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91-633: The company was founded in December 1840 on the initiative of merchants from Altona and Kiel. Among the initiators in Kiel were Georg Hanssen and Johann Christian Kruse. The participants sought to improve the transport of their goods to markets by connecting the North and Baltic Seas and they agreed to promote this objective as members of the Altona-Kiel railway committee. In 1833, the economist Friedrich List had proposed

182-557: A Tuath . The North Sea has provided waterway access for commerce and conquest. Many areas have access to the North Sea because of its long coastline and the European rivers that empty it. There is little documentary evidence concerning the North Sea before the Roman conquest of Britain in 43 CE, however, archaeological evidence reveals the diffusion of cultures and technologies from across or along

273-704: A challenge to their dominance of the North Sea until the 20th century. Tensions in the North Sea were again heightened in 1904 by the Dogger Bank incident . During the Russo-Japanese War , several ships of the Russian Baltic Fleet, which was on its way to the Far East, mistook British fishing boats for Japanese ships and fired on them, and then upon each other, near the Dogger Bank, nearly causing Britain to enter

364-648: A general meeting of the company agreed to in May 1842. Christian VIII issued the company a license for the line on 28 June 1842. The line’s termini would be built close to the respective ports. In the plan of 1844, other stations would be built in Pinneberg, Tornesch , Elmshorn, Wrist , Neumünster and Bordesholm; and there would be halts in Stellingen, Eidelstedt, Halstenbek , Priesdorf, Horst , Dauenhof, Siebenecksknöll, Brockstedt, Pahdenstedt, Fohrde and Meimersdorf. Construction of

455-573: A maximum depth of 725 metres (2,379 ft). The Dogger Bank , a vast moraine , or accumulation of unconsolidated glacial debris, rises to a mere 15 to 30 m (50 to 100 ft) below the surface. This feature has produced the finest fishing location of the North Sea. The Long Forties and the Broad Fourteens are large areas with roughly uniform depth in fathoms (forty fathoms and fourteen fathoms or 73 and 26 m or 240 and 85 ft deep, respectively). These great banks and others make

546-726: A motion in favour of the use of the Greenwich Meridian for (smaller scale) passage charts , suggesting that it should become mandatory within 15   years. In Britain, the Great Western Railway had standardised time by 1840 and in 1847 the Railway Clearing Union decreed that " GMT be adopted at all stations as soon as the General Post Office permitted it". The Post Office was by this time transmitting time signals from Greenwich by telegraph to most parts of

637-726: A network of railways in Germany, including a rail link between the Hanseatic cities of Hamburg and Lübeck . In 1835, this proposal was rejected by the Royal Railway Commission, established by the King of Denmark, Frederick VI , as the heir to the throne, later Christian VIII , would only agree to a rail link between the Elbe and the Baltic Sea on Danish-only territory, for fiscal reasons. Finance

728-599: A pamphlet titled A System of national time and its application advocating three time zones across the country based on the Washington meridian , modifying this to four zones based on the Greenwich meridian in 1872. The first proposal for a consistent treatment of time worldwide was a memoir entitled " Terrestrial Time " by Sandford Fleming , at the time the chief engineer of the Canadian Pacific Railway , presented to

819-699: A vast merchant marine, a large fishing fleet, powerful navy, and sophisticated financial markets made the Dutch the ascendant power in the North Sea, to be challenged by an ambitious England. This rivalry led to the first three Anglo-Dutch Wars between 1652 and 1673, which ended with Dutch victories. After the Glorious Revolution in 1688, the Dutch prince William ascended to the English throne. With unified leadership, commercial, military, and political power began to shift from Amsterdam to London. The British did not face

910-611: Is 17 °C (63 °F) in the summer and 6 °C (43 °F) in the winter. The average temperatures have been trending higher since 1988, which has been attributed to climate change . Air temperatures in January range on average between 0 and 4 °C (32 and 39 °F) and in July between 13 and 18 °C (55 and 64 °F). The winter months see frequent gales and storms. The salinity averages between 34 and 35 grams per litre (129 and 132 g/US gal) of water. The salinity has

1001-518: Is also home to marine mammals. Common seals , grey seals , and harbour porpoises can be found along the coasts, at marine installations, and on islands. The very northern North Sea islands such as the Shetland Islands are occasionally home to a larger variety of pinnipeds including bearded , harp , hooded and ringed seals , and even walrus . North Sea cetaceans include various porpoise , dolphin and whale species. Plant species in

