sea of okhotsk

The Sea of Okhotsk (; [English Transliteration] : Okhotskoye More ) is a part of the western [Pacific Ocean] , lying between the [Kamchatka Peninsula] on the east, the [Kuril Islands] on the southeast, the [island] of [Hokkaidō] to the far south, the island of [Sakhalin] along the west, and a long stretch of eastern [Siberia] n coast (including the [Shantar Islands] ) along the west and north. The northeast corner is [Shelikhov Gulf] . It is named after [Okhotsk] , the first [Russia] n settlement in the [Far East] .

Geography
The Sea of Okhotsk covers 611,000 sq.mi. (1,583,000 km2.), with a mean depth of 2,818 feet (859 metres). Its maximum depth is 11,063 feet (3,372 metres). 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 floe] s, because the large amount of freshwater from the [Amur River] lowers the [salinity] and raises 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.
With the exception of [Hokkaidō] , one of the [Japan] ese [home islands] , the sea is surrounded on all sides by territory administered by the Russian Federation. For this reason, it is generally considered as being under Russian sovereignty.

Extent