The Bering Strait

Located just south of the Arctic Circle and separating Alaska in the United States from Chukotka in Russian Siberia, the Bering Strait is the Intercontinental Divide that connects the Arctic Ocean with the Bering Sea and its Pacific Ocean.

The strait—named for Danish explorer Vitus Bering—is believed to have once served as a natural land bridge (called the also known as “Beringia”) during the last Ice Age, used by prehistoric animals and people to reach the Americas from Asia. Archeologists think this land bridge has since disappeared due to the eroding effect of strong ocean currents and relentless sea winds. To better understand this post-glacial flooding of the Bering Land Bridge, view an animation of how scientists think it happened.

While isolation, extreme cold, and political and geographic tensions make the Bering Strait seem like a frozen limbo at the edge of the world, it forms the globe's geographical crossroads, for nowhere else is it possible to cross the Pacific Rim.

In the years of the Cold War, this divide was known as the "Ice Curtain." But, someday, the Bering Strait could serve as a potential global shipping route between Europe, North America, and Asia, further advancing our global economy. Both the East and West are eager to begin  sharing in trade and global resources ... Ways to more easily cross this 53-mile (85 km) stretch of water have been proposed over the last few decades—such as by train, ferry, or tunnel—but financial and weather concerns have continued to stall such a project. So today, the only current travelling option is by air, or by treacherous water transport possible only during June through October.

Sources courtesy of: http://www.answers.com/topic/bering-strait, http://www.beringstraitcrossing.com/

Image courtesy of: http://www.beringclimate.noaa.gov/links-photos.html