The Norwegian Sea ( no, Norskehavet; is, Noregshaf; fo, Norskahavið) is a
marginal sea
This is a list of seas of the World Ocean, including marginal seas, areas of water, various gulfs, bights, bays, and straits.
Terminology
* Ocean – the four to seven largest named bodies of water in the World Ocean, all of which have "Ocea ...
, grouped with either the
Atlantic Ocean
The Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's five oceans, with an area of about . It covers approximately 20% of Earth's surface and about 29% of its water surface area. It is known to separate the " Old World" of Africa, Europe ...
or the
Arctic Ocean
The Arctic Ocean is the smallest and shallowest of the world's five major oceans. It spans an area of approximately and is known as the coldest of all the oceans. The International Hydrographic Organization (IHO) recognizes it as an ocean, a ...
, northwest of
Norway
Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe, the mainland territory of which comprises the western and northernmost portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and t ...
between the
North Sea
The North Sea lies between Great Britain, Norway, Denmark, Germany, the Netherlands and Belgium. An epeiric sea on the European continental shelf, it connects to the Atlantic Ocean through the English Channel in the south and the Norwegian S ...
and the
Greenland Sea, adjoining the
Barents Sea
The Barents Sea ( , also ; no, Barentshavet, ; russian: Баренцево море, Barentsevo More) is a marginal sea of the Arctic Ocean, located off the northern coasts of Norway and Russia and divided between Norwegian and Russian territo ...
to the northeast. In the southwest, it is separated from the Atlantic Ocean by a submarine ridge running between
Iceland
Iceland ( is, Ísland; ) is a Nordic island country in the North Atlantic Ocean and in the Arctic Ocean. Iceland is the most sparsely populated country in Europe. Iceland's capital and largest city is Reykjavík, which (along with its s ...
and the
Faroe Islands
The Faroe Islands ( ), or simply the Faroes ( fo, Føroyar ; da, Færøerne ), are a North Atlantic island group and an autonomous territory of the Kingdom of Denmark.
They are located north-northwest of Scotland, and about halfway bet ...
. To the north, the
Jan Mayen
Jan Mayen () is a Norwegian volcanic island in the Arctic Ocean with no permanent population. It is long (southwest-northeast) and in area, partly covered by glaciers (an area of around the Beerenberg volcano). It has two parts: larger nort ...
Ridge separates it from the Greenland Sea.
Unlike many other seas, most of the bottom of the Norwegian Sea is not part of a
continental shelf and therefore lies at a great depth of about two kilometres on average. Rich deposits of oil and
natural gas
Natural gas (also called fossil gas or simply gas) is a naturally occurring mixture of gaseous hydrocarbons consisting primarily of methane in addition to various smaller amounts of other higher alkanes. Low levels of trace gases like carbo ...
are found under the sea bottom and are being explored commercially, in the areas with sea depths of up to about one kilometre. The coastal zones are rich in fish that visit the Norwegian Sea from the North Atlantic or from the Barents Sea (cod) for
spawning
Spawn is the eggs and sperm released or deposited into water by aquatic animals. As a verb, ''to spawn'' refers to the process of releasing the eggs and sperm, and the act of both sexes is called spawning. Most aquatic animals, except for aquat ...
. The warm
North Atlantic Current
The North Atlantic Current (NAC), also known as North Atlantic Drift and North Atlantic Sea Movement, is a powerful warm western boundary current within the Atlantic Ocean that extends the Gulf Stream northeastward.
The NAC originates from wher ...
ensures relatively stable and high water temperatures, so that unlike the Arctic seas, the Norwegian Sea is ice-free throughout the year. Recent research has concluded that the large volume of water in the Norwegian Sea with its large heat absorption capacity is more important as a source of Norway's mild winters than the Gulf Stream and its extensions.
Extent
The
International Hydrographic Organization
The International Hydrographic Organization (IHO) is an intergovernmental organisation representing hydrography. , the IHO comprised 98 Member States.
A principal aim of the IHO is to ensure that the world's seas, oceans and navigable waters a ...
defines the limits of the Norwegian Sea as follows:
::''On the Northeast.'' A line joining the southernmost point of
West Spitzbergen to North Cape of
Bear Island, through this island to Cape Bull and thence on to
North Cape in
Norway
Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe, the mainland territory of which comprises the western and northernmost portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and t ...
(25°45'E).
::''On the Southeast.'' The West coast of Norway between North Cape and Cape Stadt ().
::''On the South.'' From a point on the West coast of Norway in
Latitude 61°00' North along this parallel to Longitude 0°53' West thence a line to the NE extreme of
Fuglö () and on to the East extreme of Gerpir () in
Iceland
Iceland ( is, Ísland; ) is a Nordic island country in the North Atlantic Ocean and in the Arctic Ocean. Iceland is the most sparsely populated country in Europe. Iceland's capital and largest city is Reykjavík, which (along with its s ...
.
::''On the West.'' The Southeastern limit of
Greenland Sea [A line joining the southernmost point of West Spitzbergen to the Northern point of
Jan Mayen
Jan Mayen () is a Norwegian volcanic island in the Arctic Ocean with no permanent population. It is long (southwest-northeast) and in area, partly covered by glaciers (an area of around the Beerenberg volcano). It has two parts: larger nort ...
Island, down the West coast of that island to its Southern extreme, thence a Line to the Eastern extreme of Gerpir () in Iceland].
Formation and geography
![World Wind Globe NASA Norwegian Sea 3](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/04/World_Wind_Globe_NASA_Norwegian_Sea_3.jpg)
The Norwegian Sea was formed about 250 million years ago, when the
Eurasian plate
The Eurasian Plate is a tectonic plate that includes most of the continent of Eurasia (a landmass consisting of the traditional continents of Europe and Asia), with the notable exceptions of the Indian subcontinent, the Arabian subcontinent and ...
of Norway and the
North American Plate
The North American Plate is a tectonic plate covering most of North America, Cuba, the Bahamas, extreme northeastern Asia, and parts of Iceland and the Azores. With an area of , it is the Earth's second largest tectonic plate, behind the Pacific ...
, including Greenland, started to move apart. The existing narrow shelf sea between Norway and Greenland began to widen and deepen.
[Terje Thornes & Oddvar Longva "The origin of the coastal zone" in: Sætre, 2007, pp. 35–43] The present continental slope in the Norwegian Sea marks the border between Norway and Greenland as it stood approximately 250 million years ago. In the north it extends east from
Svalbard
Svalbard ( , ), also known as Spitsbergen, or Spitzbergen, is a Norwegian archipelago in the Arctic Ocean. North of mainland Europe, it is about midway between the northern coast of Norway and the North Pole. The islands of the group range ...
and on the southwest between Britain and the Faroes. This continental slope contains rich fishing grounds and numerous
coral reef
A coral reef is an underwater ecosystem characterized by reef-building corals. Reefs are formed of colonies of coral polyps held together by calcium carbonate. Most coral reefs are built from stony corals, whose polyps cluster in groups.
C ...
s. Settling of the shelf after the separation of the continents has resulted in
landslide
Landslides, also known as landslips, are several forms of mass wasting that may include a wide range of ground movements, such as rockfalls, deep-seated grade (slope), slope failures, mudflows, and debris flows. Landslides occur in a variety of ...
s, such as the
Storegga Slide
The three Storegga Slides ( no, Storeggaraset) are amongst the largest known submarine landslides. They occurred at the edge of Norway's continental shelf in the Norwegian Sea, approximately 6225–6170 BCE. The collapse involved an estimated ...
about 8,000 years ago that induced a major
tsunami
A tsunami ( ; from ja, 津波, lit=harbour wave, ) is a series of waves in a water body caused by the displacement of a large volume of water, generally in an ocean or a large lake. Earthquakes, volcanic eruptions and other underwater explo ...
