Which ocean is the Caribbean Sea part of? Caribbean Sea: "True Paradise on Earth"
Caribbean from A to Z: the most popular islands, beaches and hotels in Jamaica, Cuba, the Dominican Republic, Barbados or the Bahamas. Colorful photos and videos. Tour operators in the Caribbean.
- Tours for May Worldwide
- Last minute tours Worldwide
The legendary Antilia, and later the colonial West Indies, the Caribbean nestled comfortably in the geographic “depression” between North and South America. Large and small, windward and leeward, firmly inhabited by tourists and uninhabited, the Caribbean islands are a paradise for downshifters and drug lords, and at the same time one of the most popular exotic beach destinations. On more than fifty islands of the Caribbean Sea lies a real and, moreover, well-balanced paradise, an ideal combination of natural and man-made: the rich heritage of the colonial past in the form of a mass of house-museums and pompous mansions perfectly complements the exotic nature, where the greenery of tropical forests alternates with volcanic landscapes, and the expanses of coffee plantations give way to thickets of sugar cane and bananas.
Previous photo 1/ 1 Next photo
Putting aside sentimentality and turning to dry facts, we learn that the Caribbean includes the Greater and Lesser Antilles. The first include 4 large islands “stretching” towards the mainland: Cuba, Haiti, Jamaica and Puerto Rico; to the second - a round dance of all sorts of little things, in turn divided into leeward and windward islands: the noisy Bahamas and the authentic Turks and Caicos, the Virgin Islands divided between the USA and Great Britain, the outlandish Antigua and Barbuda, Guadeloupe discovered by Columbus and the birthplace of Josephine Beauharnais Martinique, Grenada, Barbados , Trinidad and Tobago, finally - made famous by the Jack Sparrow saga of Dominica. By the way, the island of Curacao (the one that gave the name to the popular liqueur) is also located here.
Diving in Curacao
The reasons for the popularity of the Caribbean in the tourism market are obvious: warm sea all year round, amazingly beautiful nature, a large selection of hotels and a whole bunch of entertainment - water and dry sports, nightclubs, discos, restaurants, interesting excursions. Let's take Cuba or the Dominican Republic as an example. Here you can not only enjoy the sea and the sun, but also wander around old Havana, walk through coffee and tobacco plantations, listen to the singing of street singers, rock out at a disco and generally breathe the air of freedom in every possible way.
A distinctive feature of the Caribbean region is a wide variety of holiday options, because each state here has its own “specialization”.
In Barbados, for example, many English traditions are firmly rooted in life. There is a large selection of hotels here, and not all of them accept small children: the holiday here is mostly calm and relaxed.
15 days in the Dominican Republic
Known as the “spice island,” Grenada is home to botanical gardens, museums, attractions, and stunning beaches that invite you to lie down on soft white sand. Turks and Caicos attracts the attention of a respectable public with its magnificent five-star hotels, as well as good diving conditions and high-level SPA centers.
St. Lucia proudly bears the title of “Garden Island” and is one of the most beautiful islands in the Caribbean. In contrast, Aruba is a desert island, with magnificent hotels and vibrant nightlife. St. Maarten offers a variety of hotels of varying levels, and the Bahamas offers a huge range of accommodation options, from secluded hotels to bustling urban complexes.
Finally, in Curacao you absolutely must go to one of the bars and order a glass of the wonderful blue drink!
The Caribbean Sea, or Central American Sea, is a marginal sea of the Atlantic Ocean. Its northern border runs from the Yucatan Peninsula to the Greater Antilles, then along the Greater Antilles (Cuba, Haiti, Puerto Rico and Jamaica). The Virgin Islands, located east of the island of Puerto Rico, are part of the Lesser Antilles. The latter consist of a large number of small islands forming an arc directed southeast from the Anegada Strait and further south, where the arc adjoins the South American shelf, forming the eastern border of the Caribbean Sea. The large islands of this volcanic arc are Guadeloupe, Martinique, Saint Lucia, etc. Another arc (external) - the islands of Barbados, Tobago and Trinidad - connects in the southeast with the mountain ranges of Venezuela. The southern border of the Caribbean Sea is the northern shores of three countries - Venezuela, Colombia and Panama. The eastern shores of Central America form the eastern stepped border of the Caribbean Sea, the first step of which is Honduras, the second Yucatan Peninsula. The 220 km wide Yucatan Strait connects the Caribbean Sea to the Gulf of Mexico.
