North Sea – Wikipedia

The North Sea is a sea of the Atlantic Ocean between Great Britain ( specifically England and Scotland ), Norway, Jutland ( in Denmark ), Germany, the Netherlands, Belgium and Hauts-de-France ( in France ). An epeiric ( or “ shelf ” ) ocean on the european continental ledge, it connects to the ocean through the English Channel in the south and the norwegian Sea in the north. It is more than 970 kilometres ( 600 mi ) farseeing and 580 kilometres ( 360 mile ) broad, covering 570,000 square kilometres ( 220,000 sq nautical mile ). It has long hosted key north european ship lanes ampere well as provided a major fishery. The coast is a popular finish for refreshment and tourism in bordering countries, and more recently the ocean has developed into a rich source of energy resources, including fossil fuels, wind, and early efforts in brandish power.

historically, the North Sea has featured prominently in geopolitical and military affairs, particularly in Northern Europe. It was besides authoritative globally through the baron northerly Europeans projected global during much of the Middle Ages and into the modern earned run average. The North Sea was the center of the Vikings ‘ heighten. subsequently, the Hanseatic League, the Dutch Republic, and the british each sought to gain command of the North Sea and frankincense access to the world ‘s markets and resources. As Germany ‘s entirely wall socket to the ocean, the North Sea continued to be strategically important through both World Wars. The seashore has diverse geology and geography. In the north, deep fjords and sheer cliffs mark much of its norwegian and Scottish coastlines respectively, whereas in the confederacy, the coast consists chiefly of flaxen beaches, estuaries of long rivers and wide mudflats. Due to the dense population, heavy industrialization, and intense function of the sea and sphere surrounding it, there have been diverse environmental issues affecting the sea ‘s ecosystems. adverse environmental issues – normally including overfishing, industrial and agrarian overflow, dredge, and dump, among others – have led to a number of efforts to prevent degradation and to safeguard the long-run economic benefits .

geography [edit ]

The North Sea is bounded by the Orkney Islands and east coast of Great Britain to the west [ 1 ] and the northern and cardinal european mainland to the east and confederacy, including Norway, Denmark, Germany, the Netherlands, Belgium, and France. [ 2 ] In the southwesterly, beyond the Straits of Dover, the North Sea becomes the English Channel connecting to the Atlantic Ocean. [ 1 ] [ 2 ] In the east, it connects to the Baltic Sea via the Skagerrak and Kattegat, [ 2 ] narrow straits that separate Denmark from Norway and Sweden respectively. [ 1 ] In the north it is bordered by the Shetland Islands, and connects with the norwegian Sea, which is a marginal sea in the Arctic Ocean. [ 1 ] [ 3 ] The North Sea is more than 970 kilometres ( 600 nautical mile ) long and 580 kilometres ( 360 myocardial infarction ) wide, with an area of 570,000 square kilometres ( 220,000 sq nautical mile ) and a bulk of 54,000 cubic kilometres ( 13,000 copper security service ). [ 4 ] Around the edges of the North Sea are goodly islands and archipelagos, including Shetland, Orkney, and the frisian Islands. [ 2 ] The North Sea receives fresh water from a number of european continental watersheds, a good as the british Isles. A bombastic part of the european drain washbasin empties into the North Sea, including water from the Baltic Sea. The largest and most crucial rivers flowing into the North Sea are the Elbe and the Rhine – Meuse. [ 5 ] Around 185 million people live in the catchment area of the rivers discharging into the North Sea encompassing some highly industrialize areas. [ 6 ]

major features [edit ]

For the most separate, the sea lies on the European continental shelf with a entail depth of 90 metres ( 300 foot ). [ 1 ] [ 7 ] The only exception is the norwegian trench, which extends parallel to the norwegian shoreline from Oslo to an area north of Bergen. [ 1 ] It is between 20 and 30 kilometres ( 12 and 19 myocardial infarction ) wide and has a maximum astuteness of 725 metres ( 2,379 foot ). [ 8 ] The Dogger Bank, a huge moraine, or accumulation of unconsolidated arctic debris, rises to a mere 15 to 30 m ( 50 to 100 foot ) below the coat. [ 9 ] [ 10 ] This feature has produced the finest fish localization of the North Sea. [ 1 ] The Long Forties and the Broad Fourteens are large areas with approximately uniform depth in fathoms ( forty fathoms and fourteen fathoms or 73 and 26 megabyte or 240 and 85 foot deep, respectively ). These great banks and others make the North Sea peculiarly hazardous to navigate, [ 11 ] which has been alleviated by the implementation of satellite navigation systems. [ 12 ] The Devil ‘s Hole lies 320 kilometres ( 200 nautical mile ) east of Dundee, Scotland. The have is a serial of asymmetrical trenches between 20 and 30 kilometres ( 12 and 19 mi ) farseeing, one and two kilometres ( 0.6 and 1.2 nautical mile ) broad and up to 230 metres ( 750 foot ) cryptic. [ 13 ] other areas which are less thick are Cleaver Bank, Fisher Bank and Noordhinder Bank .

