Schleswig-Holstein Wadden Sea National Park
Encyclopedia
The Schleswig-Holstein Wadden Sea National Park is a national park
in the Schleswig-Holstein
area of the German Wadden Sea
. It was founded by the Parliament of Schleswig-Holstein on 1 October 1985 by the National Park Act of 22 July 1985 and expanded significantly in 1999. Together with the Lower Saxon Wadden Sea National Park
, the Hamburg Wadden Sea National Park
and those parts of Elbe estuary
which are not nature reserves, it forms the German part of the Wadden Sea
.
The national park extends from the German-Danish maritime border in the north down to the Elbe estuary in the south. In the North Frisian area, it includes the mudflats around the geest-based and marsh islands
and the Halligen (undyked islands). There the mudflats are 40 km wide in places. Further south lie areas of mudflats which contain particularly large sandbanks
. In addition to the plants and animals that are typical of the entire Wadden Sea, especially large numbers of porpoise
, shelduck
and eelgrass
may be seen in the Schleswig-Holstein part.
With an area of 4410 km ² it is by far the largest national park in Germany. Some 68% of its area is permanently under water and 30% is periodically dry. The land element consists mainly of salt marsh
es. Since 1990, the national park, including the North Frisian Halligen, has been designated as a UNESCO recognised biosphere
. Together with other German and Dutch Wadden Sea areas it became a UNESCO World Heritage Site on 26 June 2009.
coast of Schleswig-Holstein
by the Danish
border in the north to the Elbe estuary
in the south. In the northern area (roughly as far as Amrum
), the national park boundary extends to the twelve mile territorial limit
; to the south it reaches to about the three mile line. On the land side it runs in the sea 150 metres off the coast. Sea dykes
and the foreland immediately in front of the dykes are not part of the national park; beaches are thus largely excluded from the protected zone. Also excluded from the national park are the inhabited areas in the sea, including the five German North Frisian Islands
and the larger Halligen islands of Langeness, Hooge
, Gröde
, Oland
and Nordstrandischmoor
. Part of the park comprises uninhabited islands, islets and Halligen, such as Trischen
, Blauort
or the North Frisian Barrier Island
. Under the classification of the natural regions of Germany
the national park area belongs to the "Schleswig-Holstein Wadden Sea, Islands and Halligen" region within the Schleswig-Holstein Marshes, and to the major unit of the German Bight
.
The national park can be divided into two areas. In the north, between the Danish border and the peninsula of Eiderstedt
is the North Frisian part; on the south coast of Eiderstedt up to the Elbe estuary is the Dithmarschen part. The North Frisian Wadden Sea, together with the Danish Wadden Sea, belongs to the North Sea
. It is screened from the open sea by the North Frisian Islands and the Halligen. The islands were mainly formed from elements of the mainland, which became separated, mainly as a result of flood disasters
. The mudflats are protected and the transition between the flats and the sea is often clearer, because the former lie to the east of the large islands and the latter to the west of them. There are no major river estuaries and the tidal range
is relatively low at less than two metres. In the northern Wadden Sea there are still geest
cliffs formed in the ice age
s, so that the highest elevations occur here on the coast in an otherwise very flat area. The Dithmarschen part and the south coast between the Elbe
and Eider Eider estuaries form the central part of the Wadden Sea. A tidal range of over three metres has largely prevented the formation of islands. Some sandbars emerge from the sea, but only Trischen
is high enough and safe enough from storm surge
s, to allow saltwater-loving vegetation to grow. Compared to the geologically similar East Frisian Islands
of the southern Wadden Sea, Trischen is considerably smaller and younger. All attempts by human inhabitants to fortify the island have failed. With several large estuaries the salinity in the central Wadden Sea is lower than in the rest of the Wadden Sea and is subject to higher fluctuations.
National park
A national park is a reserve of natural, semi-natural, or developed land that a sovereign state declares or owns. Although individual nations designate their own national parks differently A national park is a reserve of natural, semi-natural, or developed land that a sovereign state declares or...
in the Schleswig-Holstein
Schleswig-Holstein
Schleswig-Holstein is the northernmost of the sixteen states of Germany, comprising most of the historical duchy of Holstein and the southern part of the former Duchy of Schleswig...
area of the German Wadden Sea
Wadden Sea
The Wadden Sea is an intertidal zone in the southeastern part of the North Sea. It lies between the coast of northwestern continental Europe and the range of Frisian Islands, forming a shallow body of water with tidal flats and wetlands. It is rich in biological diversity...
