The German Bight (german: Deutsche Bucht; da, tyske bugt; nl, Duitse bocht; fry, Dútske bocht; ; sometimes also the German Bay) is the southeastern bight of the

North Sea The North Sea lies between Great Britain, Norway, Denmark, Germany, the Netherlands and Belgium. An epeiric sea on the European continental shelf, it connects to the Atlantic Ocean through the English Channel in the south and the Norwegian ...

bounded by the

Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...

and

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwee ...

to the south, and

Denmark ) , song = ( en, "King Christian stood by the lofty mast") , song_type = National and royal anthem , image_map = EU-Denmark.svg , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of Denmark , establish ...

and Germany to the east (the

Jutland Jutland ( da, Jylland ; german: Jütland ; ang, Ēota land ), known anciently as the Cimbric or Cimbrian Peninsula ( la, Cimbricus Chersonesus; da, den Kimbriske Halvø, links=no or ; german: Kimbrische Halbinsel, links=no), is a peninsula of ...

peninsula A peninsula (; ) is a landform that extends from a mainland and is surrounded by water on most, but not all of its borders. A peninsula is also sometimes defined as a piece of land bordered by water on three of its sides. Peninsulas exist on a ...

). To the north and west it is limited by the

Dogger Bank Dogger Bank ( Dutch: ''Doggersbank'', German: ''Doggerbank'', Danish: ''Doggerbanke'') is a large sandbank in a shallow area of the North Sea about off the east coast of England. During the last ice age the bank was part of a large landmass ...

. The Bight contains the Frisian and Danish Islands. The

Wadden Sea The Wadden Sea ( nl, Waddenzee ; german: Wattenmeer; nds, Wattensee or ; da, Vadehavet; fy, Waadsee, longname=yes; frr, di Heef) is an intertidal zone in the southeastern part of the North Sea. It lies between the coast of northwestern conti ...

is approximately ten to twelve kilometres wide at the location of the German Bight.C.Michael Hogan. 2011
''Wadden Sea''. eds. P.Saundry & C.Cleveland. Encyclopedia of Earth. National Council for Science and the Environment. Washington DC
/ref> The Frisian islands and the nearby coastal areas are collectively known as

Frisia Frisia is a cross-border cultural region in Northwestern Europe. Stretching along the Wadden Sea, it encompasses the north of the Netherlands and parts of northwestern Germany. The region is traditionally inhabited by the Frisians, a West G ...

. The southern portion of the bight is also known as the

Heligoland Bight The Heligoland Bight, also known as Helgoland Bight, (german: Helgoländer Bucht) is a bay which forms the southern part of the German Bight, itself a bay of the North Sea, located at the mouth of the Elbe river. The Heligoland Bight extends f ...

. Between 1949 and 1956 the BBC Sea Area Forecast (Shipping Forecast) used "

Heligoland Heligoland (; german: Helgoland, ; Heligolandic Frisian: , , Mooring Frisian: , da, Helgoland) is a small archipelago in the North Sea. A part of the German state of Schleswig-Holstein since 1890, the islands were historically possession ...

" as the designation for the area now referred to as German Bight.

Use

The German bight contains some of Germany's largest national parks by area, the aim of which is to protect the

a UNESCO World Heritage Site in the "nature" category. Due to being divided among three different states of Germany those protected areas fall into three different national parks, namely the

Lower Saxon Wadden Sea National Park The Lower Saxon Wadden Sea National Park (german: Nationalpark Niedersächsisches Wattenmeer) was established in 1986 and embraces the East Frisian Islands, mudflats and salt marshes between the Bay of Dollart on the border with the Netherlan ...

, the Schleswig-Holstein Wadden Sea National Park and the small Hamburg Wadden Sea National Park mostly around the island of Neuwerk. Despite or maybe because of its unique natural environment, the German Bight is also subject to intense economic and recreational use with the Wadden Sea being one of Germany's most popular tourist destinations. Mudflat hiking is a particularly popular tourist activity usually undertaken with licensed guides employed by the national park service. Fishing and mussel banks (particularly

oyster Oyster is the common name for a number of different families of salt-water bivalve molluscs that live in marine or brackish habitats. In some species, the valves are highly calcified, and many are somewhat irregular in shape. Many, but not ...

s) are other important economic activities with '' crangon crangon'' a particularly well regarded product of local fishing. Energy extraction also plays an important role with Germany's only offshore oil rig ( Mittelplate) located in the German Bight and an increasing penetration by

offshore wind farm Offshore wind power or offshore wind energy is the generation of electricity through wind farms in bodies of water, usually at sea. There are higher wind speeds offshore than on land, so offshore farms generate more electricity per amount of ...

s such as Alpha Ventus. While offshore wind farms are more expensive to build and require more expensive operations for maintenance and repair than land-based wind turbines the steadier winds out at sea allow for steadier power output and a higher

capacity factor The net capacity factor is the unitless ratio of actual electrical energy output over a given period of time to the theoretical maximum electrical energy output over that period. The theoretical maximum energy output of a given installation is def ...

