Kartet viser utbredelsen av steinkobbe. Latin name: Phoca vitulina. Family: Phocidae. Distribution: Sub Arctic waters along the east and west coasts of both the North Atlantic and north Pacific. In Norway they occur in colonies along the Norwegian mainland coast and on Prins Karls Forland in Svalbard. The harbour seals occur mainly in nearshore areas that are protected against wave action.

The BarentsWatch WMS service provides the service layers used for the services at barentswatch.no and a few additional layers in order to make the information more accessible for other uses. The service layers can be adapted further if needs are clarified. Some service layers that are not appropriate for external use are not referred to. All the service layers are based on data from other agencies. Therefore, BarentsWatch/the Norwegian Coastal Administration are not the owners of all the data. If BarentsWatch does not add new information and the service layer is already presented by the data owner, it is not added to Geonorge even if it occurs in the service. See also BarentsWatch API for other access to the same data.

The North Atlantic current (red arrows) originates in the hot and salty Gulf Stream which flows out of the Mexican gulf and follows the east coast of the USA. When this current leaves the continental shelf and moves across the North Atlantic itâs often called the North Atlantic current. The North Atlantic current provides a significant amount of heat transport to northern Europe. This heat transport is greatest in winter because the current velocity is greater in that part of the year. The North Atlantic current keeps a very constant temperature and salinity throughout the year. It gradually looses heat and salinity as it flows towards the north east and gets mixed with colder and less salty water. At the south western part of the map where the current leaves the American continental shelf the surface temperature is 15-20 oC and the salinity is approximately 36. When it reaches the inlet to the Barents Sea the surface temperature is reduced to 5 oC in the winter and 10 oC in the summer, while the salinity stays at 35 throughout the year.The North Atlantic current continues into the Polar seas through the Fram Strait west of Svalbard and into the Barents Sea (pink arrows). When it reaches these areas its quickly chilled to 2-3 oC and the salinity sinks towards 34.7.The cooling of the North Atlantic current happens when it comes into contact with the colder and less salty Arctic current (blue arrows) that flows south west towards Svalbardâs east coast, south out of the Fram Strait and south out of the Davids Strait between Greenland and Canada. This current has salinity below 34 and the temperature is between -2 oC and +2 oC. In the same way as the North Atlantic current cools on the way north east the Arctic current heats up on its way towards the south west. The Arctic current does however give a significant colder climate around the coast of Greenland and along the Canadian Labrador- and Newfoundland-coasts compared to Europe coasts.Close to the coasts both on the eastern and western side of the North Atlantic there are lighter coastal currents with salinity between 25 and 34 (green arrows). In these areas both the temperature and salinity varies greatly throughout the season. They are warmer then the North Atlantic current during the summer and colder during the winter. In the same way the salinity varies greatly throughout the year because of the varying freshwater runoffs from land.

View service showing administrative units for states in the Arctic SDI.