In spring, the Gulf of Finland and the Gulf of Bothnia normally thaw in late April, with some ice ridges persisting until May in the eastern extremities of the Gulf of Finland. It is then cut into by the estuaries of the Vistula, the Pregel and the Memel. It is connected with the North Sea by the Øresund (the Sound), the Store Baelt, the Lille Baelt, the Kattegat, and the Skagerrak. Entry for 'Baltic Sea'. The Baltic Sea was known in ancient Latin language sources as Mare Suebicum or even Mare Germanicum. The bank-water of 32 to 34 pro male salinity is found all along the continental coast of the North Sea and North Atlantic, and it may therefore enter the Skagerrak either from the North Sea or from the north along the coast of Norway. In recent decades they have become less frequent. Protect the Baltic Sea while it's still not too late. The highest was the flood of 1872 when the water was an average of 2.43 m (8 ft 0 in) above sea level at Warnemünde and a maximum of 2.83 m (9 ft 3 in) above sea level in Warnemünde. [17] Until now, the U.S. Government refuses to disclose the exact coordinates of the wreck sites. After ratification, the Convention entered into force on 17 January 2000. Edited by Lindsey Hughes, 105–117. Warner, Richard. The surface area is about 349,644 km2 (134,998 sq mi) [22] and the volume is about 20,000 km3 (4,800 cu mi). [37] Only two other brackish waters are larger according to some measurements: The Black Sea is larger in both surface area and water volume, but most of it is located outside the continental shelf (only a small percentage is inland). The Kattegat is bounded on the north by the Skagerrak, a deep inlet of the North Sea that separates southern Norway from northern Jutland. 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 (28 in) for landfast sea ice. This channel is usually included in the Baltic. Around 22 million live in population centers of over 250,000. (0.46 ft.) at Swinemunde, the maximum occurring at the end of the summer rainy period in August. The Baltic Sea is a mediterranean (intracontinental) sea of the Atlantic Ocean; it extends deeply into the European continent. Among marine fishes are Atlantic cod, Atlantic herring, European hake, European plaice, European flounder, shorthorn sculpin and turbot, and examples of freshwater species include European perch, northern pike, whitefish and common roach. These strata are practically stagnant, deficient in oxygen and surcharged with carbonic acid. The White Sea–Baltic Canal (Russian: Беломо́рско-Балти́йский кана́л, Byelomorsko-Baltiyskiy kanal, BBK), often abbreviated to White Sea Canal (Belomorkanal) is a ship canal in Russia opened on Wednesday 2 August 1933. Freezing begins in the northern extremities of the Gulf of Bothnia typically in the middle of November, reaching the open waters of the Bothnian Bay in early January. The Baltic is connected with North Sea by the winding channel between the south of Scandinavia and the Cimbrian peninsula. The ice-covered area during such a typical winter includes the Gulf of Bothnia, the Gulf of Finland, the Gulf of Riga, the archipelago west of Estonia, the Stockholm archipelago, and the Archipelago Sea southwest of Finland. The flow of freshwater into the sea from approximately two hundred rivers and the introduction of salt from the southwest builds up a gradient of salinity in the Baltic Sea. The 1974 Convention entered into force on 3 May 1980. It is a large port on the Baltic Sea, and has many ferry connections between North Germany and Scandanavia. Freshwater species may occur at outflows of rivers or streams in all coastal sections of the Baltic Sea. Usage of Baltic and similar terms to denote the region east of the sea started only in the 19th century. The Baltic Sea flows out through the Danish straits; however, the flow is complex. Since 1980 it has been much less frequent, although a very large inflow occurred in 2014.[27]. [53] Several widespread marine species have distinctive subpopulations in the Baltic Sea adapted to the low salinity, such as the Baltic Sea forms of the Atlantic herring and lumpsucker, which are smaller than the widespread forms in the North Atlantic.[40]. Drift ice was also observed on 11 May 1799.[33][34][35]. There are several cargo and passenger ferries that operate on the Baltic Sea, such as Scandlines, Silja Line, Polferries, the Viking Line, Tallink, and Superfast Ferries. “Spatial Politics and Fuzzy Regionalism: The Case of the Baltic Sea Area.”, "Status of Biodiversity in the Baltic Sea", The Baltic Sea, Kattegat and Skagerrak – sea areas and draining basins, poster with integral information by the Swedish Meteorological and Hydrological Institute. Destructive waves, probably caused by distant earthquakes, called Seebciren (cf. The part of it west of a line joining the Skaw with Christiania fjord receives the name of Skagerrak; the part east of this line is called the Kattegat. 3. The Western and Eastern Gotland basins form the major parts of the Central Baltic Sea or Baltic proper. The Gulf of Finland and the Gulf of Riga freeze typically in late January. [68], Other notable megafauna include the basking sharks. [39] The difference between the bottom and surface salinities vary depending on location. That the Baltic Stream must be a surface current, because it originates from a redundancy of fresh water. Another form of the name, "Grandvik", attested in at least one English translation of Gesta Danorum, is likely to be a misspelling. Along the Swedish coast a deep channel runs northward from outside the island of Oland; this is entirely cut off to the south and east by a bank which sweeps eastward and northward from near Karlskrona, and on which the island of Gotland stands, but it communicates at its northern end with the Gotland deep, and near the junction opposite Landsort is the deepest hole in the Baltic (420 metres = 2 3 o fathoms). The Bornholm Basin is the area east of Bornholm, and the shallower Arkona Basin extends from Bornholm to the Danish isles of Falster and Zealand. Flows out through the southern shore can be found at the annual maximum for about 45 % of its area... 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