Øresund
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Sound (locally known as Sundet, Danish Øresund or Swedish Öresund), is the strait that separates the Danish island Zealand from the southern Swedish province of Scania. Its width is just 4 kilometres (2.5 mi) at the narrowest point between Elsinore, Denmark, and Helsingborg, Sweden.
Øresund is one of the three Danish Straits that connects the Baltic Sea to the Atlantic Ocean via Kattegat, Skagerrak and the North Sea, and is one of the busiest waterways in the world.[citation needed]
The Öresund Bridge was inaugurated on July 1, 2000, by King Carl XVI Gustav of Sweden and Queen Margrethe II of Denmark. Ferries run around the clock between Helsingborg, Sweden and Helsingør, Denmark.
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[edit] Streams, animals and salinity
Oresund at the border between oceanic salt water (with a salinity of more than 30 PCU) and the Baltic sea with only 3 to 7 PCU wich makes it's water conditions rather unike. The streams are very complex, but the surface stream is often north-bound (from the Baltic sea) wich gives a lower surface salinity, thow streams can change from one day to another. The averidge surface salinity is about 10-12 PCU in the southern part but above 20 PCU north of Elsinore. At the bottom of the sea conditions are more stabile and salinity is always oceanic (> 30 PCU) below a certain deep that varies between 10 and 15 meters. In the southern part the deep is however just 7-10 meters and this is the definite border of oceanic salt water, and therefor also a border for many maritine spiecis of animals. In the central Baltic Sea only 52 known salt-water spieces resides, to compare with around 1500 in the North Sea. In Oresund the number of spieces that stops to exist at the shallow southern part is several hundreds. Close to 600 spieces are known to exist in some part of Oresund. Wellknown examples of such spiecies are lobster and the burning jellyfish (of Cyanea Artica) the latter can drift in to southwest Baltic sea , but not repuduce itself there.
[edit] History
Political control of Öresund has been an important issue in Danish and Swedish history. Denmark maintained military control with the coastal fortress of Kronborg at Elsinore on the west side and Kärnan at Helsingborg on the east, until the eastern shore was ceded to Sweden in 1658. Both fortresses are located where the strait is just 4 kilometers wide.
In 1429 King Eric of Pomerania introduced the Sound Dues which remained in effect for more than four centuries, until 1857. Transitory dues on the use of waterways, roads, bridges and crossings were then an accepted way of taxing which could constitute a great part of a state's income. The Sound Dues remained the most important source of income for the Danish Crown for several centuries, thus making Danish kings relatively independent of Denmark's Privy Council and aristocracy.
[edit] Notable islands
- Amager
- Saltholm
- Ven (also spelled Hven)
- Peberholm - an artificial island
- Middelgrundsfortet - an artificial island
- Flakfortet - an artificial island
- Gråen - a semi artificial island outside port of Landskrona
[edit] See also
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Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Øresund |
[edit] References
- Menefee, Samuel Pyeatt, "The Sound Dues and Access to the Baltic Sea" in Renate Platzoder and Philomene Verlaan (eds.), The Baltic Sea: New Developments in National Policies and International Co-Operation (1996), pp. 101-32.
[edit] External links
- Øresunddirekt - Official public information site for the inhabitants of the Øresund region
- Øresund Trends - An official public information site with up-to-date information on the region, available in English
- Oresundstid - The History of the Oresund Region (English, Swedish, Danish)
Coordinates: 55°47′23″N 12°45′03″E / 55.78972°N 12.75083°E