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1092-676: Is recorded to have killed more than 100,000 people. In 1362, the Second Marcellus Flood , also known as the Grote Manndrenke , hit the entire southern coast of the North Sea. Chronicles of the time again record more than 100,000 deaths, large parts of the coast were lost permanently to the sea, including the now legendary lost city of Rungholt . In the 20th century, the North Sea flood of 1953 flooded several nations' coasts and cost more than 2,000 lives. 315 citizens of Hamburg died in

1183-421: Is to have first , a primary standard time, based on the prime meridian that is to be used for non-local purposes; second , to have twenty-four secondary standard times to govern local reckoning." There was discussion of setting zones as small as 10   minutes (2½°) (that's 10   minutes of time, not 10   minutes of arc/angular measure), but no motion was tabled, as there was little experience to guide

1274-521: The Battle of Heligoland Bight , the Battle of the Dogger Bank , and the Battle of Jutland . World War I also brought the first extensive use of submarine warfare , and a number of submarine actions occurred in the North Sea. The Second World War also saw action in the North Sea, though it was restricted more to aircraft reconnaissance and action by fighter/bomber aircraft, submarines and smaller vessels such as minesweepers and torpedo boats . After

1365-448: The Battle of Trafalgar . The astronomical day was shifted from noon, twelve hours after midnight, to midnight effective 1 January 1925 by a resolution of the newly formed International Astronomical Union . On 13 October 1884, the following resolution was not adopted: Twenty-one countries voted against the proposal, while three (France, Brazil, San Domingo) voted in favor. From the Act of

1456-537: The Canadian Institute in 1876. This envisaged clocks showing 24-hour universal time with an extra dial having a local time rounded to the nearest hour. He also pointed out that many of the corrections for local mean time were greater than those involved in abandoning solar time . In 1878/79, he produced modified proposals using the Greenwich meridian. Fleming's two papers were considered so important that in June 1879

1547-573: The English Channel was triggered by the earthquake, which in turn caused a tsunami. The tsunami triggered by the 1755 Lisbon earthquake reached Holland, although the waves had lost their destructive power. The largest earthquake ever recorded in the United Kingdom was the 1931 Dogger Bank earthquake , which measured 6.1 on the Richter magnitude scale and caused a small tsunami that flooded parts of

1638-610: The Frisian Islands . The North Sea receives freshwater from a number of European continental watersheds, as well as the British Isles . A large part of the European drainage basin empties into the North Sea, including water from the Baltic Sea . The largest and most important rivers flowing into the North Sea are the Elbe and the Rhine – Meuse . Around 185 million people live in

1729-508: The Last Glacial Maximum when the sea began to flood the European continental shelf. In 2006 a bone fragment was found while drilling for oil in the North Sea. Analysis indicated that it was a Plateosaurus from 199 to 216 million years ago. This was the deepest dinosaur fossil ever found and the first find for Norway. Copepods and other zooplankton are plentiful in the North Sea. These tiny organisms are crucial elements of

1820-954: The Latin names Mare Germanicum and Oceanus Germanicus , and these persisted in use until the First World War. Other common names in use for long periods were the Latin terms Mare Frisicum , as well as the English equivalent, "Frisian Sea". The modern names of the sea in the other local languages are: Danish : Vesterhavet , lit.   'West Sea' [ˈvestɐˌhɛˀvð̩] or Nordsøen [ˈnoɐ̯ˌsøˀn̩] , Dutch : Noordzee , Dutch Low Saxon : Noordzee , French : Mer du Nord , West Frisian : Noardsee , German : Nordsee , Low German : Noordsee , North Frisian : Weestsiie , lit.   'West Sea', Swedish : Nordsjön , Bokmål : Nordsjøen [ˈnûːrˌʂøːn] , Nynorsk : Nordsjøen , Scots : North Sea and Scottish Gaelic : An Cuan

1911-484: The Lübeck-Büchen Railway ’s Lübeck–Hamburg line near the former Lübeck station. Freight trains ran over the line from 30 September 1865 and passenger trains ran over it from 16 July 1866. On 31 May 1866, the almost 90 km-long Neumünster– Ascheberg – Eutin – Neustadt line (see Neumünster–Ascheberg , Kiel–Lübeck and Eutin–Neustadt railways ) was opened in east Holstein, including a local port railway and

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2002-528: The Naval Observatory, Washington and British Astronomer Royal , George Airy who had both established wire services supporting local time in various cities. The Naval Observatory had also foiled the onward transmission of the Greenwich time signal from Harvard , where it was received via transatlantic cable and used to time a time ball in Boston . The International Meridian Conference had its origins in