.
The coasts of the Norwegian Sea were shaped during the
last ice age. Large
glacier
A glacier (; ) is a persistent body of dense ice that is constantly moving under its own weight. A glacier forms where the accumulation of snow exceeds its Ablation#Glaciology, ablation over many years, often Century, centuries. It acquires dis ...
s several kilometres high pushed into the land, forming fjords, removing the crust into the sea, and thereby extending the continental slopes. This is particularly clear off the Norwegian coast along
Helgeland and north to the
Lofoten Islands
Lofoten () is an archipelago and a traditional district in the county of Nordland, Norway. Lofoten has distinctive scenery with dramatic mountains and peaks, open sea and sheltered bays, beaches and untouched lands. There are two towns, Svolvæ ...
.
The
Norwegian continental shelf
The Norwegian continental shelf ( no, Den norske kontinentalsokkelen) (abbreviated as NCS) is the continental shelf over which Norway exercises sovereign rights as defined by the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea.
The area of the s ...
is between 40 and 200 kilometres wide, and has a different shape from the shelves in the North Sea and Barents Sea. It contains numerous trenches and irregular peaks, which usually have an amplitude of less than 100 metres, but can reach up to 400 metres.
They are covered with a mixture of gravel, sand, and mud, and the trenches are used by fish as spawning grounds.
Deeper into the sea, there are two deep basins separated by a low ridge (its deepest point at 3,000 m) between the
Vøring Plateau and
Jan Mayen
Jan Mayen () is a Norwegian volcanic island in the Arctic Ocean with no permanent population. It is long (southwest-northeast) and in area, partly covered by glaciers (an area of around the Beerenberg volcano). It has two parts: larger nort ...
island. The southern basin is larger and deeper, with large areas between 3,500 and 4,000 metres deep. The northern basin is shallower at 3,200–3,300 metres, but contains many individual sites going down to 3,500 metres.
[ Submarine thresholds and continental slopes mark the borders of these basins with the adjacent seas. To the south lies the European continental shelf and the North Sea, to the east is the Eurasian continental shelf with the Barents Sea. To the west, the Scotland-Greenland Ridge separates the Norwegian Sea from the North Atlantic. This ridge is on average only 500 metres deep, only in a few places reaching the depth of 850 metres. To the north lie the Jan Mayen Ridge and Mohns Ridge, which lie at a depth of 2,000 metres, with some trenches reaching depths of about 2,600 metres.][
]
Hydrology
Four major water masses originating in the Atlantic and Arctic oceans meet in the Norwegian Sea, and the associated currents are of fundamental importance for the global climate. The warm, salty North Atlantic Current
The North Atlantic Current (NAC), also known as North Atlantic Drift and North Atlantic Sea Movement, is a powerful warm western boundary current within the Atlantic Ocean that extends the Gulf Stream northeastward.
The NAC originates from wher ...
flows in from the Atlantic Ocean, and the colder and less saline Norwegian Current
The Norwegian Current (also known as the Norway Coastal Current) is one of two dominant arctic inflows of water. It can be traced from near Shetland, north of Scotland, otherwise from the eastern North Sea at depths of up to 100 metres. It finally ...
originates in the North Sea. The so-called East Iceland Current transports cold water south from the Norwegian Sea toward Iceland and then east, along the Arctic Circle
The Arctic Circle is one of the two polar circles, and the most northerly of the five major circles of latitude as shown on maps of Earth. Its southern equivalent is the Antarctic Circle.
The Arctic Circle marks the southernmost latitude at w ...
; this current occurs in the middle water layer. Deep water flows into the Norwegian Sea from the Greenland Sea.[ The tides in the sea are semi-diurnal; that is, they rise twice a day, to a height of about 3.3 metres.][
]
Surface currents
The hydrology of the upper water layers is largely determined by the flow from the North Atlantic. It reaches a speed of 10 Sv (1 Sv = million m3/s) and its maximum depth is 700 metres at the Lofoten Islands, but normally it is within 500 metres.[ Part of it comes through the Faroe-Shetland Channel and has a comparatively high ]salinity
Salinity () is the saltiness or amount of salt dissolved in a body of water, called saline water (see also soil salinity). It is usually measured in g/L or g/kg (grams of salt per liter/kilogram of water; the latter is dimensionless and equal ...
of 35.3‰ (parts per thousand). This current originates in the North Atlantic Current and passes along the European continental slope; increased evaporation due to the warm European climate results in the elevated salinity. Another part passes through the Greenland-Scotland trench between the Faroe Islands and Iceland
Iceland ( is, Ísland; ) is a Nordic island country in the North Atlantic Ocean and in the Arctic Ocean. Iceland is the most sparsely populated country in Europe. Iceland's capital and largest city is Reykjavík, which (along with its s ...
; this water has a mean salinity between 35 and 35.2‰.[ Aken, 2007, pp. 119–124] The flow shows strong seasonal variations and can be twice as high in winter as in summer. While at the Faroe-Shetland Channel it has a temperature of about 9.5 °C; it cools to about 5 °C at Svalbard and releases this energy (about 250 terawatts) to the environment.[Roald Sætre ''Driving forces'' in: Sætre, 2007, pp. 44–58][
The current flowing from the ]North Sea
The North Sea lies between Great Britain, Norway, Denmark, Germany, the Netherlands and Belgium. An epeiric sea on the European continental shelf, it connects to the Atlantic Ocean through the English Channel in the south and the Norwegian S ...
originates in the Baltic Sea and thus collects most of the drainage from northern Europe; this contribution is however relatively small.[ Sætre, 2007, pp. 44–58] The temperature and salinity of this current show strong seasonal and annual fluctuations. Long-term measurements within the top 50 metres near the coast show a maximum temperature of 11.2 °C at the 63° N parallel in September and a minimum of 3.9 °C at the North Cape in March. The salinity varies between 34.3 and 34.6‰ and is lowest in spring owing to the inflow of melted snow from rivers.[ The largest rivers discharging into the sea are ]Namsen
or is one of the longest rivers in Trøndelag county, in the central part of Norway. The long river flows through the municipalities of Røyrvik, Namsskogan, Grong, Overhalla, and Namsos before emptying into the Namsenfjorden. The river is ...
, Ranelva
Ranelva is a long river in the municipality of Rana, Norway, Rana in Nordland county, Norway. It is one of the longest rivers in Nordland county. The Drainage basin, catchment area of the river is . Before the power stations of ''Reinforsen'' ( ...
and Vefsna
, also known as or , is the largest river in Nordland county, Norway. It is long and drains a watershed of . Its headwaters lie in the mountains of Børgefjell National Park at the lake Simskardvatnet. The river runs through the municipaliti ...
. They are all relatively short, but have a high discharge rate owing to their steep mountainous nature.
A portion of the warm surface water flows directly, within the West Spitsbergen Current
The West Spitsbergen Current (WSC) is a warm, salty current that runs poleward just west of Spitsbergen, (formerly called West Spitsbergen), in the Arctic Ocean. The WSC branches off the Norwegian Atlantic Current in the Norwegian Sea. The WSC is ...
, from the Atlantic Ocean, off the Greenland Sea, to the Arctic Ocean. This current has a speed of 3–5 Sv and has a large impact on the climate.[ Tyler, 2003, pp. 45–49] Other surface water (~1 Sv) flows along the Norwegian coast in the direction of the Barents Sea
The Barents Sea ( , also ; no, Barentshavet, ; russian: Баренцево море, Barentsevo More) is a marginal sea of the Arctic Ocean, located off the northern coasts of Norway and Russia and divided between Norwegian and Russian territo ...