. It was founded by the Parliament of Schleswig-Holstein on 1 October 1985 by the National Park Act of 22 July 1985 and expanded significantly in 1999. Together with the Lower Saxon Wadden Sea National Park
Lower Saxon Wadden Sea National Park
The Lower Saxon Wadden Sea National Park was established in 1986 and embraces the East Frisian Islands, mudflats and salt marshes between the Bay of Dollart on the border with the Netherlands in the west and Cuxhaven as far as the Outer Elbe shipping channel in the east. The national park has an...
, the Hamburg Wadden Sea National Park
Hamburg Wadden Sea National Park
The Hamburg Wadden Sea National Park is an exclave of the city state of Hamburg in North Germany and lies 12.5 km off Cuxhaven in the estuary of the Elbe in the North Sea . This part of the Wadden Sea lies inside the area of the Lower Saxon Wadden Sea National Park and also includes the...
and those parts of Elbe estuary
Elbe
The Elbe is one of the major rivers of Central Europe. It rises in the Krkonoše Mountains of the northwestern Czech Republic before traversing much of Bohemia , then Germany and flowing into the North Sea at Cuxhaven, 110 km northwest of Hamburg...
which are not nature reserves, it forms the German part of the Wadden Sea
Wadden Sea
The Wadden Sea is an intertidal zone in the southeastern part of the North Sea. It lies between the coast of northwestern continental Europe and the range of Frisian Islands, forming a shallow body of water with tidal flats and wetlands. It is rich in biological diversity...
.
The national park extends from the German-Danish maritime border in the north down to the Elbe estuary in the south. In the North Frisian area, it includes the mudflats around the geest-based and marsh islands
North Frisian Islands
The North Frisian Islands are a group of islands in the Wadden Sea, a part of the North Sea, off the western coast of Schleswig-Holstein, Germany. The German islands are in the traditional region of North Frisia and are part of the Schleswig-Holstein Wadden Sea National Park and the Kreis of...
and the Halligen (undyked islands). There the mudflats are 40 km wide in places. Further south lie areas of mudflats which contain particularly large sandbanks
Sandbanks
Sandbanks is a small peninsula or spit crossing the mouth of Poole Harbour on the English Channel coast at Poole in Dorset, England. It is well-known for the highly regarded Sandbanks Beach and property value; Sandbanks has, by area, the fourth highest land value in the world...
. In addition to the plants and animals that are typical of the entire Wadden Sea, especially large numbers of porpoise
Porpoise
Porpoises are small cetaceans of the family Phocoenidae; they are related to whales and dolphins. They are distinct from dolphins, although the word "porpoise" has been used to refer to any small dolphin, especially by sailors and fishermen...
, shelduck
Shelduck
The shelducks, genus Tadorna, are a group of large birds in the Tadorninae subfamily of the Anatidae, the biological family that includes the ducks and most duck-like waterfowl such as the geese and swans....
and eelgrass
Zostera
Zostera is a small genus of widely distributed seagrass, commonly called marine eelgrass or simply eelgrass . The genus Zostera contains sixteen species.-Ecology:Zostera is found on sandy substrates or in estuaries submerged or partially floating...
may be seen in the Schleswig-Holstein part.
With an area of 4410 km ² it is by far the largest national park in Germany. Some 68% of its area is permanently under water and 30% is periodically dry. The land element consists mainly of salt marsh
Salt marsh
A salt marsh is an environment in the upper coastal intertidal zone between land and salt water or brackish water, it is dominated by dense stands of halophytic plants such as herbs, grasses, or low shrubs. These plants are terrestrial in origin and are essential to the stability of the salt marsh...
es. Since 1990, the national park, including the North Frisian Halligen, has been designated as a UNESCO recognised biosphere
Biosphere
The biosphere is the global sum of all ecosystems. It can also be called the zone of life on Earth, a closed and self-regulating system...
. Together with other German and Dutch Wadden Sea areas it became a UNESCO World Heritage Site on 26 June 2009.