Numerous straits up to 2000 m deep between the Greater and Lesser Antilles connect the Caribbean Sea with the Atlantic Ocean. The total area of the Caribbean Sea is 2640 thousand km2. The greatest depth of the Caribbean Sea is slightly greater than 7100 m in the Cayman Trench. From east to west, the following main basins are located: Grenada (3000 m), Venezuelan (5000 m), Colombian (4000 m), Cayman (6000 m) and Yucatan (500 m). Less significant basins are the Virgin Islands Basin, the Dominican Trench and the Carjaco Trench. The average depth of the basins is approximately 4400 m. The main underwater ridges stretch from east to west: Aves, Beata, Jamaica and Cayman. The Caribbean Sea is located in the trade wind zone, and therefore there are very stable winds blowing from the east and ENE. Intense rainfall occurs during the summer months, when tropical weather conditions prevail. The heaviest precipitation falls east of the Isthmus of Panama - more than 2000 mm in 6 months, from June to November. Few hurricanes originate directly in the Caribbean Sea, but many hurricanes come through the Lesser Antilles in late summer and early fall.
Hydrological regime
Circulation. Most of the straits connecting the Caribbean Sea to the Atlantic Ocean are shallow, preventing large water exchanges. Only a few straits have a depth of over 1000 m, and they play a leading role in the circulation of the waters of the Caribbean Sea. The main strait through which waters exit the Caribbean Sea is the Yucatan Strait. The depth of its threshold is about 2000 m.The direction of the main flow of the Caribbean Sea in the upper 1500 m layer is from east to west. Below this depth, the waters of the Caribbean Sea are isolated from the ocean, so there is a very slow and variable current. In the Caribbean Sea, waters flow from the Atlantic Ocean, brought by the Guiana Drift Current, running along the coast of South America to the northwest. Having reached the Lesser Antilles, the Guiana Current branches. The main branch passes into the Caribbean Sea through the central straits of this island arc, mainly through the straits north and south of the island of St. Lucia; the other branch joins the Northern Trade Wind Current and runs along the eastern and northern borders of the Caribbean Sea towards the Bahamas. The waters of the Guiana Current form in the Caribbean Sea, after they pass the Grenada Basin and the Aves Ridge, a well-developed zonal circulation with a maximum flow speed 200-300 km north of the coast of South America. The Guiana Current branch joins the Caribbean Current and continues westward through the Aruba Passage into the Columbia Basin. In the western part of the basin it turns north, crosses the Jamaica Ridge and then runs along the Cayman Basin to 85-86° W. d., where it turns north again and leaves the Caribbean Sea through the Yucatan Strait.
The axis of the Caribbean Current usually passes over the greatest depths from the Lesser Antilles to the Yucatan Strait. North and south of the axis of the Caribbean Current, the flows are mostly parallel. Their direction changes slightly with depth, while the speed decreases continuously with increasing depth, for example to<5 см/с на глубинах свыше 1500 м в Венесуэльской и Колумбийской котловинах. В Кайманской и Юкатанской котловинах глубинное течение проявляется лучше, но его все же можно считать медленным.
