North Sea

The North Sea (also formerly known as German Ocean and Germanic Sea; Latin: Mare Germanicum) is a part of the Atlantic Ocean, located between Norway and Denmark in the east, Scotland and England in the west, and Germany, the Netherlands, Belgium and France in the south. An offshoot of the North Sea is the Skagerrak, between Denmark, Norway, and Sweden, which connects to the Baltic Sea through the Kattegat, Ă–resund, the Great Belt and the Little Belt. In the south, the North Sea connects with the rest of the Atlantic through the Strait of Dover into the English Channel and in the north through the Norwegian Sea.

Major rivers that drain into the North Sea include the Forth at Edinburgh, Ythan in northern Scotland, Elbe (at Cuxhaven), the Weser (at Bremerhaven), the Ems at Emden, the Rhine and Meuse, the Scheldt (at Flushing), the Thames, the Humber (at Hull), the River Tees, the River Wear and the River Tyne at Tynemouth. The Kiel Canal, one of the world's busiest artificial waterways, connects the North Sea with the Baltic.

The Southern Bight and German Bight are considered a part of the southern area of the North Sea. The other divisions of the Greater North Sea are Central North Sea, northern North Sea and Norwegian Trench.