extent [edit ]

The International Hydrographic Organization defines the limits of the North Sea as follows : [ 14 ]

hydrology [edit ]

temperature and brininess [edit ]

Ocean currents mainly entering via the north entrance exiting along Norwegian coast
•
• The three amphidromic centers
• Coasts:
  marshes = green
  mudflats = greenish blue
  lagoons = bright blue
  dunes = yellow
  sea dikes= purple
  moraines near the coast= light brown
  rock-based coasts = greyish brown • Localization of the tide-gauges listed Tide times after Bergen ( negative = before ) • The three amphidromic centers• Coasts : marshes = greenmudflats = green bluelagoons = bright bluedunes = yellowsea dikes= purplemoraines near the coast= lightly brownrock-based coasts = grey brown The average temperature is 17 °C ( 63 °F ) in the summer and 6 °C ( 43 °F ) in the winter. [ 4 ] The average temperatures have been trending higher since 1988, which has been attributed to climate change. [ 16 ] [ 17 ] Air temperatures in January stove on average between 0 to 4 °C ( 32 to 39 °F ) and in July between 13 to 18 °C ( 55 to 64 °F ). The winter months see frequent gales and storms. [ 1 ] The salt averages between 34 and 35 grams per liter ( 129 and 132 g/US gallon ) of water system. [ 4 ] The salt has the highest variability where there is clean water inflow, such as at the Rhine and Elbe estuaries, the Baltic Sea passing and along the coast of Norway. [ 18 ]

Water circulation and tides [edit ]

The main model to the flow of water system in the North Sea is an anti-clockwise rotation along the edges. [ 19 ] The North Sea is an arm of the Atlantic Ocean receiving the majority of ocean stream from the northwest first step, and a lesser part of warm current from the smaller opening at the English Channel. These tidal currents leave along the norwegian seashore. [ 20 ] Surface and deep water currents may move in unlike directions. depleted brininess come on coastal waters move offshore, and deeper, denser gamey salt waters move inshore. [ 21 ] The North Sea located on the continental ledge has unlike waves from those in thick ocean water. The wave speeds are diminished and the wave amplitudes are increased. In the North Sea there are two amphidromic systems and a third incomplete amphidromic organization. [ 22 ] [ 23 ] In the North Sea the average tide difference in wave amplitude is between zero and eight metres ( 26 foot ). [ An average is a single figure, not a range. ] [ 4 ] The Kelvin tide of the Atlantic Ocean is a semidiurnal wave that travels north. Some of the energy from this wave travels through the English Channel into the North Sea. The curl continues to travel north in the Atlantic Ocean, and once past the northern tip off of Great Britain, the Kelvin wave turns east and south and once again enters the North Sea. [ 24 ]

Coasts [edit ]

The german North Sea slide The eastern and western coasts of the North Sea are jagged, formed by glaciers during the ice ages. The coastlines along the southernmost partially are covered with the remains of situate frigid sediment. [ 1 ] The norwegian mountains plunge into the sea creating deep fjords and archipelagos. South of Stavanger, the slide softens, the islands become fewer. [ 1 ] The eastern Scottish coast is similar, though less austere than Norway. From north east of England, the cliffs become lower and are composed of less tolerant moraine, which erodes more easily, so that the coasts have more round contour. [ 59 ] [ 60 ] In the Netherlands, Belgium and in East Anglia the littoral is low and boggy. [ 1 ] The east coast and southeast of the North Sea ( Wadden Sea ) have coastlines that are chiefly flaxen and square owing to longshore drift, peculiarly along Belgium and Denmark. [ 61 ]

coastal management [edit ]

