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Labrador Sea Facts

Labrador Sea Facts
The Labrador Sea is located between Greenland and the Labrador Peninsula in the North Atlantic Ocean, considered to be a marginal sea in the Atlantic. It connects to Baffin Bay via Davis Strait to its north. It is believed that Labrador Sea formed between 60 million and 40 million years ago as the Greenland Plate and the North American Plate separated. The Labrador Sea contains the Northwest Atlantic Mid-Ocean Channel (NAMOC), which is one of the largest turbidity current channel systems in the world. The Dorset, Beothuk, and Inuit settlements existed along the southern coast between 500 BC and 1300 AD.
Interesting Labrador Sea Facts:
The Labrador Sea's northern limit is Davis Strait.
The East limit of the Labrador Sea is at an imaginary line that runs from Cape Farewell in Greenland to Cape St. Francis in Newfoundland.
The West limit of the Labrador Sea is at the east coast of Newfoundland and Labrador and the Northeast limit of the Gulf of St. Lawrence.
The Labrador Sea is approximately 11,155 feet deep and 621 miles wide.
The turbidity current channel system that runs for 2,400 miles long along the Labrador Sea's bottom is between 330 and 660 feet deep.
The Labrador Sea is the main source for the cold water mass that flows along the North Atlantic's western edge - called the North Atlantic Deep Water (NADW).
From December to June the western and northern regions of the Labrador Sea are covered in ice. Seals use the drift ice for breeding ground in the early spring.
Atlantic salmon and many other marine mammals use the Labrador Sea as feeding grounds.
Cod fishing in the Labrador Sea was once very popular but it depleted the fish stocks so severely that it was stopped in 1992.
Fish are most abundant in the southern region of the Labrador Sea and include species such as capelin, sand lance, flatfish, lobster, Atlantic herring, and haddock.
Shrimp fisheries in the Labrador Sea became popular in the late 1970s and continued growing until 2000.
There are two major populations of Sei whales in the world and one is located in the Labrador Sea. The other location is the Scotian Shelf.
Coastal animals of the Labrador Sea include the Labrador wolf, caribou, black bear, moose, Arctic fox, wolverine, red fox, grouse, osprey, raven, snowshoe hare, American wild pheasant, ducks, partridge, and geese.
Until the 19th century the Labrador duck could be found along the coast.
Vegetation along the coast of the Labrador Sea includes tamarack, white spruce, black spruce, cottongrass, lichens, moss, dwarf birch, aspen, willow, and shrubs. There are also evergreen bushes used to make herbal teas.
In the summer the temperature of the Labrador Sea varies between 41 and 43 degrees Fahrenheit to 30 degrees Fahrenheit in the winter.
The water in the Labrador Sea is considered to be relatively low salinity at only 31 to 34.9 parts per thousand.
In 2015 scientists discovered Lophelia coral in the Labrador Sea. They had suspected it existed for a long time but had no proof until the discovery.


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