North Sea

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The North Sea (also formerly known as German Ocean and Germanic Sea^[1]; Latin: Mare Germanicum) is a marginal sea of the Atlantic Ocean, located between Norway and Denmark in the east, Scotland and England in the west, and Germany, the Netherlands, Belgium and France in the south. An offshoot of the North Sea is the Skagerrak, between Denmark, Norway, and Sweden, which connects to the Baltic Sea through the Kattegat, Öresund, the Great Belt and the Little Belt. In the south, the North Sea connects with the rest of the Atlantic through the Strait of Dover into the English Channel and in the north through the Norwegian Sea.

The Southern Bight^[2] and German Bight are considered a part of the southern area of the North Sea. The other divisions of the greater North Sea are central North Sea, northern North Sea and the Norwegian Trench.^[3]

[edit] Naming

The name of the North Sea originates from its relationship to the land of the Frisians (see Frisia). Frisia lies directly to the south of the North Sea, to the west of the East Sea (Oostzee, the Baltic Sea), to the north of the former South Sea (Zuiderzee, today's IJsselmeer) and the today reclaimed Middle Sea (Middelzee). It was known as Mare Frisia. Historia Britonum calls it the Frisian Sea. The name “North Sea” is attested in Middle High German and probably harks back to the name given by the Frisians, who settled on its south coast. Even the early Spanish name was Mar del Norte.^[4]

From the point of view, too, of the German Hanseatic towns of the Middle Ages, the sea to the east was the “East Sea” (Baltic Sea in German is literally the Ostsee), and the sea to the north, the North Sea. As a result of the spread of maps used by the Hansa merchants, this name gradually became accepted throughout Europe. Other common names in use for a long period were “Mare Frisicum“, “Oceanum“ or “Mare Germanicum“ meaning Germanic Ocean or Sea.

This name was commonly used in English and other languages along with the name North Sea, until the early eighteenth century. By the late nineteenth century, Germanic Sea was a rare, scholarly usage. In Danish the North Sea is also named Vesterhavet (besides Nordsøen), meaning Western Sea as it is located west of Denmark.

For the UK Shipping Forecast the North Sea is divided into the areas of:

[edit] Location

The North Sea spans the prime meridian. Therefore coordinates will include longitudinal coordinates which are both east as well as west of the prime meridian.^[5] For the most part, the sea lies on the European continental shelf. The only exception is a narrow area of the northern North Sea off Norway. The North Sea is bounded by the island of Great Britain to the west and by the northern and central European mainland with Norway (north-east), Denmark (east), Germany (south-east), the Netherlands (south), Belgium and France (south-west).

In the south-west the North Sea becomes the English Channel beyond the Straits of Dover, in the east it is connected to the Baltic Sea via the Skagerrak and Kattegat, and to the north it opens in a widening funnel shape to the Norwegian Sea which lies in the eastern part of the North Atlantic.

Apart from the obvious boundaries formed by the coasts of the countries which border it, the North Sea is bounded by an imaginary line from Lindesnes in Norway to Hanstholm in Denmark running towards the Skagerrak. The northern limit towards the Atlantic, by the nature of the area, is less well-defined. Traditionally, an imaginary line is taken to run from northern Scotland by way of the Shetlands to Ålesund in Norway; according to the Convention for the Protection of the Marine Environment of the North-East Atlantic ^[6]of 1962 it runs further to the west and north from longitude 5º West and latitude 62º North, at the latitude of Geirangerfjord in Norway. The main rivers which drain into the North Sea are: from the mainland, the Scheldt, the Meuse, the Rhine, the Ems, the Weser and the Elbe, as well as the Thames in England which empties into it north of the Straits of Dover.

The surface area of the North Sea is approx. 575,000 km² (222,000 mi²)^[7], with a volume of around 54,000 km³ (12,955 mi³)^[8]. This size places the North Sea at the 13th largest world wide sea.^[9]

[edit] Geology

[edit] Geological history

The bed of the North Sea forms two basins. The main northern one lies to the north of a ridge between north Norfolk and Frisia, and had its origin in the Devonian. The southern basin, if not flooded, would now drain towards the Strait of Dover and thence to the English Channel. This basin dates from the Carboniferous.^[10]

During the Devensian glacial, the most recent glaciation, much of the northern basin was covered by the ice sheet, and the remainder, including the southern basin, was tundra. However, during the Cromerian, there was a natural dam of chalk, the Weald-Artois Anticline between the South Foreland and Cap Blanc Nez. This is what is normally called the "Strait of Dover Land Bridge"^[11] but, since it collapsed (probably mainly during the Kansan glaciation), the lower ridge mentioned above has been the highest part of the land bridge between continental Europe and Great Britain during periods when the volume of the world's water locked in ice has lowered sea level worldwide.^[12]

At a moment in the post-glacial epoch, circa 8150 BC, Scotland and the Faeroe Islands experienced a tsunami up to 20 metres high caused by the Storegga Slides, an immense underwater landslip off the coast of Norway.^[13][14]

[edit] Plate tectonics

The fault lines along the English Channel cause occasional earthquakes which at times result in damage to structures on land, such as in the Dover Straits earthquake of 1580. The Central Grabens of the North Sea is an active area, as well as northwestern Europe's continental slope which is subject to landslides from earthquakes.^[15] Although not a site of major earthquakes or tsunamis, there are intraplate earthquakes which result in the uplifting of the continental crust^[16] causing landslides.^[13] The largest earthquake ever recorded in the UK was the 1931 Dogger Bank earthquake, which measured 6.1 on the Richter Scale and did cause a tsunami that flooded parts of the British coast. A more recent event along this fault caused the 2007 Kent earthquake

The North Sea is located at a triple junction of three continental plates formed during the Palaeozoic: Avalonia, Laurentia and Baltica.^[17] The Baltica plate provides the eastern coastline and the Scandinavian countries; Avalonia consists of the south and western North Sea coastline along England, North Germany and France; and Laurentia marks the northern perimeter of the North Sea with the Atlantic Ocean.

