THE LAPTEV SEA, nestled between the north coast of Siberia and Russia’s New Siberian Islands, is known as the birthplace of ice. Every year, ice forms along its coasts in the autumn before being pushed west across the Arctic Ocean to Greenland and Norway’s Svalbard archipelago, where it breaks up come spring.
The sea is characterized by the low water temperatures, which ranges from −1.8 °C (28.8 °F) in the north to −0.8 °C (30.6 °F) in the south-eastern parts. The medium water layer is warmer, up to 1.5 °С because it is fed by the warm Atlantic waters. In 2022, ice started to reform in the Laptev Sea in Russia at the end of January, according to data from the National Snow and Ice Data Center (NSIDC).
Hence it has a maximum depth of 3385 metres, while the average depth of its waters is 578 metres. Its deepest point lies at 11,106 feet. Most of the sea is relatively shallow, and about fifty per cent is less than 50% deep.
The Lena originates in the Baikal Mountains, south of the Central Siberian Plateau and west of Lake Baikal, and flows northeast until it empties in the Laptev Sea and the Arctic Ocean southwest of the New Siberian Islands.
What is the deepest river in Russia? Lena (river)
It is 4,294 km (2,668 mi) long, and has a drainage basin of 2,490,000 km2 (960,000 sq mi). The Lena is the eleventh-longest river in the world, and the longest river entirely within Russia. The longest river in Russia as of 2020 was the Lena River located in the East Siberia, whose length was measured at 4.4 thousand kilometers. The Irtysh River, flowing through Russia, China, and Kazakhstan, was 200 kilometers shorter, ranking second.
What is Russia longest river?
Volga River, Russian Volga is the continent’s longest river. It is also the principal waterway of western Russia. It marks the historic cradle of the Russian state.
The Laptev Sea (Russian: мо́ре Ла́птевых, tr. more Laptevykh; Yakut: Лаптевтар байҕаллара, romanized: Laptevtar bayğallara) is a marginal sea of the Arctic Ocean. It is located between the northern coast of Siberia, the Taimyr Peninsula, Severnaya Zemlya and the New Siberian Islands. Its northern boundary passes from the Arctic Cape to a point with co-ordinates of 79°N and 139°E, and ends at the Anisiy Cape. The Kara Sea lies to the west, the East Siberian Sea to the east.
The sea is named after the Russian explorers Dmitry Laptev and Khariton Laptev; formerly, it had been known under various names, the last being Nordenskiöld Sea (Russian: мо́ре Норденшёльда), after explorer Adolf Erik Nordenskiöld. The sea has a severe climate with temperatures below 0 °C (32 °F) over more than nine months per year, low water salinity, scarcity of flora, fauna and human population, and low depths (mostly less than 50 meters). It is frozen most of the time, though generally clear in August and September.
The sea shores were inhabited for thousands of years by indigenous tribes of Yukaghirs and then Evens and Evenks, which were engaged in fishing, hunting and reindeer husbandry. They were then settled by Yakuts and later by Russians. Russian explorations of the area started in the 17th century. They came from the south via several large rivers which empty into the sea, such as the prominent Lena River, the Khatanga, the Anabar, the Olenyok, the Omoloy and the Yana. The sea contains several dozen islands, many of which contain well-preserved mammoth remains.
The International Hydrographic Organization defines the limits of the Laptev Sea as follows:
On the West The eastern limit of Kara Sea
Komsomolets Island from Cape Molotov to South Eastern Cape; thence to Cape Vorochilov, Oktiabrskaya Revolutziya Island to Cape Anuchin. Then to Cape Unslicht on Bolshevik Island. Bolshevik Island to Cape Yevgenov. Thence to Cape Pronchisthehev on the main land (see Russian chart No. 1484 of the year 1935).
On the North A line joining Cape Molotov to the Northern extremity of Kotelni Island (76°10′N 138°50′E).
On the East From the Northern extremity of Kotelni Island – through Kotelni Island to Cape Madvejyi. Then through Malyi Island [Little Lyakhovsky Island], to Cape Vaguin on Great Liakhov Island. Thence to Cape Sviatoy Nos on the main land.
Using current geographic names and transcription this definition corresponds to the area shown in the map.
The sea’s border starts at Arctic Cape (formerly Cape Molotov) on Komsomolets Island at 81°13′N 95°15′E and connects to Cape Rosa Luxemburg (Mys Rozy Lyuksemburg), the southeastern cape of the island.
The next segment crosses Red Army Strait and leads to Cape Vorochilov on October Revolution Island and afterwards through that island to Cape Anuchin at 79°39′37″N 100°21′22″E.
Next, the border crosses Shokalsky Strait to Cape Unslicht at 79°25′04″N 102°31′00″E on Bolshevik Island. It goes further through the island to Cape Yevgenov at 78°17′N 104°50′E.[5]
From there, the border goes through Vilkitsky Strait to Cape Pronchishchev at 77°32′57″N 105°54′4″E on the Tamyr peninsula.
The southern boundary is the shore of the Asian mainland. Prominent features are the Khatanga Gulf (estuary of the Khatanga River) and the delta of the Lena River.
In the east, the polygon crosses the Dmitry Laptev Strait. It connects Cape Svyatoy Nos at 72.7°N 141.2°E with Cape Vagin at 73°26′0″N 139°50′0″E in the very east of Bolshoy Lyakhovsky Island.
Next, the Laptev Sea border crosses the Eterikan Strait to Little Lyakhovsky Island (aka Malyi Island) at 74.0833°N 140.5833°E up to Cape Medvezhiy.
Finally, there is a segment through Kotelny Island to Cape Anisy, its northernmost headland 76°10′N 138°50′E.
The last link reaches from there back to Arctic Cape.