Everything about The North Sea totally explained
The
North Sea is a
marginal,
epeiric sea of the
Atlantic Ocean on the European
continental shelf. It is more than long and wide, with an area of around . A large part of the European
drainage basin empties into the North Sea including water from the
Baltic Sea. The North Sea connects with the rest of the Atlantic through the
Dover Strait and the
English Channel in the south and through the
Norwegian Sea in the north.
The North Sea averages about 100 m (325 ft) deep, with a maximum depth of 700 m (2300 ft) and in some areas shallows can be a mere 15 m deep. The North Sea lies above what used to be the triple junction between three continental tectonic plates in the early
Paleozoic Era. Movement on the
faults associated with these tectonic phenomena can still cause
earthquakes and small
tsunamis. The sea's coastal features are the result of
glacial movements rather than
tectonics. Deep
fjords and sheer cliffs mark the coastline of the northern part of the North Sea, whereas the southern coasts consist of sandy beaches and
mudflats. These flatter areas are particularly susceptible to flooding, especially as a result of
storm tides. Elaborate systems of
dikes have been constructed to protect coastal areas.
The development of European civilization has been heavily affected by the maritime traffic on the North Sea. The
Romans and the
Vikings sought to extend their territory across the sea. Both the
Hanseatic League and the
Netherlands sought to dominate commerce on the North Sea and through it to access the markets of the world. Britain's development as a sea power depended heavily upon its dominance in the North Sea, where some of its rivals sought power, first the Netherlands and finally Germany and to a lesser extent Russia and the Scandinavian nations. Commercial enterprises, growing populations, and limited resources gave the nations on the North Sea the desire to control or access the North Sea for their own commercial, military, and colonial ends.
Its importance has turned from the military to the economic. Traditional economic activities, such as fishing and shipping, have continued to grow and other resources, such as fossil fuels and wind energy, have been discovered and developed.
Naming
The name of the North Sea originates from its relationship to the land of the
Frisians. Frisia lies directly to the south of the
North Sea, to the west of the
East Sea (
Oostzee, the Baltic Sea), to the north of the former
South Sea (
Zuiderzee, today's
IJsselmeer) and the today-
reclaimed Middle Sea (
Middelzee). The name “North Sea” is attested in Middle High German and probably harks back to the name given by the Frisians, who settled on its south coast. Even the early Spanish name was
Mar del Norte.
From the point of view of the German
Hanseatic towns of the
Middle Ages, the sea to the east was the “East Sea” (Baltic Sea in German is literally the
Ostsee), and the sea to the north, the North Sea. The spread of maps used by Hanseatic merchants popularized this name throughout Europe. Other common names in use for long periods were
Mare Frisia, and
Mare Frisicum,
Oceanum- or
Mare Germanicum as well as their English equivalents, Frisian Sea and German Ocean or Sea.
"German Sea" or "Germanic Sea" (from the Latin
Mare Germanicum) was commonly used in
English and other languages along with "North Sea", until the early eighteenth century. By the late nineteenth century, both "German-" and "Germanic Sea" were rare, scholarly usages.
History
Early history
The first records of marine traffic on the North Sea come from the
Roman Empire, which began exploring the sea in 12 BC. Great Britain was formally invaded in 43 AD and its southern areas incorporated into the Empire, beginning sustained trade across the North Sea and the English Channel. The Romans abandoned Britain in 410 and in the power vacuum they left, the Germanic
Angles,
Saxons, and
Jutes began the next great migration across the North Sea during the
Migration Period, conquering and displacing the native
Celtic populations.
The
Viking Age began in 793 with the attack on
Lindisfarne and for the next quarter-millennium the Vikings ruled the North Sea. In their superior
longships, they raided, traded, and established colonies and outposts on the Sea's coasts.
As Viking dominance waned, trade on the North Sea came to be controlled by the
Hanseatic League. The League, though centred on the
Baltic Sea, had important outposts on the North Sea. Goods from all over the world flowed through the North Sea on their way to and from the Hanseatic cities.
By 1441, the Netherlands had risen as an economic and shipping power to rival the League. By the 16th Century, the Netherlands were the leading economic power. The North Sea was a hotbed of commerce and shipping connecting far-flung colonies with markets all over Europe.