National park area
The national park covers an area from the North SeaNorth Sea
In the southwest, beyond the Straits of Dover, the North Sea becomes the English Channel connecting to the Atlantic Ocean. In the east, it connects to the Baltic Sea via the Skagerrak and Kattegat, narrow straits that separate Denmark from Norway and Sweden respectively...
coast of Schleswig-Holstein
Schleswig-Holstein
Schleswig-Holstein is the northernmost of the sixteen states of Germany, comprising most of the historical duchy of Holstein and the southern part of the former Duchy of Schleswig...
by the Danish
Denmark
Denmark is a Scandinavian country in Northern Europe. The countries of Denmark and Greenland, as well as the Faroe Islands, constitute the Kingdom of Denmark . It is the southernmost of the Nordic countries, southwest of Sweden and south of Norway, and bordered to the south by Germany. Denmark...
border in the north to the Elbe estuary
Elbe
The Elbe is one of the major rivers of Central Europe. It rises in the Krkonoše Mountains of the northwestern Czech Republic before traversing much of Bohemia , then Germany and flowing into the North Sea at Cuxhaven, 110 km northwest of Hamburg...
in the south. In the northern area (roughly as far as Amrum
Amrum
Amrum is one of the North Frisian Islands on the German North Sea coast, south of Sylt and west of Föhr. It is part of the Nordfriesland district in the federal state of Schleswig-Holstein...
), the national park boundary extends to the twelve mile territorial limit
Territorial waters
Territorial waters, or a territorial sea, as defined by the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, is a belt of coastal waters extending at most from the baseline of a coastal state...
; to the south it reaches to about the three mile line. On the land side it runs in the sea 150 metres off the coast. Sea dykes
Levee
A levee, levée, dike , embankment, floodbank or stopbank is an elongated naturally occurring ridge or artificially constructed fill or wall, which regulates water levels...
and the foreland immediately in front of the dykes are not part of the national park; beaches are thus largely excluded from the protected zone. Also excluded from the national park are the inhabited areas in the sea, including the five German North Frisian Islands
North Frisian Islands
The North Frisian Islands are a group of islands in the Wadden Sea, a part of the North Sea, off the western coast of Schleswig-Holstein, Germany. The German islands are in the traditional region of North Frisia and are part of the Schleswig-Holstein Wadden Sea National Park and the Kreis of...
and the larger Halligen islands of Langeness, Hooge
Hooge
Hooge can refer to:*Hooge, Prince Su*Houvenkopf Mountain known as "Hooge Kop"*Hooge, Germany, an island and municipality in northern Germany*Hooge, Belgium...
, Gröde
Gröde
Gröde is a municipality in the district of Nordfriesland, in Schleswig-Holstein, Germany. With only ten inhabitants, the municipality, which is coterminous with the hallig it is situated on, has the third-smallest population of any municipality in Germany. The inhabitants of the island make a...
, Oland
Öland
' is the second largest Swedish island and the smallest of the traditional provinces of Sweden. Öland has an area of 1,342 km² and is located in the Baltic Sea just off the coast of Småland. The island has 25,000 inhabitants, but during Swedish Midsummer it is visited by up to 500,000 people...
and Nordstrandischmoor
Nordstrandischmoor
Nordstrandischmoor is a Hallig off the North Frisian coast in Germany and lies within the Schleswig-Holstein Wadden Sea National Park.- Geography :...
. Part of the park comprises uninhabited islands, islets and Halligen, such as Trischen
Trischen
Trischen is an uninhabited island in the Meldorf Bay, about 14 kilometres off the North Sea coast of Dithmarschen in north Germany – about 12 kilometres from the Trischendamm embankment. The island belongs to the municipality of Friedrichskoog and is only occupied from March to October by a bird...
, Blauort
Blauort
Blauort is one of Germany's uninhabited North Sea sandy islets off the coast of Dithmarschen , and measures about 1,200 m from north to south and 500 metres from east to west...
or the North Frisian Barrier Island
North Frisian Barrier Island
North Frisian Barrier Island is a collective term for three drying sand banks due west of the German mudflat islands Halligen. The banks from north to south are...
