Short answers, pulled from the story.
The East Siberian Sea stretches between Arctic Cape to the north and the coast of Siberia to the south. Its western limit touches the New Siberian Islands, while Cape Billings marks the eastern edge near Chukotka.
Most of its waters lie shallower than 50 meters deep with predominant depths measuring just 20 to 25 meters across vast sections. North-east of the Kolyma River mouth ancient river valleys now form deep trenches on the ocean floor reaching maximum depths of about 915 meters in the north-eastern part.
Winter temperatures average approximately minus 30 degrees Celsius during January months. South-westerly winds blow at speeds between 6 and 7 meters per second bringing cold air directly from the Siberian continent.
Ringed seals inhabit both sea shores and ice fields alongside bearded seals while walruses gather near the coast where polar bears hunt them. Bowhead whales visit these waters regularly during migration seasons along with gray whales belugas and narwhals that traverse the region frequently.
Russian sea-farers navigated the coastline using koch boats as early as the seventeenth century. Semyon Dezhnev and Fedot Alekseev sailed from Kolyma to Anadyr River in 1648.