[edit] Geological features

The Norwegian trench is an oceanic trench in the North Sea off the southern coast of Norway. The trench marks the position of the subducting North Sea Plate descending beneath the lithospheric Scandinavian Plate. The trench reaches from the Stad peninsula in Sogn og Fjordane in the northwest to the Oslofjord in the southeast. The trench is between 50 and 95 kilometers wide and up to 700 metres deep. Off the Rogaland coast it is 250 - 300 metres deep, and its deepest point is off Arendal where it reaches 700 metres deep as compared to the average depth of the North Sea, which is about 100 metres.^[18]

The Dogger Bank area is composed of many shallow waters or benches that are associated with strong tides. Those represent important maritime dangers. In the East of Great Britain, the vast morainic plate of the Dogger bank rises up to -15 to -30 m^[19]

The Silver Pit is a valley-like depression 45 km (27 miles) east of Spurn Head in England that has been recognized for hundreds of years by fishermen. Nearby is the Silverpit crater, a controversial structure, which may be a geological structure or may be an impact crater.

The Long Forties denote an area of the northern North Sea that is fairly consistently forty fathoms (73 metres) deep (thus, on a nautical chart with depth shown in fathoms, a long area with many "40" notations). It is located between the northeast coast of Scotland and the southwest coast of Norway, centered about 57°N 0°30′E.

The Broad Fourteens are an area of the southern North Sea that is fairly consistently fourteen fathoms (26 metres) deep (thus, on a nautical chart with depths given in fathoms, a broad area with many "14" notations). It is located off the coast of the Netherlands and south of the Dogger Bank, roughly between longitude 3°E and 4°30′E and latitude 52°30′N and 53°30′N.

[edit] Hydrology

[edit] Basic data

The salinity of the water is dependent on place and time of year and is in the region of 15 to 25 parts per thousand (ppth) around river mouths and up to 32 to 35 ppth in the northern North Sea.^[9]

The temperature can reach 25º C (77ºF) in summer and 10º C (50ºF) in winter, varying a great deal depending on the influence of the Atlantic and the water depth, in particular because of the ocean currents. In the deeper northern North Sea, in an area south and east of the Shetlands, the water temperature remains at a nearly constant 10º C (50ºF) all year round because of the water flowing in from the Atlantic, while the greatest temperature variations are found on the very shallow Wadden Sea coast, where ice can form in very cold winters.^[9] The salt water from the North Sea flows through the English Channel and along the Scottish and English coasts out of the Atlantic and into the North Sea. The greatest fresh water suppliers are the rivers which flow into the Baltic and via the Skagerrak into the North Sea. The North Sea rivers drain a land area of 841,500 km² (324 905 mi²) and supply approximately 296 to 354 km³ (71-85 mi³) of fresh water annually. The Baltic rivers drain almost twice as large an area (1,650,000 km², 637,068 mi²) and contribute 470 km³ (113 mi³) of fresh water yearly.^[9]

[edit] Water circulation

In the catchment area of the rivers that flow into the North Sea, around 160 million people live. These rivers drain a large part of Western Europe: a quarter of France, three quarters of Germany, nearly all of Switzerland and Great Britain, half of Jutland, the entirety of the Netherlands and Belgium, the southern part of Norway, and a small part of Austria. This area contains the world's greatest concentration of industry; 15% of the planet's industrial production takes place in the catchment area of the North Sea.

Along the Danish and Norwegian coasts the water flows back into the Atlantic via the Norwegian Current. This moves at a depth of some 50 to 100 metres (165-328ft). The brackish water of the Baltic and the fresh water contributed by the North Sea rivers and the fjords result in the Current having a relatively low salinity. A part of the warmer water flowing in from the Atlantic turns northwards again along the Current and results in a warmer core in the waters. In winter the Norwgian Current has a temperature of 2 to 5ºC (36º-41ºF) and the salinity is below 34.8 ppth. The Atlantic water in the North Sea, divided from the Current by a front, is, on the other hand, at over 6º C (43ºF) with a salinity of 35 ppth. ^[9]

The water in the North Sea is completely exchanged in approximately one to two years. Within the Sea, fronts based on temperature, salinity, nutrients and pollution can be clearly identified; they are more clearly defined in summer than in winter. Large fronts are the Frisian Front, which divides water coming from the Atlantic from water originating in the English Channel, and the Danish Front, which divides coastal waters from water in the central North Sea. The inflow of water from large rivers mixes very slowly with North Sea water. Water from the Rhine and Elbe, for example, can still be clearly differentiated from sea water off the northwest coast of Denmark.

The most important rivers which flow directly into the North Sea are :

• Rhine / Meuse (Netherlands) 2,524 m³ (89,134ft³ )/ sec
• Elbe ( Lower Saxony /Schleswig-Holstein) 856 m³ (30 229ft³ )/sec
• Glomma (Norway) 603 m³ (21 295ft³)/sec
• IJsselmeer (Netherlands) 555 m³ (19600ft³)/ sec
• Weser ( Lower Saxony /Bremen) 358 m³(12,643ft³)/sec
• Skjern Å (Denmark) 206 m³ (7275ft³)/sec
• Firth of Tay (includes River Tay and River Earn)(Scotland) 203 m³ (7169ft³)/sec
• Moray Firth (includes River Spey and River Ness) 168 m³ (5933ft³)/sec
• Scheldt (Belgium/Netherlands) 126 m³ (4450ft³)/sec
• Humber (England) 125 m³ (4415ft³)/sec
• Forth (Scotland) 112 m³ (3955ft³)/sec
• Ems (Lower Saxony ) 88 m3 (3108ft³)/ sec
• Tweed (England) 85 m³(3002ft³)/sec
• Thames (England) 76 m³ (2684ft³)/sec

