Sea in northern Europe
Baltic Sea region |
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Map of the Baltic Sea region |
Location | Europe |
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Coordinates | 58°N 20°E / 58°N 20°E / 58; 20 (slightly east of the north tip of Gotland Island) |
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Type | Sea |
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Primary inflows | Daugava, Kemijoki, Neman (Nemunas), Neva, Oder, Vistula, Lule, Narva, Torne |
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Primary outflows | Danish straits |
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Catchment area | 1,641,650 km2 (633,840 sq mi) |
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Basin countries | Coastal: Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Russia, Sweden Non-coastal: Belarus, Czech Republic, Norway, Slovakia, Ukraine[1] |
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Max. length | 1,601 km (995 mi) |
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Max. width | 193 km (120 mi) |
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Surface area | 377,000 km2 (146,000 sq mi) |
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Average depth | 55 m (180 ft) |
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Max. depth | 459 m (1,506 ft) |
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Water volume | 21,700 km3 (1.76×1010 acre⋅ft) |
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Residence time | 25 years |
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Shore length1 | 8,000 km (5,000 mi) |
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Islands | Abruka, Aegna, Archipelago Sea Islands (Åland), Bornholm, Dänholm, Ertholmene, Falster, Fårö, Fehmarn, Gotland, Hailuoto, Hiddensee, Hiiumaa, Holmöarna, Kassari, Kesselaid, Kihnu, Kimitoön, Kõinastu, Kotlin, Laajasalo, Lauttasaari, Lidingö, Ljusterö, Lolland, Manilaid, Mohni, Møn, Muhu, Poel, Prangli, Osmussaar, Öland, Replot, Ruhnu, Rügen, Saaremaa, Stora Karlsö, Suomenlinna, Suur-Pakri and Väike-Pakri, Ummanz, Usedom/Uznam, Väddö, Värmdö, Vilsandi, Vormsi, Wolin |
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Settlements | Copenhagen, Gdańsk, Gdynia, Greifswald, Haapsalu, Helsinki, Jūrmala, Kaliningrad, Kiel, Klaipėda, Kołobrzeg, Kuressaare, Kärdla, Lübeck, Luleå, Mariehamn, Oulu, Palanga, Paldiski, Pärnu, Riga, Rostock, Saint Petersburg, Liepāja, Stockholm, Tallinn, Turku, Ventspils |
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References | [2] |
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1 Shore length is not a well-defined measure. |
The Baltic Sea is an arm of the Atlantic Ocean that is enclosed by Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Russia, Sweden, and the North and Central European Plain.[3]
The sea stretches from 53°N to 66°N latitude and from 10°E to 30°E longitude. It is a shelf sea and marginal sea of the Atlantic with limited water exchange between the two, making it an inland sea. The Baltic Sea drains through the Danish straits into the Kattegat by way of the Øresund, Great Belt and Little Belt. It includes the Gulf of Bothnia (divided into the Bothnian Bay and the Bothnian Sea), the Gulf of Finland, the Gulf of Riga and the Bay of Gdańsk.
The "Baltic Proper" is bordered on its northern edge, at latitude 60°N, by Åland and the Gulf of Bothnia, on its northeastern edge by the Gulf of Finland, on its eastern edge by the Gulf of Riga, and in the west by the Swedish part of the southern Scandinavian Peninsula.
The Baltic Sea is connected by artificial waterways to the White Sea via the White Sea–Baltic Canal and to the German Bight of the North Sea via the Kiel Canal.