Лабрадорское море: География, течения и формирование глубинного водообразования в Северной Атлантике.

Arm of the North Atlantic Ocean

The Labrador Sea (; Labradorhavet) is an arm of the North Atlantic Ocean between the Labrador Peninsula and Greenland. The sea is flanked by continental shelves to the southwest, northwest, and northeast. It connects to the north with Baffin Bay through the Davis Strait. It is a marginal sea of the Atlantic. The sea formed upon separation of the North American Plate and Greenland Plate that started about 60 million years ago and stopped about 40 million years ago. It contains one of the world's largest turbidity current channel systems, the Northwest Atlantic Mid Ocean Channel (NAMOC), that runs for thousands of kilometers along the sea bottom toward the Atlantic Ocean. The Labrador Sea is a major source of the North Atlantic Deep Water, a cold water mass that flows at great depth along the western edge of the North Atlantic, spreading out to form the largest identifiable water mass in the World Ocean.

The Labrador Sea formed upon separation of the North American Plate and Greenland Plate that started about 60 million years ago (Paleocene) and stopped about 40 million years ago.

The Labrador Sea is about deep and wide where it joins the Atlantic Ocean. It becomes shallower, to less than towards Baffin Bay (see depth map) and passes into the wide Davis Strait. It is called the Northwest Atlantic Mid Ocean Channel (NAMOC) and is one of the world's longest drainage systems of Pleistocene age. It appears as a submarine river bed with numerous tributaries and is maintained by high density turbidity currents flowing within the levees. The water temperature varies between in winter and in summer. The salinity is relatively low, at 31–34.9 parts per thousand. Two thirds of the sea is covered in ice in winter. Tides are semi diurnal (i. e. occur twice a day), reaching The speed of the Labrador current is typically , but can reach in some areas, whereas the Baffin Current is somewhat slower at about The Labrador Current maintains the water temperature at and salinity between 30 and 34 parts per thousand. The sea provides a significant part of the North Atlantic Deep Water (NADW) — a cold water mass that flows at great depth along the western edge of the North Atlantic, spreading out to form the largest identifiable water mass in the World Ocean. The NADW consists of three parts of different origin and salinity, and the top one, the Labrador Sea Water (LSW), is formed in the Labrador Sea. This part occurs at a medium depth and has a relatively low salinity (34.84–34.89 parts per thousand), low temperature and high oxygen content compared to the layers above and below it. LSW also has a relatively low vorticity, i. e. the tendency to form vortices, than any other water in North Atlantic that reflects its high homogeneity. It has a potential density of 27.76–27.78 mg/cm3 relatively to the surface layers, meaning it is denser, and thus sinks under the surface and remains homogeneous and unaffected by the surface fluctuations.

The northern and western parts of the Labrador Sea are covered in ice between December and June. The drift ice serves as a breeding ground for seals in early spring. The sea is also a feeding ground for Atlantic salmon and several marine mammal species. Shrimp fisheries began in 1978 and intensified toward 2000, as well as cod fishing. However, the cod fishing rapidly depleted the fish population in the 1990s near the Labrador and West Greenland banks and was therefore halted in 1992. Beluga whales, while abundant to the north, in the Baffin Bay, where their population reaches 20,000, are rare in the Labrador Sea, especially since the 1950s. The sea contains one of the two major stocks of Sei whales, the other one being the Scotian Shelf. Also common are minke and bottlenose whales. The Labrador duck was a common bird on the Canadian coast until the 19th century, but is now extinct. Other coastal animals include the Labrador wolf (Canis lupus labradorius), caribou (Rangifer spp. ), moose (Alces alces), black bear (Ursus americanus), red fox (Vulpes vulpes), Arctic fox (Alopex lagopus), wolverine, snowshoe hare (Lepus americanus), grouse (Dendragapus spp. ), osprey (Pandion haliaetus), raven (Corvus corax), ducks, geese, partridge and American wild pheasant.

Coastal vegetation includes black spruce (Picea mariana), tamarack, white spruce (P. glauca), dwarf birch (Betula spp. ), aspen, willow (Salix spp. ), ericaceous shrubs (Ericaceae), cottongrass (Eriophorum spp. ), sedge (Carex spp. ), lichens and moss.