[edit] Tides

The tides are caused by the tide wave from the North Atlantic, as the North Sea itself is too small and too flat to have any appreciable influence. Ebb and flow alternate in a cycle of 12.5 hours. The tide wave, owing to the Coriolis effect, flows around Scotland and then in counter-clockwise direction along the English coast and reaches the German Bight some 12 hours after arriving in Scotland. In so doing, it runs around three amphidromic points: a central point lies shortly before the Straits of Dover. It is formed by the tide wave which is transported across the English Channel. It influences the tides in the narrow area of De Hoofden in the Southern Bight between southern England and the Netherlands. The other amphidromic system consists of two points close to each other which form a tide wave. The two other points just off the coast of southern Norway and lying on a line between southern Denmark and the West Frisian Islands form one single area around which the tides flow. Its central point lies on the Jutland Bank at 55° 25' N, 5° 15' E.^[9]

As a result, the tidal range in southern Norway is less than half a metre (1.5ft), but increases the further any given coast lies from the amphidromic point. Shallow coasts and the funnel effect of narrow straits increase the tidal range. The tidal range is at its greatest at The Wash on the English coast, where it reaches 6.80 metres (22ft). On the German North Sea coast, the tidal range varies between two and four metres (6.5-13ft) ^[8]depending on the shape and position of the coast. In shallow water areas the real tidal range is strongly influenced by other factors such as the position of the coast and the wind at any given moment or the action of storms. In river estuaries, high water level in the rivers can considerably amplify the effect of high tide.

[edit] Coasts

The western coasts of the North Sea are jagged, as they were stripped by glaciers during the ice ages. The coastlines along the southernmost part are soft, covered with the remains of deposited glacials which were left directly by the ice or have been redeposited by the sea. The Norwegian mountains plunge into the sea, giving birth north of Stavanger to deep fjords and archipelagoes. South of Stavanger, the coast softens, the islands become fewer. The Eastern Scottish coast is similar, however, less marked than Norway. Starting from Flamborough Head in the northeast of England, the cliffs become lower and are composed of less resistant moraine, which erodes more easily, so that the coasts have contours which are more rounded. In Holland, Belgium and in the East of England (East Anglia) the littoral is low and marshy. The East coast and south-east of the North Sea (Wadden Sea) have coastlines that are mainly sandy and straight owing to longshore currents, in particular in Belgium and in Denmark.^[20]

[edit] Northern North Sea: fjords, skerries, and cliffs

The northern North Sea coasts bear the impression of the enormous glaciers which covered them during the different Ice Ages and have created a split, craggy coastal landscape. Fjords arose by the action of glaciers which dragged their way through them from the highlands, cutting and scraping deep trenches in the land. During the subsequent rise in sea level, they filled with water. They very often display steep coastlines and, for the North Sea, are extremely deep. Fjords are particularly common on the coast of Norway.^[21]

Firths have a similar structure to fords, but are mostly shallower with broader bays in which small islands may often be found. The glaciers which formed them influenced the land over a wider area and scraped away larger surface areas. Firths are to be found mostly on the Scottish and northern English coasts. Individual islands in the firths, or islands and the coast, are often joined up by sandbars or spits made up of sand deposits known as “tombolos”.^[22]

Towards the south the firths give way to a cliff coast, which were formed above all from the moraines of Ice Age glaciers. ^[23]The horizontal impact of waves on the North Sea coast gives rise to eroded coasts; the eroded material is an important source of sediment for the mudflats on the other side of the North Sea.^[24] Large estuaries (funnel-shaped river mouths) with their corresponding mud and marshy flats disrupt the cliff landscape. The Humber and Thames in southern England have these large mouths.

In southern Norway, as well as on the Swedish Skagerrak coast, skerries are to be found. ^[25] Formed by similar action to that which created the fjords and firths, the glaciers in these places affected the land to an even greater extent, so that large areas were carried away. The coastal brim (Strandflaten), which is found especially in southern Norway, is the lowland area between the sea and the mountains. It consists of plates of bedrock, and often extends for kilometres, reaching under the sea, at a depth of only a few metres.

[edit] Southern North Sea: shoals and mudflats

The shallow-water coasts of the southern and eastern coast all the way up to Denmark were basically formed by Ice Age activity, but their shape is determined for the most part by the sea and sediment deposits.^[26] The whole of the coastal zone is shallow; the tides flood large areas and uncover them again. The water deposits sediments. In the microtidal area (a tidal range of up to 1.35 metres (4.43ft)), such as on the Dutch or Danish coasts,^[27] barrier beaches with dunes are formed. In the mesotidal area (a tidal range of between 1.35 and 2.90 metres (4.43-9.5ft)), barrier islands are formed; in the macrotidal area (above 2.90 metres (9.5ft) tidal range), such as at the mouth of the Elbe, underwater sandbanks form.

The Dutch West Frisian and the German East Frisian Islands are barrier islands. They arose along the breakers’ edge where the water surge piled up sediment, and behind which sediment was carried away by the breaking waves. In this way, over time, sandplates arose, which finally were only covered by infrequent storm floods. The first plants began to colonize the sandbanks and the land began to stabilise.^[28]

Even though today they are established islands, some of them continue to be in motion. On the East Frisian Island of Juist for example, since the year 1650 there are five different proven sites for the church, as the spot for rebuilding the church had to keep pace with the ever-moving island. At times, Juist even consisted of two islands, before it grew together once again. The neighbouring island of Wangerooge in the last 300 years has moved a distance equivalent to its own length to the east. In this process, depending on the prevailing conditions, land is eroded on the western coasts, whilst sediments are deposited on the eastern coasts. As a result, western coasts are today increasingly protected by human action. The canals between the islands serve as passages for the tides, so that in these places the scouring action of current prevents the islands gradually joining one to another.