The speed of surface currents in the Caribbean Sea is determined by seasonal changes in the speed of the trade winds. The highest surface speed of the Caribbean Current is observed at the end of winter (39.1 cm/s) and early summer (41.2 cm/s). The average surface speed of the Caribbean Current throughout the year is 0.7 knots, or 38 cm/s. During ship observations, higher speeds were observed, reaching 138.9 cm/s along the main axis of the Caribbean Current. Estimated velocities can be calculated from density measurements. The calculation shows that the main axis of the current remains in the upper 300-400-meter layer, and its speed quickly decreases from 40-60 cm/s on the surface to 10 cm/s at a depth of 300 m. Below there is a slow decrease in speed to approximately zero at depth 1000-1500 m; Below this depth the current is too slow to be calculated by the geostrophic method. Along the coasts of Cuba, Haiti and South America, countercurrents are observed (towards the east). In the western regions of the Columbia, Cayman and Yucatan basins, countercurrents are directed towards the center of the Caribbean Sea. The zonal flow is disrupted by meridional transport, which is caused by the deviation of the flow at the border with the mainland.
Water transport through sections from north to south can be calculated from geostrophic rates. In the west, its average value is 30 million m3/s. The Greater Antilles straits do not play a significant role in the overall transport. Through the meridian 64° W. it is basically the same as through the meridian 84° W. The Caribbean Current accounts for approximately 30% of the total transport (75-90 million m3/s) of water by the Gulf Stream. (The remaining 70% enters the Gulf Stream from the Antilles Current, which joins it north of the Bahamas.)
A feature of the circulation of the waters of the Caribbean Sea is the rise of deep waters to the surface off the coast of South America. The upward movement of water masses in the Caribbean Sea, as in other areas of the World Ocean, is caused by the action of wind: surface water is driven away from the shore and replaced by deep water. The rise of deep waters does not extend to great depths and is not significant below 250 m. As a result of rising deep waters, productivity increases, and this is an area of intense fishing. A corresponding subsidence of surface water occurs in the Venezuelan and Colombian basins along 17°N.
Salinity of the Caribbean Sea
The salinity field in the Caribbean Sea is characterized by four layers. Two of them, surface waters and subtropical subsurface waters (50-200 cm) are associated with the region of warm ocean waters and are separated from the region of cold waters at a depth of 400-600 m by a layer of water with a low (below 3.0 ml/l) oxygen content; the other two layers are represented by cold sub-Antarctic intermediate waters (700-850 m) and North Atlantic deep waters (1800-2500 m).The waters lying at the boundary between the main layers mix due to turbulence. The salinity of surface waters depends on evaporation, precipitation, runoff from land, and advection caused by currents. Salinity in winter is higher off the coast of South America (36 ppm), and this is partly due to the rise of saline subtropical subsurface waters to the surface. In the northern Caribbean Sea, surface salinity decreases and becomes less than 35.5 ppm. In the Cayman and Yucatan basins, the highest salinity (Sb prom) is observed south of Cuba. Further to the south, the salinity of surface waters also decreases to 35.5 ppm. off the coast of Honduras. In summer, heavy precipitation and runoff from land reduce the salinity of surface waters by about 0.5 ppm in the south and by 1.0 ppm. in the north.
There is still insufficient information on the distribution of salinity in the western Caribbean Sea.
Subtropical subsurface water has the highest salinity. It is a thin layer (which indicates the predominance of horizontal mixing over vertical in the stable layer), which slopes from the south (50-100 m) to the north (200 m).
The main axis of subtropical subsurface water flow coincides with the axis of the Caribbean Current. The salinity of this water is more than 37 ppm in the eastern regions of the Venezuelan Basin. In the Yucatan Strait, as a result of mixing, the salinity decreases to 36.7 ppm. A
Subantarctic intermediate water, which forms in the zone of the southern polar front, is the least saline. Its layer also has a slope from the south (600-700 m) to the north (800-850 m). In the southern Caribbean, this layer is thicker. West of 65° W. e. its northern edge becomes thinner and disappears, not reaching the northern border of the Caribbean Sea. The salinity of this layer in B is less than 34.7 ppm, but as the waters move, it increases so much that this layer cannot be detected in the Yucatan Strait. Its axis also coincides with the axis of the Caribbean Current. Below this layer is a layer of North Atlantic deep water that enters the Caribbean Sea through the rapids of the straits between the Lesser Antilles. The water of this layer is extremely homogeneous, with a salinity of about 35 ppm.