Early modern history
Dutch power during her
Golden Age was a concern for growing England, which saw its future in the merchant marine and overseas colonies. This conflict was at the root of the first three
Anglo-Dutch Wars between 1652 and 1673. By the end of the
War of Spanish Succession in 1714, the Dutch were no longer a major player in European politics.
Britain's naval supremacy faced its only real challenge before the 20th Century from
Napoleonic France and her continental allies. In 1800, a union of lesser naval powers, called the
League of Armed Neutrality, formed to protect neutral trade during Britain's conflict with France. The British Navy defeated the combined forces of the
League of Armed Neutrality in the
Battle of Copenhagen in 1801 in the Kattegat. Britain later defeated the French Navy in the
Battle of Trafalgar off the coast of
Spain.
20th Century
Tensions in the North Sea were again heightened in 1904 by the
Dogger Bank incident, in which Russian naval vessels mistook British fishing boats for Japanese ships and fired on them, and then upon each other. The incident, combined with Britain's
alliance with Japan and the
Russo-Japanese War led to an intense diplomatic crisis. The crisis was defused when Russia was defeated by the Japanese and agreed to pay compensation to the fishermen.
During the
First World War, Great Britain's
Grand Fleet and Germany's
Kaiserliche Marine faced each other on the North Sea, which became the main
theatre of the war for surface action. Britain's larger fleet was able to establish an effective blockade for most of the war that restricted the
Central Powers' access to many crucial resources. Major battles included the
Battle of Heligoland Bight, the
Battle of the Dogger Bank, the
Battle of Jutland, and the
Second Battle of Heligoland Bight. Britain, though not always tactically successful, maintained the blockade and thus kept the
High Seas Fleet in port. Conversely, the German navy remained a threat that kept the vast majority of Britain's
capital ships in the North Sea.
The
Second World War also saw action in the North Sea, though it was restricted more to submarines and smaller vessels such as
minesweepers, and
Fast Attack Craft.
On
April 9,
1940, the Germans initiated
Operation Weserübung in which almost the entire German fleet was focused north toward Scandinavia in the North Sea as well as in the Skagerrak and Kattegat. Throughout the German occupation of Norway, the
Shetland Bus operation ran secretly across the North Sea from Great Britain to Norway. First, Norwegian fishing boats were used, and then three 100 foot (30 m)
submarine chasers. (see also:
HNoMS Hitra).
In the last years of the war and the first years thereafter, huge volumes of weapons were disposed-of by being sunk in the North Sea. These comprised mainly
grenades,
land mines,
naval mines,
bazookas,
cartridges, and some
chemical weapons. Though estimates vary widely, hundreds of thousand tons of munitions were sunk.
After the war, the North Sea lost much of its military significance because it's bordered only by
NATO member-states. The North Sea gained significant economic meaning in the 1960s as the states on the North Sea began to exploit its oil and gas resources.
Political status
The countries bordering the North Sea all claim the twelve
nautical miles of
territorial waters within which they've exclusive fishing rights.
Iceland, however, as a result of the
Cod Wars has exclusive fishing rights for 200 mi (320 km) from its coast, into parts of the North Sea. The
Common Fisheries Policy of the
EU exists to coordinate fishing rights and assist with disputes between EU states and the EU border state of Norway.
After the discovery of mineral resources in the North Sea, Norway claimed its rights under the
Continental Shelf Convention. The other countries on the sea followed suit. These rights are largely divided along the median line. The median line is defined as the line "every point of which is equidistant from the nearest points of the baselines from which the breadth of the territorial sea of each State is measured."
The ocean floor border between Germany, the Netherlands, and Denmark was only reapportioned after protracted negotiations and a judgment of the
International Court of Justice.
Environmental concerns led to the
MARPOL 73/78 Accords, which created and 50 mi (40 and 80 km) zones of protection. The
Convention for the Protection of the Marine Environment of the North-East Atlantic is established for the preservation of the ocean in the region. Germany, Denmark, and the Netherlands 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.
Geography
For the most part, the sea lies on the European
continental shelf. The only exception is a narrow area of the northern North Sea off
Norway. The North Sea is bounded by
Great Britain to the west and the northern and central European mainland to the east and south, including Norway,
Denmark,
Germany, the
Netherlands,
Belgium, and
France.