. This water may cool enough in the Norwegian Sea to submerge into the deeper layers; there it displaces water that flows back into the North Atlantic.[ Tyler, 2003, pp. 115–116]
Arctic water from the East Iceland Current is mostly found in the southwestern part of the sea, near Greenland. Its properties also show significant annual fluctuations, with long-term average temperature being below 3 °C and salinity between 34.7 and 34.9‰.[ The fraction of this water on the sea surface depends on the strength of the current, which in turn depends on the pressure difference between the ]Icelandic Low
The Icelandic Low is a semi-permanent centre of low atmospheric pressure found between Iceland and southern Greenland and extending in the Northern Hemisphere winter into the Barents Sea. In the summer, it weakens and splits into two centres, on ...
and Azores High
The Azores High also known as North Atlantic (Subtropical) High/Anticyclone or the Bermuda-Azores High, is a large subtropical semi-permanent centre of high atmospheric pressure typically found south of the Azores in the Atlantic Ocean, at the Hor ...
: the larger the difference, the stronger the current.[ ICES, 2007, pp. 2–4]
Deep-sea currents
The Norwegian Sea is connected with the Greenland Sea and the Arctic Ocean by the 2,600-metre deep Fram Strait
The Fram Strait is the passage between Greenland and Svalbard, located roughly between 77°N and 81°N latitudes and
centered on the prime meridian. The Greenland and Norwegian Seas lie south of Fram Strait, while the Nansen Basin of the Arctic ...
.[ Tyler, 2003, pp. 240–260] The Norwegian Sea Deep Water (NSDW) occurs at depths exceeding 2,000 metres; this homogeneous layer with a salinity of 34.91‰ experiences little exchange with the adjacent seas. Its temperature is below 0 °C and drops to −1 °C at the ocean floor.[ Compared with the deep waters of the surrounding seas, NSDW has more nutrients but less oxygen and is relatively old.][ Aken, 2007, pp. 131–138]
The weak deep-water exchange with the Atlantic Ocean is due to the small depth of the relatively flat Greenland-Scotland Ridge between Scotland and Greenland, an offshoot of the Mid-Atlantic Ridge
The Mid-Atlantic Ridge is a mid-ocean ridge (a divergent or constructive plate boundary) located along the floor of the Atlantic Ocean, and part of the longest mountain range in the world. In the North Atlantic, the ridge separates the North Ame ...
. Only four areas of the Greenland-Scotland Ridge are deeper than 500 metres: the Faroe-Bank Channel (about 850 metres), some parts of the Iceland-Faroe Ridge (about 600 metres), the Wyville-Thomson Ridge
The Wyville Thomson Ridge is a bathymetric feature of the North Atlantic Ocean floor ca. 200 km in length, located between the Faroe Islands and Scotland. The ridge separates the Faroe–Shetland Channel to the north from the Rockall Trough ...
(620 metres), and areas between Greenland
Greenland ( kl, Kalaallit Nunaat, ; da, Grønland, ) is an island country in North America that is part of the Kingdom of Denmark. It is located between the Arctic and Atlantic oceans, east of the Canadian Arctic Archipelago. Greenland is t ...
and the Denmark Strait
The Denmark Strait () or Greenland Strait ( , 'Greenland Sound') is an oceanic strait between Greenland to its northwest and Iceland to its southeast. The Norwegian island of Jan Mayen lies northeast of the strait.
Geography
The strait connect ...
(850 metres) – this is much shallower than the Norwegian Sea. Cold deep water flows into the Atlantic through various channels: about 1.9 Sv through the Faroe Bank channel, 1.1 Sv through the Iceland-Faroe channel, and 0.1 Sv via the Wyville-Thomson Ridge.[ Skreslet & NATO, 2005, p. 93] The turbulence that occurs when the deep water falls behind the Greenland-Scotland Ridge into the deep Atlantic basin mixes the adjacent water layers and forms the North Atlantic Deep Water
North Atlantic Deep Water (NADW) is a deep water mass formed in the North Atlantic Ocean. Thermohaline circulation (properly described as meridional overturning circulation) of the world's oceans involves the flow of warm surface waters from the ...
, one of two major deep-sea currents providing the deep ocean with oxygen.[Ronald E. Hester, Roy M. Harrison ''Biodiversity Under Threat'', Royal Society of Chemistry, 2007 , p. 96]
Climate
The thermohaline circulation affects the climate in the Norwegian Sea, and the regional climate can significantly deviate from average. There is also a difference of about 10 °C between the sea and the coastline. Temperatures rose between 1920 and 1960,[Gerold Wefer, Frank Lamy, Fauzi Mantour]
''Marine Science Frontiers for Europe''
Springer, 2003 , pp. 32–35 and the frequency of storms decreased in this period. The storminess was relatively high between 1880 and 1910, decreased significantly in 1910–1960, and then recovered to the original level.Matti Seppälä
Matti Kullervo Seppälä (5 September 1941 in Vaasa – 24 November 2020 in Hämeenlinna) was a Finnish geomorphologist specialized in cold climate aeolian processes.
Seppälä obtained a Ph.D. at the University of Turku in 1971 and moved after t ...
br>''The Physical Geography of Fennoscandia''
Oxford University Press, 2005 , pp. 121–141
In contrast to the Greenland Sea and Arctic seas, the Norwegian Sea is ice-free year round, owing to its warm currents.[ The convection between the relatively warm water and cold air in the winter plays an important role in the Arctic climate.][ Schaefer, 2001, pp. 10–17] The 10-degree July isotherm (air temperature line) runs through the northern boundary of the Norwegian Sea and is often taken as the southern boundary of the Arctic.[Kieran Mulvane]
''At the Ends of the Earth: A History of the Polar Regions''
Iceland Press, 2001 , p. 23 In winter, the Norwegian Sea generally has the lowest air pressure in the entire Arctic and where most Icelandic Low
The Icelandic Low is a semi-permanent centre of low atmospheric pressure found between Iceland and southern Greenland and extending in the Northern Hemisphere winter into the Barents Sea. In the summer, it weakens and splits into two centres, on ...
depressions form. The water temperature in most parts of the sea is 2–7 °C in February and 8–12 °C in August.[
]
Flora and fauna
The Norwegian Sea is a transition zone between boreal and Arctic conditions, and thus contains flora and fauna characteristic of both climatic regions.[ Blindheim, 1989, pp. 366–382] The southern limit of many Arctic species runs through the North Cape, Iceland, and the center of the Norwegian Sea, while the northern limit of boreal species lies near the borders of the Greenland Sea with the Norwegian Sea and Barents Sea; that is, these areas overlap. Some species like the scallop
Scallop () is a common name that encompasses various species of marine bivalve mollusks in the taxonomic family Pectinidae, the scallops. However, the common name "scallop" is also sometimes applied to species in other closely related families ...
'' Chlamys islandica'' and capelin
The capelin or caplin (''Mallotus villosus'') is a small forage fish of the smelt family found in the North Atlantic, North Pacific and Arctic oceans. In summer, it grazes on dense swarms of plankton at the edge of the ice shelf. Larger capelin ...
tend to occupy this area between the Atlantic and Arctic oceans.[ Skreslet & NATO, 2005, pp. 103–114]
Plankton and sea bottom organisms
Most of the aquatic life in the Norwegian Sea is concentrated in the upper layers. Estimates for the entire North Atlantic are that only 2% of biomass is produced at depths below 1,000 metres and only 1.2% occurs near the sea floor.[Andrea Schröder-Ritzrau ''et al.'', ]
Distribution, export and alteration of plankton in the Norwegian Sea Fossiliziable
'. Schaefer, 2001, pp. 81–104
The blooming of the phytoplankton
Phytoplankton () are the autotrophic (self-feeding) components of the plankton community and a key part of ocean and freshwater ecosystems. The name comes from the Greek words (), meaning 'plant', and (), meaning 'wanderer' or 'drifter'.
