The Arctic Ocean is considered the smallest and coldest water object on the planet Earth, and it was not for nothing that in Ancient Russia it was called the “Sea of Ice”.
Seas included in the North BasinThe Arctic Ocean, namely: Kara, White, East Siberian, Barents, Laptev, Chukotka - became known as the "northern". All of the above natural objects, with the exception of the White Sea, are marginal, they are separated from each other by a chain of islands, including Severnaya Zemlya, Novaya Zemlya, Franz Josef Land and others. All the northern seas are considered shallow because they are located on the continental shelf. Only the northern territory of the Laptev Sea is located on the outskirts of the deep-water basin, called the Nansen. The sea bottom at this point decreases to 3385 meters, as a result its average depth is 533 meters, therefore this natural object, once discovered by the Laptev brothers, is considered the deepest of the northern seas. The Barents Sea occupies the second place in terms of the degree of deep water, the average indicator of the above parameter is 222 meters, and the maximum - 600 meters. The Chukchi Sea is considered the shallowest natural objects, its average depth is 71 meters, and the East Siberian Sea is 54 meters.
Remarkable is the fact that the ice in these seas lasts for all 12 months. A large area of the Arctic Ocean is “shrouded” with ice all year round.
Incredible cold, which "exude" the northernthe sea, ice cover and the polar night interfere with the normal development of zoo and phytoplankton, with the result that the level of biological productivity here is low. The “arsenal” of organisms living here is not rich in wealth. In harsh conditions, the most resistant to low temperatures survive.
At the same time, the fish of the northern seas differs in abundance andbiodiversity: grouper, halibut, haddock, herring, salmon, nelma. Among commercial fish, muksun, whitefish, omul, and also representatives of the smelt family are of particular value.
But there is a water body, which is not just conditionalcalled "northern", but also has a similar official name. If you go around the Scandinavian peninsula from the northern part towards the south, you will certainly fall into the North Sea, which is the only water object of the Atlantic that connects with European countries. Some call it the "German" sea.
The water area of the North Sea covers 544,000 sq. Km.Its depth is on average 96 m, but in some places, for example in the Norwegian Trench, reaches 809 m. The North Sea is washed by the Scandinavian Peninsula, the coast of the Orkneys and Shetlen Islands, and the shores of Europe. Waterways connect it with the Norwegian and Baltic seas, the ocean. The North Sea washes the territory of Norway, Denmark, the Netherlands, Belgium, France.
Major European rivers flow into it: the Elbe, the Rhine, the Thames, the Scheldt, the Weser.
The flora of the sea has about three hundred species of plants. This phytoplankton, sea grass, red, brown, green algae. Favorable temperature contributes to their rapid growth.
The fauna is represented by one and a half thousand species of animals: mollusks, intestinal cavities, fish. There are also mammals, including belugas, dolphins, killer whales, whales.
The wealth of the deep sea became the basisindustrial fishing in all countries overlooking the North Sea. Herring, flounder, mackerel, sprats and other fish are harvested here. In the North Sea, you can find different types of sharks: Atlantic, Feline, Katran, Hammerhead, Blue, Polar.
The bottom of the sea is mostly plain, graduallydeepening with distance from the coast. In the bottom relief there are shallows (Goodmin-Sand, Dogger) located off the coast of Great Britain. In the south there are ridges of sand and gravel, washed in by tides. One of the deepest places is the Norwegian Trench, the depression has an average depth of 350 m. The bottom soil consists mainly of silt and sand.
The North Sea does not freeze, as the warm North Atlantic Current enters from the Norwegian Sea. The water warms up to twenty degrees in summer, and in winter it is never colder than two degrees of heat.
Seawater flow has a cyclonicdirection (counterclockwise), its speed is small: about half a meter per second. The currents are influenced by winds, mostly westerly, which create a temperate climate in the sea area. There are frequent storms and fogs, which complicates shipping. The height of the tides in the UK reaches seven meters, in Scandinavia - one meter.
The bottom of the sea is rich in natural resources - oil and gas. Their development is carried out off the coast of Norway and Scotland.