In the south-west, the North Sea becomes the
English Channel beyond the
Straits of Dover. In the east, it connects to the
Baltic Sea via the
Skagerrak and
Kattegat. In the north, it opens in a widening funnel shape to the
Norwegian Sea, which lies in the very north-eastern part of the
Atlantic.
Apart from the obvious boundaries formed by the coasts of the countries which border it, the North Sea is generally considered to be bounded by an imaginary line from
Lindesnes, Norway to
Hanstholm, Denmark running towards the Skagerrak. However, for statistical purposes, the Skagerrak and the Kattegat are sometimes included as part of the North Sea. The northern limit is less well-defined. Traditionally, an imaginary line is taken to run from northern
Scotland, by way of
Shetland, to
Ålesund in Norway. According to the
Convention for the Protection of the Marine Environment of the North-East Atlanticof 1962 it runs further to the west and north from longitude 5° West and latitude 62° North, at the latitude of
Geirangerfjord in Norway.
The surface area of the North Sea is approx. 575,000
square kilometres (222,000 sq mi)
Geology
Geological history
The
bed of the North Sea forms two
basins. The main northern one lies to the north of a
ridge between
Norfolk and
Frisia, and had its origin in the
Devonian. The southern basin, if not flooded, would drain towards the
Strait of Dover and thence to the
English Channel. This basin dates from the
Carboniferous.
During the most recent glaciation, the
Devensian much of the northern basin was covered by the
ice sheet, and the remainder, including the southern basin, was
tundra. However, during the
Cromerian interglacial, there was a natural dam of
chalk, the
Weald-Artois Anticline." Although the ridge probably collapsed during the
Kansan glaciation it still formed the highest part of the land bridge between continental Europe and Great Britain.
The
Storegga Slides were a series of underwater landslides, in which a piece of the Norwegian continental shelf slid into the Norwegian Sea. The immense landslips occurred between 8150 BC and 6000 BC, and caused a tsunami up to 20 m (65 ft) high that swept through the North Sea, having the greatest effect on Scotland and the Faeroe Islands.
Plate tectonics
The North Sea lies above what used to be the
triple junction between three continental tectonic plates in the early
Paleozoic Era. Later, in the
Mesozoic Era, a North-South trending
rift valley or
graben formed down the middle of the North Sea. Fault lines along the
English Channel cause occasional earthquakes, which can result in damage to structures on land. The axial grabens of the North Sea also form a tectonically active area. Northwestern Europe's continental slope is subject to
landslides from
earthquakes.
Although not a site of major earthquakes or tsunamis, there are intraplate earthquakes which result in the uplifting of the continental crust
causing landslides.
Baltica is now the eastern coastline and the
Scandinavian countries; Avalonia consists of the southern and western North Sea coast along England, northern
Germany and France; and Laurentia marks the northern perimeter of the North Sea with the
Atlantic Ocean.
Geological features
The
Norwegian trench reaches from the
Stad peninsula in
Sogn og Fjordane to the
Oslofjord. The trench is between 50 and 95 km (30-60 mi) wide and hundreds of meters deep. Off the
Rogaland coast, it's 250 - 300 m (820-980 ft) deep, and at its deepest point, off
Arendal, it reaches 700 m (2300 ft) deep as compared to the average depth of the North Sea, about 100 m (325 ft). The trench isn't a
subduction-related
oceanic trench. It is mainly a deep
erosional scour, while the Western part follows the North-South line of an old
Rift Valley formed during the
Jurassic and
Cretaceous periods, also known as the
Viking Graben.
To the East of Great Britain, the vast
morainic plate of the
Dogger Bank rises up to 15 to 30 m deep.
The
Silver Pit is a valley-like depression 45 km (27 mi) east of
Spurn Head in England that has been recognized for hundreds of years by fishermen. Nearby is the
Silverpit crater, a controversial structure, which may be a geological structure or may be an
impact crater.
"The
Long Forties" denotes an area of the northern North Sea that's fairly consistently forty
fathoms (73 m) deep (thus, on a
nautical chart with depth shown in fathoms, a long area with many "40" notations). It is located between the northeast coast of Scotland and the southwest coast of Norway, centred about 57°N 0°30′E.
The
Broad Fourteens are an area of the southern North Sea that's fairly consistently fourteen fathoms (26 m) deep (thus a broad area with many "14" notations). It is located off the coast of the Netherlands and south of the Dogger Bank, roughly between longitude 3°E and 4°30′E and latitude 52°30′N and 53°30′N.
