The Kara Sea Project
Introduction
The Kara Sea is one of the Arctic shelf seas. It can be considered as a semi-enclosed ocean basin bounded by Novaya Zemlya to the north and the Vaigach island connecting the Barents Sea with Kara Gate Strait and two narrow straits on the west, by the Siberia coast of Russia on the south, and by Sverenaya Zemlya connecting the Laptev Sea with Shokal'sky and Vil'kitsky Straits on the east (Fig. 1). The open boundary on the north provides the main entrance of sea water from the Barents Sea and the Arctic ocean into the Kara Sea. Generally, the bottom topography of the Kara Sea is dominated on the seaward side by the Yamal Plateau and on the shoreward side by the Ob-Yenisey Delta with depth 25-30 m. The continental shelf is wider in the central portion and becomes narrower to the east. Three troughes with depth greater than 300 m located on the north and produce a complex feature of bottom topography: the Svyataya Anna Trough and Vozonin Trough transverse on the northern open boundary, and the Navaya Zemlya Trough along the east coast of Novaya Zemlya.