Where Is the Chukchi Sea Located?
Ever wonder "Where is the Chucki Sea?" The Chukchi Sea is a body of water in the Arctic Ocean in between Alaska and Russia. It is known as a marginal sea due to its being partly enclosed by these two landmasses. The Chukchi is bounded on the west by the De Long Strait, and on the east by the northernmost point in the United States, Point Barrow, Alaska. The Wrangel Island is also nestled within the Chukchi Sea, and is one of the last places in the world the wooly mammoth existed. The International Date line, the imaginary line that separates two consecutive calendar days, crosses through the Sea as well. That answers the immediate question of "Where is the Chucki Sea?" Here’s a bit of information about this interesting area of the world and what can be found around it.
Because of its location near the extreme north of human civilization, the Chukchi Sea is almost always covered with ice. In fact, it is only navigable by ships about four months out of the year—the rest of the time, it’s impossible to cross by boat.
Most of the area of the sea is extremely shallow, relatively speaking. Over half of it reaches depths of only 165 feet or less. Very few islands can be found within the sea, and none of them are inhabited due to the extreme climate. Wrangel Island is the largest island found within the sea, while Herald Island is located in the north. Smaller islands dot the coast of Russia on the one extremity of the sea and Alaska on the other.
Inhabitants
Historically, the people living around the sea have been Eskimo, Inuit, Chukchi (the people after which the sea is named), Yukagirs, and Lamuts. Today, Americans occupy Alaska on the one side of the Chukchi, while the Chukchi Peninsula is a part of the Russian-owned Chukotka Autonomous Okrug. The Chukchi Sea is home to various wildlife, including walruses and polar bears that live on the pack ice that floats in the sea. These polar bears are genetically distinct from all other polar bears in the world.
Wrangel Island
Wrangelr Island is among the most prominent features of the Chukchi Sea. Wrangel Island breaks up the sea on its western end. While the island today boasts little more than a weather station and a couple of fishing settlements, it has a very interesting history. The average highs of the island only reach about 40 degrees Fahrenheit during the summer months, while temperatures have dipped as low as -57 degrees Fahrenheit. The polar climate of the island is particularly severe; but in spite of this fact, prehistoric humans apparently inhabited the island at one point. Archaeological evidence uncovered seems to suggest habitation around 1700 BC.
Wrangel Island was “discovered” in modernity by a Cossack sergeant in the 1760s. British naval officer Henry Kellet sighted the Island from Herald Island in 1849, and it was known as Kellet Land in England thereafter. It was later named after Ferdinand von Wrangel, a Baltic German explorer who set out to find it but failed.
The Chukchi Sea Today
Although the Sea is certainly filled with history, the Chukchi has appeared in the news for various reasons recently. One matter of debate surrounding the sea has been whether or not to proceed with exploratory drilling to determine whether the sea has untapped oil reserves.
In order to obtain energy security for the United States, the Interior Department gave the go-ahead for exploratory drilling to take place in early 2010. The decision was met with frustration by many who believe the natural environment should be left undisturbed. In 2009, a group of hunters noticed a very strange site in the Chukchi Sea just off of the coast of Alaska’s North Slope. A miles-long black floating mass was observed in the waters, named “The Blob” by the hunters and the media. Some believed that it was a previously undiscovered oil slick, but studies showed that it is actually a large mass of unusually dark-colored algae. Toxicity tests were planned on the blob, but its species remains a mystery.