The cleanest sea in the world: myths and facts

2024 Author: Henry Conors | [email protected]. Last modified: 2024-02-12 02:48

Already by the beginning of the 21st century, so much has become known about the pollution of the World Ocean that it is just right not to look for the cleanest sea in the world, but a clean sea in general. At the risk of never finding it! The barbaric attitude of man towards nature is clearly seen in a contrasting example. In the literal sense of the word, having killed the Aral Sea in Eurasia in just a quarter of a century, at about the same time, people "gave" the Earth a man-made "continent" - the Great Pacific Garbage Patch, which, according to some sources, surpasses Australia and New Zealand in area, together taken…

So are there the cleanest seas in the world? It depends what you mean by "purity". Colorful advertising booklets of travel agencies do not count - it is clear that they will not tell a word of the truth. Everything is learned, as always, the hard way. Separate resort areas on the sea coast, perhaps, deserve the title of the cleanest. But the sea itself is by no means.

The Black Sea, after all, onceIt was famous for its clean water, and rich fisheries, and species diversity. In the 20th century, because of the USSR and Turkey, the bluest sea in the world became one of the dirtiest in the world. The situation here is also not improving due to slow water exchange. The Mediterranean Sea that communicates with it seems to be doing better: its waters are renewed every 70 years by the Atlantic Ocean through the Strait of Gibr altar. But over the past half century, sewage, industry, and a tourist boom that has spread even to previously protected outlying islands have made the Mediterranean ecosystem sick. The leaders in pollution are Spain, Italy and France.

If we continue our journey through the Suez Canal, we will end up in the Red Sea. A strikingly beautiful and diverse underwater world is spread in the warm clear water. It would seem that here it is, the cleanest sea in the world! Do not hurry. The Egyptian coast of the Red Sea is densely overgrown with piers at hotels, to which boats and yachts moor. And here the tourist receives the whole "civilizational" set: fuel stains, wastewater after showering and washing dishes, and often fecal effluents. All this evaporates in the heat with a corresponding smell. Experienced travelers are advised to choose a beach that is far from the piers, does not have a gentle slope and immediately goes into the depths. So far, the Red Sea has enough strength to clean itself. Yes, and a complete renewal, thanks to the Gulf of Aden, occurs "only" once every 15 years. Involuntarily believe that the cleanest sea in the world is the Dead Sea, on the border of IsraelJordan. In fact, its salinity reaches such a monstrous value (300-350%) that no marine organisms can live in it, with the exception of some bacteria and fungi. Such sterilization is reinforced by the absence of large-scale industry on the scorched earth. Nevertheless, unreasonable human economic activity is preparing an ecological catastrophe even here: the level of groundwater is decreasing, the formation of sinkholes in the soil has begun.

Perhaps today the cleanest sea in the world - Weddell. Never heard of such a thing? Still, because there are no crowded beaches or luxury hotels. For most of the year, this sea is covered with two-meter-thick drifting ice and numerous icebergs. And the conditions for navigation here are such that a rare captain in his right mind and sober memory will risk laying a course here. But German scientists in 1986 took a chance. And they found out: the transparency of the local waters is 79 meters. Compare with the theoretical transparency of distilled water (80 meters) and draw your conclusions.

Second place in the ranking of "the cleanest sea in the world" is perhaps occupied by the Sargasso Sea in the Atlantic Ocean: its transparency reaches 60 meters. But given the proximity of the United States and Canada, as well as major transatlantic shipping lanes, it is very vulnerable. Which is eloquently confirmed by the presence of a large garbage patch of waste, mostly plastic. Compared to these two parts of the oceans, no other sea in its cleanliness simply does not hold water. It remains to be hopedthat in the 21st century, man will finally put the planet on which he lives in order.