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The 'Kara Sea' (Russian: Ка́рское мо́ре) is part of the Arctic Ocean north of Siberia. It is separated from the Barents Sea to the west by the Kara Strait and Novaya Zemlya, and the Laptev Sea to the east by the Severnaya Zemlya.
It is roughly 1,450 kilometres long and 970 kilometres wide with an area of around 880,000 km² and a mean depth of 110 m.
The Kara receives a large amount of fresh water from the Ob, Yenisei, Pyasina, and Taimyra rivers, so its salinity is very variable.
Its main ports are Novy Port and Dikson and it is important as a fishing ground although the sea is ice-bound for all but two months of the year. Significant discoveries of petroleum and natural gas, an extension of the West Siberian Oil Basin, have been made but have not yet been developed.
There is concern about the levels of nuclear waste the former Soviet Union dumped in the sea which included six nuclear submarine reactors and ten nuclear reactors, and the effect this will have on the marine environment. An International Atomic Energy Agency appraisal showed that releases are low and localised.

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Nature Reserve

See also

External links

Nature Reserve

The 'Great Arctic State Nature Reserve' – the largest nature reserve of Russia and the whole Europe - was founded on May 11, 1993 by Resolution No.431 of the Government of the Russian Federation (RF).
The Kara Sea Islands section (about 400 thousand ha) of the Great Arctic Nature Reserve includes: the Sergei Kirov Archipelago, the Voronina Island, the Izvestiy Tsik Islands, the Arctic Institute Islands, the Svordrup Island, the Uedineniya Island and a number of smaller islands. This section represents rather fully the natural and biological diversity of arctic sea islands of the eastern part of the Kara Sea.

See also

★ Northern Sea Route

★ Adolf Erik Nordenskiöld

★ Valerian Albanov

★ Boris Vilkitsky

External links

★ International Atomic Energy Agency:Radiological Conditions of the Western Kara Sea