Sea of Okhotsk

The Sea of Okhotsk (Russian: Охо́тское мо́ре, tr. Okhotskoye More; IPA: [ɐˈxotskəɪ ˈmorʲɪ]; Japanese: オホーツク海 Ohōtsuku-kai) is a marginal sea of the western Pacific Ocean, lying between the Kamchatka Peninsula on the east, the Kuril Islands on the southeast, the island of Hokkaido to the south, the island of Sakhalin along the west, and a long stretch of eastern Siberian coast (including the Shantar Islands) along the west and north. The northeast corner is the Shelikhov Gulf. The sea is named after Okhotsk, the first Russian settlement in the Far East.

Geography

The Sea of Okhotsk covers an area of 1,583,000 square kilometres (611,000 sq mi), with a mean depth of 859 metres (2,818 ft) and a maximum depth of 3,372 metres (11,063 ft). It is connected to the Sea of Japan on either side of Sakhalin: on the west through the Sakhalin Gulf and the Gulf of Tartary; on the south, through the La Pérouse Strait.

In winter, navigation on the Sea of Okhotsk becomes difficult, or even impossible, due to the formation of large ice floes, because the large amount of freshwater from the Amur River lowers the salinity which results in raising the freezing point of the sea. The distribution and thickness of ice floes depends on many factors: the location, the time of year, water currents, and the sea temperatures.

Okhotsk

Okhotsk (Russian: Охотск; IPA: [ɐˈxotsk]) is an urban locality (a work settlement) and the administrative center of Okhotsky District of Khabarovsk Krai, Russia, located at the mouth of the Okhota River on the Sea of Okhotsk. Population: 4,215 (2010 Census); 5,738 (2002 Census); 9,298 (1989 Census).

History

It was the main Russian base on the Pacific coast from about 1650 to 1860, but lost its importance after the Amur Acquisition in 1860. It is located at the east end of the Siberian River Routes on the Sea of Okhotsk where the Okhota and the Kukhtuy Rivers join to form a poor but usable harbor.

In 1639 the Russians first reached the Pacific 65 miles southeast at the mouth of the Ulya River. In 1647 Semyon Shelkovnikov built winter quarters at Okhotsk. In 1649 a fort was built (Kosoy Ostrozhok). In 1653 Okhotsk was burned by the local Lamuts. Although the Russian pioneers were skilled builders of river boats they lacked the knowledge and equipment to build seagoing vessels which meant that Okhotsk remained a coastal settlement and not a port. In 1682 Okhotsk had eight dwellings and five other buildings. When the Russians entered the Kamchatka Peninsula they had to travel overland from the north.

Okhotsk (train)

The Okhotsk (オホーツク, Ohōtsuku) is a limited express train service in Japan operated by the Hokkaido Railway Company (JR Hokkaido), which runs between Sapporo and Abashiri. As of March 2012, there are four services per day running in both directions, with the journey time taking approximately 5 hours 30 minutes. Trains operate at a maximum speed of 110 km/h. It is named after the Sea of Okhotsk.

Rolling stock

Okhotsk services are normally formed of 4-car KiHa 183 series diesel multiple unit (DMU) trains as shown below, with car 1 at the Sapporo and Abashiri end (train reverses at Engaru Station).

Formations

All cars are no-smoking.

Past

Preserved KiHa 22 DMU car, May 2005

Preserved KiHa 22 DMU car, May 2005

KiHa 80 series DMU on an Okhotsk service, 1986

KiHa 80 series DMU on an Okhotsk service, 1986

KiHa 183 series DMU in JNR livery, August 1985

List of craters on Mars: O-Z

This is a list of craters on Mars. There are hundreds of thousands of impact crater on Mars, but only some of them have names. This list here contains only named Martian craters starting with the letter O – Z (see also lists for A – G and H – N).

Large Martian craters (greater than 60 km in diameter) are named after famous scientists and science fiction authors; smaller ones (less than 60 km in diameter) get their names from towns on Earth. Craters cannot be named for living people, and small crater names are not intended to be commemorative - that is, a small crater isn't actually named after a specific town on Earth, but rather its name comes at random from a pool of terrestrial place names, with some exceptions made for craters near landing sites. Latitude and longitude are given as planetographic coordinates with west longitude.

O

P

Q

R

S

T

U

V

W

X

Y

Z

See also

References