Sea of Okhotsk Facts
Sea of Okhotsk Facts
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| Interesting Sea of Okhotsk Facts: |
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| The Sea of Okhotsk is connected to the Sea of Japan via the Sakhalin Gulf and Gulf of Tartary to its west, through La Perouse Strait to its south, and from both sides of Sakhalin. |
| Ice formation in the winter makes it difficult to navigate the sea. This is due to large amounts of freshwater decreasing the salinity which raises the surface freezing point. |
| The first Russian explorers to visit the Sea of Okhotsk were Vassili Poyarkov and Ivan Moskvitin, in the 1640s. |
| In the 19th and early 20th centuries European and American whaling ships hunted in the Sea of Okhotsk. The main whales they caught were bowhead and right whales. There are many shipwrecks in the sea as a result of the whaling during that era. |
| It is estimated that there is approximately 3.5 billion tons of fuel in the Sea of Okhotsk shelf. |
| In 2011 a Russian oil drilling rig sank in the Sea of Okhotsk, with 67 people aboard. 14 were rescued by an icebreaker and a tugboat. |
| Main ports on the Sea of Okhotsk include those located in Magadan in Russia, Palana in Russia, and Abashiri, Monbetsu, and Wakkanai in Japan. |
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