Bering Sea
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The Bering Sea or Imarpik Sea is a body of water in the far northern Pacific Ocean covering over two million square kilometres. It is bordered to the north and east by Alaska, to the west by Siberia in Russia, and to the south by the Alaska Peninsula and the Aleutian Islands. The sea is named for its discoverer, the Danish navigator Vitus Bering.
During the most recent ice age, the sea level was at a low enough level to allow humans and other animals to migrate from Asia to North America on foot across what is now the Bering Strait, located on the northern side of the sea. This is commonly referred to as the "Bering land bridge" and is believed to be the first entry of humans into the Americas.
The Bering Sea (http://www.beringclimate.noaa.gov/) is one of the world's major fisheries, and fisheries from Alaskan waters represents half of the landed U.S. catch of fish and shellfish. Because of the changes going on in the Arctic (http://www.arctic.noaa.gov/detect), future evolution of the Bering Sea climate/ecosystem is more uncertain. This is a symmetric problem: climate change impacts ecosystems, and ecosystems serve as indicators for climate change. Track the current State of the Bering Sea (http://www.beringclimate.noaa.gov/bering_status_overview.html) with near-realtime ecological and climatic indicators (http://www.beringclimate.noaa.gov/quick_data_summary.html).
Islands of the Bering Sea include:
External link
- Bering Sea Climate and Ecosystem (http://www.beringclimate.noaa.gov/) Comprehensive resource includes maps, photos, essays on key Bering Sea issues, organizations, ecosystem information, and viewable data with narratives on trends and ecosystem relevance.
- North Pacific Ocean theme page (http://www.pmel.noaa.gov/np/)bg:Берингово море
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