The North Sea is an adjacent sea to the North Atlantic Ocean 
and part of the European continental shelf 
North Sea Limits 
(International Hydrographic Bureau (IHB) : Monaco) 
Area: 
Volume: 
Depth: 
525000 km 2 
42300 km 3 
about 430 m in the 
southern Norwegian Trench 
52 
53 
„.i--" 
ì Wilhelmshaven 
Hydrographic regions (1 to 7) 
(ICES Study Group, 1977) 
Volumes of the hydrographic regions (km 3 
(Backhaus, 1978) 
Mean currents (—►) 
Volume transport (Sv, observed) 
Feie-Shetland section and Fair Isle Current: 
Otto et al. (1990); 
[JONSDAP current meter moorings March-June 1976] 
The Channel: 
Prandle et al. (1996); 
[1 year of HF radar and bottom-mounted 
acoustic doppler current profiler 1990/91] 
4 °w 3 
8 "E9