The Afsluitdijk ( Closure-dike ) is a major decameter in the Netherlands The southerly coastal areas were originally flood plains and boggy state. In areas specially vulnerable to storm surges, people settled behind elevated levees and on natural areas of high grind such as spits and geestland. [ 62 ] : [ 302, 303 ] arsenic early as 500 BC, people were constructing artificial dwelling hills higher than the prevailing flood levels. [ 62 ] : [ 306, 308 ] It was only around the begin of the High Middle Ages, in 1200 AD, that inhabitants began to connect single ring dikes into a butch channel along the integral coast, thereby turning amphibious regions between the estate and the sea into permanent solid footing. [ 62 ] The advanced form of the dikes supplemented by bubble over and lateral diversion channels, began to appear in the 17th and 18th centuries, built in the Netherlands. [ 63 ] The North Sea Floods of 1953 and 1962 were the drift for farther raise of the dikes vitamin a well as the shorten of the coast lineage so as to present as fiddling come on area as potential to the punishment of the sea and the storms. [ 64 ] Currently, 27 % of the Netherlands is below ocean level protected by dikes, dunes, and beach flats. [ 65 ] coastal management nowadays consists of several levels. [ 66 ] The dike slope reduces the energy of the entrance sea, so that the dike itself does not receive the full impact. [ 66 ] Dikes that lie directly on the ocean are specially reinforced. [ 66 ] The dikes have, over the years, been repeatedly raised, sometimes up to 9 metres ( 30 foot ) and have been made flatter to better reduce wave erosion. [ 67 ] Where the dunes are sufficient to protect the land behind them from the sea, these dunes are planted with beach grass ( Ammophila arenaria ) to protect them from corrosion by wind, water, and foot traffic. [ 68 ]

Storm tides [edit ]

storm surges threaten, in particular, the coasts of the Netherlands, Belgium, Germany, and Denmark and low lying areas of easterly England particularly around The Wash and Fens. [ 61 ] Storm surges are caused by changes in barometric pressure combined with hard wind created wave military action. [ 69 ] The first gear recorded storm tide flood was the Julianenflut, on 17 February 1164. In its wake, the Jadebusen, ( a bay on the coast of Germany ), began to form. A storm tide in 1228 is recorded to have killed more than 100,000 people. [ 70 ] In 1362, the Second Marcellus Flood, besides known as the Grote Manndrenke, hit the stallion southerly coast of the North Sea. Chronicles of the prison term again record more than 100,000 deaths, big parts of the coast were lost permanently to the sea, including the now fabled lost city of Rungholt. [ 71 ] In the twentieth century, the North Sea flood of 1953 flooded respective nations ‘ coasts and cost more than 2,000 lives. [ 72 ] 315 citizens of Hamburg died in the North Sea flood of 1962. [ 73 ] : [ 79, 86 ]

tsunami [edit ]

Though rare, the North Sea has been the site of a number of historically documented tsunami. The Storegga Slides were a series of submerged landslides, in which a piece of the norwegian continental shelf slid into the norwegian Sea. The huge landslips occurred between 8150 BCE and 6000 BCE, and caused a tsunami up to 20 metres ( 66 foot ) high that swept through the North Sea, having the greatest effect on Scotland and the Faeroe Islands. [ 74 ] [ 75 ] The Dover Straits earthquake of 1580 is among the first recorded earthquakes in the North Sea measuring between 5.6 and 5.9 on the Richter scale. This consequence caused across-the-board damage in Calais both through its tremors and possibly triggered a tsunami, though this has never been confirmed. The hypothesis is a huge subaqueous landslide in the English Channel was triggered by the earthquake, which in turn caused a tsunami. [ 76 ] The tsunami triggered by the 1755 Lisbon earthquake reached Holland, although the waves had lost their destructive power. The largest earthquake always recorded in the United Kingdom was the 1931 Dogger Bank earthquake, which measured 6.1 on the Richter order of magnitude scale and caused a minor tsunami that flooded parts of the british coast. [ 76 ]

geology [edit ]

Shallow epicontinental seas like the current North Sea have since long existed on the European continental shelf. The rifting that formed the northern part of the Atlantic Ocean during the Jurassic and Cretaceous periods, from about, caused tectonic uplift in the british Isles. [ 77 ] Since then, a shallow sea has about endlessly existed between the uplands of the Fennoscandian Shield and the british Isles. [ 78 ] This precursor of the stream North Sea has grown and shrunk with the rise and fall of the eustatic sea level during geological prison term. Sometimes it was connected with other shoal seas, such as the sea above the Paris Basin to the southwest, the Paratethys Sea to the southeast, or the Tethys Ocean to the south. [ 79 ] During the Late Cretaceous, about, all of advanced mainland Europe except for Scandinavia was a scattering of islands. [ 80 ] By the early Oligocene, , the egress of western and Central Europe had about wholly separated the North Sea from the Tethys Ocean, which gradually shrank to become the Mediterranean as Southern Europe and South West Asia became dry land. [ 81 ] The North Sea was cut off from the English Channel by a narrow farming bridge until that was breached by at least two catastrophic floods between 450,000 and 180,000 years ago. [ 82 ] [ 83 ] Since the start of the Quaternary period about, the eustatic sea level has fallen during each frigid time period and then risen again. every time the frosting sheet reached its greatest extent, the North Sea became about completely dry. The contemporary coastline formed after the last Glacial Maximum when the sea began to flood the European continental ledge. [ 84 ] In 2006 a cram shard was found while drilling for anoint in the North Sea. analysis indicated that it was a Plateosaurus from 199 to 216 million years ago. This was the deepest dinosaur fossil always found and the first line up for Norway. [ 85 ]

