Barents Sea

From ancient times Finno-Ugric tribes - Sami (Lopari) lived on the shores of the Barents Sea. The first visits of non-autochthonous Europeans (Novgorodians, then Vikings ) began, probably, from the end of the XI century, and then intensified.

In the old days, sailors and cartographers called the sea the North, Siversky, Moscow, Russian, Arctic, Pechora and most often Murmansk. ^[3]

The Barents Sea was named in 1853 in honor of the Dutch navigator Willem Barents .

The scientific study of the sea was begun by the expedition of F. P. Litke 1821-1824, and the first complete and reliable hydrological characteristic of the sea was compiled by N. M. Knipovich at the beginning of the 20th century.

Oceanic and land boundaries

The Barents Sea is the outskirts of the Arctic Ocean on the border with the Atlantic Ocean , between the northern coast of Europe in the south and the islands of Vaigach , Novaya Zemlya , Franz Josef Land in the east, Svalbard and Bear Island in the west.

Sea borders

In the West it borders on the Norwegian Sea basin , in the south - with the White Sea (the border on the coast is Cape Svyatoy Nos ), in the east - with the Kara Sea . The Barents Sea region, located east of Kolguev Island , is called the Pechora Sea .

Coastline

The southwestern shores of the Barents Sea are predominantly fjord , high, rocky, and very rugged. The largest bays: Porsanger Fjord , Varyazhsky Gulf (also known as Varangerfjord), Motovsky Gulf , Kola Bay , etc. East of the Kanin Nos Peninsula, the coastal relief changes dramatically - the coasts are mostly low and slightly indented. There are 3 large shallow bays: ( Chesh Bay , Pechora Bay , Khaipudyrskaya Bay ), as well as several small bays.

Archipelagos and Islands

There are few islands within the Barents Sea. The largest of them is Kolguyev Island . From the west, north and east, the sea is bounded by the archipelagos of Spitsbergen , Franz Josef Land and Novaya Zemlya .

See also Category: Islands of the Barents Sea

The largest rivers flowing into the Barents Sea are the Pechora and Indiga .

Currents

The surface currents of the sea form a counterclockwise rotation. The Atlantic waters of the warm Nordkapp current (a branch of the Gulf Stream system), whose influence can be traced to the northern shores of Novaya Zemlya, move east and north along the southern and eastern periphery. The northern and western parts of the cycle are composed of local and Arctic waters coming from the Kara Sea and the Arctic Ocean. In the central part of the sea there is a system of intra-circular currents. The circulation of sea water changes under the influence of changes in winds and water exchange with adjacent seas. Of great importance, especially off the coast, are tidal currents. The tides are semidiurnal, their greatest magnitude is 6.1 m off the coast of the Kola Peninsula , in other places it is 0.6-4.7 m.

Water Exchange

Water exchange with neighboring seas is of great importance in the water balance of the Barents Sea. During the year, about 76,000 km³ of water flows into the sea through the straits (and the same number leaves it), which is about 1/4 of the total volume of sea water. The largest amount of water (59,000 km³ per year) is carried by the warm Nordkapp current , which has an extremely large impact on the hydrometeorological regime of the sea. The total river flow into the sea is, on average, 200 km³ per year.

Salinity

The salinity of the surface water layer in the open sea during the year is 34.7–35.0 на in the southwest, 33.0–34.0 ‰ in the east, and 32.0–33.0 на in the north. In spring and summer, in the coastal strip of the sea, salinity drops to 30–32 ‰, and by the end of winter it rises to 34.0–34.5 ‰.

The Barents Sea occupies the Barents Sea plate of the Proterozoic- Early Cambrian age; elevations of the bottom of the anteclise, depression - syneclise. Of the smaller relief forms, the remains of ancient coastlines, at a depth of about 200 and 70 m, are glacial- denudation and glacial-accumulative forms and sand ridges formed by strong tidal currents.

