Baltic Sea

Baltic Sea region
Map
Map of the Baltic Sea region
LocationEurope
Coordinates58°N 20°E / 58°N 20°E / 58; 20 (slightly east of the north tip of Gotland Island)
TypeSea
Primary inflowsDaugava, Kemijoki, Neman (Nemunas), Neva, Oder, Vistula, Lule, Narva, Torne
Primary outflowsThe Danish Straits
Catchment area1,641,650 km2 (633,840 sq mi)
Basin countriesCoastal: Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Russia, Sweden
Non-coastal: Belarus, Czech Republic, Norway, Slovakia, Ukraine[1]
Max. length1,601 km (995 mi)
Max. width193 km (120 mi)
Surface area377,000 km2 (146,000 sq mi)
Average depth55 m (180 ft)
Max. depth459 m (1,506 ft)
Water volume21,700 km3 (1.76×1010 acre⋅ft)
Residence time25 years
Shore length18,000 km (5,000 mi)
IslandsAbruka, Aegna, Archipelago Sea Islands (Åland), Bornholm, Dänholm, Ertholmene, Falster, Fårö, Fehmarn, Gotland, Hailuoto, Hiddensee, Hiiumaa, Holmöarna, Kassari, Kesselaid, Kihnu, Kimitoön, Kõinastu, Kotlin, Laajasalo, Lauttasaari, Lidingö, Ljusterö, Lolland, Manilaid, Mohni, Møn, Muhu, Poel, Prangli, Osmussaar, Öland, Replot, Ruhnu, Rügen, Saaremaa, Stora Karlsö, Suomenlinna, Suur-Pakri and Väike-Pakri, Ummanz, Usedom/Uznam, Väddö, Värmdö, Vilsandi, Vormsi, Wolin
SettlementsCopenhagen, Gdańsk, Gdynia, Greifswald, Haapsalu, Helsinki, Jūrmala, Kaliningrad, Kiel, Klaipėda, Kuressaare, Kärdla, Lübeck, Luleå, Mariehamn, Oulu, Palanga, Paldiski, Pärnu, Riga, Rostock, Saint Petersburg, Liepāja, Stockholm, Tallinn, Turku, Ventspils
References[2]
1 Shore length is not a well-defined measure.

The Baltic Sea is an arm of the Atlantic Ocean that is enclosed by Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Russia, Sweden, and the North and Central European Plain.

The sea stretches from 53°N to 66°N latitude and from 10°E to 30°E longitude. It is a shelf sea and marginal sea of the Atlantic with limited water exchange between the two, making it an inland sea. The Baltic Sea drains through the Danish Straits into the Kattegat by way of the Øresund, Great Belt and Little Belt. It includes the Gulf of Bothnia (divided into the Bothnian Bay and the Bothnian Sea), the Gulf of Finland, the Gulf of Riga and the Bay of Gdańsk.

The "Baltic Proper" is bordered on its northern edge, at latitude 60°N, by Åland and the Gulf of Bothnia, on its northeastern edge by the Gulf of Finland, on its eastern edge by the Gulf of Riga, and in the west by the Swedish part of the southern Scandinavian Peninsula.

The Baltic Sea is connected by artificial waterways to the White Sea via the White Sea–Baltic Canal and to the German Bight of the North Sea via the Kiel Canal.

  1. ^ "Coalition Clean Baltic". Archived from the original on 2 June 2013. Retrieved 5 July 2013.
  2. ^ Gunderson, Lance H.; Pritchard, Lowell (1 October 2002). Resilience and the Behavior of Large-Scale Systems. Island Press. ISBN 9781559639712 – via Google Books.

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