• Map showing hypothetical extent of Doggerland ( c. 8,000 BC ), which provided a farming bridge between Great Britain and continental Europe
• North Sea from De Koog, Texel island
• The North Sea between and, as Central Europe became dry down

nature [edit ]

fish and shellfish [edit ]

Copepods and other zooplankton are bountiful in the North Sea. These bantam organisms are all-important elements of the food chain supporting many species of pisces. [ 86 ] Over 230 species of pisces live in the North Sea. Cod, haddock, whiting, saithe, plaice, sole, mackerel, herring, sulk, brisling, and sandeel are all very common and are fished commercially. [ 86 ] [ 87 ] due to the respective depths of the North Sea trenches and differences in brininess, temperature, and water campaign, some fish such as blue-mouth red drum and rabbitfish reside lone in little areas of the North Sea. [ 88 ] Crustaceans are besides normally found throughout the sea. Norway lobster, deep-water prawns, and brown shrimp are all commercially fished, but other species of lobster, runt, oyster, mussels and clams all live in the North Sea. [ 86 ] recently non-indigenous species have become established including the Pacific oyster and Atlantic jackknife clam. [ 87 ]

Birds [edit ]

The coasts of the North Sea are home to nature reserves including the Ythan Estuary, Fowlsheugh Nature Preserve, and Farne Islands in the UK and the Wadden Sea National Parks in Denmark, Germany and the Netherlands. [ 86 ] These locations provide breeding habitat for dozens of bird species. Tens of millions of birds make use of the North Sea for breeding, feed, or migratory stopovers every class. Populations of black-legged kittiwakes, Atlantic puffins, northern gannets, northern fulmars, and species of petrels, seaducks, loons ( divers ), cormorants, gulls, auk, and terns, and many other seabirds make these coasts popular for birdwatching. [ 86 ] [ 87 ]

Marine mammals [edit ]

The North Sea is besides base to marine mammals. park seals, and harbor porpoises can be found along the coasts, at marine installations, and on islands. The very northerly North Sea islands such as the Shetland Islands are occasionally home to a larger variety show of pinnipeds including bearded, harp, hooded and ringed seals, and even walrus. [ 89 ] North Sea cetaceans include assorted porpoise, dolphin and giant species. [ 87 ] [ 90 ]

Flora [edit ]

Phytoplankton bloom in the North Sea implant species in the North Sea include species of wrack, among them bladder sea wrack, knotted wrack, and serrated wrack. Algae, macroalgal, and kelp, such as oarweed and laminaria hyperboria, and species of maerl are found as good. [ 87 ] Eelgrass, once common in the entirety of the Wadden Sea, was about wiped out in the twentieth hundred by a disease. [ 91 ] similarly, sea grass used to coat huge tracts of ocean floor, but have been damaged by trawling and dredging have diminished its habitat and prevented its revert. [ 92 ] Invasive Japanese seaweed has spread along the shores of the sea clog harbours and inlets and has become a nuisance. [ 93 ]

Biodiversity and conservation [edit ]

due to the heavy human populations and high degree of industrialization along its shores, the wildlife of the North Sea has suffered from pollution, overhunting, and overfishing. Flamingos and pelicans were once found along the southerly shores of the North Sea, but became extinct over the second millennium. [ 94 ] Walruses frequented the Orkney Islands through the mid-16th hundred, as both Sable Island and Orkney Islands lay within their normal range. [ 95 ] Grey whales besides resided in the North Sea but were driven to extinction in the Atlantic in the seventeenth hundred [ 96 ] other species have dramatically declined in population, though they are hush found. North Atlantic right whales, sturgeon, shad, rays, skates, salmon, and other species were common in the North Sea until the twentieth century, when numbers declined ascribable to overfishing. [ 97 ] [ 98 ] other factors like the introduction of non-indigenous species, industrial and agrarian befoulment, trawling and dredge, human-induced eutrophication, construction on coastal breeding and feeding grounds, sand and gravel extraction, offshore construction, and heavy transportation traffic have besides contributed to the decline. [ 87 ] For exercise, a nonmigratory killer whale pod was lost in the 1960s, presumably due to the acme in PCB contamination in this time period. [ 99 ] The OSPAR commission manages the OSPAR convention to counteract the harmful effects of human natural process on wildlife in the North Sea, preserve endangered species, and provide environmental protective covering. [ 100 ] All North Sea molding states are signatories of the MARPOL 73/78 Accords, which preserve the marine environment by preventing befoulment from ships. [ 101 ] Germany, Denmark, and the Netherlands besides have a trilateral agreement for the protection of the Wadden Sea, or mudflats, which run along the coasts of the three countries on the southern edge of the North Sea. [ 102 ]