2093-517: The North Sea flood of 1962 . Though rare, the North Sea has been the site of a number of historically documented tsunamis . The Storegga Slides were a series of underwater landslides, in which a piece of the Norwegian continental shelf slid into the Norwegian Sea. The immense landslips occurred between 8150 BCE and 6000 BCE, and caused a tsunami up to 20 metres (66 ft) high that swept through

2184-646: The Norwegian Sea in the north. It is more than 970 kilometres (600 mi) long and 580 kilometres (360 mi) wide, covering 570,000 square kilometres (220,000 sq mi). It hosts key north European shipping lanes and is a major fishery . The coast is a popular destination for recreation and tourism in bordering countries, and a rich source of energy resources, including wind and wave power . The North Sea has featured prominently in geopolitical and military affairs, particularly in Northern Europe , from

2275-846: The Shetland Islands). On the North. From the North point (Fethaland Point) of the Mainland of the Shetland Islands, across to Graveland Ness (60°39'N) in the Island of Yell , through Yell to Gloup Ness (1°04'W) and across to Spoo Ness (60°45'N) in Unst island, through Unst to Herma Ness (60°51'N), on to the SW point of the Rumblings and to Muckle Flugga ( 60°51′N 0°53′W  /  60.850°N 0.883°W  / 60.850; -0.883 ) all these being included in

2366-511: The anti-meridian of Greenwich was not supported by the British delegation. In the end, the pragmatic argument for continuity with most nautical charts won the day and the French delegation abstained in the vote. On the question of universal time, Fleming's opinion to one of the lead-up committees was borne out: "In my judgment, the nearest approach to it which may be attempted with any chance of success,

2457-491: The catchment area of the rivers discharging into the North Sea encompassing some highly industrialized areas. For the most part, the sea lies on the European continental shelf with a mean depth of 90 metres (300 ft). The only exception is the Norwegian trench , which extends parallel to the Norwegian shoreline from Oslo to an area north of Bergen . It is between 20 and 30 kilometres (12 and 19 mi) wide and has

2548-527: The connection from Ascheberg to Kiel via Preetz . On 10 December 1875, the 45 km-long Neumünster–Segeberg–Oldesloe line was added. The Altona–Blankenese line was opened on 19 May 1867 and its 18 km-long extension to Wedel on 2 December 1883. In 1907, this line became part of the Hamburg-Altona City and Suburban Railway and in 1934, part of the Hamburg S-Bahn . On 31 December 1862,

2639-463: The food chain supporting many species of fish. Over 230 species of fish live in the North Sea. Cod , haddock , whiting , saithe , plaice , sole , mackerel , herring , pouting , sprat , and sandeel are all very common and are fished commercially. Due to the various depths of the North Sea trenches and differences in salinity, temperature, and water movement, some fish such as blue-mouth redfish and rabbitfish reside only in small areas of

2730-535: The littoral is low and marshy. The east coast and south-east of the North Sea ( Wadden Sea ) have coastlines that are mainly sandy and straight owing to longshore drift , particularly along Belgium and Denmark. The southern coastal areas were originally flood plains and swampy land. In areas especially vulnerable to storm surges, people settled behind elevated levees and on natural areas of high ground such as spits and geestland . As early as 500 BC, people were constructing artificial dwelling hills higher than

2821-652: The 105 km long line started in March 1843, originally as single-track except in Kiel, Neumünster and Altona to let two trains in opposite directions pass. The chief engineer (in 1845 promoted to executive director of the company) was Edward Dietz, who had previously worked for the Leipzig–Dresden Railway Company . It was opened under the name of the Christian VIII Baltic Railway ( Danish : Christian VIII Østersøen Jernbane ) on 18 September 1844,

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2912-729: The 13th century the Hanseatic League , though centred on the Baltic Sea , started to control most of the trade through important members and outposts on the North Sea. The League lost its dominance in the 16th century, as neighbouring states took control of former Hanseatic cities and outposts. Their internal conflict prevented effective cooperation and defence. As the League lost control of its maritime cities, new trade routes emerged that provided Europe with Asian, American, and African goods. The 17th century Dutch Golden Age saw Dutch maritime power at its zenith. Important overseas colonies,

3003-667: The AKE took over operations of the Elmshorn–Glückstadt line , opened on 20 July 1845, from the Glückstadt-Elmshorn Railway Company ( Glückstadt-Elmshorner Eisenbahn-Gesellschaft ), founded in 1844. On 15 October 1857, the line had been extended to Itzehoe . From 1870 to 1884 the AKE managed the operations of the Schleswig Railway Company , which it did not own. The AKE was also significantly involved in

