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Baltic Sea

Baltic Sea
Map of the Baltic Sea.
Map of the Baltic Sea.
Area 450 000 km 2
Depth 459 m (max.)
56 m (avg.)
Type Wed intracontinental , inland sea
Location Atlantic Ocean
Contact 58 30 'N 19 48' E / 58.5, 19.8 58 30 'N 19 48' E / 58.5, 19.8
Coastal state (s) Flag: Germany Germany
Flag: Denmark Denmark
Flag: Estonia Estonia
Flag: Finland Finland
Flag: Latvia Latvia
Flag: Lithuania Lithuania
Flag: Poland Poland
Flag: Russia Russia
Flag: Sweden Sweden
Subdivision (s) Gulf of Finland , Gulf of Riga , Gulf of Bothnia , land Sea , Bothnian Sea , Kvarken , Bay of Bothnia

Geolocation on the map: Europe

(See location on map: Europe)
Baltic Sea
change Consult the documentation of the model

The Baltic or Baltic Sea is a Wed intracontinental and interior 432 800 km located in northern Europe , and connected to the Atlantic Ocean by the North Sea.
It communicates to the south-west with the North Sea by the Kattegat and Skagerrak.
Two major gulfs incorporate that area: the Gulf of Bothnia in the north and the Gulf of Finland to the east.

The countries bordering the Baltic Sea are home to nearly 100 million people and are:

These countries and the sea that unites or separates the subject since 2009, a "strategy of the European Commission for development of the Baltic Sea Region Geography

Formerly proglacial lake, of fresh water , and thus independent of the global ocean at the time, the Baltic Sea becomes a sea where the glaciers that oppressed the reliefs surrounding withdrew and allowed the elevation of the land around ( by a phenomenon of isostasy, which is to say that the land long oppressed are raised in a lever action when nothing oppresses them). Then created the two Belts (Great Belt and Little Belt). Baltic joined the global ocean, and became salty. But everything is now under water was not at the time, and remains today a glacial landscape simply covered with a fairly thin film of water, the Baltic Sea is not a ultra-deep water. This phenomenon of isostasy (which could increase with the melting of polar ice) also causes the appearance of local "gardens of rocks" or Skjaargaard. These are tiny islands or small islands that appear over time, also with the appearance of real islands. In 130 years, 130 new islands have appeared, for example off the city of Vaasa (Finland). These emergences pose navigation problems. The Baltic Sea consists of large basins (basin of the Bothnian Sea , north of the islands of land in particular) interconnected by thresholds of shoals , and islands (islands of Denmark and land ). Its maximum depth is 459 m in the pit West Gotland, off the island of Gotland and near the coast of Latvia.

Its area is 450 000 km , and this by counting the Kattegat.

Waters

Main article: seawater.

The average depth of the Baltic Sea is 55 meters. The tide is very low (about 30 centimeters) and sometimes masked by climatic oscillations ( seiches hydrodynamics , storm surges).

The Baltic Sea is a little salty (10 per thousand as against 35 per thousand in the rest of the seas). Indeed, inflows of freshwater from rivers are very important at the time of snowmelt and natural evaporation is equal to or only slightly higher than direct precipitation. The annual variation of salinity is the negative of river regimes. In other words, during the low water level of rivers in February, the salinity of the sea is up, so it is minimal when the rivers have a high flow in May, snowmelt. In general, the waters of eastern and surface are more weakly saline (Danish straits: 10 , Gulf of Bothnia: 5 ).

The amplitude of thermal waters is important in summer 16 C in the South, 12 C in the Gulf of Bothnia, in winter the ice covers the bottom of the Gulfs of Bothnia and Finland, and many coasts, overall all that lies north of the island of Gotland off the coast of Stockholm.

The dynamic marine

Currents suffer greatly the effects of wind. In general, they follow a sinistral motion (opposite movement clockwise). The current along the peninsula Scandinavian fate of the Baltic to the North Sea. It is a slightly salty surface current. It reaches its maximum in spring. A bevel saltier from the North Sea while diving in the Baltic creating a deeper current running along the southern coasts.

Thresholds slow water renewal and realignment of funds. Indeed, it takes nearly thirty years for the total renewal of water. Living things (plants and animals, including plankton ) either do not communicate much with other seas. These thresholds favor, for much of the year, the slowdown of thermohaline circulation. The impoverishment of fauna and flora of the sea can be explained by the stability but also by its salinity (some species do not tolerate salt and absolutely can not live there, while other species that live in salt water can not live there either). There are in fact less than a hundred species in the Baltic Sea (84 approx) against more than 1,500 in the rest of the world's waters. The absence of waves and currents facilitates the filling of cups, in fact, below 10 to 20 meters fine particles clump together and accumulate in muddy depressions.

History and Environment

Prehistory

The Baltic Sea is the youngest of the planet. His birth is associated with the melting of ice sheets in Scandinavia, there are 15 000 to 8000 years. Protected from oceanic influences, it undergoes strong thermal variations. In winter, the Gulfs of Bothnia and Riga are frozen in ice. In summer the water temperature is around 15 C.

The Baltic Sea is mentioned there are nearly 2000 years in the Germania of Tacitus , who called Mare Suebicum. He sees the sea as part of the ocean surrounding the world.