Names [edit ]

The North Sea has had versatile names through history. One of the earliest recorded names was Septentrionalis Oceanus, or “ Northern Ocean, ” which was cited by Pliny. [ 103 ] The list “ North Sea ” probably came into English, however, via the Dutch “ Noordzee ”, who named it frankincense either in line with the Zuiderzee ( “ South Sea ” ), located confederacy of Frisia, or because the sea is broadly to the north of the Netherlands. Before the borrowing of “ North Sea, ” the names used in English, in american English in particular, were “ german Sea ” or “ german Ocean ”, referred to the Latin names “ Mare Germanicum ” and “ Oceanus Germanicus ”, [ 104 ] and these persisted in use until the First World War. [ 105 ] early common names in use for long periods were the romance terms “ Mare Frisicum ”, [ 106 ] angstrom well as the English equivalent, “ frisian Sea ”. [ 107 ] The modern names of the sea in the early local languages are : danish : Vesterhavet [ ˈvestɐˌhɛˀvð̩ ] ( “ West Sea ” ) or Nordsøen [ ˈnoɐ̯ˌsøˀn̩ ], dutch : Noordzee, Dutch Low Saxon : Noordzee, french : Mer du Nord, West frisian : Noardsee, german : Nordsee, moo german : Noordsee, Northern Frisian : Weestsiie ( “ West Sea ” ), swedish : Nordsjön, norwegian : Nordsjøen [ ˈnûːrˌʂøːn ], Nynorsk : Nordsjøen, Scots : North Sea, and scots Gaelic : An Cuan a Tuath .

• A 1482 diversion of a function from Ptolemy ‘s Geography showing the “ Oceanus Germanicus ”
• Edmond Halley ‘s solar eclipse 1715 function showing The German Sea

history [edit ]

early history [edit ]

North Sea has provided waterway access for department of commerce and conquest. many areas have access to the North Sea because of its farseeing coastline and the european rivers that empty into it. [ 1 ] There is little documentary evidence concerning the North Sea prior to the Roman conquest of Britain in 43 CE, however archaeological testify reveals diffusion of cultures and technologies from across or along the North Sea to Great Britain and Scandinavia and a reliance by some prehistoric cultures on fishing, whale, and seaborne trade wind on the North Sea. The Romans established organize ports in Britain, which increased ship, and began sustained trade wind [ 108 ] and many scandinavian tribes participated in raids and wars against the Romans and Roman neologism and manufactures were important trade goods. When the Romans abandoned Britain in 410, the Germanic Angles, Frisians, Saxons, and Jutes began the next bang-up migration across the North Sea during the Migration Period. They made consecutive invasions of the island from what is now the Netherlands, Denmark, and Germany. [ 109 ] The Viking Age began in 793 with the attack on Lindisfarne ; for the following quarter-millennium the Vikings ruled the North Sea. In their superior longships, they raided, traded, and established colonies and outposts along the coasts of the sea. From the Middle Ages through the fifteenth century, the northern european coastal ports exported domestic goods, dyes, linen, salt, alloy goods and wine. The scandinavian and baltic areas shipped grain, fish, naval necessities, and timbre. In turn the North Sea countries imported high-grade cloths, spices, and fruits from the Mediterranean region. [ 110 ] Commerce during this era was chiefly conducted by maritime deal due to underdeveloped roadways. [ 110 ] In the thirteenth century the Hanseatic League, though centred on the Baltic Sea, started to control most of the trade through important members and outposts on the North Sea. [ 111 ] The League lost its authority in the sixteenth century, as neighbor states took master of erstwhile Hanseatic cities and outposts. Their inner battle prevented effective cooperation and defense. [ 112 ] As the League lost see of its maritime cities, new trade routes emerged that provided Europe with Asian, American, and african goods. [ 113 ] [ 114 ]

Age of voyage [edit ]

The seventeenth century Dutch Golden Age during which Dutch herring, c and whale fisheries reached an all prison term high [ 110 ] saw Dutch power at its zenith. [ 115 ] [ 116 ] Important abroad colonies, a huge merchant marine, knock-down navy and large profits made the Dutch the main challengers to an ambitious England. This competition led to the first three Anglo-Dutch Wars between 1652 and 1673, which ended with dutch victories. [ 116 ] After the glorious Revolution in 1688, the dutch prince William ascended to the English enthrone. With unite leadership, commercial, military, and political power began to shift from Amsterdam to London. [ 117 ] The British did not face a challenge to their authority of the North Sea until the twentieth hundred. [ 118 ]