Ph ...
is dominated by chlorophyll
Chlorophyll (also chlorophyl) is any of several related green pigments found in cyanobacteria and in the chloroplasts of algae and plants. Its name is derived from the Greek words , ("pale green") and , ("leaf"). Chlorophyll allow plants to a ...
and peaks around 20 May. The major phytoplankton forms are diatoms
A diatom (New Latin, Neo-Latin ''diatoma''), "a cutting through, a severance", from el, διάτομος, diátomos, "cut in half, divided equally" from el, διατέμνω, diatémno, "to cut in twain". is any member of a large group com ...
, in particular the genus ''Thalassiosira
''Thalassiosira'' is a genus of centric diatoms, comprising over 100 marine and freshwater species. It is a diverse group of photosynthetic eukaryotes that make up a vital part of marine and freshwater ecosystems, in which they are key primary pr ...
'' and ''Chaetoceros
''Chaetoceros'' is probably the largest genus of marine planktonic diatoms with approximately 400 species described, although many of these descriptions are no longer valid. It is often very difficult to distinguish between different ''Chaet ...
''. After the spring bloom the haptophytes
The haptophytes, classified either as the Haptophyta, Haptophytina or Prymnesiophyta (named for '' Prymnesium''), are a clade of algae.
The names Haptophyceae or Prymnesiophyceae are sometimes used instead. This ending implies classification at ...
of the genus '' Phaecocystis pouchetti'' become dominant.[ ICES, 2007, pp. 5–8]
File:Hyperia.jpg, Hyperiidea
File:Pandborealisind.jpg, Shrimp ''Pandalus borealis
''Pandalus borealis'' is a species of caridean shrimp found in cold parts of the northern Atlantic and northern Pacific Oceans, although the latter population now often is regarded as a separate species, ''P. eous''. The Food and Agriculture Orga ...
''
File:Lophelia pertusa.jpg, '' Lophelia pertusa''
File:Meganyctiphanes norvegica.jpg, ''Meganyctiphanes norvegica
Northern krill (''Meganyctiphanes norvegica'') is a species of krill that lives in the North Atlantic Ocean. It is an important component of the zooplankton, providing food for whales, seals, fish and birds. (In the Southern Ocean, Antarctic kril ...
''
Zooplankton is mostly represented by the copepods ''Calanus finmarchicus'' and ''Calanus hyperboreus'', where the former occurs about four times more often than the latter and is mostly found in the Atlantic streams, whereas ''C. hyperboreus'' dominates the Arctic waters; they are the main diet of most marine predators. The most important krill species are ''Meganyctiphanes norvegica
Northern krill (''Meganyctiphanes norvegica'') is a species of krill that lives in the North Atlantic Ocean. It is an important component of the zooplankton, providing food for whales, seals, fish and birds. (In the Southern Ocean, Antarctic kril ...
'', '' Thyssanoessa inermis'', and '' Thyssanoessa longicaudata''. In contrast to the Greenland Sea, there is a significant presence of calcareous
Calcareous () is an adjective meaning "mostly or partly composed of calcium carbonate", in other words, containing lime or being chalky. The term is used in a wide variety of scientific disciplines.
In zoology
''Calcareous'' is used as an adje ...
plankton (Coccolithophore
Coccolithophores, or coccolithophorids, are single celled organisms which are part of the phytoplankton, the autotrophic (self-feeding) component of the plankton community. They form a group of about 200 species, and belong either to the kingdo ...
and Globigerinida) in the Norwegian Sea. Plankton production strongly fluctuates between years. For example, ''C. finmarchicus'' yield was 28 g/m2 (dry weight) in 1995 and only 8 g/m2 in 1997; this correspondingly affected the population of all its predators.
Shrimp of the species ''Pandalus borealis
''Pandalus borealis'' is a species of caridean shrimp found in cold parts of the northern Atlantic and northern Pacific Oceans, although the latter population now often is regarded as a separate species, ''P. eous''. The Food and Agriculture Orga ...
'' play an important role in the diet of fish, particularly cod and blue whiting
The blue whiting (''Micromesistius poutassou'') one of the two species in the genus '' Micromesistius'' in the family Gadidae, which also contains cod, haddock, whiting, and pollock. It is common in the northeast Atlantic Ocean from Morocco to ...
, and mostly occur at depths between 200 and 300 metres. A special feature of the Norwegian Sea is extensive coral reefs of '' Lophelia pertusa'', which provide shelter to various fish species. Although these corals are widespread in many peripheral areas of the North Atlantic, they never reach such amounts and concentrations as at the Norwegian continental slopes. However, they are at risk due to increasing trawling
Trawling is a method of fishing that involves pulling a fishing net through the water behind one or more boats. The net used for trawling is called a trawl. This principle requires netting bags which are towed through water to catch different spec ...
, which mechanically destroys the coral reefs.
Fish
The Norwegian coastal waters are the most important spawning ground of the herring populations of the North Atlantic, and the hatching occurs in March. The eggs float to the surface and are washed off the coast by the northward current. Whereas a small herring population remains in the fjords and along the northern Norwegian coast, the majority spends the summer in the Barents Sea, where it feeds on the rich plankton. Upon reaching puberty, herring returns to the Norwegian Sea.[ Blindheim, 1989, pp. 382–401] The herring stock varies greatly between years. It increased in the 1920s owing to the milder climate and then collapsed in the following decades until 1970; the decrease was, however, at least partly caused by overfishing. The biomass of young hatched herring declined from 11 million tonnes in 1956 to almost zero in 1970; that affected the ecosystem not only of the Norwegian Sea but also of the Barents Sea.[Olav Schram Stokke ''Governing High Seas Fisheries: The Interplay of Global and Regional regime,'' Oxford University Press, 2001 , pp. 241–255]
Enforcement of environmental and fishing regulations has resulted in partial recovery of the herring populations since 1987. This recovery was accompanied by a decline of capelin and cod stocks. While the capelin benefited from the reduced fishing, the temperature rise in the 1980s and competition for food with the herring resulted in a near disappearance of young capelin from the Norwegian Sea.[Gene S. Helfman ''Fish Conservation: A Guide to Understanding and Restoring Global Aquatic Biodiversity and Fishery Resources'', Iceland Press, 2007 , pp. 321–323] Meanwhile, the elderly capelin population was quickly fished out. This also reduced the population of cod – a major predator of capelin – as the herring was still too small in numbers to replace the capelin in the cod's diet.[National Research Council (U.S.). Committee on Ecosystem Management for Sustainable Marine Fisheries: Sustaining Marine Fisheries, National Academies Press, 1999, , p. 46]
Blue whiting
The blue whiting (''Micromesistius poutassou'') one of the two species in the genus '' Micromesistius'' in the family Gadidae, which also contains cod, haddock, whiting, and pollock. It is common in the northeast Atlantic Ocean from Morocco to ...
(''Micromesistius poutassou'') has benefited from the decline of the herring and capelin stocks as it assumed the role of major predator of plankton. The blue whiting spawns near the British Isles. The sea currents carry their eggs to the Norwegian Sea, and the adults also swim there to benefit from the food supply. The young spend the summer and the winter until February in Norwegian coastal waters and then return to the warmer waters west of Scotland.[ The Norwegian Arctic cod mostly occurs in the Barents Sea and at the ]Svalbard
Svalbard ( , ), also known as Spitsbergen, or Spitzbergen, is a Norwegian archipelago in the Arctic Ocean. North of mainland Europe, it is about midway between the northern coast of Norway and the North Pole. The islands of the group range ...