Bottom Relief

The Barents Sea is located within the mainland , but, unlike other similar seas , most of it has a depth of 300-400 m, an average depth of 222 m and a maximum of 600 m in the trench of Medvezhy Island ( ). Plains (Central Plateau), elevations (Central, Perseus (minimum depth 63 m), troughs (Central, maximum depth 386 m) and gutter (Western (maximum depth 600 m) Franz Victoria (430 m) and others) are distinguished. part of the bottom has a depth of predominantly less than 200 m and has a leveled relief.

Soils

Sand prevails from the bottom sediment cover in the southern part of the Barents Sea, in some places - pebbles and crushed stone . On the hills of the central and northern parts of the sea - silty sand, sandy silt , in depressions - silt. An admixture of coarse clastic material is visible everywhere, which is associated with ice spacing and widespread relict glacial deposits. The thickness of precipitation in the northern and middle parts is less than 0.5 m, as a result of which ancient glacial deposits are practically on the surface on separate hills. The slow rate of sedimentation (less than 30 mm per 1 thousand years) is explained by the insignificant supply of terrigenous material - not a single large river flows into the Barents Sea due to the peculiarities of the coastal relief (except Pechora , which leaves almost all of its alluvium within the Pechora estuary ), and land coasts are composed mainly of strong crystalline rocks.

The climate of the Barents Sea is influenced by the warm Atlantic Ocean and the cold Arctic Ocean . Frequent invasions of warm Atlantic cyclones and cold Arctic air determine the great variability of weather conditions. In winter, south-westerly prevail over the sea, in spring and summer - northeasterly winds. Storms are frequent . The average air temperature in February varies from −25 ° C in the north and to −4 ° C in the southwest. The average temperature in August is 0 ... + 1 ° C in the north, + 10 ° C in the south-west. During the year, cloudy weather prevails over the sea. Annual precipitation ranges from 250 mm in the north to 500 mm in the southwest.

Glaciation

Severe climatic conditions in the north and east of the Barents Sea determine its great ice cover. In all seasons of the year, only the southwestern part of the sea remains ice-free. The ice cover reaches its greatest distribution in April, when about 75% of the sea surface is occupied by floating ice. In extremely unfavorable years, at the end of winter, floating ice comes directly to the shores of the Kola Peninsula. The smallest amount of ice falls at the end of August . At this time, the ice boundary moves over 78 ° s. w. In the northwest and northeast of the sea, ice is usually held all year round, but in separate favorable years the sea is almost completely or even completely freed from ice.

Temperature

The arrival of warm Atlantic waters determines the relatively high temperature and salinity in the southwestern part of the sea. Here in February - March the surface water temperature is + 3 ... + 5 ° C, in August it rises to + 7 ... + 9 ° C. North of 74 ° N w. and in the southeastern part of the sea in winter the surface water temperature is below −1 ° C, and in the summer in the north - + 4 ... 0 ° C; in the southeast - + 4 ... + 7 ° C. In summer, in the coastal zone, the surface layer of warm water with a thickness of 5-8 meters can warm up to + 11 ... + 12 ° C.

The Barents Sea is rich in various species of fish, plant and animal plankton and benthos . Algae are common off the southern coast. Of the 114 fish species living in the Barents Sea, 20 species are most important commercially: cod , haddock , herring , sea ​​bass , catfish , flounder , halibut , burbot, and others. Among mammals, there are: polar bear , seal , harp seal , beluga whale and others. Seal is being fished. Bird bazaars abound on the coasts ( guillemots , guillemots , seagulls ). In the XX century, the Kamchatka crab was introduced, which was able to adapt to new conditions and begin to multiply intensively. In recent years, in the eastern part of the Barents Sea, crab-strigun began to be found in large numbers.

Many different echinoderms, sea urchins, and starfish of various species are distributed along the bottom of the entire water area of ​​the sea.

The Barents Sea is of great economic importance both for the Russian Federation, and for Norway and other countries.

