Bellingshausen - a sea-mystery: description, characteristics, study

2024 Author: Harold Hamphrey | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 10:06

The Bellingshausen Sea in the Pacific Ocean is located entirely south of the Arctic Circle, smoothly and shallowly cutting its southern part into the coast of Antarctica, and occupies the extreme southeastern part of the largest water body. The northern border is rather arbitrary and is open to the waters of the Pacific Ocean.

Short description

The largest among the islands of the Antarctic seas, the island of Alexander I Land, is located in the Bellingshausen Sea. The coastline is mountainous and completely covered with glaciers. The sea was discovered by a scientist whose last name it bears - Bellingshausen. The navigator was a B altic German from a noble family.

The mainland slope is steep and the shelf depths start from 4-5 hundred meters, gradually turning into a small sea bed with a depth of about 3200 m, the depth increases towards the ocean and reaches a maximum of 4470 m.

Attractivethe peculiarity of these places is the wonderful purity and freshness of the air and the incredibly transparent and deep starry sky.

Family holidays are hardly appropriate in this area, but there are a decent number of travel agencies offering trips to the sea for those who want to visit such marvelous places. Travel companies are happy to tell you more about this area, and some of the most interesting information can be found in this short article.

Climatic conditions

Even the pronunciation of the words "Antarctica", "Arctic Circle", "Bellingshausen Sea", "iceberg" evokes freshness and coolness, but such is the harsh climatic reality in these latitudes. Bellingshausen is a sea that is almost completely packed with ice almost all year round, only by the summer, or rather from February - March, its waters adjacent to the open part of the ocean are freed from the ice cover. They are rich in floating ice and icebergs, which sometimes reach gigantic sizes.

The climate is harsh. All year round, air masses from mainland Antarctica dominate the sea, lowering the temperature in the winter months from -12⁰С over Peter I Island to -20⁰С on the south coast (extremes -30⁰С in the north and up to -42⁰С in the southern part of the sea). The isotherm of the summer months ranges from 0 to +4⁰С in January and from -2⁰С to -6^{0 C in February due to poor air exchange with adjacent Pacific air masses. Bellingshausen- the sea, the water temperature of which in winter is below the freezing point in almost the entire water area, only in the summer months the upper layer "warms up" to -1 degree. The salinity of the water is about 34 ppm.}

Flora

The flora and fauna of these places due to the harsh climatic conditions is rather poorly represented. Of the terrestrial vegetation in the northern part of Peter I Island, several species of mosses and lichens inhabit rocky, ice-covered land areas. Bellingshausen is a sea whose vegetation in the northern part consists of phytoplankton and several types of blue-green algae.

Fauna

Somewhat richer fauna, whose representatives live on the coast and in adjacent waters. Of the mammals here you can meet in summer the leopard seal, elephant seal, polar crabeater (seal), fur seal, Weddell seal. Sponges and some species of echinoderms, several families of fish, for example, notothenia, are found in the depths of the sea. The open sea in the northern part is rich in krill and zooplankton, which attracts whales. These “pastures” are inhabited by: sei whale, humpback whale, fin whale, and the largest and most powerful representative of the animal world of our planet, the blue whale, is also found here. The feathered community is represented by petrels and skuas; penguins live on land. During the summer months, especially on the islands, quite numerous colonies of fulmars, Arctic terns and Wilsen geese nest.

Who discovered the Bellingshausen Sea?

The honor of discovering Antarctica belongs to the famous and famous Russian navigator and explorer F. F. Bellingshausen. And before him there were numerous attempts to reach the southern mainland, which were unsuccessful. It was Bellingshausen, by order of Emperor Alexander I, together with M. P. Lazarev in the 20s of the XIX century, on two ships, little adapted for ice voyages, set sail. Bellingshausen was the first to reach the Antarctic mainland. He conducted numerous studies of the coastline of the mainland, made many discoveries in the field of geography and hydrology. The scientist was able to find out where the Bellingshausen Sea is located and indicate its exact coordinates. The name of the great traveler and scientist is immortalized on the geographical maps of the Earth. A sea off the coast of Antarctica, two islands in the Pacific and Atlantic oceans, a cape on Sakhalin, and an ice shelf in Antarctica are named after him. The name of Bellingshausen is the first Soviet, and now Russian, research station on the coldest continent.

Recreation and science

Bellingshausen - the sea, which is probably strange, but has recently attracted the attention of tourists more and more often. Especially the island of Petra l. Argentine and New Zealand tour operators are willing to organize tours for fans of extreme recreation, delivering people on excursions to these latitudes on Antarctic-class ships. The fact that for the entire time from the opening to 2006 inclusive, onlyabout 400 people, and in subsequent years the number of tourists who visited here exceeded 2000 people.

The value of scientific research in Antarctica has not diminished, especially in light of climate issues and global warming concerns.