3094-692: The British Government forwarded copies to eighteen foreign countries and to various scientific bodies in England. At the same time the American Metrological Society produced a "Report on Standard Time" by Cleveland Abbe , chief of the United States Weather Service proposing essentially the same scheme. These proposals did not meet universal approval in the scientific community, being opposed by John Rodgers , Superintendent of

3185-573: The British coast. Shallow epicontinental seas like the current North Sea have since long existed on the European continental shelf . The rifting that formed the northern part of the Atlantic Ocean during the Jurassic and Cretaceous periods, from about 150  million years ago , caused tectonic uplift in the British Isles. Since then, a shallow sea has almost continuously existed between

3276-576: The Conference the Delegates were: The main issue at the conference, apart from procedural issues such as the provision of an authorized French translation of the proceedings, was France's insistence that the meridian should have a strictly neutral character in the same way that they maintained that the metre was a neutral measure. This requirement conflicted with the need to base measurements on an established observatory on land and Fleming's proposal of using

3367-437: The Greenwich meridian as the beginning of the universal day until 1911. Even then it refused to use the name "Greenwich", instead using the term "Paris mean time, retarded by 9   minutes and 21   seconds". France finally replaced this phrase with "Coordinated Universal Time" (UTC) in 1978. Resolution 4 expressly exempts standard time from the universal day. Although two delegates, including Sandford Fleming , proposed

3458-555: The Middle Ages through the 15th century, the northern European coastal ports exported domestic goods, dyes, linen, salt, metal goods and wine. The Scandinavian and Baltic areas shipped grain, fish, naval necessities, and timber. In turn, the North Sea countries imported high-grade cloths, spices, and fruits from the Mediterranean region. Commerce during this era was mainly conducted by maritime trade due to underdeveloped roadways. In

3549-571: The Middle Ages to the modern era. It was also important globally through the power northern Europeans projected worldwide during much of the Middle Ages and into the modern era. The North Sea was the centre of the Vikings' rise . The Hanseatic League , the Dutch Republic , and the British each sought to gain command of the North Sea and access to the world's markets and resources. As Germany's only outlet to

3640-480: The Netherlands. The North Sea Floods of 1953 and 1962 were the impetus for further raising of the dikes as well as the shortening of the coast line so as to present as little surface area as possible to the punishment of the sea and the storms. Currently, 27% of the Netherlands is below sea level protected by dikes, dunes, and beach flats. Coastal management today consists of several levels. The dike slope reduces

3731-900: The North Sea are home to nature reserves including the Ythan Estuary , Fowlsheugh Nature Preserve, and Farne Islands in the UK and the Wadden Sea National Parks in Denmark, Germany and the Netherlands. These locations provide breeding habitat for dozens of bird species. Tens of millions of birds make use of the North Sea for breeding, feeding, or migratory stopovers every year. Populations of black-legged kittiwakes , Atlantic puffins , northern gannets , northern fulmars , and species of petrels , seaducks , loons (divers), cormorants , gulls , auks , and terns , and many other seabirds make these coasts popular for birdwatching . The North Sea

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3822-661: The North Sea area; thence up the meridian of 0°53' West to the parallel of 61°00' North and eastward along this parallel to the coast of Norway, the whole of Viking Bank is thus included in the North Sea. On the East. The Western limit of the Skagerrak [A line joining Hanstholm ( 57°07′N 8°36′E  /  57.117°N 8.600°E  / 57.117; 8.600 ) and the Naze ( Lindesnes , 58°N 7°E  /  58°N 7°E  / 58; 7 )]. The average temperature

3913-402: The North Sea during the Migration Period . They made successive invasions of the island from what is now the Netherlands, Denmark, and Germany. The Viking Age began in 793 with the attack on Lindisfarne ; for the next quarter-millennium, the Vikings ruled the North Sea. In their superior longships , they raided, traded, and established colonies and outposts along the coasts of the sea. From

4004-554: The North Sea include species of wrack , among them bladder wrack , knotted wrack , and serrated wrack. Algae , macroalgal, and kelp , such as oarweed and laminaria hyperboria, and species of maerl are found as well. Eelgrass , formerly common in the entirety of the Wadden Sea, was nearly wiped out in the 20th century by a disease. Similarly, sea grass used to coat huge tracts of ocean floor, but have been damaged by trawling and dredging have diminished its habitat and prevented its return. Invasive Japanese seaweed has spread along

