Coordinates: 59°30′N 23°00′E / 59.5°N 23°E / 59.5; 23
The Baltic Sea is a brackish inland sea located in Northern Europe, from 53°N to 66°N latitude and from 20°E to 26°E longitude. It is bounded by the Scandinavian Peninsula, the mainland of Europe, and the Danish islands. It drains into the Kattegat by way of the Øresund, the Great Belt and the Little Belt. The Kattegat continues through Skagerrak into the North Sea and the Atlantic Ocean. The Baltic Sea is connected by man-made waterways to the White Sea via the White Sea Canal, and to the North Sea via the Kiel Canal. The Baltic Sea might be considered to be bordered on its northern edge by the Gulf of Bothnia, on its northeastern edge by the Gulf of Finland, and on its eastern edge by the Gulf of Riga. However, the various gulfs can be considered to be simply offshoots of the Baltic Sea, and actually parts of it.
Geophysical data
The Baltic Sea is a brackish inland sea, allegedly the largest body of brackish water in the world (other possibilities include the Black Sea and Hudson Bay). The Baltic Sea occupies a basin formed by glacial erosion during the last few Ice Ages.
Dimensions
The Baltic sea is about 1600 km (1000 mi) long, an average of 193 km (120 mi) wide, and an average of 55 m (180 ft, 30 fathoms) deep. The maximum depth is 459 m (1506 ft), on the Swedish side of the center. The surface area is about 377,000 km² (145,522 sq mi) and the volume is about 20,000 km³ (5040 cubic miles). The periphery amounts to about 8000 km (4968 mi) of coastline.
Etymology
While Tacitus called it Mare Suebicum after the Germanic people of the Suebi, the first to name it also as the Baltic Sea ( Mare Balticum ) was eleventh century German chronicler Adam of Bremen. The origin of the latter name is speculative. It might be connected to the Germanic word belt , a name used for two of the Danish straits, the Belts, while others claim it to be derived from Latin balteus (belt). However it should be noted that the name of the Belts might be connected to Danish bælte , which also means belt. Furthermore Adam of Bremen himself compared the Sea with a belt stating that the Sea is named so because it stretches through the land as a belt ( Balticus, eo quod in modum baltei longo tractu per Scithicas regiones tendatur usque in Greciam ). He might also have been influenced by name of legendary island mentioned in The Natural History by Pliny the Elder. Pliny mentions an island named Baltia (or Balcia ) with reference to accounts of Pytheas and Xenophon. It is possible that Pliny refers to island named Basilia ("kingdom" or "royal") in On the Ocean by Pytheas. Baltia also might be derived from "belt" and means "near belt of sea (strait)". Meanwhile others have concluded that the name of the island originates from the Indo-European root * bhel meaning white, fair . Yet another explanation is that, while derived from the afore mentioned root, the name of the sea is related to naming for various forms of water and related substances in several European languages, that might have been originally associated colors found in swamps. Another explanation is that the name was related to swamp and originally meant "enclosed sea, bay" as opposed to open sea.
In the Middle Ages the sea was known by variety of names, the name Baltic Sea started to dominate only after 16th century. Usage of Baltic and similar terms to denote the region east from the sea started only in 19th century.
Name in other languages
The Baltic Sea, in ancient sources known as Mare Suebicum (also known as Mare Germanicum), is also known by the equivalents of "East Sea", "West Sea", or "Baltic Sea" in different languages:
- In Germanic languages , except English, East Sea is used: Afrikaans ( Oossee ), Danish ( Østersøen ), Dutch ( Oostzee ), German ( Ostsee ), Icelandic and Faroese ( Eystrasalt ), Norwegian ( Østersjøen ), and Swedish ( Östersjön ). In Old English it was known as Ostsæ .
- In addition, Finnish, a Baltic-Finnic language , has calqued the Swedish term as Itämeri "East Sea", disregarding the geography (the sea is west of Finland), though understandably since Finns were under Swedish rule from Middle Ages until 1809.