Food & Shipping

The sea is rich in various species of fish, plant and animal plankton and benthos , therefore the Barents Sea is an area of ​​intensive fishing. In 2017, only Russian fishermen caught 259.7 thousand tons of fish and other aquatic biological resources in the Barents Sea compared to 212.3 thousand tons in 2016 ^[5] .

In addition, the sea route connecting the European part of Russia (especially the European North) with the ports of western (from the 16th century) and eastern countries (from the 19th century), as well as Siberia (from the 15th century) is very important. The main and largest port is the ice-free port of Murmansk - the capital of the Murmansk region. Other ports in the Russian Federation - Teriberka , Indiga , Naryan-Mar ; in Norway - Vardø , Vadsø and Kirkenes .

Naval Potential

The Barents Sea is a region of deployment not only of the merchant, but also of the Russian Navy , including nuclear submarines.

Oil Production

The water area of ​​the south-eastern part of the Barents Sea ( Pechora Sea ) is one of the most explored hydrocarbon reserves on the Russian shelf . It was at the Prirazlomnoye field located on the shelf of the Pechora Sea that in 2013 the first Arctic oil was produced ^[6] . In total, 300 thousand tons of oil were shipped from the Prirazlomnaya platform in 2014 ^[7] . The Prirazlomnoye field is the only field on the Russian Arctic shelf where oil production has already begun. Oil of a new Russian grade was called ARCO ( Arctic oil ) and was first shipped in April 2014 ^[8] .

In 2000, the Norwegian division of the Italian company Eni discovered an oil field in the Barents Sea 85 km from Hammerfest at a depth of 380 m, which was called Goliath . Thus, the field became the first oil and second after the gas field Snøhvit , which will be developed on the Arctic shelf of Norway. According to the company, the reserves of raw materials are 180 million barrels, which should be enough for 15 years ^[9] , which allows us to talk about this project as the largest in the Far North . After the submission of the documents, as well as the project of the production platform, the Norwegian Parliament issued the development license No. PL229 / 229B for Eni Norge AS (65%) and Statoil Petroleum AS (35%). According to Eni , the field will have to produce 100 thousand barrels of oil per day. In total, according to the project, it was planned to launch 22 wells ^[10] . Oil production began in the spring of 2016.

Radioactive pollution of the sea ​​poses a great potential threat due to the activities of Norwegian radioactive waste processing plants. ^[eleven]

• Postage stamps of Russia , 2006: lighthouses of the Barents Sea
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  Kanin lighthouse

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  Kildinsky-North Lighthouse

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  Waidagub lighthouse

• I.S. Zonn, A.G. Kostyanoy. Barents Sea: Encyclopedia / Ed. G. G. Matishova. - M .: International relations, 2011 .-- 272 p., Ill., ISBN 978-5-7133-1404-0
• Wiese V. Yu., Sea of ​​the Soviet Arctic, 3rd ed., Vol. 1, [M.-L.], 1948;
• The Barents Sea // Brockhaus and Efron Encyclopedic Dictionary : in 86 volumes (82 volumes and 4 additional). - SPb. , 1890-1907.
• Animals and plants of the Barents Sea. - Apatity: USSR Academy of Sciences , 1981.
• Yesipov V.K., Commercial fish of the Barents Sea, L.-M., 1937;
• Tanzgora A. I., On the currents of the Barents Sea, in the book: Hydrological studies in the Barents. Norwegian and Greenland Seas, M., 1959.
• Mesyatsev I.I. Mollusks of the Barents Sea . - M.-L., 1931.
• Malashenkov A.A., Fedorov P.V. Soil on the northern cliffs: Orthodox necropolis of the Murmansk coast of the Barents Sea (1863-1920). - St. Petersburg: Intern. bank. Institute, 2017 .-- 632 s. - ISBN 978-5-4228-0085-8 .

• Maps of the Murmansk coast of the Barents Sea
• The Barents Sea in the book: A. D. Dobrovolsky, B. S. Zalogin. Sea of ​​the USSR. Publishing House Mosk. University, 1982.
• Key to algae of the Barents Sea Shoshina E.V.