Die Nordatlantische Sargasso See

A fascinating map of the Sargasso Sea, an enormous patch of floating Sargassum seaweed located in the middle of the Atlantic, based on reports from German ship captains and compiled by Dr. Otto Krümmel (1854-1912), Director of the Hydrographic Division of Kiel University. Krümmel was the first scientist to try to calculate the size of the Sargasso Sea. His study concluded that the area covered almost 1,720,000 square miles in an elliptical shape extending from the mid-Atlantic to the coast of North America.



Darker green colour on the map indicates a higher occurrence of floating Sargassum seaweed. The direction of current is marked with arrows and areas of coastline on which Sargasso is frequently found are marked with green dashes. Krümmel's study of the Sargasso Sea was part of a concerted effort in the late-18th and early 19th centuries towards a greater understanding of oceanography.



Printed colour. [AMER2432]