The Irminger Sea is a marginal sea

Marginal sea

The term marginal sea has differing meanings. In one sense the term is equivalent to territorial waters. In another sense the term indicates a partially enclosed sea adjacent to or widely open to the open ocean, but bounded by submarine ridges...

 of the North Atlantic Ocean. It is 480 km long and 290 km wide at its narrowest. The northern limit is the Greeland-Iceland Rise on the bottom of Denmark Strait

Denmark Strait

The Denmark Strait or Greenland Strait |Sound]]) is an oceanic strait between Greenland and Iceland...

 between Iceland

Iceland

Iceland , described as the Republic of Iceland, is a Nordic and European island country in the North Atlantic Ocean, on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge. Iceland also refers to the main island of the country, which contains almost all the population and almost all the land area. The country has a population...

 and East Greenland

Greenland

Greenland is an autonomous country within the Kingdom of Denmark, located between the Arctic and Atlantic Oceans, east of the Canadian Arctic Archipelago. Though physiographically a part of the continent of North America, Greenland has been politically and culturally associated with Europe for...

, which connects to Greenland Sea

Greenland Sea

The Greenland Sea is a body of water that borders Greenland to the west, the Svalbard archipelago to the east, Fram Strait and the Arctic Ocean to the north, and the Norwegian Sea and Iceland to the south. The Greenland Sea is often defined as part of the Arctic Ocean, sometimes as part of the...

. To the southwest, it reaches to Cape Farvel, the southern tip of Greenland, and meets the Labrador Sea

Labrador Sea

The Labrador Sea 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...

 at this point. South of this point is the open North Atlantic Ocean. The sea floor of the Irminger Sea is largely part of the Irminger Basin, a north-eastern continuation of the maximally 4600 m deep Labrador Basin, which on the east is bordered by the Reykjanes Ridge. This delineation is oceanographic only and does not represent any official borders. The Irminger Sea is one of the main fishing areas of the Rose fish

Rose fish

The rose fish , is also known as the ocean perch, Norway haddock, red perch, redfish, or hemdurgan; it is sometimes mistakenly called bergylt, bream, or snapper....

.

The Irminger Sea was named after Danish vice-admiral Carl Ludvig Christian Irminger (1802–1888), after whom also the Irminger Stream was named.

Weblinks

• Map of Irminger Sea

Category:Seas of the Atlantic Ocean