The North Frisian Islands, on the other hand, arose from the remains of old Geestland islands, where the land was partially removed by storm floods and water action and then separated from the mainland. For this reason they are often higher and their cores are less exposed to changes than the islands to the south. Beyond the core, however, the same processes as on the West and East Frisian Islands are at work, particularly evident on Sylt, where in the south of the island, a break threatens, whilst the harbour at Lister silts up.^[29] The Danish Wadden Sea Islands, the next in the chain to the north, arose from sandbanks. Right up into the twentieth century, the silting up of the islands was a serious problem. To protect the islands, small woods were planted. On the southeastern coast there are several broad estuaries, such as the Meuse, Rhine, Weser, Elbe or Eider.

In particular, the Southern Bight has been changed by land reclamation, as the Dutch have been especially active in this matter; the largest project of this type was the diking and reclamation of the IJsselmeer. The Wadden Sea stretches between Esbjerg (Denmark) in the north and Den Helder (Netherlands) in the west. This landscape is influenced by the ebb and flow of the tides; important sections of it have been declared a National Park. The island of Helgoland is an exception, as it was not formed by sediment deposition; in fact it is considerably older and is composed of Early Triassic sandstone.

[edit] Storm tides

Storm tides threaten in particular the coasts of the Netherlands, Belgium, Germany, and Denmark. These coasts are quite flat, so that even a relatively small increase in the water levels is sufficient to put large stretches of land under water. Storms from the west are especially strong, so the most dangerous places are on the south-east coast. Over the years, floods caused by storm tides have cost hundreds of thousands of people their lives and have significantly helped to shape the coast. Until early modern times, the number of victims from a single storm tide could be in the tens of thousands, even exceeding a hundred thousand, though to what extent these historically-reported estimations are accurate can only be estimated with difficulty.

The first recorded storm tide flood was the Julianenflut, on February 17, 1164. In its wake the Jadebusen began to form. Ancient records tell of the First Marcellus Flood, which struck West Frieslandin 1219. A storm tide in 1228 is recorded to have killed more than 100,000 people. The Second Marcellus Flood also known as the Grote Mandrenke in 1362 hit the entire southern coast of the North Sea, and chronicles again record more than 100,000 deaths; large parts of the coast were destroyed and lost to the sea permanently including the now legendary town of Rungholt. (see Lost city) The Strand island emerged from the remainders. During the Burchardi flood in 1634 the Strand was destroyed. Limfjord was first connected with the North Sea on February 3, 1825 when a flood pierced an opening. In 1862, another flood pierced another opening, the Thyborøn Channel, through the remainder of Agger Tange.

In the twentieth century the North Sea flood of 1953 flooded several nations' coasts and cost more than 2000 lives.^[30] 315 citizens of Hamburg died in the North Sea flood of 1962. The "Century Flood" of 1976 and the "North Frisian Flood" of 1981 brought the highest water levels measured to date on the North Sea coast, but because of the dikes built and improved after the North Sea flood of 1962, these floods led only to property damage.^[31]

[edit] Coastal preservation

The coastal areas were originally amphibious; the land included countless islands and islets which had been divided by rivers, streams, and wetlands. Areas of dry land were regularly flooded. In areas especially vulnerable to storm tides, people settled first on natural areas of high ground such as spits and Geestland. As early as 500 BC people were constructing artificial dwelling hills which could be several metres high. It was only around the beginning of the High Middle Ages in 1200 that inhabitants began to connect single ring dikes into a dike line along the entire coast, thereby turning amphibious regions between the land and the sea into permanent solid ground.

The modern form of the dikes began to take form in the 17th and 18th centuries, built by private enterprises in the Netherlands. The Dutch dike builders exported their designs to other North Sea regions. The North Sea Floods of 1953 and 1962 were impetus for a further raising of the dikes as well as the shortening of the dike line through land reclamation and river weirs so as to present as little surface area as possible to the punishment of the sea and the storms. ^[32] Currently, 27% of the Netherlands is below sea level protected by dikes, dunes, and beach flats ^[33] .

Coastal preservation today on the flat coasts of the North Sea consists of several levels. The dike slope reduces the energy of the incoming sea, so that the dike itself does not receive the full impact. Dikes that lie directly on the sea are especially reinforced. The dikes have, over the years, been repeatedly raised, sometimes up to 10 metres (32 feet) and have become flatter in order to better reduce the erosion of the waves. Modern dikes are up to 100 metres (328 feet) across. Behind the dike there runs an access road and generally the area behind it is thinly inhabited. In many places another dike follows after several kilometers.

Where the dunes are sufficient to protect the land behind them from the sea, these dunes are now planted over with beach grass in order to protect them from the erosion from the wind, water, and foot traffic. ^[34] See also:

• Flood control in the Netherlands
• Zuiderzee Works
• Delta Works
• Thames barrier
• Afsluitdijk

[edit] Islands

main: Islands of the North Sea

[edit] History

For more details on this topic, see History of the North Sea.

[edit] The way to the British Isles

The Romans started exploring the North Sea starting 12 BC, with expeditions led by Nero Claudius Drusus and Tiberius. They conquered indigenous tribes and by 5 BC progressed to the river Elbe. Pliny the Elder describes Roman sailors going through Helgoland and as far as the northeast coast of Denmark. ^[35] Through military action by Julius Caesar and Aulus Plautius, Britain was conquered by 43 BC, establishing trade across the Channel, ending in 400 AD when Rome withdrew from Britain.

In the power vacuum left by the retreating Romans, the Germanic Angles, Saxons, and Jutes began the next great migration across the North Sea. Having already been used as mercenaries in Britain by the Romans, many people from these tribes migrated across the North Sea during the Migration Period, conquering and perhaps displacing the native Celtic populations. ^[36]

Around the seventh century a wave of Frisian migrants moved to several islands in the North Sea, and a second wave moved to what is now Nordfriesland in northern Germany and South Jutland in southern Denmark in the 11th century.