Caribbean sea temperature
The temperature field of the Caribbean Sea is tropical in nature, i.e. warm water on the surface and a clearly visible thermocline at a depth of 100-200 m, preventing vertical mixing and penetration of heat from the surface into depth. Below 1500 m the water temperature is approximately 4 ° C with a slight fluctuation from basin to basin. The temperature rises by several tenths of a degree at greater depths (below 3000 m) due to the influence of increasing pressure. The temperature distribution of the surface layer determines the position of the temperature equator in the northern Caribbean Sea.At the end of summer, the surface temperature of the Caribbean Sea is 28.3°C in the south and 28.9°C in the north. In the west of the Caribbean Sea the warmest month is August, in the east it is September. The surface temperature of the Caribbean Sea in winter is about 3°C lower. In the Caribbean Sea, surface temperatures have slight gradients and seasonal variations. Below a depth of 150 m, seasonal variations are not observed. The central regions of the Caribbean Sea receive an average of 6.28*10^18 cal/day of heat per year, with a deviation from this average of ±0.5*10^18 cal/day.
Located in the western Atlantic Ocean. From the west and south it borders on the coast of Central and South America, from the north and east by the Greater and Lesser Antilles. There are reefs to the west and southwest. The largest bays: Honduras, Venezuela, Darien. Largest: Jamaica.
Bing satellite map of the Caribbean
(the map can be moved with the mouse, reduced and enlarged)
The climate here is warm and maritime. In February it is +24, and in August +30. The most precipitation falls off the coast of Panama, and the least off the coast of Cuba. Hurricanes occur over the sea three times a year.
Water exchange with the Atlantic Ocean occurs through the Windward, Sombrero and Dominica straits.
The water temperature throughout the year ranges from 26 to 29 degrees.
There are 800 species of fish here (mullet, croaker, sardinella, horse mackerel, mackerel).
The Caribbean coast is famous for its beaches. Main ports: Santiago de Cuba in Cuba, Santo Domingo in the Dominican Republic, Maracaibo in Venezuela, Barranquilla and Cartagena in Colombia. Cote d'Azur, beautiful beaches, girls in bikinis. The Caribbean islands are a unique, magical place to relax and completely relax.
And so that your feet do not freeze upon returning to our cool lands, you simply need to purchase warm and very beautiful ugg boots. You can buy wonderful ugg boots in the UGG online store, where you will find a wide selection of shoes for every most demanding taste.
And it is located in the tropical zone of the Western Hemisphere. In the northwest, the reservoir borders the Yucatan Peninsula (Mexico) and connects to the Gulf of Mexico through the Yucatan Strait between Yucatan and Cuba. To the north and east are the Greater and Lesser Antilles. In the south, the sea washes the northern coast of South America. To the west and southwest is the coast of Central America. Here Caribbean waters connect with the waters of the Pacific Ocean through the Panama Canal.
Geography
The reservoir in question is one of the largest in the world. Its area is 2.754 thousand square meters. km. The volume of water is 6,860 thousand cubic meters. km. The maximum depth is 7686 meters. It was recorded in the so-called Cayman Trough. It is located between Jamaica and the Cayman Islands. This is an underwater trench between the North American and Caribbean plates. The average depth of the reservoir is 2500 meters.
Countries
A huge sea washes many countries. In South America these are Venezuela and Colombia. In Central America: Panama, Costa Rica, Nicaragua, Guatemala, Honduras and Belize. The latest in this series is the Yucatan Peninsula. Its northern part is occupied by 3 Mexican states, and to the south there are lands belonging to Belize and Guatemala.
In the northern part of the Greater Antilles there are states such as Cuba, Haiti, the Dominican Republic, Jamaica and Puerto Rico. The territory of the Lesser Antilles is occupied by such countries as Antigua and Barbuda, Barbados, Dominica, Grenada, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Trinidad and Tobago.
Caribbean Sea on the map
Islands
Those who are not in the know need to know that the Bahamas never belonged to the Caribbean. They are located north of Cuba and south of Florida. These are the waters of the Atlantic, and historically this area is called the West Indies. Here it covers both the Caribbean and the Bahamas. This term appeared after Columbus's discovery of America.
