Sea of Greenland: description, location, water temperature and fauna

Some scientists still argue where the Greenland Sea is. Traditionally it is believed that this marginal sea belongs to the Arctic Ocean. Nevertheless, some geographers are inclined to consider it a part of the Atlantic. This is because the water area of the Arctic Ocean is quite arbitrary, and this is the reason for such disagreements.

In any case, the Greenland Sea belongs to the list of northern seas entering the Arctic region. Proceeding from this, it is probably more correct to talk about his belonging to the Arctic Ocean. It is in its composition, together with the Barents, the Norwegian and the North, the Greenland Sea washes Europe.

Description

This fairly large pond stretches between Greenland, Iceland and Spitsbergen. Its surface area is just over 1.2 million square kilometers. The depth of the Greenland Sea, of course, is uneven. On average, it is 1645 meters, and in the deepest place reaches 4846 m, and according to some data, up to 5527 m.

The Greenland Sea has rather small land borders and is freely communicating with the neighboring Norwegian. In the north, the boundary passes between the extremities of Spitsbergen and Greenland. Its south-western border stretches between two promontories: Nansen (Greenland) and Straumna, which is in Iceland. The southeast is considered to be the boundary, which is a line connecting the southernmost point of Svalbard and the northern extremity of Jan Mayen, its entire western coast, and also the eastern part of Iceland.

Historical digression

What is the Greenland Sea, it became known for a long time. The first research scientists conducted in these places in the 70 years of the XIX century. Since that time, a lot of scientific expeditions have visited there. Scientists from Iceland, Russia and Norway were sent to investigate the Greenland Sea. And the most detailed description of this region was made by the Norwegian scientist Fridtjof Nansen back in 1909.

Climatic and hydrological features

The average air temperature in this region is rather uneven. In the southern part of the Greenland Sea, it is -10 ° C in winter and + 5 ° C in summer. In the northern part, it is -26 and 0 ° C, respectively. Summer here is very short. The annual precipitation in the northern part is approximately 225 mm, in the south this figure is twice as high. Northern winds are walking here throughout the year.

In summer, the water temperature in the Greenland Sea rises to + 6 ° C, while in winter it drops to -1 ° C. Its salinity is also uneven: in the eastern part this figure corresponds to 33-34.4 per mille, and in the western part it is slightly less - 32 ‰, with a gradual increase to 34.9 ‰ with the advance into the depth of the reservoir.

For this region, nature has provided for both cold and warm currents. The combination of such flows contributed to the creation in the central part of the sea of a unique funnel-shaped flow moving counter-clockwise. For this part of the Arctic Ocean , fogs, strong winds and a large number of icebergs advancing to the south are very characteristic. All these parameters make shipping difficult.

Animal world

Despite its coldness and unfriendliness, the Greenland Sea is quite rich in diverse flora and fauna. Its waters are rich in halibut, cod and flounder. Also there are a lot of herring and sea bass. The animal world is represented by gray and harp seals and hooded. There are many whales, there are also polar dolphins and sea hares (lakhtaks).

The shores are rich in lichens, moss and low shrubs, which with pleasure are eaten by musk oxen and reindeer. Also in the coastal strip there is a large number of polar bears, many polar foxes and lemmings. In water, you can find a large number of diverse plankton, as well as diatoms and coastal algae. This fact attracts a lot of fish here, including a very predatory fish. There are several species of sharks here: giant, greenland and katran. There is also the opinion that in the waters of the Greenland Sea the most ancient member of the family of shark lives - a plucked shark.

Tides, currents and ice

Like any other, the Greenland Sea has fairly distinct tides up to 2.5 meters high, which have a semi-diurnal character. They are caused mainly by a tidal wave coming from the Atlantic. Penetrating through the Danish strait, it spreads to the north and northeast. With the advance in these directions the tidal wave gradually loses its force and in the northern part it barely reaches 1 meter. Although tidal currents exist throughout the entire sea area, their strength and height are not the same. The greatest strength they reach in the protruding parts of the coast, straits and narrow places.

Since almost all the year in this part of the globe is very cold, the ice is constantly present here. There are several of its varieties:

1. Local - this ice is formed directly in the Greenland Sea and can be both annual and perennial. Gathering in heaps, this ice often forms whole ice fields.
2. Packed - brought from the Arctic basin with the eastern Atlantic current. It is quite thick, its average thickness is more than two meters.
3. Icebergs - overwhelmingly divorced from the vast glaciers of Eastern Greenland. Almost all of them are destroyed in the process of their migration, and only a small part of them can penetrate the waters of the Atlantic Ocean through the Danish Strait.

The formation of ice begins in September in the northern extremity of the sea and covers more than a month its entire area. One-year-old ice, gradually growing, soldered among themselves the older ice floes. As a result of this, whole fields of floating perennial ice are formed, drifting under the wind to the Danish strait.

Sea of Greenland: economic importance

Due to the large number of marine and coastal inhabitants, this region is one of the main fishing areas. In large quantities, it produces herring, saithe, haddock and cod. The extraction in these places was conducted so actively that at present scientists began to talk about the fact that the natural possibilities of reproduction of fish were rather severely undermined. Simply put, the catch is much faster than the fish can reproduce. Scientists are sounding the alarm - if you do not stop such a massive catch, this mighty resource base may be completely destroyed.

Islands of the Greenland Sea

This fairly extensive territory will include:

• The Svalbard archipelago;
• The islands of Edwards, Jan-Mainen, Eyla, Schnauder, Godfred;
• The island of Ile-de-France and the Norse Islands.

Most of these territories are uninhabited. Only Spitsbergen and Jan-Mainen, where the Greenland Sea is studied by scientists, are generally suitable for permanent life. It is on Jan-Mineen that the base of the Norwegian Meteorological Institute is located, whose employees work half-yearly watches and are engaged in the maintenance of meteorological and radio stations.