The attack on Lindisfarne in 793 is generally considered the beginning of the Viking Age. For the next 250 years the Scandinavian raiders of Norway, Sweden, and Denmark dominated the North Sea, raiding monasteries, homes, and towns along the coast and along the rivers that ran inland. According to the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle they began to settle in Britain in 851. They continued to settle in the British Isles and the continent until around 1050. ^[37]

Alfred the Great, who is counted as the first English king, was the first to mount significant opposition to the Vikings eventually relegating them to the Danelaw and carving out his own kingdom. Harthacanute of Denmark and England was the last Viking king to rule over a territory spanning the North Sea as after his death the kingdom broke apart. ^[38]

With the rise of William the Conqueror the North Sea began to lose some of its importance. The new order oriented most of England and Scandinavia's trade south, toward the Mediterranean and the Orient. The Baltic Sea became increasingly important for northern Germany and Scandinavia as well as the powerful Hanseatic League began to rise.

[edit] Hanseatic League

Though the Hanseatic League was centered in the Baltic, it also had important Kontors on the North Sea, including Bergen, the Steelyard in London, and Bruges. ^[39]

The rise of Bruges as a center of trade and a corresponding revival of the North Sea economic importance began in 1134 when a storm tide created a deeper waterway to the city allowing the entry of large ships to port. A lively trade sprang up between Bruges and London, mostly in textiles. Bruges became the end point of the Hanseatic East-West trade line that began in Novgorod and was very important for maritime connections between France, Spain, Italy, and the Netherlands and the Hanseatic regions of Northern Europe.

in 1441 the Hanseatic League was forced to recognize the equality of the Netherlands as Antwerp had risen as an economic power and tied itself to Denmark. After the so-called Count's Feud, a war of succession in Denmark, the Dutch were able to encroach upon the League's monopoly on Baltic trade and the reign of the Hanseatic League was at an end as the Netherlands became the center of the Northern European economy.

[edit] The Netherlands as a world economic power

In the 16th century, the Netherlands became the preeminent economic power in the world. For the Dutch merchant marine the North Sea served more as a starting point for their oceanic voyages. It had become the gateway and crucial outlet allowing Dutch merchants direct access to world markets. ^[40]

During the Eighty Years War, the Dutch began a heavily invested worldwide trade - hunting whales around Svalbard, trading spices from India and Indonesia, founding colonies in Brazil, South Africa, North America (New Netherlands), and the Caribbean. The empire, which they accumulated through trade, led to the Dutch Golden Age in the 17th Century.

In 1651 England passed the Navigation Acts, which damaged Dutch trade interests. The disagreements concerning the Acts led to the First Anglo–Dutch War, which lasted from 1652-1654 and ended in the Treaty of Westminster (1654), whereby the Dutch were forced to recognize the acts.

In 1665 the English declared war on the Dutch once again, beginning the Second Anglo-Dutch War. With the support of the French, who, between the war, had marched into the Spanish Netherlands--present day Belgium, the Dutch gained the upper hand. In 1667, the English and the Dutch signed a peace treaty, the Treaty of Breda after the Dutch Admiral Michiel de Ruyter destroyed a large part of the British fleet on the Thames. The peace dictated that the English would take over administration of Dutch possessions in North America (present day New York City) while the Dutch would get Suriname from the English and got to adjust the Navigation Acts to their benefit.

1672 is known in the Netherlands as "Rampjaar," the year of disaster. England declared war on the Netherlands once again, beginning the Third Anglo-Dutch War, and were quickly followed by France, the Prince-Bishopric of Münster, and the Archbishopric of Cologne in an alliance against the Dutch. The three continental allies marched into the Netherlands while the landing of English troops along the coast could only be briefly held up.^[41]

[edit] Britain: the naval superpower

England's climb to the pre-eminent sea power of the world began in 1588 as the attempted invasion of the Spanish Armada was defeated by the combination of outstanding naval tactics by the English under command of Sir Francis Drake and the breaking of the bad weather. The strengthened English Navy waged several wars with their neighbors across the North Sea and by the end of the 17th century had erased the Dutch's previously world-spanning empire. ^[42]

The building of the British Empire as a domain on which the sun never set was possible only because the British navy exercised unquestioned control over the seas around Europe, especially the North Sea. The only significant challenge to British domination of the seas came during the Napoleonic wars. The Battle of Copenhagen took place in the Kattegat and ended the League of Armed Neutrality, a union of lesser naval powers including Denmark-Norway, Russia, and Prussia, which had united to protect neutral shipping against the British. The Battle of Trafalgar took place off the coast of Spain against a combined French and Spanish fleet and was won by Admiral Horatio Nelson, ending Napoleon's plans to invade Britain and securing British dominance of the seas for more than another century.

[edit] The First World War

During the First World War, Great Britain's Grand Fleet and Germany's Kaiserliche Marine faced each other on North Sea.

Due to the superiority of the British ships, the Grand Fleet obtained, by and large, undisturbed mastery of the North Sea and was able to establish a sea blockade of Germany's coast. The goal of the blockade was to deny Germany access to maritime trade and thereby prevent the importation of goods important to the war effort and to guarantee the undisturbed ferrying of British troops. Because of the strong defensive outfitting of Heligoland, the Germans controlled the German Bight, while the rest of the North Sea and the English Channel were controlled by the Royal Navy for the duration of the war.

August 6, 1914 First Battle of the Atlantic - Two days after the United Kingdom declared war on Germany over the German invasion of Belgium, ten German U-boats leave their base in Heligoland to attack Royal Navy warships in the North Sea.