4095-559: The North Sea particularly hazardous to navigate, which has been alleviated by the implementation of satellite navigation systems . The Devil's Hole lies 320 kilometres (200 mi) east of Dundee , Scotland. The feature is a series of asymmetrical trenches between 20 and 30 kilometres (12 and 19 mi) long, one and two kilometres (0.6 and 1.2 mi) wide and up to 230 metres (750 ft) deep. Other areas which are less deep are Cleaver Bank , Fisher Bank and Noordhinder Bank . The International Hydrographic Organization defines

4186-445: The North Sea to Great Britain and Scandinavia and reliance by some prehistoric cultures on fishing, whaling, and seaborne trade on the North Sea. The Romans established organised ports in Britain, which increased shipping and began sustained trade the diffusion of cultures and technologies from across or along the North Sea to Great Britain and Scandinavia and reliance by some prehistoric cultures on fishing, whaling, and seaborne trade on

4277-416: The North Sea until the 20th century, when numbers declined due to overfishing . Other factors like the introduction of non-indigenous species , industrial and agricultural pollution , trawling and dredging , human-induced eutrophication , construction on coastal breeding and feeding grounds, sand and gravel extraction, offshore construction , and heavy shipping traffic have also contributed to

4368-420: The North Sea, having the greatest effect on Scotland and the Faeroe Islands . The Dover Straits earthquake of 1580 is among the first recorded earthquakes in the North Sea measuring between 5.6 and 5.9 on the Richter scale. This event caused extensive damage in Calais both through its tremors and possibly triggered a tsunami , though this has never been confirmed. The theory is a vast underwater landslide in

4459-399: The North Sea. Crustaceans are also commonly found throughout the sea. Norway lobster , deep-water prawns , and brown shrimp are all commercially fished, but other species of lobster , shrimp , oyster , mussels and clams all live in the North Sea. Recently non-indigenous species have become established including the Pacific oyster and Atlantic jackknife clam . The coasts of

4550-399: The North Sea. The Romans established organised ports in Britain, which increased shipping and began sustained trade and many Scandinavian tribes participated in raids and wars against the Romans and Roman coinage and manufacturing were important trade goods. When the Romans abandoned Britain in 410, the Germanic Angles , Frisians , Saxons , and Jutes began the next great migration across

4641-448: The North Sea. The wave continues to travel northward in the Atlantic Ocean, and once past the northern tip of Great Britain, the Kelvin wave turns east and south and once again enters the North Sea. The eastern and western coasts of the North Sea are jagged, formed by glaciers during the ice ages . The coastlines along the southernmost part are covered with the remains of deposited glacial sediment. The Norwegian mountains plunge into

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4732-473: The Oldenburg District Railways. It managed the operations, from the opening of the first line from Neustadt in Holstein to Oldenburg on 30 September 1881. The AKE also owned shares in the West Holstein Railway Company ( Westholsteinische Eisenbahn-Gesellschaft ) and later acquired the Wesselburen–Heide Railway Company ( Wesselburen-Heider Eisenbahn-Gesellschaft ). As a result of the Second Schleswig War , Holstein became part of Prussia in 1867. In 1883

4823-438: The Orkney Islands through the mid-16th century, as both Sable Island and Orkney Islands lay within their normal range. Grey whales also resided in the North Sea but were driven to extinction in the Atlantic in the 17th century Other species have dramatically declined in population, though they are still found. North Atlantic right whales , sturgeon , shad , rays , skates , salmon , and other species were common in

4914-400: The President to call an international conference to fix on a common prime meridian for time and longitude throughout the world. On 11 October 1883, a convention of railroad executives met in Chicago and agreed to the implementation of five time zones in North America, using as a basis Greenwich Mean Time. Before the invitations to the Washington conference were sent out on 1   December,

5005-401: The Prussian government began to negotiate for the purchase of the Altona-Kiel Railway. Prussia took over administration and management on 1 March 1884 as the Royal Altona railway division ( Königliche Eisenbahndirektion Altona ), which moved into temporary premises in Altona. The company was purchase for 70.65 million marks by the Prussian State Railways on 1 January 1887 and the corporation

5096-443: The Third International Geographical Congress held in Venice in 1881, in which the establishment of a universal prime meridian and a uniform standard of time was high on the agenda. The Seventh International Geodesic Conference in Rome in October   1883 then thrashed out most of the technical details, leaving the diplomatic agreements to a later conference. The United States passed an Act of Congress on 3 August 1882 authorizing

