The Åland Sea (or the Sea of Åland; , ) is a

waterway A waterway is any Navigability, navigable body of water. Broad distinctions are useful to avoid ambiguity, and disambiguation will be of varying importance depending on the nuance of the equivalent word in other ways. A first distinction is ...

in the southern

Gulf of Bothnia The Gulf of Bothnia (; ; ) is divided into the Bothnian Bay and the Bothnian Sea, and it is the northernmost arm of the Baltic Sea, between Finland's west coast ( East Bothnia) and the northern part of Sweden's east coast ( West Bothnia an ...

, between

Åland Åland ( , ; ) is an Federacy, autonomous and Demilitarized zone, demilitarised region of Finland. Receiving its autonomy by a 1920 decision of the League of Nations, it is the smallest region of Finland by both area () and population (30,54 ...

and

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. It borders Norway to the west and north, and Finland to the east. At , Sweden is the largest Nordic count ...

. It connects the

Bothnian Sea The Bothnian Sea (; ) links the Bothnian Bay (also called the Bay of Bothnia) with the Baltic Sea, Baltic proper. Kvarken is situated between the two. Together, the Bothnian Sea and Bay make up a larger geographical entity, the Gulf of Bothnia, ...

with the Baltic Sea proper. The western part of the basin is in Swedish territorial waters while the eastern part is in Finnish territorial waters. The Åland Sea has two sub-basins. The main basin is the Åland Sea proper, also called the northern Åland Sea basin. In the south, there is the smaller Lågskär Deep, also called the Lågskär Basin or the southern Åland Sea basin. The narrowest part on the northern edge of the basin is named the Southern Quark or South Kvarken (, ). The trench running on the bottom of the Sea of Åland contains the second-deepest spot of the Baltic Sea, at a depth of 301 meters, which is second only to Landsort Deep. The mean depth of Åland Sea is 75 m, area 5,477 km² and its volume is 411 km³. The

Archipelago Sea The Archipelago Sea (, ) is a part of the Baltic Sea between the Gulf of Bothnia, the Gulf of Finland and the Sea of Åland, within Finnish territorial waters. By some definitions it contains the List of archipelagos by number of islands, larges ...

and the Åland Sea regulate water exchange between Gulf of Bothnia and Baltic Proper. Many

ferries A ferry is a boat or ship that transports passengers, and occasionally vehicles and cargo, across a body of water. A small passenger ferry with multiple stops, like those in Venice, Italy, is sometimes referred to as a water taxi or water bus. ...

moving between Finland and Sweden cross the Sea of Åland. The official English Language name of the sea area as defined by the Baltic Marine Environment Commission HELCOM, is "Åland Sea". The HELCOM nomenclature is also referenced by the International Council for the Exploration of the Sea (ICES). The same name is also used in scientific literature. Some other sources also use the name "Sea of Åland" in English.

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Sea of Aland Baltic Sea Bodies of water of Sweden Bodies of water of Finland Seas of the Atlantic Ocean Landforms of Uppsala County Landforms of Stockholm County Gulf of Bothnia