Labrador Sea

The Labrador Sea (French: mer du Labrador; Danish: Labradorhavet) is part of the North Atlantic Ocean. It lies between the Labrador Peninsula and the country of Greenland. This sea has wide areas called continental shelves along its edges.

The Labrador Sea formed when two large pieces of Earth's surface moved apart. This happened long ago and stopped moving millions of years later. Today, the sea has one of the biggest underwater channels in the world, called the Northwest Atlantic Mid-Ocean Channel. This channel stretches for thousands of kilometers along the ocean floor.

The Labrador Sea also helps move water in the ocean. It creates cold water that moves slowly along the bottom of the ocean far away from where it starts. This cold water is called the North Atlantic Deep Water.

History

The Labrador Sea formed when the North American Plate and the Greenland Plate moved apart. This happened about 60 million years ago and ended about 40 million years ago. During this time, a deep valley formed and was later covered by the ocean floor.

Long ago, between 500 BC and 1300 AD, several groups of people lived along the southern coast of the Labrador Sea. These groups included the Dorset, Beothuk, and Inuit. Over time, the Dorset were replaced by the Thule people.

Extent

The International Hydrographic Organization defines the borders of the Labrador Sea. To the north, it ends at the southern edge of the Davis Strait, which runs along the line of 60° North between Greenland and Labrador. On the east side, a line goes from Cape St. Francis in Newfoundland to Cape Farewell in Greenland. The western edge follows the coast of Labrador and Newfoundland and ends at the northeastern edge of the Gulf of St. Lawrence.

Natural Resources Canada uses a slightly different northern border, drawing a straight line from a point on Killiniq Island near Lady Job Harbour to Cape Farewell.

Oceanography

The Labrador Sea is part of the North Atlantic Ocean. It is about 3,400 meters deep and 1,000 kilometers wide where it meets the Atlantic Ocean. It gets shallower as it moves toward Baffin Bay and connects to the Davis Strait.

The water in the Labrador Sea changes temperature from about -1°C in winter to around 5-6°C in summer. In winter, two-thirds of the sea is covered in ice. The tides happen twice a day and can reach a height of 4 meters.

The sea has a circular water flow, moving in an anticlockwise direction. This flow is started by the East Greenland Current and continued by the West Greenland Current, which brings warmer water north along Greenland. Then, the Baffin Island Current and Labrador Current move colder water south along the Canadian coast. These currents carry many icebergs. The Labrador Current keeps the water temperature around 0°C and the saltiness between 30 and 34 parts per thousand.

Fauna

The Labrador Sea is home to many sea animals. In the cold northern and western parts, ice forms from December to June. This ice helps some seals to have their babies.

Many whales visit the Labrador Sea in early spring. These include blue whales, fin whales, humpback whales, and North Atlantic right whales. You can also find beluga whales, especially in Baffin Bay, Hudson Bay, and the Gulf of Saint Lawrence. Sometimes, orcas come to the sea to find food like fish and other sea animals.

The sea is also a good place for Atlantic salmon and many kinds of fish to live. Fishermen catch shrimp, cod, haddock, herring, lobster, and other fish there.

Flora

The coastal areas of the Labrador Sea have many kinds of plants. You can find trees like black spruce, tamarack, white spruce, and aspen, as well as willow and dwarf birch. There are also small shrubs such as Labrador tea, which people use to make herbal teas. Other plants include cottongrass, sedge, lichens, and moss. These plants grow along the coasts of both Greenland and Canada.