5187-420: The adoption of standard time by all nations, other delegates objected, stating that it was outside the purview of the conference, so neither proposal was subjected to a vote. Thus the conference did not adopt any time zones , contrary to popular belief. Regarding resolution 6: Great Britain had already shifted the beginning of the nautical day from noon, twelve hours before midnight, to midnight in 1805, during

5278-415: The birthday of the king, with a ceremony in the train hall of the not yet completed Altona station and the first rail service to Kiel (travel time: three hours). This was the first railway line in the Danish state. It was originally equipped with ten locomotives, eight tenders, 37 carriages and 50 freight wagons. The speed limit was 45 km/h during the day and 30 km/h by darkness. The rolling stock

5369-435: The coasts of the Netherlands, Belgium, Germany, and Denmark and low-lying areas of eastern England particularly around The Wash and Fens . Storm surges are caused by changes in barometric pressure combined with strong wind created wave action . The first recorded storm tide flood was the Julianenflut , on 17 February 1164. In its wake, the Jadebusen , (a bay on the coast of Germany), began to form. A storm tide in 1228

5460-412: The completion of the main line, the construction started on a link between the low-lying banks of the Elbe and Altona station, which passed through the Altona Harbour Tunnel , known as the Schellfischtunnel ( Haddock Tunnel ). This line, which was opened in 1845, involved the haulage of wagons by cable up a 210-metre-long steep slope to overcome a height difference of 30 metres. The port railway in Kiel

5551-424: The country to set the clocks. By January   1848, Bradshaw's railway guide showed the unified times and met with general approval, although legal disputes meant that it was not until 1880 that GMT was formally established across the UK. In the United States, the problems were much more severe, with one table showing over 100 local times varying by more than 3   hours. In 1870, Charles F. Dowd published

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5642-435: The decline. For example, a resident orca pod was lost in the 1960s, presumably due to the peak in PCB pollution in this time period. The OSPAR commission manages the OSPAR convention to counteract the harmful effects of human activity on wildlife in the North Sea, preserve endangered species , and provide environmental protection. All North Sea border states are signatories of the MARPOL 73/78 Accords, which preserve

5733-555: The energy of the incoming sea, so that the dike itself does not receive the full impact. Dikes that lie directly on the sea are especially reinforced. The dikes have, over the years, been repeatedly raised, sometimes up to 9 metres (30 ft) and have been made flatter to better reduce wave erosion. Where the dunes are sufficient to protect the land behind them from the sea, these dunes are planted with beach grass ( Ammophila arenaria ) to protect them from erosion by wind, water, and foot traffic. Storm surges threaten, in particular,

5824-420: The highest variability where there is fresh water inflow, such as at the Rhine and Elbe estuaries, the Baltic Sea exit and along the coast of Norway. The main pattern to the flow of water in the North Sea is an anti-clockwise rotation along the edges. The North Sea is an arm of the Atlantic Ocean receiving the majority of ocean current from the northwest opening, and a lesser portion of warm current from

5915-454: The joint efforts of Abbe, Fleming and William Frederick Allen, Secretary of the US railways' General Time Convention and Managing Editor of the Travellers' Official Guide to the Railways , had brought the US railway companies to an agreement which led to standard railway time being introduced at noon on 18 November 1883 across the nation. Thus, a strong sense of fait accompli preceded the Washington conference, although setting local times

6006-720: The limits of the North Sea as follows: On the Southwest. A line joining the Phare de Walde (Walde Lighthouse, in France, 50°59'37"N, 1°54'53"E) and Leathercoat Point (England, 51°10'01.4"N 1°24'07.8"). northeast of Dover. On the Northwest. From Dunnet Head (58°40'20"N, 3°22'30"W) in Scotland to Tor Ness (58°47'N) in the Island of Hoy , thence through this island to the Kame of Hoy (58°55'N) on to Breck Ness on Mainland (58°58'N) through this island to Costa Head (3°14'W) and Inga Ness (59'17'N) in Westray through Westray, to Bow Head, across to Mull Head (North point of Papa Westray ) and on to Seal Skerry (North point of North Ronaldsay ) and thence to Horse Island (South point of

6097-502: The lines in Altona and Kiel were found have a time difference in exact astronomical time of about 40 seconds due to their location. Depending on what time was adopted a train between Altona and Kiel could be considered to have arrived nearly a minute too early or too late, even if it was really on time. To address this problem, the railway, in collaboration with the Altona Observatory and its director Heinrich Christian Schumacher , developed an artificial medium time for its timetable, reducing