Modern era [edit ]

Tensions in the North Sea were again heightened in 1904 by the Dogger Bank incident. During the Russo-Japanese War, respective ships of the Russian Baltic Fleet, which was on its way to the Far East, mistook british fishing boats for japanese ships and fired on them, and then upon each other, near the Dogger Bank, about causing Britain to enter the war on the english of Japan. During the First World War, Great Britain ‘s Grand Fleet and Germany ‘s Kaiserliche Marine faced each other in the North Sea, [ 119 ] which became the chief field of the war for surface carry through. [ 119 ] Britain ‘s larger fleet and North Sea Mine Barrage were able to establish an effective blockade for most of the war, which restricted the Central Powers ‘ entree to many all-important resources. [ 120 ] Major battles included the Battle of Heligoland Bight, [ 121 ] the Battle of the Dogger Bank, [ 122 ] and the Battle of Jutland. [ 122 ] World War I besides brought the first extensive practice of submarine war, and a number of submarine actions occurred in the North Sea. [ 123 ] The moment World War besides saw action in the North Sea, [ 124 ] though it was restricted more to aircraft reconnaissance, and natural process by fighter/bomber aircraft, submarines, and smaller vessels such as minesweepers and bomber boats. [ 125 ] In the consequence of the war, hundreds of thousands of tons of chemical weapons were disposed of by being dumped in the North Sea. [ 126 ] After the war, the North Sea lost much of its military significance because it is bordered merely by NATO member-states. however, it gained significant economic importance in the 1960s as the states around the North Sea began all-out exploitation of its oil and natural gas resources. [ 127 ] The North Sea continues to be an active barter road. [ 128 ]

economy [edit ]

political condition [edit ]

Countries that border the North Sea all claim the 12 nautical miles ( 22 kilometer ; 14 mi ) of territorial waters, within which they have exclusive fish rights. [ 129 ] The Common Fisheries Policy of the European Union ( EU ) exists to coordinate fishing rights and assist with disputes between EU states and the EU bound state of Norway. [ 130 ] After the discovery of mineral resources in the North Sea, the Convention on the Continental Shelf established country rights largely divided along the medial pipeline. The median line is defined as the line “ every period of which is equidistant from the nearest points of the baselines from which the width of the territorial sea of each State is measured ”. [ 131 ] The ocean floor frame between Germany, the Netherlands, and Denmark was entirely reapportioned after drawn-out negotiations and a opinion of the International Court of Justice. [ 129 ] [ 132 ]

anoint and gas [edit ]

a early as 1859, oil was discovered in inshore areas around the North Sea and natural gas american samoa early on as 1910. [ 80 ] Onshore resources, for example the K12-B field in the Netherlands continue to be exploited nowadays .
oil platform Statfjord A with the flotel Polymarine offshore test drill began in 1966 and then, in 1969, Phillips Petroleum Company discovered the Ekofisk vegetable oil field [ 133 ] distinguished by valuable, low-sulphur petroleum. [ 134 ] Commercial exploitation began in 1971 with tankers and, after 1975, by a pipeline, inaugural to Teesside, England and then, after 1977, besides to Emden, Germany. [ 135 ] The exploitation of the North Sea oil reserves began just before the 1973 petroleum crisis, and the wax of international anoint prices made the large investments needed for extraction much more attractive. [ 136 ] The begin in 1973 of the oil reserves by UK allowed them to stop the declining position in the external deal in 1974, and a huge increase after the discovery and exploitation of the huge oil battlefield by Phillips group in 1977 as the Brae field. Although the production costs are relatively high, the quality of the oil, the political stability of the region, and the proximity of authoritative markets in western Europe has made the North Sea an important oil-producing region. [ 134 ] The largest single human-centered calamity in the North Sea petroleum diligence was the destruction of the offshore vegetable oil platform Piper Alpha in 1988 in which 167 people lost their lives. [ 137 ] Besides the Ekofisk oil field, the Statfjord petroleum field is besides luminary as it was the induce of the beginning pipeline to span the norwegian trench. [ 138 ] The largest natural gas plain in the North Sea, Troll gas field, lies in the norwegian trench, dropping over 300 metres ( 980 foot ), requiring the construction of the enormous Troll A chopine to access it. The price of Brent Crude, one of the first types of anoint extracted from the North Sea, is used today as a standard price for comparison for petroleum petroleum from the rest of the global. [ 139 ] The North Sea contains westerly Europe ‘s largest oil and natural gas reserves and is one of the global ‘s key non-OPEC producing regions. [ 140 ] In the UK sector of the North Sea, the oil industry invested £14.4 billion in 2013, and was on chase to spend £13 billion in 2014. industry torso Oil & Gas UK put the decline down to rising costs, lower production, high tax rates, and less exploration. [ 141 ] As of January 2018 The North Sea region contains 184 offshore rigs, which makes it the region with the highest number of offshore rigs in the world. [ 142 ]

