.

In 1892-1894, and again in 1900-1902, Baron Eduard Von Toll explored the Laptev Sea in the course of two separate expeditions. Toll carried out geological and geographical surveys in the area on behalf of the Russian Imperial Academy of Sciences. In his last expedition Toll disappeared off the New Siberian Islands under mysterious circumstances.

Increased navigation during Soviet times

The shore of the Anabar Bay.

During Soviet times the Laptev Sea coastal areas experienced a limited boom owing to the first icebreaker convoys plying the Northern Sea Route and the creation of the Chief Directorate of the Northern Sea Route. Tiksi had an active airport and Nordvik harbor further west was "a growing town,"^[2] though it closed in 1956.

After the break-up of the Soviet Union commercial navigation in the Siberian Arctic went into decline in the 1990s. More or less regular shipping is to be found only from Murmansk to Dudinka in the west and between Vladivostok and Pevek in the east. Ports between Dudinka and Pevek see next to no shipping at all. Logashkino was abandoned and is now a ghost town.

Name changes

The Laptev Sea changed its name several times. It was apparently known in the 16th century as the Tatar Sea (Russian: Татарское мо́ре). In the 17th century, it was known as the Lena Sea (Russian: Ленское мо́ре). In the 18th century, it was known as the Siberian Sea (Russian: Сибирское мо́ре). In the 19th century, it was known as the Icy Sea (Russian: Ледовитое мо́ре). It acquired its name as Nordenskjold Sea (Russian: мо́ре Норденшельда) in 1893. And in 1913, it finally received its current name as the Laptev Sea.^[3]

The latter renaming is believed to have been the initiative of a Russian geographer Yuly Shokalsky.

Footnotes

1. ^ Colliers Encyclopedia
2. ^ William Barr, The First Soviet Convoy to the Mouth of the Lena
3. ^ "History of Norilsk and Taimyr", a website from Krasnoyarsk region (Russian)

External links

• Ecological assessment
• Alfred Wegner institute (AWI) Publications, Berichte zur Polar- und Meeresforschung (Reports on polar and marine research) - free, downloadable research reports on the biology, geology, oceanography, hydrology, paleontology, paleoclimatology, fauna, flora, soils, cryology, and so forth of the Lena Delta, Laptev Sea, and other parts of the Arctic Circle.
• Erosion and receding coastlines in the Laptev Sea

v • d • e Islands of the Laptev Sea (Russian Arctic) Aerosyemki • Anzhu Islands • Arangastakh • Belkovsky Island • Bolshevik • Bolshoy Begichev • Brusneva • Bulgunnyakhtakh-Belkey • Chychas-Aryta • Daldalakh • Dallalakh • Dunay Islands • Dzhyangylakh • Faddey Islands • Great Lyakhovsky • Komsomolets • Komsomolskaya Pravda Islands • Kotelny • Lena Delta Islands  • Leykina • Little Lyakhovsky • Lyakhovsky Islands • Makar Island • Maliy Begichev • Maly Taymyr • Muostakh • Nanosnyy • New Siberian Islands • Orto Ary • Peschanyy • Petrushka • Preobrazheniya • Psov Island • Sagastyr • Saint Andrew Island • Saint Peter Islands • Salkay • Samakh Ary Dyete • Samolyota • Semyonovsky • Severnaya Zemlya • Shelonsky Islands • Starokadomsky • Stolbovoy • Vos'mogo Marta • Vilkitsky Islands • Yarok • Zalivnyye Islands

Coordinates: 75°25′04″N 125°44′25″E / 75.41778°N 125.74028°E / 75.41778; 125.74028