The body of water in question contains the Antilles, divided into Large and Small. The first includes 4 large islands: Cuba, Haiti, Jamaica and Puerto Rico. This also includes small islands located near Cuba and forming the archipelagos of Los Canarreos and Jardines de la Reina.
The Lesser Antilles are much more numerous. They are influenced by the northwestern trade wind and are divided into windward and leeward or southern. The first group has about 50 islands. The southern group stretches along the coast of South America and includes both individual islands and archipelagos.
Closer to the western coast of the reservoir there are several archipelagos. These are the Cayman Islands (Grand Cayman, Little Cayman, Cayman Brac), the Islas de la Bahia, belonging to Honduras, as well as the Miskitos and Turneffe islands. There are separate islands of San Andres and Providencia.
Rivers
Many rivers flow into the huge reservoir. The Magdalena River is considered the largest river in South America. It flows through Colombia and has a length of 1550 km. Its annual flow is the largest and is approximately 230 cubic meters. km. The second Colombian river is called Atrato. Its length is 644 km. Some of the rivers flow into Lake Maracaibo (the largest in South America). It is connected to the Venezuelan Gulf of the Caribbean Sea by a shallow strait, the depth of which does not exceed 4 meters.
The reservoir is also fed by about 30 rivers in Central America. There are rivers on the islands. For example, the Cauto River in Cuba. Its length is 343 km. Or the Artibonite River in Haiti with a length of 240 km. There are rivers in Jamaica too. These are Milk River and Black River.
Climate
The climate is tropical. It is formed by the subtropical Caribbean Current, which is a continuation of the South Trade Wind Current. Warm waters flow from southeast to northwest and through the Yucatan Strait into the Gulf of Mexico, where the Gulf Stream originates. Therefore, the annual temperature ranges from 21 to 29 degrees Celsius.
Trade winds dominate on the reservoir. Their speed ranges from 16 to 30 km/h. Tropical hurricanes occur in the northern part of the reservoir. Their speed can reach 120 km/h. Such strong winds sometimes bring real tragedy: people die, houses collapse, crops perish. For example, Hurricane Mitch, which formed in the western part of the sea in October 1998, brought a lot of grief. 11 thousand people died and the same number went missing. 2.7 million people were left without housing. These were mainly citizens of Nicaragua and Honduras.
Economy
The Caribbean Sea is inextricably linked with oil production. Approximately 170 million tons of oil per year are produced in its waters. In addition, the fishing industry is well developed. Sea waters produce up to 500 thousand tons of fish per year. However, human activities pollute the environment. This primarily affects coral reefs, which are steadily bleaching and their ecosystems are being destroyed.
In the near future, this may not have the best effect on the tourism industry. Up to 40 million tourists visit this area every year. The net profit from them is about 30 billion dollars. Many tourists are attracted by diving and the beauty of coral reefs. Approximately 3 million local residents living on the islands are in one way or another connected with the tourism business. So issues related to ecology are quite acute.
Geological setting
The sea is located on the Caribbean lithospheric plate and, being one of the largest seas in the transition zone, is separated from the ocean by several island arcs of different ages. The youngest of them passes through the Lesser Antilles from the Virgin Islands in the northeast to the island of Trinidad off the coast of Venezuela. This arc was formed by the collision of the Caribbean Plate with the South American Plate and includes active and extinct volcanoes such as Montagne Pelee, Kiel and the volcanoes of the Morne-Trois-Piton National Park. Large islands in the northern part of the sea (Cuba, Haiti, Jamaica, Puerto Rico) lie on an older island arc, to the north of which the continental and subcontinental crust has already formed. The arc from the south of Cuba, expressed by the Sierra Maestra Mountains, the underwater Cayman Ridge, and the Cayman Trench, is also relatively young. The Cayman Trench contains the deepest known point in the Caribbean Sea - 7686 m below sea level.
