Skagerrak and Kattegat.
The
Skagerrak is a
strait running between
Norway and the southwest coast of
Sweden and the
Jutland peninsula of
Denmark, connecting the
North Sea and the
Kattegat sea area, which leads to the
Baltic Sea.
Name
The names for both
Skagerrak and
Kattegat are of
Dutch origin.
Skagerrak is derived from the Dutch word for
Skagen, the northernmost town of
Jutland. The syllable "rak" means a straight
waterway.
[Nudansk Ordbog (1993), 15th edition, 2nd reprint, Copenhagen: Politikens Forlag, entry Skagerrak.] The ultimate source of this syllable is the
Proto-Indo-European root *reg-, "straight". No evidence suggests a connection to the modern Danish word
rak (meaning rabble or riff-raff). If the name is derived from non-Germanic languages, ie. Celtic (Goidelic), the most likely etymological link would be to 'sgag' meaning 'split' and 'loch' meaning 'lake' (Latin 'lacus'). This is also suggested by similar '-ak', '-lok' and '-log' limnic names across Skagerrak in Telemark, Norway.
According to
Den Store Danske Encyklopædi and
Politikens Nydansk Ordbog, the name
Kattegat derives from the Dutch words
Kat (cat) and
Gat (hole). It refers to late
medieval navigation, where captains compared this region to a hole so narrow that even a cat would have difficulty creeping through due to the many reefs and shallow waters.
[Nudansk Ordbog (1993), 15th edition, 2nd reprint, Copenhagen: Politikens Forlag, entry Kattegat.] At one point, the passable waters are a mere 3.84
kilometers (2.38
miles) wide. An older name for both the Skagerrak and
Kattegat was the
Norwegian Sea or
Jutland Sea.
Knýtlinga saga mentions the name
Jótlandshaf for both waters.
Geography
Straight sailing, middle of Skagerrak.
The Skagerrak is roughly triangular in shape, measuring in length, and between and in width. It deepens toward the Norwegian coast, reaching over 700 metres at the
Norwegian Trench. Some ports along the Skagerrak are
Oslo and
Kristiansand in
Norway and
Uddevalla and
Strömstad in
Sweden.
The Skagerrak has a
salinity of 30
practical salinity units. The volume available to biomass is about , including a wide variety of habitats from the sandbanks to Sweden and Denmark to the deeps of the Norwegian trench.
History
In both world wars, the Skagerrak was strategically very important for
Germany. One of the biggest sea battles of
World War I, the
Battle of Jutland, also known as the Battle of the Skagerrak, took place there
May 31 to
June 1,
1916. The importance of controlling this waterway, the only natural access to the Baltic, provided the motivation for the German invasion of
Denmark and
Norway during
World War II.
Biology
The Skagerrak provides a habitat for approximately 2000 marine species, many of them adapted to its waters. For example, a variety of
Atlantic cod called the Skagerrak cod spawns off the Norwegian coast. The eggs are buoyant and the hatchlings feed on
zooplankton. Juveniles sink to the bottom where they have a shorter maturity cycle (2 years). They do not migrate but remain local to Norwegian
fjords.
The variety of habitats and the large volume of
plankton on the surface support a prolific marine life. Energy moves from the top to the bottom according to
Vinogradov's ladder of migrations; that is, some species are
benthic and others
pelagic but there are graded layers in which species move vertically for short distances. In addition, some species are
benthopelagic, moving between surface and bottom.
The benthic species include
Coryphaenoides rupestris,
Argentina silus,
Etmopterus spinax,
Chimaera monstrosa and
Glyptocephalus cynoglossus. On the top are
Clupea harengus,
Scomber scombrus,
Sprattus sprattus. Some species that move between are
Pandalus borealis,
Sabinea sarsi,
Etmopterus spinax.