Around the edges of the North Sea are a number of
sizable islands and
archipelagos, including the
Shetland,
Orkney, and
Frisian islands.
Biology and the environment
Fish
Copepods and other
zooplankton are plentiful in the North Sea. These tiny organisms are crucial elements of the
food chain supporting many species of fish. The North Sea is home to about 230 species of fish.
Cod,
haddock,
whiting,
saithe,
plaice,
sole,
mackerel,
herring,
pouting,
sprat, and
sandeel are all very common and the target of commercial fishing. Due to the various depths of the North Sea trenches and differences in salinity, temperature, and water movement some fish reside only in small areas of the North Sea. The blue-mouth redfish and
rabbitfish are a few examples of these.
Crustaceans are also commonly found throughout the sea.
Norway lobster, deep-water
prawns, and
brown shrimp are all commercially fished, but other species of
lobster,
shrimp,
oyster,
mussels and
clams are all found.
Birds
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 Germany. These locations provide breeding
habitat for dozens of bird species. Tens of millions of birds make use of the North Sea for breeding, feeding, or migratory stopovers every year. Populations of
Northern fulmars,
Black-legged Kittiwakes,
Atlantic puffins,
razorbills, and a variety of species of
petrels,
gannets,
seaducks,
loons (divers),
cormorants,
gulls,
auks, and
terns, and many other seabirds make these coasts popular for
birdwatching.
Marine mammals
The North Sea is also home to a variety of marine mammals.
Common seals,
grey seals can be found along the coasts and at marine installations and islands. The very northern North Sea islands like the Shetlands are occasionally home to a larger variety of
pinnipeds including
bearded,
harp,
hooded and
ringed seals, and even
walrus. North Sea
cetaceans include
Harbour porpoises,
common dolphins,
bottlenose dolphins,
Risso's dolphins,
long-finned pilot whales and
white-beaked dolphins,
minke whales,
killer whales, and
sperm whales
Environmental health
Historically,
flamingos,
pelicans, and
Great Auk could be found along the southern shores of the North Sea. Gray whale also resided in the North Sea but were driven to extinction in the Atlantic in the 1600s. Other species have seen dramatic declines in population, though they're still to be found;
right whales,
sturgeon,
shad,
rays,
skates and
salmon among other species were common in the North Sea into the 20th Century, when numbers declined.
A variety of factors have contributed to decreasing populations of North Sea fauna. The introduction of
non-indigenous species, industrial and agricultural
pollution,
overfishing and
trawling,
dredging, human-induced
eutrophication, construction on coastal breeding and feeding grounds, sand and gravel extraction, offshore construction, and heavy shipping traffic all threaten marine life in the North Sea.
In recent decades action has been taken by the border countries to address many of these threats. The
OSPAR convention was created in 1992 as and expansion of the 1972
Oslo Convention. It is managed by the OSPAR commission and has taken action to counteract the harmful effects of human activity on wildlife in the North Sea and preserve many endangered species.
Hydrology
Basic data
The
salinity of the water is dependent on place and time of year but is generally in the range of 15 to 25
parts per thousand (ppt) around river mouths and up to 32 to 35 ppt in the northern North Sea, These rivers drain a large part of Western Europe: a quarter of France, three quarters of Germany, nearly all of Switzerland, half of
Jutland, the whole of the Netherlands and Belgium, the southern part of Norway, the Rhine basin of western Austria and the eastern side of Great Britain. This area contains one of the world's greatest concentrations of industry.
Water circulation
The main pattern to the flow of water in the North Sea is a
counter-clockwise rotation along the edges. Water from the
Gulf Stream flows in both through the English Channel towards Norway, and around the north of Britain, moving south along the British coast. From the south-moving current smaller currents are pulled off eastwards into the central North Sea. Another significant current sweeps south in the eastern part of the Sea. This is cold North Atlantic water and is strongest in late spring and early summer when the British offshore waters remain cool while the sea off the Netherlands and Germany starts warming up. Water from the Channel, and water flowing out of the Baltic Sea eventually move north along the Norwegian coast back into the Atlantic in what is called the
Norwegian Current. Water in the north is exchanged most quickly while water in the German Bight can flow in circles for years before being pulled northwards.