Fishing [edit ]

The North Sea is Europe ‘s main fishery accounting for over 5 % of international commercial fish caught. [ 1 ] Fishing in the North Sea is concentrated in the southerly part of the coastal waters. The chief method of fish is trawling. [ 143 ] In 1995, the total bulk of fish and mollusk catch in the North Sea was approximately 3.5 million tonnes. [ 144 ] Besides salable fish, it is estimated that one million tonnes of unmarketable by-catch is caught and discarded to die each year. [ 145 ] In late decades, overfishing has left many fisheries unproductive, disturbing marine food range dynamics and costing jobs in the fishing industry. [ 146 ] Herring, c and plaice fisheries may soon face the like betroth as mackerel fish, which ceased in the 1970s due to overfishing. [ 147 ] The objective of the European Union Common Fisheries Policy is to minimize the environmental impact associated with resource use by reducing fish discards, increasing productivity of fisheries, stabilising markets of fisheries and pisces process, and supplying pisces at reasonable prices for the consumer. [ 148 ]

Whaling [edit ]

Whaling was an important economic bodily process from the 9th until the thirteenth century for flemish whalers. [ 149 ] The medieval Flemish, Basque and norwegian whalers who were replaced in the sixteenth hundred by Dutch, English, Danes and Germans, took massive numbers of whales and dolphins and closely depleted the right whales. This action likely led to the extinction of the Atlantic population of the once common grey whale. [ 150 ] By 1902 the whale had ended. [ 149 ] After being absent for 300 years a individual grey giant returned, [ 151 ] it probably was the first of many more to find its way through the nowadays ice-free Northwest passage .

Mineral resources [edit ]

Unpolished amber stones, in varying hues In addition to oil, gas, and pisces, the states along the North Sea besides take millions of cubic metres per class of backbone and gravel from the ocean shock. These are used for beach nutriment, domain reclamation and construction. [ 152 ] Rolled pieces of amber may be picked up on the east coast of England. [ 153 ]

renewable energy [edit ]

due to the solid prevail winds, and shallow body of water, countries on the North Sea, particularly Germany and Denmark, have used the shore for weave world power since the 1990s. [ 154 ] The North Sea is the base of one of the first large-scale offshore wind farms in the world, Horns Rev 1, completed in 2002. Since then many early wind farms have been commissioned in the North Sea ( and elsewhere ). As of 2013 the 630 megawatt ( MW ) London Array is the largest offshore wind farm in the worldly concern, with the 504 ( MW ) Greater Gabbard wind farm the second largest, followed by the 367 MW Walney Wind Farm. All are off the coast of the UK. These projects will be dwarfed by subsequent wind farms that are in the grapevine, including Dogger Bank at 4,800 MW, Norfolk Bank ( 7,200 MW ), and Irish Sea ( 4,200 MW ). At the end of June 2013 sum european combined offshore wind energy capacity was 6,040 MW. UK installed 513.5 MW offshore windpower in the first half-year of 2013. [ 155 ] The expansion of offshore wind farms has met with some immunity. Concerns have included shipping collisions [ 156 ] and environmental effects on ocean ecology and wildlife such as fish and migrant birds, [ 157 ] however, these concerns were found to be negligible in a long-run study in Denmark released in 2006 and again in a united kingdom politics study in 2009. [ 158 ] [ 159 ] There are besides concerns about dependability, [ 160 ] and the rising costs of constructing and maintaining offshore weave farms. [ 161 ] Despite these, development of North Sea wind office is continuing, with plans for extra scent farms off the coasts of Germany, the Netherlands, and the UK. [ 162 ] There have besides been proposals for a multinational power power system in the North Sea [ 163 ] [ 164 ] to connect new offshore fart farms. [ 165 ] Energy production from tidal power is still in a pre-commercial degree. The european Marine Energy Centre has installed a wave testing system at Billia Croo on the Orkney mainland [ 166 ] and a tidal world power testing station on the nearby island of Eday. [ 167 ] Since 2003, a prototype Wave Dragon energy converter has been in mathematical process at Nissum Bredning fjord of northern Denmark. [ 168 ]

tourism [edit ]

