The Weddell Sea and its features

Just a few decades ago, the list of the cleanest seas in the world could be quite impressive. But thanks to the whole of mankind this picture, unfortunately, changes for the worse from day to day. However, there are still untouched places. Where are they?

Here will be told about the amazing discovery of the Englishman Weddell - the sea. To what ocean does it belong? What features does it have? We will try to answer these and many other questions in the article.

It is also difficult to imagine that there are seas, the water of which is heated all year round only a couple of degrees above zero or even does not cross this border at all.

It is believed that the coldest place on Earth is in the north. But it turned out that the coldest water - off the coast of Antarctica, completely covered with ice and covered with non-attending white-blue snow.

The most transparent sea in the world

1. The dead, located between Israel and Jordan - is the most saline in the world, and its waters are the most unsuitable for life.

2. Red, considered the most beautiful and cleanest in the world, is located between the peninsula of Arabia and Africa. It strikes with its picturesqueness, fantastic beauty of flora and fauna.

3. The Mediterranean is also often referred to the category of the cleanest seas, but here we are talking only about some of its coasts

4. Aegean is like the Mediterranean - its purity is directly related to the coastal zone of the country.

This list of the cleanest natural reservoirs is headed by the Weddell Sea, which will be described in more detail below.

Date of discovery of the Weddell Sea

In 1823, an expedition from England under the guidance of the Englishman J. Weddell discovered this amazing, charming with its cold beauty of the sea. They were given the first name - the Sea of George IV. A little later it was renamed after its discoverer.

Where is the Weddell Sea? Description

It extends near the shores of West Antarctica.

This sea is marginal in the Atlantic sector of the Southern Ocean, located between the Antarctic Peninsula (west) and the Earth of the Cotes (east). The entire area of the natural reservoir is 2900 thousand square kilometers. For the most part, its depth is 3000 meters, but in some places it can reach up to 6800 meters. The southern and southwestern coasts are mostly on the shallows (depth is about 500 meters).

The shore of the southern part is created by the edge part of ice shelves (Filchner and Ronne), from which periodically (once in 20-25) huge pieces of ice floes and icebergs are broken off. Practically all the year round (more truly the greater part of the year) there is a huge number of ice floes in the sea. The fauna here is represented by seals, whales, and fishes.

Features of the Weddell Sea

As noted above, the sea is the cleanest in the world. In 1986, in the fall of the German scientists scientific vessel "Polaris", the maximum transparency (79 m) was measured here. And this is the transparency of distilled water. However, theoretically for distilled water this mark (where a white Secchi disk of 30 cm diameter disappears from the view) corresponds to a depth of 80 meters.

Unfortunately, for swimming this amazing crystal clear sea is not at all good. And it is always covered with drifting ice.

The Weddell Sea is also one of the most dangerous in the whole world. Floating ice floes and icebergs pose a terrible threat to ships.

This natural reservoir refutes the laws of physics. What's the matter? It's amazing that the water does not freeze even at the very base of these mountains of ice , but it can have a minus 25-degree temperature!

A little about the harshest (cold) seas

So which seas are the coldest? Consider 5 of them.

1. The Weddell Sea is undoubtedly the coldest.

2. The Amundsen Sea is relatively shallow and small. Its depth is only 585 meters, the area is not more than 100 thousand square meters. Meters. The sea is covered all year with a thick layer of ice.

3. The Davis Sea is also covered by eternal glaciers. It is here that since the Soviet times Mirny station, established in 1956, has been built.

4. The Bellingshausen Sea was discovered in 1821. In winter, the surface is covered with floating ice and icebergs. Near the coast year-round the water has a temperature of about minus one degree, to the north the water "warms up", reaching the mark "0".

5. Ross Sea - the first sea (the coast of Antarctica), the water temperature of which at least occasionally exceeds the zero mark. In summer, at the surface - plus two degrees Celsius.

By right, the leading severe, cold, but crystal clear Weddell Sea attracts its impregnable, majestic, fantastic beauty and mystery. It tops the list of the cleanest seas in the world and inaccessible in terms of navigation.