The Arctic Ocean is considered the smallest and coldest water body on the planet Earth, not without reason in ancient Russia it was called the "Freezing Sea".
The seas that make up the Arctic Ocean basin, namely: Kara, White, East Siberian, Barents, Laptev, Chukchi - began to be called "northern". All of the above natural objects, with the exception of the White Sea, are marginal, they are separated by a chain of islands, including the Severnaya Zemlya, Novaya Zemlya, Franz Josef Land and others. All 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 a deep-sea basin called Nansen. The bottom of the sea at this point decreases to 3385 meters, as a result its average depth is 533 meters, so this natural object, once discovered by the Laptev brothers, is considered the deepest of the northern seas. The Barents Sea occupies the second position according to the degree of deep water , the average indicator of the above parameter is 222 meters, and the maximum is 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.
It is noteworthy that the ice in these seas is held for all 12 months. A significant territory of the Arctic Ocean is “shrouded” in ice year-round.
The incredible cold that the northern seas “exude”, the ice cover and the polar night impede the normal development of zoo and phytoplankton, as a result of which the level of biological productivity here is low. No different richness and species "arsenal" of organisms living here. In severe conditions, the most resistant to low temperatures survive.
At the same time, the fish of the northern seas is distinguished by an abundance and variety of species: sea bass, halibut, haddock, herring, salmon, and nelma. Among commercial fish, Muksun, vendace, omul, and also representatives of the smelt family are of particular value.
But there is a water body, which is not only conventionally called "northern", but also has a similar official name. If you go around the Scandinavian Peninsula from the north towards the south, you will certainly find yourself in the North Sea, which is the only water body in 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 average depth is 96 m, but in some places, for example, in the Norwegian trench, it reaches 809 m. The North Sea is washed by the Scandinavian Peninsula, the coast of the Orkney 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.
Large European rivers flow into it : Elba, Rhine, Thames, Scheldt, Weser.
The plant world of the sea has about three hundred plant species. These are 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, fish. There are mammals, including belugas, dolphins, killer whales, and whales.
The richness of the deep sea has become the basis of industrial fisheries in all countries facing the North Sea. Herring, flounder, mackerel, sprats and other fish are caught here. In the North Sea, you can find various species of sharks: Atlantic, cat, katran, hammerhead, blue, polar.
The coastline is diverse in its relief. In the Wadden Sea region it is a plain, sometimes descending to sea level. Near Norway and in the southeast - the island line. In Scandinavia, the coast is indented with fjords, many bays.
The bottom of the sea is basically a plain, gradually deepening as it moves away from the coast. In the bottom relief there are shallows (Goodmin Sand, Dogger), located off the coast of Great Britain. In the south are ridges of sand and gravel, washed with tides. One of the deepest places is the Norwegian Trench, the trench 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 it from the Norwegian Sea. Water warms up to twenty degrees in summer, and in winter it is never colder than two degrees of heat.
The flow of sea water has a cyclonic direction (counterclockwise), its speed is small: about half a meter per second. The flow is influenced by winds, mainly western ones, which create a temperate climate in the sea area. Storms and fogs are frequent here, which makes shipping difficult. The height of the tides in the UK reaches seven meters, in Scandinavia - one meter.
The bottom of the sea abounds with natural resources - oil and gas. Their development is carried out off the coast of Norway and Scotland.