Even then, trade routes are open especially for the trade of amber found in quantity on the Baltic coast and is sold throughout the Roman Empire. The furs and skins are also export commodities. The Roman Empire exported objects in ceramics , the wine and the oil using the same trade routes.

The time of the Hanse

The Baltic Sea plays during the Middle Ages , a key role as a transportation route and trade in Europe. Cities located in the vicinity of the Baltic unite in an alliance, the Hanse , and accumulate enormous wealth. The most important Hanseatic cities of the Baltic Sea are Lubeck , Wismar , Rostock , Stralsund , Greifswald , Stettin , Danzig , Knigsberg , Memel , Riga , Reval and Novgorod.

Modern Era

During the Thirty Years War , Sweden is trying to expand on the other shore of the Baltic. Following this conflict Sweden wins territories on the southern shore of the Baltic Sea that will long be his property (see the article on the Swedish Pomerania ).

Russia succeeds it, get access to the Baltic during the northern war. Peter the Great had built St. Petersburg , which he sees as a "gateway to the world" for Russia.

Twentieth Century: Finding of increasing pollution

The Russian battleship Slawa , hit by German guns will be scuttled and sink October 18, 1917. For 80 to 90 years it will attract marine organisms, forming an artificial underwater reef, before the loaded ammunition begin to corrode and contaminate the environment.

The Baltic Sea is almost closed, thus very sensitive to pollution. It was a major battlefield during the First World War and during the Second World War , both of which have left scars serious environmental and historical. Not only many ships have sunk with their toxic loads of ammunition , but after these two wars, hundreds of thousands of tons of shells and conventional chemical collected in Europe have been submerged. In peacetime, it was a destination for summer training for schools vessels , including Germany as the former sailboat Grossherzogin Elizabeth (now French), for example.

Then what are agriculture and heavy industry developed by the Eastern bloc that pollute the Baltic Sea. Thus, the coastal rivers of the Baltic States - came under Soviet control after World War II - a lead pollution considerably, including radioactive, before the cloud of Chernobyl will fly over and contaminate the area. Many livers and kidneys of fish and marine mammals exceed the levels deemed acceptable for several heavy metals, and there are many organic pollutants in their flesh. The Baltic has a dead zone among the largest in the world, which was formed in less than ten years in the region of the Skagerrak.

Struggle for the restoration of the Baltic

A commission " HELCOM "manages the Helsinki Convention signed in 1974 and in force since 1980 , the Protection of the Marine Environment of the Baltic Sea area, linking the Baltic states for this purpose. Its mission is equivalent to that of the OSPAR Commission which deals with her in the North East. These two committees work included evaluating the magnitude of problems posed by unexploded ordnance dumped.

The Helsinki Convention has been updated in 1992 but has been in effect since 2000. The Helsinki Commission (HELCOM) remains the chief executive. It brings together nine countries (Germany, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland and Sweden and the EU).

The WWF International in February 2005 was alerted to the fact that most Baltic fish were so contaminated that they would not normally be filled be sold on the European market , . In late August 2008, WWF welcomes Lithuania and Latvia for the fight against the illegal fishing of cod , but cautioned that the actions of the nine Baltic governments have however not sufficient: neither the Helsinki Convention 1974 on the protection of the marine environment of the area of the sea or the action plan of 2007 to reduce pollution have achieved their objectives.

There would even Baltic seven of the ten dead zones the largest in the world. An explosion of algae ( eutrophication ) in summer 2008 further worsened the situation. WWF produced a report evaluating the performance of countries according to six criteria, biodiversity, fish, hazardous substances, maritime transport, eutrophication (excessive nitrogen and phosphorus in particular), and development of an integrated management of use of the sea, Germany and Denmark are the best but still with a score average, while Poland and Russia are ranked in last place.

The action plan for the Baltic in November 2007 is the return of a good ecological status of the marine environment by 2021. It includes regional and national actions and measures that can be taken at EU level (fishing, agriculture, chemical control) or even worldwide (shipping).

Sweden and Finland have decided bilaterally on 19 May 2009 to create a new international fund to improve the environment in the Baltic Sea , open to all riparian countries to implement the commitments of the Action Plan for Baltic Sea in November (HELCOM, 2007). It will finance project upstream, for example dephosphorization urban and agricultural effluents. 50 million Swedish kronor (SEK) are planned for 2009.

The European Commission is June 10, 2009 proposing a strategy for the Baltic Sea region, encouraging Member States, regions, financial institutions and governmental and non governmental organizations to implement a development more sustainable in this area.

Countries bordering

Main article: Baltic Sea countries.

Countries bordering the Baltic Sea are (in alphabetical order):

These nine countries, plus Norway and the European Union, came together in the Council of Baltic Sea States.

Coastal Cities

The local population is 85 million inhabitants.

The most important coastal cities by population:

The port of Kaliningrad

Subdivisions

Islands

Rivers tributary

Among the rivers flowing into the Baltic Sea, are (in the sense of clockwise from ' resund ):

The river Niemen at Merkine (Lithuania)
The mouth of the Trave in Lbeck-Travemnde (Germany)

References


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