- The Bering Sea (/‘b??r??, ‘b?r??/ BAIR-ing, BERR-ing, US also /‘b??r??/ BEER-ing; Russian: ??�??????? ??�??, romanized: B�ringovo m�re, IPA: [‘b?er??ng?v? ‘mor?e]) is a marginal sea of the Northern Pacific Ocean. It forms, along with the Bering Strait, the divide between the two largest landmasses on Earth: Eurasia and the Americas. It comprises a deep water basin, which then rises through a narrow slope into the shallower water above the continental shelves. The Bering Sea is named after Vitus Bering, a Danish-born Russian navigator, who, in 1728, was the first European to systematically explore it, sailing from the Pacific Ocean northward to the Arctic Ocean.