Kotzebue Sound, Bay in Northwest Arctic Region, United States.
Kotzebue Sound is a bay in northwestern Alaska, north of the Arctic Circle, where the Noatak, Kobuk, and Selawik Rivers empty into the Chukchi Sea. Its shores are mostly flat and low, bordered by tundra, and the town of Kotzebue sits near its entrance on a narrow spit of land.
The Russian navigator Otto von Kotzebue gave this bay its name after he sailed through in 1818 while looking for the Northwest Passage, and his charts helped open the area to outside knowledge. Long before his arrival, Iñupiat communities had lived along these shores for thousands of years.
The Iñupiat people who live along these shores still hunt beluga whales and fish using methods passed down over generations. Visitors who travel to nearby communities can often see traditional techniques in practice, from net fishing to the preparation of dried fish.
Kotzebue is the starting point for any visit to this area and can only be reached by plane, since there are no roads connecting it to the rest of Alaska. Boat trips on the water are possible in summer, when daylight lasts for many hours and the ice has melted.
The bay is surprisingly shallow across much of its surface, which keeps large vessels away and makes it feel more like an inland lake than an open sea approach. This shallow depth is also why it freezes so thoroughly in winter, forming ice thick enough to support the weight of loaded sleds and small vehicles.
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