Archipelago. In the rest of the Norwegian Sea, it is found only during the reproduction season, at the Lofoten Islands, whereas ''Pollachius virens
The saithe ( or ) (''Pollachius virens'') is a species of marine fish in the Pollock genus ''Pollachius''. Together with '' P. pollachius'', it is generally referred to in the United States as pollock. Other names include the Boston blue (separa ...
'' and haddock
The haddock (''Melanogrammus aeglefinus'') is a saltwater ray-finned fish from the family Gadidae, the true cods. It is the only species in the monotypic genus ''Melanogrammus''. It is found in the North Atlantic Ocean and associated seas where ...
spawn in the coastal waters.[ ]Mackerel
Mackerel is a common name applied to a number of different species of pelagic fish, mostly from the family Scombridae. They are found in both temperate and tropical seas, mostly living along the coast or offshore in the oceanic environment.
...
is an important commercial fish. The coral reefs are populated by different species of the genus ''Sebastes
''Sebastes'' is a genus of marine ray-finned fish belonging to the subfamily Sebastinae part of the family Scorpaenidae, most of which have the common name of rockfish. A few are called ocean perch, sea perch or redfish instead. They are found i ...
''.
Mammals and birds
Significant numbers of minke, humpback, sei, and orca
The orca or killer whale (''Orcinus orca'') is a toothed whale belonging to the oceanic dolphin family, of which it is the largest member. It is the only Extant taxon, extant species in the genus ''Orcinus'' and is recognizable by its black ...
whales are present in the Norwegian Sea,[Erich Hoyt: ''Marine Protected Areas for Whales, Dolphins, and Porpoises'' Earthscan, 2005 , pp. 120–128] and white-beaked dolphin
The white-beaked dolphin (''Lagenorhynchus albirostris'') is a marine mammal belonging to the family Delphinidae (oceanic dolphins) in the suborder Odontoceti (toothed whales).
Taxonomy
The species was first described by the British taxonomist ...
s occur in the coastal waters.[ Klinowska, 1991, p. 138] Orcas and some other whales visit the sea in the summer months for feeding; their population is closely related to the herring stocks, and they follow the herring schools within the sea. With a total population of about 110,000, minke whales are by far the most common whales in the sea. They are hunted by Norway and Iceland, with a quota of about 1,000 per year in Norway. In contrast to the past, nowadays primarily their meat is consumed, rather than fat and oil.
The bowhead whale
The bowhead whale (''Balaena mysticetus'') is a species of baleen whale belonging to the family Balaenidae and the only living representative of the genus ''Balaena''. They are the only baleen whale endemic to the Arctic and subarctic waters, ...
used to be a major plankton predator, but it almost disappeared from the Norwegian Sea after intense whaling in the 19th century, and was temporarily extinct in the entire North Atlantic. Similarly, the blue whale
The blue whale (''Balaenoptera musculus'') is a marine mammal and a baleen whale. Reaching a maximum confirmed length of and weighing up to , it is the largest animal known to have ever existed. The blue whale's long and slender body can ...
used to form large groups between Jan Mayen and Spitsbergen, but is hardly present nowadays.[ Johnson, 1982, pp. 95–101] Observations of northern bottlenose whale
The northern bottlenose whale (''Hyperoodon ampullatus'') is a species of beaked whale in the ziphiid family, being one of two members of the genus ''Hyperoodon''. The northern bottlenose whale was hunted heavily by Norway and Britain in the 19 ...
s in the Norwegian Sea are rare.[ Klinowska, 1991, p. 320] Other large animals of the sea are hooded
A hood is a kind of headgear that covers most of the human head, head and neck, and sometimes the face. Hoods that cover mainly the sides and top of the head, and leave the face mostly or partly open may be worn for protection from the environm ...
and harp seal
The harp seal (''Pagophilus groenlandicus''), also known as Saddleback Seal or Greenland Seal, is a species of earless seal, or true seal, native to the northernmost Atlantic Ocean and Arctic Ocean. Originally in the genus ''Phoca'' with a number ...
s and squid
True squid are molluscs with an elongated soft body, large eyes, eight arms, and two tentacles in the superorder Decapodiformes, though many other molluscs within the broader Neocoleoidea are also called squid despite not strictly fitting t ...
.
Important waterfowl species of the Norwegian Sea are puffin, kittiwake
The kittiwakes (genus ''Rissa'') are two closely related seabird species in the gull family Laridae, the black-legged kittiwake (''Rissa tridactyla'') and the red-legged kittiwake (''Rissa brevirostris''). The epithets "black-legged" and "red-l ...
and guillemot
Guillemot is the common name for several species of seabird in the Alcidae or auk family (part of the order Charadriiformes). In British use, the term comprises two genera: '' Uria'' and ''Cepphus''. In North America the ''Uria'' species ...
. Puffins and guillemots also suffered from the collapse of the herring population, especially the puffins on the Lofoten Islands. The latter hardly had an alternative to herring and their population was approximately halved between 1969 and 1987.[Simon Jennings ''et al.']
Marine Fisheries Ecology
Blackwell Publishing, 2001 , p. 297
Human activities
Norway, Iceland, and Denmark/Faroe Islands share the territorial waters of the Norwegian Sea, with the largest part belonging to the first. Norway has claimed twelve-mile limit as territorial waters since 2004 and an exclusive economic zone of 200 miles since 1976. Consequently, due to the Norwegian islands of Svalbard and Jan Mayen, the southeast, northeast and northwest edge of the sea fall within Norway. The southwest border is shared between Iceland and Denmark/Faroe Islands.
According to the Føroyingasøga, Norse settlers arrived on the islands around the 8th Century. King Harald Fairhair is credited with being the driving force to colonize these islands as well as others in the Norwegian sea.
The largest damage to the Norwegian Sea was caused by extensive fishing, whaling, and pollution. Other contamination is mostly by oil and toxic substances,[Alf Håkon Noel ''The Performance of Exclusive Economic Zones – The Case of Norway'' in: Syma A. Ebbin et al. ''A Sea Change: The Exclusive Economic Zone and Governance Institutions for Living Marine Resources'', Springer, 2005 ] but also from the great number of ships sunk during the two world wars.[ Tyler, 2003, p. 434] The environmental protection of the Norwegian Sea is mainly regulated by the OSPAR
The Convention for the Protection of the Marine Environment of the North-East Atlantic or OSPAR Convention is the current legislative instrument regulating international cooperation on environmental protection in the North-East Atlantic. Work ...
Convention.
Fishing and whaling
Fishing has been practised near the Lofoten archipelago for hundreds of years. The coastal waters of the remote Lofoten islands are one of the richest fishing areas in Europe, as most of the Atlantic cod swims to the coastal waters of Lofoten in the winter to spawn. So in the 19th century, dried cod was one of Norway's main exports and by far the most important industry in northern Norway. Strong sea currents, maelstrom
Maelstrom may refer to:
* Maelstrom (whirlpool), a powerful whirlpool
** originally the Moskstraumen in English
Amusement rides
* Maelstrom (ride), a former log flume dark ride attraction in the Epcot theme park at Walt Disney World Resort ...
s, and especially frequent storms made fishing a dangerous occupation: several hundred men died on the "Fatal Monday" in March 1821, 300 of them from a single parish
A parish is a territorial entity in many Christian denominations, constituting a division within a diocese. A parish is under the pastoral care and clerical jurisdiction of a priest, often termed a parish priest, who might be assisted by one or m ...
