Ross Sea

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Map of Antarctica, below the Ross Sea
Map of the Ross Sea and surroundings

The Ross Sea ( English Ross Sea ) is a marginal sea in the Southern Ocean off Antarctica ; it lies between Cape Adare in the northeast of Victoria Land and Cape Colbeck , the northern point of the Edward VII Peninsula in the westernmost part of Marie Byrd Land and is on average 500 meters deep with a maximum depth of 1,200 meters. Its surface area is around 958,000 km². Located around 176 degrees longitude , New Zealand is the closest landmass outside of Antarctica. It is considered to be one of the last “untouched” maritime ecosystems .

More than half of the Ross Sea is permanently covered by a solid, thick and almost 500,000 km² ice sheet - the Ross Ice Shelf . It is named after James Clark Ross who discovered it in 1841.

To the west of the Ross Sea are Ross Island with Mount Erebus , a still active volcano , and McMurdo Sound , which forms a natural harbor that is usually ice-free in the Antarctic summer. To the east of this sound is Franklin Island , to the northeast of which is Coulman Island .

Where the Ross Ice Shelf is excreted in Treibeiszone live loud Greenpeace about a third of the world's stock of Adelie - and a quarter of all emperor penguins , also huge krill -Schwärme: These small cancer animals which are at the beginning of the oceanic food chain . Strong storms blow the ice aside and create scattered, several square kilometers of free water, known as polynjas . These form the penguins' livelihood. Where the sun shines on the water, the microalgae, which are the food source for krill, bloom; this in turn is the penguins' favorite prey.

Stretches of coast

Ten named coastal sections are distinguished from Cape Adare in the west to Cape Colbeck in the east. The first two and the last two border on the open Ross Sea, the others only border on the Ross Ice Shelf:

  1. Borchgrevink coast
  2. Scott coast
  3. Hillary coast
  4. Shackleton coast
  5. Dufek coast
  6. Amundsen coast
  7. Gould coast
  8. Siple coast
  9. Shirase coast
  10. Prestrud coast

Protected areas

Western Ross Sea (in the background the Transantarctic Mountains )

Beginning of November 2012 failed at a conference of the " Convention for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources ' ( Commission for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources , CCAMLR) in the Australian Hobart negotiations on the establishment of approximately 1.55 million square kilometer marine reserve in the region, an area about Germany, Great Britain and France combined. China , Russia and Ukraine had raised concerns about possible restrictions on fishing. The negotiations were finally successful in October 2016. The Ross Sea marine reserve will be the largest marine reserve in the world; The agreement will come into force in December 2017 and will initially run for 35 years: on 1.12 million square kilometers, for the term z. B. all fishing be prohibited.

See also

Web links

Commons : Rossmeer  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Britannica: Ross Sea
  2. ↑ a b c taz.de , October 28, 2016, Urs Wolderlin: Luck for the Antarctic (December 28, 2016)
  3. ↑ Block Russia, China and Ukraine: Antarctica will not get any new marine protected areas at focus.de, November 2, 2012 (accessed November 2, 2012).
  4. ↑ spiegel.de , October 28, 2016: The world's largest marine protection zone is being created off Antarctica
  5. ↑ Hamburger Abendblatt , 29./30. October 2016, p. 48, Barbara Barkhausen: Historic turning point for Antarctica
  6. ↑ deutschlandfunk.de , news in depth , October 28, 2016: Edge of the Antarctic to be the world's largest marine protection zone (December 28, 2016)
  7. ↑ deutschlandfunk.de , Interview , October 28, 2016, Sandra Schöttner in conversation with Christiane Kaess : "An absolutely historic deal" (December 28, 2016)

Coordinates: 77 ° 25 ′ 17 ″  S , 176 ° 8 ′ 33 ″  W