Fronts based on temperature, salinity, nutrients, and
pollution can be clearly identified; they're more clearly defined in summer than in winter. Large fronts are the Frisian Front, which divides water coming from the North Atlantic from water originating in the English Channel, and the Danish Front, which divides southern coastal waters from water in the central North Sea. The inflow of water from large rivers mixes very slowly with North Sea water. Water from the Rhine and Elbe, for example, can still be clearly differentiated from sea water off the northwest coast of Denmark.
Tides
The
tides are caused by the tide wave from the North Atlantic, as the North Sea itself is too small and too flat to have its own tides. Ebb and flow alternate in a cycle of 12.5 hours. The tide wave, owing to the
Coriolis effect, flows around Scotland and then counter-clockwise along the English coast, reaching the German Bight some 12 hours after arriving in Scotland. In so doing, it runs around three
amphidromic points: a central point lies shortly before the Straits of Dover. It is formed by the tide wave which is transported through the English Channel. It influences the tides in the narrow area in the Southern Bight between southern England and the Netherlands. The other amphidromic system consists of two points close to each other, which form a tide wave. The two other points just off the coast of southern Norway and lying on a line between southern Denmark and the
West Frisian Islands form one single area around which the tides flow. Its central point lies off the coast of Denmark at 55° 25' N, 5° 15' E.
Northern fjords, skerries, and cliffs
The northern North Sea coasts bear the impression of the enormous glaciers which covered them during the
Ice Ages and created a split, craggy coastal landscape.
Fjords arose by the action of glaciers, which dragged their way through them from the highlands, cutting and scraping deep trenches in the land. During the subsequent rise in sea level, they filled with water. They very often display steep coastlines and are extremely deep for the North Sea. Fjords are particularly common on the coast of Norway.
Firths are similar to fjords, but are generally shallower with broader bays in which small islands may be found. The glaciers that formed them influenced the land over a wider area and scraped away larger areas. Firths are to be found mostly on the Scottish and northern English coasts. Individual islands in the firths, or islands and the coast, are often joined up by
sandbars or spits made up of sand deposits known as “
tombolos”.
Towards the south the firths give way to a cliff coast, which was formed by the
moraines of Ice Age glaciers. The horizontal impact of waves on the North Sea coast gives rise to eroded coasts. The eroded material is an important source of sediment for the mudflats on the other side of the North Sea.
The cliff landscape is interrupted by large
estuaries with their corresponding mud and marshy flats disrupt, notably the Humber and the Thames, in southern England.
In southern Norway, as well as on the Swedish Skagerrak coast,
skerries are to be found. Formed by similar action to that which created the fjords and firths, the glaciers in these places affected the land to an even greater extent, so that large areas were carried away. The coastal brim (
Strandflaten), which is found especially in southern Norway, is a gently sloping lowland area between the sea and the mountains. It consists of plates of
bedrock, and often extends for kilometres, reaching under the sea, at a depth of only a few meters.
Southern shoals and mudflats
The shallow-water coasts of the southern and eastern coast up to Denmark were formed by Ice Age activity, but their particular shape is determined for the most part by the sea and sediment deposits.
The
Wadden Sea stretches between
Esbjerg, Denmark in the north and
Den Helder, Netherlands in the west. This landscape is heavily influenced by the tides and important sections of it have been declared a National Park. The whole of the coastal zone is shallow; the tides flood large areas and uncover them again, constantly depositing sediments. The Southern Bight has been especially changed by land reclamation, as the Dutch have been especially active. The largest project of this type was the diking and reclamation of the
IJsselmeer.In the micro tidal area, (a
tidal range of up to 1.35 m (4.43 ft)), such as on the Dutch or Danish coasts,
barrier beaches with
dunes are formed. In the mesotidal area (a tidal range of between 1.35 and 2.90 m (4.43-9.5 ft)),
barrier islands are formed; in the macrotidal area (above 2.90 m (9.5 ft) tidal range), such as at the mouth of the Elbe, underwater sandbanks form.
The Dutch
West Frisian and the German
East Frisian Islands are barrier islands. They arose along the breakers’ edge where the water surge piled up sediment, and behind which sediment was carried away by the breaking waves. Over time, sandplates arose, which finally were only covered by infrequent storm floods. Once plants began to colonize the sandbanks the land began to stabilise.