, and about a hundred boats with their crews were lost within a short time in April 1875.[Tim Denis Smit]
''Scaling Fisheries: The Science of Measuring the Effects of Fishing, 1855–1955''
Cambridge University Press, 1994 , pp. 10–15
Over the last century, the Norwegian Sea has been suffering from overfishing. In 2018, 41% of stocks were excessively harvested. Two out of sixteen of the Total Allowed Catches (TACs) agreed upon by the European Union
The European Union (EU) is a supranational political and economic union of member states that are located primarily in Europe. The union has a total area of and an estimated total population of about 447million. The EU has often been des ...
(EU) and Norway follow scientific advice. Nine of those TACs are at least 25% above scientific advice. While the other five are set above scientific evidence when excluding landing obligation. Under the Common Fisheries Policy (CFP), the EU committed to phase out overfishing by 2015, 2020 at the absolute latest. As of 2019, the EU was reported to not be on path to achieving that goal.
Whaling was also important for the Norwegian Sea. In the early 1600s, the Englishman Stephen Bennet started hunting walrus
The walrus (''Odobenus rosmarus'') is a large pinniped, flippered marine mammal with a discontinuous distribution about the North Pole in the Arctic Ocean and subarctic seas of the Northern Hemisphere. The walrus is the only living species in ...
at Bear Island. In May 1607 the Muscovy Company
The Muscovy Company (also called the Russia Company or the Muscovy Trading Company russian: Московская компания, Moskovskaya kompaniya) was an English trading company chartered in 1555. It was the first major chartered joint s ...
, while looking for the Northwest Passage
The Northwest Passage (NWP) is the sea route between the Atlantic and Pacific oceans through the Arctic Ocean, along the northern coast of North America via waterways through the Canadian Arctic Archipelago. The eastern route along the Arct ...
and exploring the sea, discovered the large populations of walrus and whales in the Norwegian Sea and started hunting them in 1610 near Spitsbergen
Spitsbergen (; formerly known as West Spitsbergen; Norwegian: ''Vest Spitsbergen'' or ''Vestspitsbergen'' , also sometimes spelled Spitzbergen) is the largest and the only permanently populated island of the Svalbard archipelago in northern Norw ...
.[ Richards, 2006, pp. 589–596] Later in the 17th century, Dutch ships started hunting bowhead whales near Jan Mayen
Jan Mayen () is a Norwegian volcanic island in the Arctic Ocean with no permanent population. It is long (southwest-northeast) and in area, partly covered by glaciers (an area of around the Beerenberg volcano). It has two parts: larger nort ...
; the bowhead population between Svalbard and Jan Mayen was then about 25,000 individuals.[ Richards, 2006, pp. 574–580] Britons and Dutch were then joined by Germans, Danes
Danes ( da, danskere, ) are a North Germanic ethnic group and nationality native to Denmark and a modern nation identified with the country of Denmark. This connection may be ancestral, legal, historical, or cultural.
Danes generally regard t ...
, and Norwegians. Between 1615 and 1820, the waters between Jan Mayen, Svalbard, Bear Island, and Greenland, between the Norwegian, Greenland, and Barents Seas, were the most productive whaling area in the world. However, extensive hunting had wiped out the whales in that region by the early 20th century.
Sea monsters and maelstroms
For many centuries, the Norwegian Sea was regarded as the edge of the known world. The disappearance of ships there, due to the natural disasters, induced legends of monsters that stopped and sank ships ( kraken). As late as in 1845, the ''Encyclopædia metropolitana
''The Encyclopædia Metropolitana'' was an encyclopedic work published in London, from 1817 to 1845, by part publication. In all it came to quarto, 30 vols., having been issued in 59 parts (22,426 pages, 565 plates).
Origins
Initially the proje ...
'' contained a multi-page review by Erik Pontoppidan
Erik Ludvigsen Pontoppidan (24 August 1698 – 20 December 1764) was a Danish author, a Lutheran bishop of the Church of Norway, an historian, and an antiquarian. His Catechism of the Church of Denmark heavily influenced Danish and Norwegian reli ...
(1698–1764) on ship-sinking sea monsters half a mile in size.[''Octopus'' in:. E. Smedley et al. (Eds): ''Encyclopædia metropolitana; or, universal dictionary of knowledge'' in 1845, pp. 326–330] Many legends might be based on the work ''Historia de gentibus septentrionalibus
''Historia de Gentibus Septentrionalibus'' was a monumental work by Olaus Magnus on the Nordic countries, printed in Rome 1555. It was a work which long remained for the rest of Europe the authority on Swedish matters. Its popularity increase ...
'' of 1539 by Olaus Magnus
Olaus Magnus (October 1490 – 1 August 1557) was a Swedish writer, cartographer, and Catholic ecclesiastic.
Biography
Olaus Magnus (a Latin translation of his birth name Olof Månsson) was born in Linköping in October 1490. Like his elder ...
, which described the kraken and maelstroms of the Norwegian Sea.[Terry Glavin ''The Sixth Extinction: Journeys Among the Lost and Left Behind'', Macmillan, 2007 , p. 149] The kraken also appears in Alfred Tennyson
Alfred Tennyson, 1st Baron Tennyson (6 August 1809 – 6 October 1892) was an English poet. He was the Poet Laureate during much of Queen Victoria's reign. In 1829, Tennyson was awarded the Chancellor's Gold Medal at Cambridge for one of his ...
's poem of the same name, in Herman Melville's ''Moby Dick
''Moby-Dick; or, The Whale'' is an 1851 novel by American writer Herman Melville. The book is the sailor Ishmael's narrative of the obsessive quest of Ahab, captain of the whaling ship ''Pequod'', for revenge against Moby Dick, the giant whit ...
'', and in ''Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea
''Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Seas'' (french: Vingt mille lieues sous les mers) is a classic science fiction adventure novel by French writer Jules Verne.
The novel was originally serialized from March 1869 through June 1870 in Pierre-Ju ...
'' by Jules Verne
Jules Gabriel Verne (;''Longman Pronunciation Dictionary''. ; 8 February 1828 – 24 March 1905) was a French novelist, poet, and playwright. His collaboration with the publisher Pierre-Jules Hetzel led to the creation of the ''Voyages extraor ...
.
Between the Lofoten islands of Moskenesøya
Moskenesøya (lit. ''Moskenes Island'') is an island at the southern end of the Lofoten archipelago in Nordland county, Norway. The island is shared between Moskenes Municipality and Flakstad Municipality. The tidal whirlpool system known as Mos ...
and Værøy
Værøy is an island municipality in Nordland county, Norway. It is part of the traditional district of Lofoten. The administrative centre of the municipality is the village of Sørland on the main island of Værøya. The other village in Vær ...
, at the tiny Mosken
Mosken is a small uninhabited rocky island in Værøy Municipality in Nordland county, Norway. The island is located in the Lofoten archipelago about halfway between the islands of Værøya to the south and Moskenesøya to the north. The Mosken ...
island, lies the Moskenstraumen
The Moskstraumen or Moskenstraumen is a system of tidal eddies and whirlpools, one of the strongest in the world, that forms at the Lofoten archipelago in Nordland county, Norway between the Norwegian Sea and the Vestfjorden. It is located betwee ...
– a system of tidal
Tidal is the adjectival form of tide.