6188-431: The marine environment by preventing pollution from ships. Germany, Denmark, and the Netherlands also have a trilateral agreement for the protection of the Wadden Sea , or mudflats , which run along the coasts of the three countries on the southern edge of the North Sea. The North Sea has had various names throughout history. One of the earliest recorded names was Septentrionalis Oceanus , or "Northern Ocean", which

6279-555: The maximum variation from true geographic time to 20 seconds, which was considerably less noticeable. This issue appeared with all railways as travel distances and speeds increased, finally leading to the convening of the International Meridian Conference in October 1884 in Washington, D. C. , which agreed to adopt a universal day for astronomical purposes, eventually leading to the world being split into time zones , independent of precise astronomical time, including Germany’s adoption of Central European Time in 1893. Immediately after

6370-489: The north it is bordered by the Shetland Islands , and connects with the Norwegian Sea , which is a marginal sea in the Arctic Ocean . The North Sea is more than 970 kilometres (600 mi) long and 580 kilometres (360 mi) wide, with an area of 750,000 square kilometres (290,000 sq mi) and a volume of 54,000 cubic kilometres (13,000 cu mi). Around the edges of the North Sea are sizeable islands and archipelagos , including Shetland , Orkney , and

6461-425: The ocean, the North Sea was strategically important through both world wars. The coast has diverse geology and geography. In the north, deep fjords and sheer cliffs mark much of its Norwegian and Scottish coastlines respectively, whereas in the south, the coast consists mainly of sandy beaches, estuaries of long rivers and wide mudflats . Due to the dense population, heavy industrialisation , and intense use of

6552-492: The prevailing flood levels. It was only around the beginning of the High Middle Ages , in 1200 AD, that inhabitants began to connect single ring dikes into a dike line along the entire coast, thereby turning amphibious regions between the land and the sea into permanent solid ground. The modern form of the dikes supplemented by overflow and lateral diversion channels, began to appear in the 17th and 18th centuries, built in

6643-509: The sea and the area surrounding it, various environmental issues affect the sea's ecosystems. Adverse environmental issues – commonly including overfishing , industrial and agricultural runoff , dredging , and dumping, among others – have led to several efforts to prevent degradation and to safeguard long-term economic benefits. The North Sea is bounded by the Orkney Islands and east coast of Great Britain to

6734-463: The sea creating deep fjords and archipelagos . South of Stavanger, the coast softens, the islands become fewer. The eastern Scottish coast is similar, though less severe than Norway. From north east of England , the cliffs become lower and are composed of less resistant moraine , which erodes more easily, so that the coasts have more rounded contours. In the Netherlands, Belgium and in East Anglia

6825-413: The shores of the sea clogging harbours and inlets and has become a nuisance. Due to the heavy human populations and high level of industrialization along its shores, the wildlife of the North Sea has suffered from pollution, overhunting, and overfishing. Flamingos and pelicans were once found along the southern shores of the North Sea, but became extinct over the second millennium. Walruses frequented

6916-464: The smaller opening at the English Channel. These tidal currents leave along the Norwegian coast. Surface and deep water currents may move in different directions. Low salinity surface coastal waters move offshore, and deeper, denser high salinity waters move inshore. The North Sea located on the continental shelf has different waves from those in deep ocean water. The wave speeds are diminished and

7007-790: The uplands of the Fennoscandian Shield and the British Isles. This precursor of the current North Sea has grown and shrunk with the rise and fall of the eustatic sea level during geologic time. Sometimes it was connected with other shallow seas, such as the sea above the Paris Basin to the south-west, the Paratethys Sea to the south-east, or the Tethys Ocean to the south. During the Late Cretaceous, about 85  million years ago , all of modern mainland Europe except for Scandinavia

7098-629: The valuable Rendsburg–Neumünster line on 1 January 1864. After that, Peto progressively reduced his business in Schleswig-Holstein and the AKE became its most important railway company. The company, together with the government of Hamburg, built the Hamburg-Altona link line and the former Klosterthor station, connecting the AKE’s line to the Berlin–Hamburg line near the former Berlin station and to

7189-554: The war on the side of Japan. During the First World War , Great Britain's Grand Fleet and Germany's Kaiserliche Marine faced each other in the North Sea, which became the main theatre of the war for surface action. Britain's larger fleet and North Sea Mine Barrage were able to establish an effective blockade for most of the war, which restricted the Central Powers ' access to many crucial resources. Major battles included