The surface of the Caribbean Plate is divided into five basins: Grenada (depth 4120 m), Venezuelan (5420 m or 5630 m), Columbia (4532 m or 4263 m), Cayman (Bartlett, 7686 m) and Yucatan (5055 m. or 4352 m.). The depressions are separated by submarine ridges (probably former island arcs) Aves, Beata and the Nicaraguan Rise.
The Yucatan Basin is separated from the Gulf of Mexico by the Yucatan Strait, which is located between the Yucatan Peninsula and the island of Cuba and has a depth of about 1600 m. To the south of the Yucatan Basin, the Cayman Basin stretches from west to east, partially separated from the Yucatan by the Cayman Ridge, which in several places faces the surface, forming the Cayman Islands. The Nicaraguan uplift, which has a triangle shape and a depth of about 1200 m, extends from the coast of Honduras and Nicaragua to the island of Haiti. The island of Jamaica is located on this rise, and the border between the Cayman and Columbia basins passes along it. The Colombian Basin, in turn, is partially separated from the Venezuelan Basin by the Beata Ridge, which rises to 2121 m below sea level. The Colombian and Venezuelan basins are connected by the Aruban Gap, the depth of which reaches 4 thousand m. The Aves Ridge separates from the Venezuelan the small Grenada Basin, which is limited to the east by the arc of the Lesser Antilles.
Coastline
The coastline of the sea is heavily indented, the shores are mountainous in some places, low-lying in others (Caribbean lowland). The shallow areas contain various coral deposits and numerous reef structures. On the continental coast (western and southern part of the sea) there are several bays, the largest of which are: Honduras, Mosquitos, Darien and Venezuela. In the northern part are the bays of Batabano, Ana Maria and Guacanaybo (the southern coast of the island of Cuba), as well as the Gulf of Gonave (the western part of the island of Haiti).
There are several bays on the east coast of Yucatan, including Ascencion, Espiritu Santo and Chetumal. The Gulf of Honduras ends in Amatica Bay, located on the border of Belize and Guatemala. The northern coast of Honduras is slightly indented, and several lagoons jut into the Mosquito Coast, including the lagoons of Caratasca, Bismuna, Perlas and Bluefields Bay. In the east of Panama there is a large lagoon called Chiriqui. Off the coast of South America, the Gulf of Darien ends in the Gulf of Uraba, and the Gulf of Venezuela, fenced off by the Guajira Peninsula, ends in Lake Maracaibo. To the west of the island of Trinidad lies the Gulf of Paria, which is considered part of the Atlantic Ocean.
The Caribbean Sea has a tropical climate influenced by the trade wind circulation. Average monthly air temperatures vary from 23 to 27 °C. Cloud cover is 4-5 points.
The average annual rainfall in the region varies from 250 mm on the island of Bonaire to 9000 mm in the windward parts of Dominica. Northeast trade winds prevail with average speeds of 16-32 km/h, but tropical hurricanes occur in the northern regions of the sea, the speed of which can exceed 120 km/h. On average, 8-9 such hurricanes occur per year from June to November, and they are most frequent in September - October. According to the US National Hurricane Center, from 1494 to 1900, 385 hurricanes passed over the Caribbean Sea, and from 1900 to 1991, 235 similar manifestations of the elements were recorded. The Caribbean Sea region is less susceptible to hurricane damage than the Gulf of Mexico or the Western Pacific Ocean (where typhoons occur from May to November). Most hurricanes form near the Cape Verde Islands and are sent by trade winds to the shores of America.
Severe hurricanes cause loss of life, destruction and crop failures in the region. The Great Hurricane of 1780, which raged from October 10 to 16, 1780, caused enormous damage to the Lesser Antilles, Puerto Rico, the Dominican Republic, and possibly the Florida Peninsula, and also led to the deaths of 22 to 24 thousand people. Hurricane Mitch, which occurred on October 22, 1998 off the coast of Colombia, passed through Central America, the Yucatan and Florida peninsulas, causing damage of 40 million US dollars and killing 11 - 18 thousand people.