- In another Baltic-Finnic language, Estonian, it is called the West Sea ( Läänemeri ), with the correct geography (the sea is west of Estonia).
- Baltic Sea is used in English ; in the Baltic languages Latvian ( Baltijas jūra ) and Lithuanian ( Baltijos jūra ); in Latin ( Mare Balticum ) and the Romance languages French ( Mer Baltique ), Italian ( Mar Baltico ), Portuguese ( Mar Báltico ), Romanian ( Marea Baltică ) and Spanish ( Mar Báltico ); in Greek ( Βαλτική Θάλασσα ); in the Slavic languages Polish ( Morze Bałtyckie or Bałtyk ), Czech ( Baltské moře ), Croatian ( Baltičko more ), Slovenian ( Baltsko morje ), Bulgarian ( Baltijsko More ( Балтийско море )), Kashubian ( Bôłt ), Ukrainian ( Балтійське море ("Baltijs'ke More")) and Russian ( Baltiyskoye Morye ( Балтийское море )); and also in the Hungarian language ( Balti-tenger ).
Sea ice
On the long-term average, the Baltic Sea is ice covered for about 45% of its surface area at the maximum annually. The ice-covered area during such a typical winter includes the Gulf of Bothnia, the Gulf of Finland, Gulf of Riga, Väinameri in the Estonian archipelago, the Stockholm archipelago and the Archipelago Sea. The remainder of the Baltic itself does not freeze during a normal winter, with the exception of sheltered bays and shallow lagoons such as the Curonian Lagoon. The ice reaches its maximum extent in February or March; typical ice thickness in the northernmost areas in the Bothnian Bay, the northern basin of the Gulf of Bothnia, is about 70 cm for landfast sea ice. The thickness decreases farther south.
Freezing begins in the northern coast of Gulf of Bothnia typically in middle of November, reaching the open waters of Bothnian Bay in early January. The Bothnian Sea, the basin south of it, freezes on average in late February. The Gulf of Finland and the Gulf of Riga freeze typically in late January.
The ice extent depends on whether the winter is mild, moderate or severe. Severe winters can lead to ice formation around Denmark and southern Sweden. According to William Derham during the severe winters of 1703 and 1708 the ice cover permeated as far as the Danish straits, parts of the Bay of Bothnia and Gulf of Finland, in addition to coastal fringes in more southerly locations such as the Gulf of Riga. In recent years a typical winter produces only ice in the northern and eastern extremities of the Sea. In 2007 there was almost no ice formation except for a short period in March.
In spring, the Gulf of Finland and of Bothnia normally thaw during late April, with some ice ridges persisting until May in the eastern Gulf of Finland. In the northernmost reaches of the Bothnian Bay ice usually stays until late May; by early June it is practically always gone.
During winter, fast ice, which is attached to the shoreline, develops first, rendering the ports unusable without the services of icebreakers. Level ice, ice sludge, pancake ice or rafter ice form in the more open regions. The gleaming expanse of ice is similar to the Arctic, with wind-driven pack ice and ridges up to 15 m, and was noted by the ancients. Offshore of the landfast ice the ice remains very dynamic all year, because of its thickness it is relatively easily moved around by winds and therefore makes up large ridges and piles up against the landfast ice and shores.
The ice cover is the main habitat only for a few larger species. The largest of them are the seals that both feed and breed on the ice, although the sea ice also harbors several species of algae that live in the bottom and inside brine pockets in the ice.
Hydrography
The Baltic Sea flows out through the Danish straits; however, the flow is complex. A surface layer of brackish water discharges 940 km³ per year into the North Sea. Due to the difference in salinity, a sub-surface layer of more saline water moving in the opposite direction brings in 475 km³ per year. It mixes very slowly with the upper waters, resulting in a salinity gradient from top to bottom, with most of the salt water remaining below 40 to 70 m
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