The
North Frisian Islands, on the other hand, arose from the remains of old
Geestland islands, where the land was partially removed by storm floods and water action and then separated from the mainland. They are, therefore, often higher and their cores are less exposed to changes than the islands to the south. Beyond the core, however, the same processes are at work, particularly evident on
Sylt, where in the south of the island, a break threatens, whilst the
harbour at
List silts up.
The Danish Islands, the next in the chain to the north, arose from sandbanks. Right up into the twentieth century, the silting up of the islands was a serious problem. To protect the islands, small woods were planted.
The island of
Helgoland wasn't formed by sediment deposition; in fact, it's considerably older and is composed of Early
Triassic sandstone.
Storm tides
Storm tides threaten, in particular, the coasts of the Netherlands, Belgium, Germany, and Denmark. These coasts are quite flat, so even a relatively small increase in the water levels is sufficient to put large stretches of land under water. Storms from the west are especially strong, so the most dangerous places are on the south-east coast. Over the years, floods caused by storm tides have cost hundreds of thousands of lives and have significantly helped to shape the coast. Until early modern times, the number of victims from a single storm tide could be in the tens of thousands, even exceeding a hundred thousand, though to what extent these historically-reported casualties are accurate can only be estimated with difficulty.
The first recorded storm tide flood was the
Julianenflut, on
February 17,
1164. In its wake the
Jadebusen began to form. Ancient records tell also of the First Marcellus Flood, which struck
West Frieslandin 1219. A storm tide in 1228 is recorded to have killed more than 100,000 people. The Second Marcellus Flood also known as the
Grote Mandrenke in 1362 hit the entire southern coast of the North Sea. Chronicles of the time again record more than 100,000 deaths as large parts of the coast were lost permanently to the sea, including the now legendary town of
Rungholt (see
Lost city).
In the twentieth century the
North Sea flood of 1953 flooded several nations' coasts and cost more than 2000 lives.
315 citizens of Hamburg died in the
North Sea flood of 1962. The "Century Flood" of 1976 and the "North Frisian Flood" of 1981 brought the highest water levels measured to date on the North Sea coast, but because of the
dikes built and improved after the flood of 1962, these led only to property damage.
A storm surge occurred on November 9, 2007, causing some flooding. The conditions were likened to those that had caused the damage and large loss of life in 1953. Fortunately, in 2007,
nowhere near as much damage was caused although the
Thames Barrier was closed twice to protect
London.
Coastal preservation
The southern coastal areas were originally amphibious. The land included countless islands and islets which had been divided by rivers, streams, and wetlands and areas of dry land were regularly flooded. In areas especially vulnerable to storm tides, people settled first on natural areas of high ground such as
spits and
Geestland. As early as 500 BC, people were constructing
artificial dwelling hills several meters high. It was only around the beginning of the
High Middle Ages in 1200 AD that inhabitants began to connect single ring dikes into a dike line along the entire coast, thereby turning amphibious regions between the land and the sea into permanent solid ground.
The modern form of the dikes began to take form in the 17th and 18th centuries, built by private enterprises in the Netherlands. The Dutch dike builders exported their designs to other North Sea regions. The North Sea Floods of 1953 and 1962 were impetus for further raising of the dikes as well as the shortening of the dike line through land reclamation and river
weirs so as to present as little surface area as possible to the punishment of the sea and the storms. Currently, 27% of the Netherlands is below sea level protected by dikes, dunes, and beach flats.
Coastal preservation today consists of several levels. The dike slope reduces the energy of the incoming sea, so that the dike itself doesn't receive the full impact. Dikes that lie directly on the sea are especially reinforced. The dikes have, over the years, been repeatedly raised, sometimes up to 10 m (32 ft) and have become flatter in order to better reduce the erosion of the waves. Modern dikes are up to 100 m (328 ft) across. Behind the dike, there runs an access road and generally a thinly inhabited area. In many places, another dike follows after several kilometers.
Where the dunes are sufficient to protect the land behind them from the sea, these dunes are planted with
beach grass to protect them from erosion by wind, water, and foot traffic.
See also:
Economy
Oil and gas
In 1958, geologists discovered a
natural gas field in
Slochteren in the Dutch province of
Groningen and it was suspected that more fields lay under the North Sea. However, at this point, the rights to natural resource exploitation on the high seas were still under dispute.