The beach in Scheveningen, Netherlands in c. 1900 The beaches and coastal waters of the North Sea are destinations for tourists. The English, Belgian, Dutch, German and Danish coasts [ 169 ] [ 170 ] are developed for tourism. The North Sea slide of the United Kingdom has tourist destinations with beach resorts and links golf courses ; the coastal township of St. Andrews in Scotland is renowned as the “ Home of Golf ”. The North Sea Trail is a long-distance trail linking seven countries around the North Sea. [ 171 ] Windsurfing and sailing [ 172 ] are democratic sports because of the potent winds. Mudflat hike, [ 173 ] recreational fishing and birdwatching [ 170 ] are among other activities. The climatic conditions on the North Sea seashore have been claimed to be healthy. a early as the nineteenth hundred, travellers visited the North Sea seashore for curative and recuperative vacations. The ocean air, temperature, fart, water system, and sunlight are counted among the beneficial conditions that are said to activate the body ‘s defences, improve circulation, strengthen the immune system, and have healing effects on the peel and the respiratory system. [ 174 ] The Wadden Sea in Denmark, Germany and the Netherlands is an UNESCO World Heritage Site .

Marine traffic [edit ]

The North Sea is significant for marine transport and its transportation lanes are among the busiest in the worldly concern. [ 129 ] Major ports are located along its coasts : Rotterdam, the busiest port in Europe and the fourth busiest port in the populace by tonnage as of 2013, Antwerp ( was 16th ) and Hamburg ( was 27th ), Bremen / Bremerhaven and Felixstowe, both in the peak 30 busiest container seaports, [ 175 ] a well as the Port of Bruges-Zeebrugge, Europe ‘s leading ro-ro port. [ 176 ]
Fishing boats, service boats for offshore industries, fun and pleasure craft, and merchant ships to and from North Sea ports and Baltic ports must share routes on the North Sea. The Dover Strait alone sees more than 400 commercial vessels a day. [ 177 ] Because of this volume, navigation in the North Sea can be difficult in high traffic zones, sol ports have established elaborate vessel dealings services to monitor and direct ships into and out of port. [ 178 ] The North Sea coasts are home to numerous canals and canal systems to facilitate traffic between and among rivers, artificial harbor, and the sea. The Kiel Canal, connecting the North Sea with the Baltic Sea, is the most heavily used artificial seaway in the world reporting an average of 89 ships per day not including sporting boats and early small vessel in 2009. [ 179 ] It saves an average of 250 nautical miles ( 460 kilometer ; 290 mile ), rather of the voyage around the Jutland peninsula. [ 180 ] The North Sea Canal connects Amsterdam with the North Sea .

See besides [edit ]

Citations [edit ]

Genereal references [edit ]

• “North Sea Facts”. Royal Belgian Institute of Natural Sciences. Management Unit of North Sea Mathematical Models. Archived from the original on 2 June 2008 .

far interpretation [edit ]

• Ilyina, Tatjana P. (2007). The fate of persistent organic pollutants in the North Sea multiple year model simulations of [gamma]-HCH, [alpha]-HCH and PCB 153Tatjana P Ilyina;. Berlin; New York: Springer. ISBN 978-3-540-68163-2.
• Karlsdóttir, Hrefna M. (2005). Fishing on common grounds: the consequences of unregulated fisheries of North Sea Herring in the postwar period. Göteborg: Ekonomisk-Historiska Inst., Göteborg Univ. ISBN 978-91-85196-62-3.
• Quante, Markus; Franciscus Colijn (2016). North Sea Region Climate Change Assessment. Regional Climate Studies. Springer. doi:10.1007/978-3-319-39745-0. ISBN 978-3-319-39745-0. S2CID 132967560. Open Access.
• Starkey, David J.; Morten Hahn-Pedersen (2005). Bridging troubled waters: Conflict and co-operation in the North Sea Region since 1550. Esbjerg [Denmark]: Fiskeri-og Søfartsmuseets. ISBN 978-87-90982-30-0.
• Thoen, Erik, ed. (2007). Rural history in the North Sea area: a state of the art (Middle Ages – beginning 20th century). Turnhout: Brepols. ISBN 978-2-503-51005-7.
• Tiedeke, Thorsten; Werner Weiler (2007). North Sea coast: landscape panoramas. Nelson: NZ Visitor; Lancaster: Gazelle Drake Academic. ISBN 978-1-877339-65-3.
• Waddington, Clive; Pedersen, Kristian (2007). Mesolithic studies in the North Sea Basin and beyond: proceedings of a conference held at Newcastle in 2003. Oxford: Oxbow Books. ISBN 978-1-84217-224-7.
• Zeelenberg, Sjoerd (2005). Offshore wind energy in the North Sea Region: the state of affairs of offshore wind energy projects, national policies and economic, environmental and technological conditions in Denmark, Germany, The Netherlands, Belgium and the United Kingdom. Groningen: University of Groningen. OCLC 71640714.