a sound in the Chukchi Sea, along the western coast of Alaska. Length, 330 km; width at the mouth, 54 km; width in the inner section, approximately 130 km. Depth, 13–25 m. Covered with ice for most of the year, Kotzebue Sound has irregular, semidiurnal tides of approximately 0.5 m. It was discovered in 1816 by a Russian expedition led by O. E. Kotsebu (also O. E. Kotzebue) and was named after him.