Seas of the Pacific Ocean

The eastern coast of Asia is washed by the Pacific Ocean. It is bordered by chains of large and small islands that separate some of the outlying seas from the ocean.

Fig. 69. Cape Dezhnev. On small sailing vessels in 1648 Semyon Dezhnev and his companions rounded for the first time the most north-eastern cape of Asia on their way from the Arctic Ocean to the Pacific

As compared with those of the north, the seas of the Pacific are much deeper.
To the north-east of Asia, between the seas of the Arctic and Pacific Oceans, lies the Chukotsk Peninsula. South of this peninsula is the Bering Sea. The latter is linked with the Arctic Ocean by the Bering Strait.

Russian expeditions headed by Bering made two voyages to this sea in the first half of the 18th century, and it was later named after this explorer. During his first voyage Bering sailed into the Arctic Ocean via the strait, and thus discovered that Asia and America were not connected. But it was not known at that time that some 80 years before, a Russian expedition led by the Cossack Dezhnev had passed

through this strait on their way from the Arctic to the Pacific Ocean. The cape lying to the extreme north-east of Asia was later named after Dezhnev (Fig. 69).
During his second voyage, Bering and his assistant Chirikov reached the north-western coast of America and discovered a number of islands there. On the way back Bering fell ill with scurvy. He died while wintering on one of the islands in the Bering Sea not far from Kamchatka.
The Strait of Bosporus. On the shore may be seen the towers of an ancient fortress

The Kamchatka Peninsula and the Kuril Islands separate the Sea of Okhotsk from the Pacific Ocean. The tidal wave, from one to two metres high, enters the Sea of Okhotsk via the straits between the Kuril Islands.

Fig. 70. The Strait of Bosporus. On the shore may be seen the towers of an ancient fortress.

As it moves toward the northern and narrower part of the sea, it increases in height rapidly. It penetrates into the estuaries of the rivers, blocks the water's exit to the seas and, forming a huge billow, rushes upstream with a roar.
The Kuril Islands are the volcanic tops of a submerged mountain range. Along the ocean bottom, parallel tb the Kamchatka and the Kuril Islands, extends a deep-sea trench that has been explored by Soviet scientists and found to be over 10 kilometres deep.
Though the Bering Sea lies in the same latitude as the Baltic, its northern part is covered with a thick sheet of ice, like the seas of the Arctic Ocean. The southern part of the Sea of Okhotsk lies in the same latitude as the Black Sea, but the former is almost entirely covered with ice-floes. Both the Bering Sea and the Sea of Okhotsk are free of ice in summer.

The Island of Sakhalin lies between the Sea of Okhotsk and the Sea of Japan. The latter is separated from the ocean by the Japanese Islands. The cold waters of the Sea of Okhotsk penetrate into the Sea of Japan from the north, causing the northern part of the latter near the coast to freeze in winter. The

rest of the Sea of Japan is influenced by a warm current coming from the south and does not freeze.
The Korean Peninsula lies between the Sea of Japan and the shallow Yellow Sea. The rivers flowing into the latter deposit great quantities of silt, colouring its water yellow. In the south the Yellow Sea is linked with the East China Sea which in turn is separated from the ocean by a chain of small islands' Further south are the Philippines, a large group of islands bordering the South China Sea in the east.
Between the Pacific and Indian Oceans south of this sea are scattered numerous islands. The four largest are called the Greater Sunda Islands. These large and small islands are all that remains of the bridge of land that once connected Asia and Australia. This bridge was later splintered into pieces by powerful interior forces, some of them sinking under water, others remaining as islands.
Sea routes leading from the eastern coasts of Asia to America and Australia cross the Pacific Ocean. Fishing and other sea trades are widely practised. Salmon, herring, cod, sardines and crabs are caught.
The whale is hunted in the Bering Sea.
Questions and Assignments.