. Both these advantages are important enough to justify the higher cost as Germany is in the process of phasing out nuclear energy and plans to phase out all fossil fuels thereafter leaving few dispatchable electricity sources.

Traffic

The German Bight has also played an important role as a shipping lane since medieval times with the approach to the

Port of Hamburg The Port of Hamburg (german: Hamburger Hafen, ) is a seaport on the river Elbe in Hamburg, Germany, from its mouth on the North Sea. Known as Germany's "Gateway to the World" (''Tor zur Welt''), it is the country's largest seaport by volume ...

passing through it and then the Elbe River estuary. Other important ports along the German Bight are Bremerhaven/Bremen,

Emden Emden () is an independent city and seaport in Lower Saxony in the northwest of Germany, on the river Ems. It is the main city of the region of East Frisia and, in 2011, had a total population of 51,528. History The exact founding date of ...

(important for export of motorcars, particularly those made at the local VW plant) and the

JadeWeserPort JadeWeserPort () is Germany's largest harbour project. It is supported by the states of Lower Saxony (50.1% stake) and Bremen (49.9% stake). This new container port is located at Wilhelmshaven at the Jade Bight, a bay on the North Sea co ...

at Wilhelmshaven which is Germany's only

deepwater port A port is a maritime facility comprising one or more wharves or loading areas, where ships load and discharge cargo and passengers. Although usually situated on a sea coast or estuary, ports can also be found far inland, such as Ham ...

. Shipping in the German Bight often relies on

tidal channel A tidal creek or tidal channel is a narrow inlet or estuary that is affected by the ebb and flow of ocean tides. Thus, it has variable salinity and electrical conductivity over the tidal cycle, and flushes salts from inland soils. Tidal creeks a ...

s (called "Priel" in German) for shipping lanes, but as the sediment is moved around by tides, wind and waves and as ships reach ever greater draughts extensive

dredging Dredging is the excavation of material from a water environment. Possible reasons for dredging include improving existing water features; reshaping land and water features to alter drainage, navigability, and commercial use; constructing d ...

is necessary to keep shipping lanes open. Some of the East Frisian Islands can be reached on foot at low tide and the sailing schedules of local ferries are tide-dependent. While the mudflats are usually barred to anything but foot traffic and more heavily protected areas of the national parks are off-limits to all but scientists, there is a scheduled horse drawn carriage service from the mainland to Neuwerk locally known as a Wattwagen (mud flats wagon). The island of

Sylt Sylt (; da, Sild; Sylt North Frisian, Söl'ring North Frisian: ) is an island in northern Germany, part of Nordfriesland district, Schleswig-Holstein, and well known for the distinctive shape of its shoreline. It belongs to the North Frisian ...

can be reached by the railway-only Hindenburgdamm causeway which was built after World War I when the port on the mainland from which ferries to Sylt had left up to that point came under Danish rule following the

1920 Schleswig plebiscites The Schleswig plebiscites were two plebiscites, organized according to section XII, articles 100 to 115 of the Treaty of Versailles of 28 June 1919, in order to determine the future border between Denmark and Germany through the former Duchy of ...

. Some of the

Hallig The ''Halligen'' (German, singular ''Hallig'', ) or the ''halliger'' (Danish, singular ''hallig'') are small islands without protective dikes. They are variously pluralized in English as the Halligen, Halligs, Hallig islands, or Halligen islands. ...

en also have railway connections to the mainland but in some cases those are only usable at low tide. Those lines are the Dagebüll–Oland–Langeneß island railway and the Lüttmoorsiel-Nordstrandischmoor island railway. While there is no scheduled traffic, island residents can use their own (usually self-built) rail vehicles. In the past those were sail bogeys, but nowadays most are diesel driven

draisine A draisine () is a light auxiliary rail vehicle, driven by service personnel, equipped to transport crew and material necessary for the maintenance of railway infrastructure. The eponymous term is derived from the German inventor Baron Karl ...

s with battery-electric railcars increasingly gaining ground. The rail lines are also used by the government for coastal protection work and to transport goods and personnel.

References

External links

Map of the region
{{Authority control Bays of Schleswig-Holstein Frisia Bays of Lower Saxony Shipping Forecast areas Bays of the Netherlands Bights (geography)

Use

Traffic

See also

References

Further reading

External links