The first sea battle, the Battle of Heligoland Bight took place on 28 August 1914 and ended in a clear British victory. Because the above-water craft of the Kaiserliche Marine had almost no chance against the British on open water, the Germans initiated submarine warfare. After several failures, the German submarine Unterseeboot 9 succeeded in sinking 3 British armored cruisers about 50 km north of Hoek van Holland, around the entrance to the English Channel from the North Sea. ^[43]

In November of 1914, the British declared the entire North Sea a war zone and from there on out it was mined. Ships that sailed the North Sea under the flags of neutral countries without giving the British prior warning could be the target of British attack.

In the Battle of Dogger Bank (1915), the Germans suffered another defeat on the 24 January 1915 and in the aftermath, all attempts to break the allied blockade failed. Due to these failures, on 4 February 1915, the Germans initiated unrestricted submarine warfare, in which, in addition to enemy ships, all neutral ships could be attacked.

On May 31 and June 1, 1916, the Battle of Jutland, the largest sea battle of the war, and, if measured by the number of participating ships (238), probably the largest naval battle in world history took place. The German goal of significantly weakening the British Navy and thereby bringing an end to the blockade was not achieved. The battle finally ended without a clear victor and the Germans again laid their hopes on the unrestricted submarine warfare. ^[44]

As the war was coming to a close, there was supposed to be, against the wishes of the new German regime, a final attack on the British Navy on October 28, 1918. However, the Wilhelmshaven mutiny broke out in Kiel and the naval aspect of the war was brought to an end. The mutiny was also a crucial step in the initiation of the November Revolution.

[edit] The Second World War

The Second World War was, in terms of naval warfare, again mostly a submarine war on the German side. However, this time the main action was not in the North Sea but rather the Atlantic. Also different from the first war, the North Sea was no longer the exclusive territory of the Allies. Rather, it was, above all in the first years of the war, the stage for an intensive coastal war, featuring mainly small vessels like submarines, minesweepers, and Fast Attack Craft. ^[45] However, despite early successes, which brought about a supply crisis in Britain, the Germans did not succeed in breaking the British resistance. Like in the first war, the allies soon controlled the seas, especially due to air superiority and cut Germany off from supplies coming overseas.

On October 14, 1939, Korvettenkapitän Günther Prien of submarine U 47 managed to sink the warship HMS Royal Oak in the Scapa Flow with 1400 men aboard.

On April 9, 1940 the Germans initiated Operation Weserübung in which almost the entire German fleet was focused north toward Scandinavia. The military objectives of the operation were soon achieved (occupation of Norwegian ports, securing of iron supply, and the prevention of a northern front) and Norway and Denmark.^[46] The occupation lasted for the duration of the war as did the secret Shetland Bus operation which ran secretly across the North Sea from Great Britain to Norway first by Norwegian fishing boats and then by three 100 ft submarine chasers transferred from US to Norwegian command (see also: HNoMS Hitra).^[47]

Because of the inferiority of the large battleships, especially after early losses (1939 Admiral Graf Spee, 1940 Blücher, and 1941 Bismarck), the German Kriegsmarine resorted more and more to small units with the remaining large ships almost dormant in the Norwegian fjords.

In the last years of the war and the first years thereafter under allied control, an abundance of weapons were dumped into the sea. While chemical weapons were mostly dumped in the Skagerrak and the Baltic, conventional weapons (grenades, mines, bazookas, and cartridges) were sunk in the German Bight. The estimates vary widely but it seems to be clear that more than a hundred thousand tons of munitions were sunk.

The Maunsell Sea Forts were small fortified towers built in the Thames and Mersey estuaries during the Second World War to help defend the United Kingdom. One on which on HM Fort Roughs is now occupied by the controversial Principality of Sealand.^[48]

[edit] After the war

In the time after the Second World War, the use of the North Sea toward peaceful ends came to the foreground, because, while Cold War adversaries faced off in the Baltic, the North Sea was bordered only by NATO member-states.

The North Sea gained significant economic meaning in the 1960's as the states on the North Sea began to exploit the oil and gas resources. The largest environmental catastrophe in the North Sea was the destruction of the offshore oil platform Piper Alpha in 1988 in which 167 people lost their lives.

[edit] Political status

Although de facto control of the North Sea played a decisive role in the political power relationships in north-west Europe since the time of the Vikings, and became a question of world politics after the First Anglo-Dutch War, until after the Second World War the bordering countries officially claimed no more than narrow coastal waters. In the last few decades things have changed.

The countries bordering the North Sea all claim the twelve nautical miles of territorial waters within which they have, for example, exclusive fishing rights. Iceland, however, as a result of the Cod Wars has exclusive fishing rights for 200 miles from its coast, into parts of the North Sea. The Common Fisheries Policy of the EU exists to coordinate fishing rights and assist with disputes between EU states and the EU border state of Norway.

After the discovery of mineral resources in the North Sea, Norway claimed its rights under the Continental Shelf Convention and the other countries on the sea followed suit. These rights are largely divided along the median line, defined as the line "every point of which is equidistant from the nearest points of the baselines from which the breadth of the territorial sea of each State is measured."^[49] Only for the border between Germany, the Netherlands, and Denmark was the ocean floor otherwise divided after protracted negotiations and a judgment of the International Court of Justice^[50] according to which Germany, by reason of its geographic position, received a smaller section of the ocean floor in relation to its coastline, than the other disputants.

In relation to environmental protection and marine pollution the MARPOL 73/78 Accords created 25 mile and 50 mile zones of protection. Furthermore, the Convention for the Protection of the Marine Environment of the North-East Atlantic concerns itself directly with the question of the preservation of the ocean in the region. Germany, Denmark, and the Netherlands have a trilateral agreement for the protection of the Wadden Sea, or mudflats, which run along the coasts of the three countries on the southern edge of the North Sea.

The European Maritime Safety Agency has monitored and coordinated all sea traffic through the sea since its inception in 2003. While the Agency is part of the EU, non-member states Norway and Iceland have seats in the agency as they are directly affected.

