Norwegian Sea ecoregion – Ecosystem overview

The Norwegian Sea, the Greenland Sea and the Iceland Sea comprise the Nordic seas, which are separated from the rest of the North Atlantic by the Greenland–Scotland Ridge. The Norwegian Sea connects with the Faroes ecoregion to the southwest, the Icelandic Waters ecoregion and Greenland Sea to the west along the edge to the shallower Iceland Sea between the Faroe Islands, and northwards to Jan Mayen. To the south it borders the North Sea ecoregion, and to the east with the Barents Sea ecoregion (Figure 1). The Norwegian Sea ecoregion consists of two deep basins (between 3000 and 4000 m deep), the Norwegian Basin and the Lofoten Basin, separated by the Vøring Plateau (between 1000 and 3000 m deep).