Test drilling began in 1966 and, then in 1969,
Phillips Petroleum Company discovered the
Ekofisk oil field (now Norwegian), which at that point was one of the 20 largest in the world and turned out to be distinguished by valuable low-sulfur oil. Commercial exploitation began in 1971 with
tankers and after 1975 by a
pipeline first to
Cleveland, England and then after 1977 also to
Emden, Germany. Since the discovery of
North Sea oil in the 1970s, nicknames of
Aberdeen have been the
Oil Capital of Europe or the
Energy Capital of Europe.
The exploitation of the North Sea oil reserves began just before the
1973 oil crisis, and the climb of international oil prices made the large investments needed for extraction much more attractive. In the 1980s and 1990s, further discoveries of large oil fields followed. Although the production costs are relatively high, the quality of the oil, the political stability of the region, and the nearness of important markets in western Europe has made the North Sea an important oil producing region. The largest single environmental catastrophe in the North Sea was the destruction of the offshore oil platform
Piper Alpha in 1988 in which 167 people lost their lives.
With more than 450
oil platforms, the North Sea is the most important region in the world for offshore drilling. The British section of North Sea has the most platforms, followed by the Norwegian, Dutch, and Danish sections. Besides the Ekofisk oil field, the
Statfjord oil field is also notable as it was the cause of the first pipeline to span the
Norwegian trench. The largest natural gas field in the North Sea, Troll Field, lies in the Norwegian trench at a depth of 345 meters (1100 ft). A
giant platform was required to access it. The German section has only two oil platforms, the larger of the two being the
Mittelplate, and is the least developed North Sea border-country in this respect.
In 1999, extraction reached an all time high with nearly 6 million barrels (950,000 m³) of crude oil and 280,000,000 m³ (999,000,000 cu ft)of natural gas per day being taken. Today, the North Sea is a well-developed natural resource area, in which few new large discoveries are likely to be made. All the large oil companies have been involved in the extraction. But in the last few years, large companies like
Shell and
BP have discontinued extraction and, since 1999, the amount extracted has continually fallen due to depleted reserves.
The price of
Brent Crude, one of the first types of oil extracted from the North Sea, is used today as a standard price for comparison for crude oil from the rest of the world.
Fishing
Fishing in the North Sea is concentrated in the southern part of the coastal waters. The main method of fishing is
trawling.
Annual catches grew each year until the 1980s, when a high point of more than 3 million metric tons (3.3 million S/T) was reached. Since then, the numbers have fallen back to around 2.3 million tons (2.5 million S/T) annually with considerable differences between years. Besides the fish caught, it's estimated that 150,000 metric tons (165,000 S/T) of unmarketable
by-catch are caught and around 85,000 metric tons (94,000 S/T) of dead and injured
invertebrates.
In recent decades,
overfishing has left many fisheries unproductive, disturbing the marine
food chain dynamics and costing jobs in the fishing industry. Herring, cod and plaice fisheries may soon face the same plight as mackerel fishing which ceased in the 1970s due to overfishing.
Since the 1960s, various regulations have attempted to protect the stocks of fish such as limited fishing times and limited numbers of fishing boats, among other regulations. However, these rules were never systematically enforced and didn't bring much relief. Since then, the United Kingdom and Denmark, two important fishing nations, became members of the EU, and have attempted, with the help of the
Common Fisheries Policy, to bring the problem under control.
Mineral resources
In addition to oil, gas and fish, the states along the North Sea also take millions of cubic meters per year of
sand and
gravel from the ocean floor. These are used for construction projects, sand for beaches, and coast protection. The largest extractors of sand and gravel in 2003 were the Netherlands (around 30 million m³ from the North Sea).
Rolled pieces of
amber, usually small but occasionally of very large size, may be picked up on the east coast of England, having probably been washed up from deposits under the North Sea.
Cromer is the best-known locality, but it occurs also on other parts of the
Norfolk coast, such as
Great Yarmouth, as well as
Southwold,
Aldeburgh and
Felixstowe in
Suffolk, and as far south as
Walton-on-the-Naze in
Essex, whilst northwards it isn't unknown in
Yorkshire. On the other side of the North Sea, amber is found at various localities on the coast of the
Netherlands and Denmark. Amber was also found on the Baltic coast across northern Europe. Some of the amber districts of the Baltic and North Sea were known in prehistoric times, and led to early trade with the south of Europe through the
Amber Road.