7280-549: The war, hundreds of thousands of tons of chemical weapons were disposed of by being dumped in the North Sea. International Meridian Conference The International Meridian Conference was a conference held in October 1884 in Washington, D.C. , in the United States , to determine a prime meridian for international use. The conference was held at the request of U.S. President Chester A. Arthur . The subject to discuss

7371-406: The wave amplitudes are increased. In the North Sea there are two amphidromic systems and a third incomplete amphidromic system. In the North Sea the average tide difference in wave amplitude is between zero and eight metres (26 ft). The Kelvin tide of the Atlantic Ocean is a semidiurnal wave that travels northward. Some of the energy from this wave travels through the English Channel into

7462-561: The west and the northern and central European mainland to the east and south, including Norway , Denmark , Germany , the Netherlands , Belgium , and France . In the southwest, beyond the Straits of Dover , the North Sea becomes the English Channel connecting to the Atlantic Ocean. In the east, it connects to the Baltic Sea via the Skagerrak and Kattegat , narrow straits that separate Denmark from Norway and Sweden respectively. In

7553-519: Was a scattering of islands. By the Early Oligocene , 34 to 28 million years ago , the emergence of Western and Central Europe had almost completely separated the North Sea from the Tethys Ocean, which gradually shrank to become the Mediterranean as Southern Europe and South West Asia became dry land. The North Sea was cut off from the English Channel by a narrow land bridge until that

7644-560: Was breached by at least two catastrophic floods between 450,000 and 180,000 years ago. Since the start of the Quaternary period about 2.6  million years ago , the eustatic sea level has fallen during each glacial period and then risen again. Every time the ice sheet reached its greatest extent, the North Sea became almost completely dry, the dry landmass being known as Doggerland , whose northern regions were themselves known to have been glaciated. The present-day coastline formed after

7735-616: Was cited by Pliny . He also noted that the Cimbri called it Morimarusa – "Dead Sea". The name "North Sea" probably came into English, however, via the Dutch Noordzee , who named it thus either in contrast with the Zuiderzee ("South Sea"), located south of Frisia , or because the sea is generally to the north of the Netherlands. Before the adoption of "North Sea", the names used in English were "German Sea" or "German Ocean", referred to as

7826-567: Was dissolved. Today the Hamburg-Altona-Kiel line is owned by Deutsche Bahn AG . North Sea Download coordinates as: The North Sea lies between Great Britain , Denmark , Norway , Germany , the Netherlands , Belgium and France . An epeiric sea on the European continental shelf , it connects to the Atlantic Ocean through the English Channel in the south and

7917-533: Was not part of the remit of the conference and it was not legally established until 1918. Twenty-six countries, represented by 41 delegates, participated in the conference: On 22 October 1884, the following resolutions were adopted by the conference (voting took place on 13 October): Resolution 2, fixing the meridian at Greenwich, was passed 22–1 (San Domingo, now the Dominican Republic , voted against); France and Brazil abstained. The French did not adopt

8008-585: Was opened to traffic on 1 September 1844. Also in 1845, the company expanded its network as it took over management of operations of the 34 km-long line of the Rendsburg-Neumünster Railway Company ( Rendsburg-Neumünstersche Eisenbahn ). While trying to purchase the lines of the English railway entrepreneur, Sir Samuel Morton Peto (the Flensburg–Husum–Tönning Railway Company ), the AKE managed to purchase from him

8099-513: Was ordered after an international tender. Five steam locomotives with an 1A1 wheel arrangement were built by the companies of Kitson, Thompson & Hewitson of Leeds and R and W Hawthorn of Newcastle . Tenders were built by Wöhlert in Berlin . Carriages were supplied by Röhe & Wienbarg of Altona. Parcel and freight wagons were supplied by Meyer of Uetersen , Knupper of Altona and Schweffel & Howaldt of Kiel. The end points of

8190-412: Was raised as follows in 1844: The English engineer George W. Buck was commissioned to plan the route. He came to the conclusion that in order to avoid hills the line should not pass through Segeberg but should instead run via Barmstedt and Neumünster . As a result of the influence of Klaus Panje, Elmshorn offered to increase its shares in the enterprise if the line took a more westerly course, which

8281-535: Was the choice of "a meridian to be employed as a common zero of longitude and standard of time reckoning throughout the world". It resulted in the recommendation of the Greenwich Meridian as the international standard for zero degrees longitude . By the 1870s there was pressure both to establish a prime meridian for worldwide navigation purposes and to unify local times for railway timetables. The first International Geographical Congress , held in Antwerp in 1871, passed

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