[edit] Natural resources

[edit] Oil and gas

In 1958 geologists discovered a natural gas field in Slochteren in the Dutch province of Groningen and it was suspected that more fields lay under the North Sea. However, at this point the rights to the high seas regions were still up in the air.^[51]

Test drilling began in 1966 and then in 1969 Phillips Petroleum Company discovered the Ekofisk oil field, which at that point was one of the 20 largest oil fields in the world and turned out to be distinguished by valuable low-sulfur oil. The first commercial exploitation began in 1971 with tankers and after 1975 by a pipeline first to Cleveland, England and then after 1977 also to Emden, Germany. Since the discovery of North Sea oil in the 1970s, nicknames of Aberdeen have been the Oil Capital of Europe or the Energy Capital of Europe.^[52]

In large measure the oil companies began their exploitation of the North Sea oil reserves just as the 1973 oil crisis began, as the climb of international oil prices made the necessary large investments needed to extract the oil much more attractive. In the 1980's and 1990's further large discoveries of oil fields followed. Although the production costs are relatively high, the high quality of the oil, the political stability of the region, and the nearness of important markets in western Europe have made the North Sea into an important oil producing region.

With more than 450 oil platforms, the North Sea is the most important region in the world for offshore drilling. Most platforms are located in the British section of North Sea, followed by the Norwegian, Dutch, and Danish sections. The British and Norwegian sections hold most of the remainder of the large oil reserves. Estimates say that in the Norwegian section alone lie 54% of the oil reserves and 45% of the gas reserves. ^[53] Besides the Ekofisk oil field, the Statfjord oil field is also very important--it was the cause of the first pipeline to span the Norwegian trench. The Norwegian state-owned company Statoil is required by Norwegian law to retain at least 50% of the oil fields.

The largest natural gas field in the North Sea is the troll field, which lies in the Norwegian trench at a depth of 345 metres so that great lengths must be taken to access it at all. The platform is at 472 meters and 656,000 tons is the largest offshore oil platform and the largest object ever transported by men. The German section has only two oil platforms, the larger of the two being the Mittelplate, and is the least developed North Sea border-country in this respect.

In 1999, extraction reached an all time high with nearly 6 million barrels (950,000 m³) of crude oil and 280,000,000 m³ of natural gas per day being taken. Meanwhile, the North Sea today is a developed natural resource area, in which few new large discoveries are likely to be made. All the large oil companies are involved in the extraction. But in the last few years several large companies like Shell and BP have already discontinued extraction and since 1999 the amount extracted has continually fallen due to depleted reserves.

The price of Brent Crude, one of the first types of oil extracted from the North Sea, is used today as a standard price for comparison for crude oil from the rest of the world. (see also North Sea oil)

[edit] Fishing

Historically there have been substantial marine fisheries in the North Sea. In 1929 John Grierson completed his first film, The Drifters, which follows the heroic work of North Sea herring fishermen. However, overfishing due to human overpopulation has rendered some of these resources unproductive, with resultant disturbance of food chain dynamics as well as loss of jobs in the fishing industry.^[54] Herring, cod and plaice fisheries will soon face the same plight as mackerel fishing which ceased in the 1970's due to overfishing. ^[55]

For more than a hundred years the coast of the North Sea has been fished commercially. Fishing in the North Sea is concentrated in the southern part of the coastal waters. The main method of fishing was trawling.

Due to steady technical development annual catches grew constantly until the 1980s when a high point of more than 300 million metric tons was reached. Since then the numbers have fallen back to around 2.3 million tons annually with considerable differences between years. Besides the fish caught, it's estimated that 150,000 tons of unmarketable by-catch are caught and around 85,000 tons of dead and injured invertebrates.

Of the caught fish, about half are used for the production of fish oil and fish meal. Important species of fish caught in the North Sea are mackerel, Atlantic cod, whiting, coalfish, European plaice, and sole. In addition common shrimp, lobster, and crab along with a variety of shellfish are harvested.^[56]

The fishing in such a densely populated area exacerbates the danger of overfishing.

Although catch limits have been regulated by the European Union (EU)^[57] since 1983, both shellfish and Atlantic cod are suffering from overfishing. Denmark's trawler fishing alone accounts for the deaths of 5,000 porpoises a year. Since the 1960's various regulations have attempted to protect the stocks of fish such as limited fishing times, limited numbers of fishing boats etc. However, these rules were never systematically enforced so they did not bring much relief. Since then, the United Kingdom and Denmark, two important fishing nations became members of the EU, they have attempted, with the help of the Common Fisheries Policy, to bring the problem under control. Norway reached a different agreement with the European Community. Many regional advisory committees meet with the EU to help enforce policy.^[58]

All numbers from the FAO, cited by the University of British Columbia. For the FAO, the region "North Sea" includes Skagerrak and Kattegat^[59]

[edit] Mineral resources

In addition to oil, gas and fish, the states along the North Sea also take millions of cubic meters per year of sand and gravel from the ocean floor. These are used above all for construction projects, sand for beaches, and coast protection. The largest extractors of sand and gravel in 2003 were the Netherlands (around 30 million m³) and Denmark (around 10 Million m³ from the North Sea).

Rolled pieces of amber, usually small but occasionally of very large size, may be picked up on the east coast of England, having probably been washed up from deposits under the North Sea. Cromer is the best-known locality, but it occurs also on other parts of the Norfolk coast, such as Great Yarmouth, as well as Southwold, Aldeburgh and Felixstowe in Suffolk, and as far south as Walton-on-the-Naze in Essex, whilst northwards it is not unknown in Yorkshire. On the other side of the North Sea, amber is found at various localities on the coast of the Netherlands and Denmark. Amber was also found on the Baltic coast across northern Europe. Some of the amber districts of the Baltic and North Sea were known in prehistoric times, and led to early trade with the south of Europe through the Amber Road.