Renewable energy
Due to the strong prevailing winds, countries on the North Sea, specifically England and Denmark, have used the areas near the coast of the sea for wind driven electricity production since the 1990s. The first
wind turbines appeared off the English coast near
Blyth in the year 2000 and then off the Danish coast in 2002 near
Horns Rev. Others have been commissioned, including
OWEZ and
Scroby Sands and more are in the planning phase. Offshore
wind farms have met some resistance, for instance in Germany. Concerns have arisen about shipping collisions and damage to the ocean ecology, particularly by the construction of the foundations. Furthermore, the distance from consumers leads to considerable energy losses in transmission. Nonetheless, the first deep water turbines in Scotland are under commissioning for
Talisman Energy, who are installing two large machines 25 km (15 mi) offshore adjacent to the Beatrice oilfield. These turbines are 88 m (290 ft) high with the blades 63 m (210 ft) long and will have a capacity of 5 MW each, making them the largest in the world.
Energy production from the sea is still in its early stages. The southern parts of the North Sea, don't have tides, waves or currents strong enough to harness energy usefully. The Norwegian coast and the intersection with the
Irish Sea could be found suitable for
waves or ocean currents to provide power. First attempts for a power plant deriving electricity from the waves from 2003-2005 in Denmark were given up. The European Marine Energy Centre (EMEC) based at
Stromness in Orkney is a
Scottish Government-backed research facility. They have installed a wave testing system at Billia Croo on the Orkney mainland and a tidal power testing station on the nearby island of
Eday. A small pilot-facility for the production of
blue energy exists in the Norwegian city of
Trondheim.
Tourism
The beaches and coastal waters of the North Sea are popular destinations for tourists. The Belgian, Dutch, German and Danish coasts are especially developed for tourism. While many of the busiest British beach resorts are on the South Coast, the British East Coast also has several important beach resorts.
Windsurfing and sailing are popular sports because of the winds. Because of the strong tides and areas of still water, the North Sea is more difficult to sail than the Baltic or the Mediterranean.
Mudflat hiking, recreational fishing, and
diving, including
wreck diving, are all possible.
The climatic conditions on the North Sea coast are thought to be especially healthful. As early as the 19th century travellers used their stays on the North Sea coast as curative and restorative vacations (German:
Kur-Urlaub). The sea air, temperature, wind, water, and sunshine 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 skin and the respiratory system. Besides the climate,
thalassotherapy spas often use sea waters, mud, brine, algae, and sea salt for curative and restorative purposes.
One peculiarity of the North Sea tourism until the 1990s was the
Butterfahrten. These were trips past the German tariff barriers onto the high seas for the purpose of purchasing items much more cheaply than they could be bought in Germany itself. The name comes from the time when butter was an expensive commodity and could be purchased more cheaply from Denmark. Other important wares were the heavily taxed goods like tobacco, spirits, and perfume.
Marine traffic
The North Sea is very important for marine traffic and experiences some of the densest concentrations of ships in the world. Great ports of the world are located along its coasts:
Rotterdam, the
third busiest port in the world by tonnage,
Antwerp and
Hamburg, both in the top 25, as well as
Bremen/
Bremerhaven and
Felixstowe, both in the top 30 busiest
container seaports.
All major ports have easy access to the various sea lanes of the North Sea, which are monitored, well-regulated and regularly dredged. Traffic in the North Sea is especially difficult. Fishing boats, oil and gas platforms as well as merchant traffic from
Baltic ports share routes on the North Sea surface area. The possibility of bottlenecks at the English Channel, which sees 400 vessels a day and the Kiel Canal, which averages more than 100 per day plus sport traffic (2003 figure) can add to the difficulty. The North Sea coasts are home to numerous canals and canal systems to facilitate traffic between and among rivers, artificial harbours, and the sea. Notable canals include the
North Sea Canal, which shortened the connection between the port of
Amsterdam to the North Sea,and the
Kiel Canal, the world's busiest artificial waterway, which connects the North Sea and the Baltic.
Further Information
Get more info on 'North Sea'.
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