Nordsjön

Nordsjön, or the North Sea, is a marginal sea of the Atlantic Ocean located between Great Britain, the Scandinavian Peninsula, and continental Europe. It connects to the Atlantic to the west and to the Baltic Sea via the Skagerrak and Kattegat in the east, with the southern approaches near the English Channel and the Dover Strait. The sea covers roughly 570,000 square kilometers and varies in depth from shallow continental shelves to several hundred meters, with average depths around 90 meters and deeper troughs in places such as the Norwegian Trench.

Geologically, the North Sea formed in the Mesozoic era through rifting and subsequent sedimentation, with glacial and marine processes shaping its bed. Its seabed hosts extensive sandbanks, mud flats, and petroleum reservoirs. The Dogger Bank is a well-known shallow feature on the central shelf. The region is one of the world's most important hubs for offshore energy, including oil and natural gas fields in the Dutch, British, and Norwegian sectors, and large offshore wind farms in recent decades.

Human activity is intensive: the North Sea supports major commercial fishing grounds and serves as a critical route for international shipping, with ports on several coasts. Environmental pressures include overfishing, pollution, eutrophication, oil-spill risks, and the broader impacts of climate change, such as rising sea temperatures, shifts in marine communities, and sea-level rise on adjacent coastlines.