Where is bering sea

The coasts are rocky and surf-worn, and the approaches are exceedingly dangerous, the land rising immediately from the coasts to steep, bold mountains. These volcanic islands reach heights of 6, feet 1, m. Makushin Volcano 5, feet 1, m located on Unalaska Island, is not quite visible from within the town of Unalaska, though the steam rising from its cone is visible on a rare clear day.

Residents of Unalaska need only to climb one of the smaller hills in the area, such as Pyramid Peak or Mt. Newhall, to get a good look at the snow-covered cone. The volcanic Bogoslof and Fire Islands, which rose from the sea in and respectively, lie about 30 miles 50 km west of Unalaska Bay. The Arctic region is a vast region of icy seas and snow covered lands where the sun does not set in summer, nor rise in winter.

This desolate expanse is home to hardy Eskimos, a race of superbly adapted nomadic aboriginal flesh eaters, polar bears and seals. Around the North Pole, the waters are permanent sheet or pack ice. Further south, the ice melts in summer, which melt is gradually creeping north as the earth is warming.

In winter Eskimos shelter in igloos, in summer in animal skin tent s. They live on a mixture of fish , seals and the occasional whale, when meat is plentiful. Their clothes are fashioned from furs and they are skilled artisans. Further south at the rim of the Bering Sea, the Aleutian Islands are the feeding grounds for the humpback whale, giant rorqual acrobats and accomplished vocalists.

Humpback whales have strange white patch splashes on their unusually large front flippers and body undersides, presumably as camouflage. The flippers are roughly a third of body length and irregular shaped with round knob like projections on their large upper and lower jaws, and long head. Humpbacks are fond of leaping out of the water in a display called broaching, when their deeply notched tail flukes are a distinguishing feature. Humpbacks have widely spaced throat grooves that expand in billows fashion to allow them to intake large volumes of water.

They have no teeth, but feed by filling their mouths with water containing zooplankton, krill and fish, then filtering out the water, expelling it through flexible baleen strips made of keratin, a strong fingernail like substance, which hang in closely packed rows, curtain fashion from the upper jaw. The small animals trapped in their mouths by this sieving process are then swallowed. Groups of Humpbacks hunt in teams, swimming in circles around a fish shoal making bait balls in a technique known as bubble net feeding.

A dozen or so whales work together to harvest the bonanza of shoals. This requires a high degree of intelligence, good timing and communication; the water equivalent of pack hunting.

The lead whale dives first and locates a shoal, then swims around it in a circle releasing air bubbles to create a theoretical spiral curtain. The other whales join the leader from underneath in a tight formation, singing to confuse the fish. The fish are then panicked to swim ahead reluctant to enter the bubble curtain barrier, so swim upwards, followed by the whales who all surface mouths agape to net a concentrated fish mouthful. Using this method the whales can easily take a ton of fish a day.

Humpback whales can vocalise for up to thirty minutes at a time. Each song is complicated and unique when compared to songs from other whales in their group. Clearly, singing is a means of communication. They are the longest most complex sound sequences of any animal, save for the vocalisations performed by humans supported by orchestras in operas. These songs can be heard many miles away and each regional population has its own song, sung only during the breeding season.

To sing, the whale vibrates air inside itself, in a chamber of bone, but how they achieve this is a mystery, since they have no vocal chords. The bone chamber appears to be a natural harmonic wind instrument. The Greek philosopher Aristotle recognised that whales breathed air and bore live young as far back as BC. Cetaceans are divided into two suborders: Odontceti toothed and Mysticeti baleen whales, with two blowholes on top of their heads.

There are 12 baleen species divided into 4 families. Mothers are protective of calves which they suckle for months weaning at about 12 months. The calves reach maturity at around 5 years. They can weigh up to 45 tonnes and grow up to 19 metres in length. Kulo is considerably heavier, a veritable giant weighing nearly 60 tons.

Female Humpbacks typically breed every years. It was early in the fall and the beginning of the annual migration from the Gulf of Alaska to the Philippines. One group of North Pacific humpback whales had already started the 3, kilometre journey to warmer waters, a grand summer migration, to complete the reproduction cycle; and a very necessary adventure to allow calves to be born in more comfortable surroundings.

Migrations are thought to have developed when the food whales fed on moved to cooler waters as changes in continental drifts and ocean currents took place. Their migrations often extend to 16 to 20, kilometres in total in a year, so this is just one small leg of their journey. The young and mature males were always the first to leave the group, eager to mark their territory. The adult females joined in, as a trickle herd, out to stretch their muscles after many months of gorging in the rich feeding grounds that are the trademark of the northern waters.

Many land mammals and birds, make long treks to reach seasonal feeding grounds, but these treks are dwarfed by the vast annual journeys made by whales. The last to leave, is the giant female named Kulo, shadowing her young female friend called Kana. Their names had been given to them after deciphering of their grunts and singing, by a computer sampler linked to a hydrophone.

Kulo and Kana had become great friends despite their disparity in size. Kulo was by far the largest whale in the group and a gentle giant, even bigger than her male counterparts. She is very strong and confident and well respected because she is also clever. She has a temper, which very occasionally snaps; then watch out.

Many a male humpback taking liberties had been chased, caught and bruised for their troubles. Kana, is the smallest and youngest of the group, so a slow swimmer, but intent on meeting her sisters at the other end of the migration route. The epic exodus normally lasts from 4 to 8 weeks, depending on the rate of swim and currents.

Kulo was in no particular hurry as she set a southerly bearing for the Babuyan Islands, just north of Luzon, in the Philippines. She just knew the Island by its taste, warm clear, sheltered waters and the feeling of well being when she reached that location.

The tissues around their brains contain an iron oxide concentration called magnetite, allowing them to sense gradients. There are many different groups of whales in three populations spread about the globe, each with their own familiar pattern and customs. Some are North Atlantic and others cruise the Southern Hemisphere. The Bering Sea is one of the most productive fishing grounds in the world.

Several important commercial fish like Pacific cod, flounder, flatfish, halibut, herring, pollack, salmon, and sablefish are found here. Shellfish like snow crab and red king crab are also found in the Bering Sea. In addition to this, the Bering Sea supports many species of whales like the beluga , bowhead, blue whale, gray, sperm, killer whale, and the North Pacific right whale.

Some other marine mammals that are found here are the walrus, fur seal, sea otter , sea lion, and polar bear. Several species of seabirds including the short-tailed albatross, crested auklet, spectacled eider, red-legged kittiwake, and tufted puffin are also found here. Diptarka Ghosh March 25 in Bodies of Water. The work can be as unforgiving as the water, but Arnold says he thrives on the bad weather, even if it requires extra maintenance.

On those days, when the sea crashes relentlessly over the boat, he spends most of his time cleaning off his lens. For more of Corey Arnold's work, visit his website or follow him on Instagram.

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