Tidal may also refer to:
* ''Tidal'' (album), a 1996 album by Fiona Apple
* Tidal (king), a king involved in the Battle of the Vale of Siddim
* TidalCycles, a live coding environment for music
* Tidal (servic ...
eddies
In fluid dynamics, an eddy is the swirling of a fluid and the reverse current created when the fluid is in a turbulent flow regime. The moving fluid creates a space devoid of downstream-flowing fluid on the downstream side of the object. Fluid beh ...
and a whirlpool
A whirlpool is a body of rotating water produced by opposing currents or a current running into an obstacle. Small whirlpools form when a bath or a sink is draining. More powerful ones formed in seas or oceans may be called maelstroms ( ). ''Vo ...
called a maelstrom. With a speed on the order of (the value strongly varies between sources), it is one of the strongest maelstroms in the world. It was described in the 13th century in the Old Norse
Old Norse, Old Nordic, or Old Scandinavian, is a stage of development of North Germanic languages, North Germanic dialects before their final divergence into separate Nordic languages. Old Norse was spoken by inhabitants of Scandinavia and t ...
Poetic Edda
The ''Poetic Edda'' is the modern name for an untitled collection of Old Norse anonymous narrative poems, which is distinct from the ''Prose Edda'' written by Snorri Sturluson. Several versions exist, all primarily of text from the Icelandic me ...
and remained an attractive subject for painters and writers, including Edgar Allan Poe
Edgar Allan Poe (; Edgar Poe; January 19, 1809 – October 7, 1849) was an American writer, poet, editor, and literary critic. Poe is best known for his poetry and short stories, particularly his tales of mystery and the macabre. He is wide ...
, Walter Moers
Walter Moers (; born 24 May 1957 in Mönchengladbach) is a German comic creator and author.
Life and work
Moers held odd jobs after leaving school before starting a commercial apprenticeship. He taught himself how to draw, and has been publis ...
and Jules Verne
Jules Gabriel Verne (;''Longman Pronunciation Dictionary''. ; 8 February 1828 – 24 March 1905) was a French novelist, poet, and playwright. His collaboration with the publisher Pierre-Jules Hetzel led to the creation of the ''Voyages extraor ...
. The word was introduced into the English language by Poe in his story " A Descent into the Maelström" (1841) describing the Moskenstraumen. The Moskenstraumen is created as a result of a combination of several factors, including the tides, the position of the Lofoten, and the underwater topography; unlike most other whirlpools, it is located in the open sea rather than in a channel or bay. With a diameter of 40–50 metres, it can be dangerous even in modern times to small fishing vessels that might be attracted by the abundant cod feeding on the microorganisms sucked in by the whirlpool.[Tom Kope]
''Ebb and Flow: Tides and Life on Our Once and Future Planet''
Dundurn Press, 2007 , pp. 76–79
Exploration
The fish-rich coastal waters of northern Norway have long been known and attracted skilled sailors from Iceland and Greenland. Thus most settlements in Iceland and Greenland were on the west coasts of the islands, which were also warmer due to the Atlantic currents. The first reasonably reliable map of northern Europe, the Carta marina
''Carta marina et descriptio septentrionalium terrarum'' (Latin for ''Marine map and description of the Northern lands''; commonly abbreviated ''Carta marina'') is the first map of the Nordic countries to give details and place names, created by S ...
of 1539, represents the Norwegian Sea as coastal waters and shows nothing north of the North Cape. The Norwegian Sea off the coast regions appeared on the maps in the 17th century as an important part of the then sought Northern Sea Route
The Northern Sea Route (NSR) (russian: Се́верный морско́й путь, ''Severnyy morskoy put'', shortened to Севморпуть, ''Sevmorput'') is a shipping route officially defined by Russian legislation as lying east of No ...
and a rich whaling ground.[Neil Kent ''The Soul of the North: A Social, Architectural and Cultural History of the Nordic Countries, 1700–1940'', Reaktion Books, 2001 , pp. 300–302]
Jan Mayen island was discovered in 1607 and become an important base of Dutch whalers. The Dutchman Willem Barents
Willem Barentsz (; – 20 June 1597), anglicized as William Barents or Barentz, was a Dutch navigator, cartographer, and Arctic explorer.
Barentsz went on three expeditions to the far north in search for a Northeast passage. He reached as fa ...
discovered Bear Island and Svalbard
Svalbard ( , ), also known as Spitsbergen, or Spitzbergen, is a Norwegian archipelago in the Arctic Ocean. North of mainland Europe, it is about midway between the northern coast of Norway and the North Pole. The islands of the group range ...
, which was then used by Russian whalers called pomors
Pomors or Pomory ( rus, помо́ры, p=pɐˈmorɨ, ''seasiders'') are an ethnographic group descended from Russian settlers, primarily from Veliky Novgorod, living on the White Sea coasts and the territory whose southern border lies on a ...
. The islands on the edge of the Norwegian Sea have been rapidly divided between nations. During the peaks of whaling, some 300 ships with 12,000 crew members were yearly visiting Svalbard.
The first depth measurements of the Norwegian Sea were performed in 1773 by Constantine Phipps aboard HMS ''Racehorse'', as a part of his North Pole expedition.[Colin Summerhayes, "The exploration of the sea floor" in Margaret Deacon et al. (Eds) ''Understanding the oceans: a century of ocean exploration'', Routledge, 2001 , p. 93] Systematic oceanographic research in the Norwegian Sea started in the late 19th century, when declines in the yields of cod and herring off the Lofoten prompted the Norwegian government to investigate the matter.[ Mills, 2001, pp. 41–43] The zoologist Georg Ossian Sars
Prof Georg Ossian Sars HFRSE (20 April 1837 – 9 April 1927) was a Norwegian marine and freshwater biologist.
Life
Georg Ossian Sars was born on 20 April 1837 in Kinn, Norway (now part of Flora), the son of Pastor Michael Sars and Maren Sa ...
and meteorologist Henrik Mohn persuaded the government in 1874 to send out a scientific expedition, and between 1876 and 1878 they explored much of the sea aboard ''Vøringen''.[ Mills, 2001, pp. 44–47] The data obtained allowed Mohn to establish the first dynamic model of ocean currents, which incorporated winds, pressure differences, sea water temperature, and salinity and agreed well with later measurements.[ Mills, 2001, pp. 50–53] In 2019, deposits of iron, copper, zink and cobalt were found on the Mohn Ridge, likely from hydrothermal vent
A hydrothermal vent is a fissure on the seabed from which geothermally heated water discharges. They are commonly found near volcanically active places, areas where tectonic plates are moving apart at mid-ocean ridges, ocean basins, and hotspot ...
s.
Navigation
Until the 20th century, the coasts of the Norwegian Sea were sparsely populated and therefore shipping in the sea was mostly focused on fishing, whaling, and occasional coastal transportation. Since the late 19th century, the Norwegian Coastal Express sea line has been established, connecting the more densely populated south with the north of Norway by at least one trip a day. The importance of shipping in the Norwegian Sea also increased with the expansion of the Russian and Soviet navies in the Barents Sea and development of international routes to the Atlantic through the Baltic Sea
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 ...
, Kattegat
The Kattegat (; sv, Kattegatt ) is a sea area bounded by the Jutlandic peninsula in the west, the Danish Straits islands of Denmark and the Baltic Sea to the south and the provinces of Bohuslän, Västergötland, Halland and Skåne in Sweden ...
, Skagerrak
The Skagerrak (, , ) is a strait running between the Jutland peninsula of Denmark, the southeast coast of Norway and the west coast of Sweden, connecting the North Sea and the Kattegat sea area through the Danish Straits to the Baltic Sea.
T ...
, and North Sea
The North Sea lies between Great Britain, Norway, Denmark, Germany, the Netherlands and Belgium. An epeiric sea on the European continental shelf, it connects to the Atlantic Ocean through the English Channel in the south and the Norwegian S ...