[edit] Renewable energy

Further information: Renewable energy in Scotland

Due to the prevailing strong winds the North Sea, countries on the North Sea, above all England and Denmark, have used the areas near the coast of the sea for wind driven electricity production since the 1990's. The first wind turbines appeared off the English coast near Blyth in the year 2000 and then off the Danish coast in 2002 near Horns Rev. Others have been commissioned, (including OWEZ and Scroby Sands for example) and several more are in the planning phase. However, offshore wind farms have met some resistance, for instance in Germany, where concerns have arisen about shipping collisions and damage to the ocean ecology, particularly by the construction of the foundations. Furthermore, the distance from consumers leads to considerable energy losses in transmission.^[60] Nonetheless, the first deep water turbines in Scotland are under commissioning for Talisman Energy, who are installing two large machines 25 km offshore adjacent to the Beatrice oilfield. These turbines are 88 m high with the blades 63 m long and will have a capacity of 5 MW each, making them the largest in the world.^[61][62]

Energy production from the sea is still in its early stages. Though the southern parts of the North Sea, according to most experts, do not have tides, waves or currents strong enough to harness usefully, the Norwegian coast and the intersection with the Irish Sea could be found suitable for waves or ocean currents to provide power. First attempts for a power plant deriving electricity from the waves from 2003-2005 in Denmark were given up. The European Marine Energy Centre (EMEC) based at Stromness in Orkney is a new Scottish Executive-backed research facility. They have installed a wave testing system at Billia Croo on the Orkney mainland and a tidal power testing station on the nearby island of Eday.^[63] A small pilot-facility for the production of blue energy exists in the Norwegian city of Trondheim.^[64]

[edit] Tourism

On the coasts, the beaches as well as the coastal waters are used for tourism. The Belgian, Dutch, German and Danish coasts are especially developed for tourism; while there are several tourist spots on the North Sea in England, British beach tourism's busiest resorts are mostly on the English Channel.

Windsurfing and sailing are popular sports because of the winds. Because of the strong tides and many areas of still water, the North Sea is more difficult to sail than the Baltic or the Mediterranean and therefore there are generally fewer people sailing on the North Sea coast than on other coasts.

Mudflat hiking on the Frisian Islands, recreational fishing and diving, including wreck diving, are all possible.

The coasts of the North Sea are home to many nature reserves including the Ythan Estuary, Fowlsheugh Nature Preserve and Farne Islands in the UK These locations provide specialised breeding habitat for terns, Atlantic puffins, razorbills, Black-legged Kittiwakes and other seabirds, which makes these coasts popular for birdwatching.

The Wadden Sea National Parks in Germany are also home to a variety of wildlife including millions of birds, both common seals and grey seals, as well as hundreds of plant and animal species unique to the region.

The special climatic conditions on the North Sea coast are thought to be especially healthful. As early as the 19th century travelers used their stays on the North Sea coast as curative and restorative vacations (Kur-Urlaub). The air, temperature, wind, water, and sunshine are all counted among the beneficial conditions that are said to activate the body's defenses, improve circulation, strengthen the immune system, and have healing effects especially for the skin and the respiratory system. Besides the climate, the practice of thalassotherapy also can include sea waters, mud, brine, algae and sea salt for curative and restorative purposes.

One peculiarity of the North Sea tourism until the 1990s were the so-called Butterfahrten. These were trips past the German tariff barriers onto the high seas for the purpose of purchasing items much more cheaply than they could be bought in Germany itself. The name comes from the time when butter was an expensive commodity and could be purchased more cheaply from Denmark. Other important wares were the heavily taxed goods like tobacco, spirits, and perfume.

[edit] Marine traffic

Further information: Ports and harbours of the North Sea

The North Sea is very important for marine traffic. Some of the greatest ports of the world are located along the coast line of the North Sea. For example Rotterdam, which is the third largest port of the world, combines with Antwerp, Hamburg, Le Havre and Felixtowe, the other major ports along the North Sea. Antwerp, Hamburg, Amsterdam, and London have easy access to the various sea lanes of the North Sea, which is vital for the commerce of Western Europe.^[65] Rotterdam is protected from storm surge by the Maeslant storm surge barrier constructed at the mouth of the Nieuwe Waterweg.^[66] The Kiel Canal, one of the world's busiest artificial waterways, connects the North Sea with the Baltic. The North Sea Canal was constructed to give the port of Amsterdam a shorter connection to the North Sea. ^[67]

See also: List of North Sea ports

[edit] Ships and Shipwrecks of the North Sea

Further information: Shipwrecks in the North Sea

The Vikings of Medieval time had several types of the traditional longship, as well as merchant ships.^[68] Anglo-Saxon planked construction keel ships had little or no decoration compared to the ‘Danish’ or (Viking) ship. Frisian ship builders tended towards the dug out ship.^[69] Anchors used in the North Sea are a variation of the plough type as they can bury themselves in muddy sea bottoms, whereas the Bruce Claw anchor is used to anchor floating oil derricks in the North Sea.

[edit] Culture and languages

The following languages are spoken on the shores of the North Sea. All are Germanic.

[edit] North Germanic languages

• Danish language
  • Jutlandish
• Norwegian language

[edit] Anglo-Frisian languages

• English language
  • English English
  • Estuary English
  • Highland English
  • Norfolk dialect
  • Scottish English
  • Yorkshire dialect and accent
• Frisian language
  • East Frisian language
  • North Frisian language
  • West Frisian language
• Scots language
  • Doric
  • Northern Scots
  • Orcadian dialect
  • Shetlandic

[edit] High German languages

• Standard German

[edit] Low Franconian languages

• Dutch language
  • Brabantian
  • Hollandic
  • Zeelandic
• Flemish language
  • East Flemish

[edit] Low German

• Low German

[edit] Extinct languages

The following languages are either extinct, or no longer used on the North Sea coast

• Old Norse (North Germanic)
  • Norn language
• Pictish language (Celtic)
• Scottish Gaelic language (Celtic)