Sea · United Kingdom, Norway, Denmark
North Sea
The North Sea is a shallow arm of the Atlantic Ocean between Great Britain, Norway, Denmark, Germany, the Netherlands, Belgium and France. Seals, puffins, busy ports and wind farms all belong to it.
Picture credit: Ole Neitzel (CC BY-SA 4.0) · Bybbisch94 (CC BY-SA 4.0) · Wikimedia Commons
Where is North Sea?
Part of: Atlantic Ocean.
Countries on its coasts: the United Kingdom, Norway, Denmark, Germany, the Netherlands, Belgium, France.
The story behind it
On average the North Sea is only about 95 metres deep. Only along the coast of Norway does a long trench, the Norwegian Trench, drop to about 725 metres. In the ice age, part of the sea was dry land called Doggerland, a land bridge between Britain and the rest of Europe. Today the Dogger Bank, a huge sandbank only 13 to 20 metres below the waves, is one of the best fishing places in the sea. Along the coasts of the Netherlands, Germany and Denmark lies the Wadden Sea, the largest area of tidal flats in the world. About every 12 hours and 25 minutes the tide turns. Seals, harbour porpoises, herring and cod live in its water. Rotterdam is the busiest port in Europe. Wind farms and oil and gas platforms stand in the sea, and in stormy weather the water can rise high and threaten low coasts.
Find it on the globe
North Sea is there as a name written across its water — tap the water and its card opens. From far away the planet is only a blue ball; detail arrives as you zoom in, and this one appears once you are close enough. Open it on the globe.
Questions children ask
How big is the North Sea?
The North Sea covers about 570 000 km², some sources say about 575 000 km². It is more than 970 kilometres long and about 580 kilometres wide.
What was Doggerland?
During the ice age, when the sea level was lower, part of today's North Sea was dry land called Doggerland. It formed a land bridge between Britain and the rest of Europe until the sea flooded it.
Which animals live in the North Sea?
Common seals, grey seals and harbour porpoises live here, and seabirds such as puffins and gannets hunt for fish. Herring, cod, mackerel and plaice are some of its many fish.
Where these numbers come from
Every figure on this page was checked against public reference sources before publication. Where sources genuinely disagree, the text says so.
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