BALTIC SEA. The inclosed sea in northern Europe, bounded by Germany. Denmark, Sweden, and Russia, and communicating with the North Sea through a series of winding channels known as The Sound, Great Belt, Little Belt. Kattegat, and Skagerrak. From the peninsula of Den mark, which may be regarded as its western limit, the Baltic extends eastward to the fron tier between Germany and Russia, and thence northward to about latitude 66°. The greatest length of the Baltic from Lfibuck in Germany to Haparanda in Sweden is about 930 miles. while its breadth from an extreme of 425 miles (Stockholm to Saint Petersburg) to less than 50 miles at the southern extremity. It covers an area of about 160,000 square miles. The north ern extension includes three large bays or gulfs, the Gulfs of Riga and Finland. indenting the coast of Rusrda. and the Gulf of Bothnia between Russia and Sweden. On the coast of Germany are smaller indentations, including the bays of Pome rania, Liibeck„ and Kiel. and the Gulf of Danzig. The principal islands are Rfigen„Bornholm, Oland, Gottland, Osel, Dagii, and the Aland and Danish groups. The depression occupied by the Baltic is generally shallow; on the Stolpe Bank, off Stolpinfinde in Germany, the depth is less than 40 feet, and over considerable areas it does not exceed 120 feet. Like the North Sea, the great est depths are found in the northern part, the extreme being 1542 feet (south of Stock holm). The Baltic receives the drainage of a large part of northern Europe, including western Russia, northeastern Germany, and nearly the whole of Sweden. Owing to this drainage and
to the restricted channel to the North Sea, the water of the Baltic contains only a third as great a percentage of salt as the Atlantic, and the saltness shows a tendency to decrease toward the west and north. Tidal action is apparent enly on the southern coasts, but there are sur face currents flowing quite constantly from the Baltic to the North Sea and deeper currents flow ing in the opposite direction. Storms are fre quent. and often cause severe losses to shipping. Easterly winds are particularly dangerous, as they drive the water before them in the form of huge tidal waves. Navigation ill the northern part is suspended by ice during the winter season and early spring. The Baltic is of great com mercial importance to northern Europe; the most important ports are Copenhagen. in Den mark; Kiel. Lfibeck, Stettin, Danzig, and liiinigsberg, in Germany; Riga, Reval, Saint Petersburg, Cronstadt, Helsingfors, and Aho, in Russia; and Stockholm. Karlskrona and Malmi3, in Sweden. The Baltic is connected with the North Sea by an artificial water-way, the Kaiser Wilhelm Canal, 61.3 miles in length, which was completed in 1805. The canal contains no locks, and is of sufficient depth to permit the passage of deep-sea ships.