Sea · China, North Korea, South Korea
Yellow Sea
The Yellow Sea lies between China and the Korean Peninsula in the western Pacific Ocean. It gets its name from the golden-yellow mud that big rivers, above all the Yellow River, wash into it.
Picture credit: Shiwon Cho (CC BY-SA 2.0) · Wikimedia Commons
Where is Yellow Sea?
Part of: Pacific Ocean.
Countries on its coasts: China, North Korea, South Korea.
The story behind it
The Yellow Sea is surprisingly shallow: on average it is only about 44 metres deep, and even its deepest spot reaches just 152 metres. Rivers such as the Yellow River carry fine yellow soil called loess into the water and give the sea its colour. The tides here are strong. On the Chinese coast the water rises and falls by about 1 to 3 metres, but along Korea it can move 4 to 8 metres, uncovering wide mudflats twice a day. These mudflats are a giant rest stop: about two million migrating shorebirds stop here on their long journey north. In 2019 UNESCO made parts of the tidal flats a World Heritage Site. Busy ports such as Qingdao and Dalian in China, Incheon in South Korea and Nampho in North Korea lie on its shores. In winter, drifting ice can form and make life hard for ships.
Find it on the globe
Yellow 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 Yellow Sea?
The Yellow Sea covers about 380 000 km². It stretches about 960 km from north to south and is about 700 km wide.
Why is the Yellow Sea yellow?
Rivers, above all the Yellow River, carry huge amounts of fine yellow soil into the sea. This mud colours the water golden-yellow, especially near the coast.
Why do so many birds visit the Yellow Sea?
When the tide goes out, wide mudflats appear. About two million migrating shorebirds stop here to feed and rest on their way north.
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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