.
The Norwegian Sea is ice-free and provides a direct route from the Atlantic to the Russian ports in the Arctic (Murmansk
Murmansk (Russian: ''Мурманск'' lit. "Norwegian coast"; Finnish: ''Murmansk'', sometimes ''Muurmanski'', previously ''Muurmanni''; Norwegian: ''Norskekysten;'' Northern Sámi: ''Murmánska;'' Kildin Sámi: ''Мурман ланнҍ'') i ...
, Arkhangelsk
Arkhangelsk (, ; rus, Арха́нгельск, p=ɐrˈxanɡʲɪlʲsk), also known in English as Archangel and Archangelsk, is a types of inhabited localities in Russia, city and the administrative center of Arkhangelsk Oblast, Russia. It lies o ...
, and Kandalaksha
Kandalaksha (russian: Кандала́кша; fi, Kantalahti, also ''Kandalax'' or ''Candalax'' in the old maps; krl, Kannanlakši; sms, Käddluhtt) is a town in Kandalakshsky District of Murmansk Oblast, Russia, located at the head of Kandala ...
), which are directly linked to central Russia. This route was extensively used for supplies during World War II – of 811 US ships, 720 reached Russian ports, bringing some 4 million tonnes of cargo that included about 5,000 tanks and 7,000 aircraft. The Allies lost 18 convoys and 89 merchant ships on this route.[Edward L. Killham: ''The Nordic Way: A Path to Baltic Equilibrium'', Howells House, 1993 , p. 106] The major operations of the German Navy against the convoys included PQ 17
PQ 17 was the code name for an Allies of World War II, Allied Arctic convoys, Arctic convoy during the Second World War. On 27 June 1942, the ships sailed from Hvalfjörður, Iceland, for the port of Arkhangelsk in the Soviet Union. The convoy was ...
in July 1942, the Battle of the Barents Sea
The Battle of the Barents Sea was a World War II naval engagement on 31 December 1942 between warships of the German Navy (''Kriegsmarine'') and British ships escorting convoy JW 51B to Kola Inlet in the USSR. The action took place in the Bare ...
in December 1942, and the Battle of the North Cape
The Battle of the North Cape was a Second World War naval battle that occurred on 26 December 1943, as part of the Arctic campaign. The , on an operation to attack Arctic Convoys of war materiel from the Western Allies to the Soviet Union, wa ...
in December 1943 and were carried out around the border between the Norwegian Sea and Barents Sea, near the North Cape.
Navigation across the Norwegian Sea declined after World War II and intensified only in the 1960s–70s with the expansion of the Soviet Northern Fleet
Severnyy flot
, image = Great emblem of the Northern Fleet.svg
, image_size = 150px
, caption = Northern Fleet's great emblem
, start_date = June 1, 1733; Sov ...
, which was reflected in major joint naval exercises of the Soviet Northern Baltic fleets in the Norwegian Sea. The sea was the gateway for the Soviet Navy to the Atlantic Ocean and thus to the United States, and the major Soviet port of Murmansk
Murmansk (Russian: ''Мурманск'' lit. "Norwegian coast"; Finnish: ''Murmansk'', sometimes ''Muurmanski'', previously ''Muurmanni''; Norwegian: ''Norskekysten;'' Northern Sámi: ''Murmánska;'' Kildin Sámi: ''Мурман ланнҍ'') i ...
was just behind the border of the Norwegian and Barents Sea.[Joel J. Sokolsky ''Seapower in the Nuclear Age: The United States Navy and NATO, 1949–80'' Taylor & Francis, 1991 , pp. 83–87] The countermeasures by the NATO countries resulted in a significant naval presence in the Norwegian Sea and intense cat-and-mouse games between Soviet and NATO aircraft, ships, and especially submarines.[Olav Riste. ''NATO's Northern Front Line in 1980s'' in: Olav Njølstad: ''The Last Decade of the Cold War: From Conflict Escalation to Conflict Transformation'', Routledge, 2004 , pp. 360–371] A relic of the Cold War in the Norwegian Sea, the Soviet nuclear submarine K-278 Komsomolets, sank in 1989 southwest of Bear Island, at the border of the Norwegian and Barents seas, with radioactive material onboard that poses potential danger to flora and fauna.[Hugh D. Livingston: ''Marine Radioactivity'' Elsevier, 2004 , p. 92]
The Norwegian Sea is part of the Northern Sea Route
The Northern Sea Route (NSR) (russian: Се́верный морско́й путь, ''Severnyy morskoy put'', shortened to Севморпуть, ''Sevmorput'') is a shipping route officially defined by Russian legislation as lying east of No ...
for ships from European ports to Asia. The travel distance from Rotterdam
Rotterdam ( , , , lit. ''The Dam on the River Rotte'') is the second largest city and municipality in the Netherlands. It is in the province of South Holland, part of the North Sea mouth of the Rhine–Meuse–Scheldt delta, via the ''"N ...
to Tokyo
Tokyo (; ja, 東京, , ), officially the Tokyo Metropolis ( ja, 東京都, label=none, ), is the capital and largest city of Japan. Formerly known as Edo, its metropolitan area () is the most populous in the world, with an estimated 37.468 ...
is via the Suez Canal
The Suez Canal ( arz, قَنَاةُ ٱلسُّوَيْسِ, ') is an artificial sea-level waterway in Egypt, connecting the Mediterranean Sea to the Red Sea through the Isthmus of Suez and dividing Africa and Asia. The long canal is a popular ...
and only through the Norwegian Sea. Sea ice is a common problem in the Arctic seas, but ice-free conditions along the entire northern route were observed at the end of August 2008. Russia is planning to expand its offshore oil production in the Arctic, which should increase the traffic of tankers through the Norwegian Sea to markets in Europe and America; it is expected that the number of oil shipments through the northern Norwegian Sea will increase from 166 in 2002 to 615 in 2015.
Oil and gas
The most important products of the Norwegian Sea are no longer fish, but oil and especially gas found under the ocean floor. Norway started undersea oil production in 1993, followed by development of the Huldra gas field in 2001.[Ann Genova ''The Politics of the Global Oil Industry'', Greenwood Publishing Group, 2005 , pp. 202–209] The large depth and harsh waters of the Norwegian Sea pose significant technical challenges for offshore drilling. Whereas drilling at depths exceeding 500 metres has been conducted since 1995, only a few deep gas fields have been explored commercially. The most important current project is Ormen Lange (depth 800–1,100 m), where gas production started in 2007. With reserves of , it is the major Norwegian gas field. It is connected to the Langeled pipeline, currently the world's longest underwater pipeline, and thus to a major European gas pipeline network.[''Country Analysis Briefs: Norway''](_blank)
Energy Information Administration Several other gas fields are being developed. As of 2019, there is an estimated 6.5 hm3 of crude oil in the Norwegian Sea, with an expectation to increase oil production in the region up until 2025. A particular challenge is the Kristin field, where the temperature is as high as 170 °C and the gas pressure exceeds 900 bar (900 times the normal pressure).[Geo ExPro November 2004. ''Kristin – A Tough Lady''](_blank)
(pdf) Further north are Norne and Snøhvit
Snøhvit ''( en, Snow White)'' is the name of a natural gas field in the Norwegian Sea, situated northwest of Hammerfest, Norway. The northern part of the Norwegian Sea is often described as the Barents Sea by offshore petroleum companies. ''Snø ...
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See also
* List of seas
References
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{{Marginal seas of the Atlantic Ocean
Marginal seas of the Atlantic Ocean
Marginal seas of the Arctic Ocean
Seas of Norway
Bodies of water of Iceland
European seas