. Under the classification of the natural regions of Germany
Natural regions of Germany
This division of Germany into major natural regions takes account primarily of geomorphological, geological, hydrological and pedological criteria in order to divide the country into large, physical units with a common geographical basis...
the national park area belongs to the "Schleswig-Holstein Wadden Sea, Islands and Halligen" region within the Schleswig-Holstein Marshes, and to the major unit of the German Bight
German Bight
German Bight is the southeastern bight of the North Sea bounded by the Netherlands and Germany to the south, and Denmark and Germany to the east . To the north and west it is limited by the Dogger Bank. The Bight contains the Frisian and Danish Islands. The Wadden Sea is approximately ten to...
.
The national park can be divided into two areas. In the north, between the Danish border and the peninsula of Eiderstedt
Eiderstedt
Eiderstedt is a peninsula in the district of Nordfriesland in the German federal state of Schleswig-Holstein.-Overview:It is approximately 30 km in length and 15 km in width and has been created through diking from three islands: Eiderstedt around Tönning, Utholm around Tating, and...
is the North Frisian part; on the south coast of Eiderstedt up to the Elbe estuary is the Dithmarschen part. The North Frisian Wadden Sea, together with the Danish Wadden Sea, belongs to the North Sea
North Sea
In the southwest, beyond the Straits of Dover, the North Sea becomes the English Channel connecting to the Atlantic Ocean. In the east, it connects to the Baltic Sea via the Skagerrak and Kattegat, narrow straits that separate Denmark from Norway and Sweden respectively...
. It is screened from the open sea by the North Frisian Islands and the Halligen. The islands were mainly formed from elements of the mainland, which became separated, mainly as a result of flood disasters
Storm tide
A storm tide is a tide with a high flood period caused by a storm. Storm tides can be a severe danger to the coast and the people living along the coast. The water level can rise to more than 5 meters above the normal tide....
. The mudflats are protected and the transition between the flats and the sea is often clearer, because the former lie to the east of the large islands and the latter to the west of them. There are no major river estuaries and the tidal range
Tidal range
The tidal range is the vertical difference between the high tide and the succeeding low tide. Tides are the rise and fall of sea levels caused by the combined effects of the gravitational forces exerted by the Moon and the Sun and the rotation of the Earth...
is relatively low at less than two metres. In the northern Wadden Sea there are still geest
Geest (topography)
Geest is a type of slightly raised landscape that occurs in the plains of in Northern Germany, the Northern Netherlands and Denmark. It is a landscape of sandy and gravelly soils, usually mantled by a heathland vegetation, comprising glacial deposits left behind after the last ice age during the...
cliffs formed in the ice age
Ice age
An ice age or, more precisely, glacial age, is a generic geological period of long-term reduction in the temperature of the Earth's surface and atmosphere, resulting in the presence or expansion of continental ice sheets, polar ice sheets and alpine glaciers...
s, so that the highest elevations occur here on the coast in an otherwise very flat area. The Dithmarschen part and the south coast between the Elbe
Elbe
The Elbe is one of the major rivers of Central Europe. It rises in the Krkonoše Mountains of the northwestern Czech Republic before traversing much of Bohemia , then Germany and flowing into the North Sea at Cuxhaven, 110 km northwest of Hamburg...
and Eider Eider estuaries form the central part of the Wadden Sea. A tidal range of over three metres has largely prevented the formation of islands. Some sandbars emerge from the sea, but only Trischen
Trischen
Trischen is an uninhabited island in the Meldorf Bay, about 14 kilometres off the North Sea coast of Dithmarschen in north Germany – about 12 kilometres from the Trischendamm embankment. The island belongs to the municipality of Friedrichskoog and is only occupied from March to October by a bird...
is high enough and safe enough from storm surge
Storm surge
A storm surge is an offshore rise of water associated with a low pressure weather system, typically tropical cyclones and strong extratropical cyclones. Storm surges are caused primarily by high winds pushing on the ocean's surface. The wind causes the water to pile up higher than the ordinary sea...
s, to allow saltwater-loving vegetation to grow. Compared to the geologically similar East Frisian Islands
East Frisian Islands
The East Frisian Islands are a chain of islands in the North Sea, off the coast of East Frisia in Lower Saxony, Germany. The islands extend for some from west to east between the mouths of the Ems and Jade / Weser rivers and lie about 3.5 to 10 km offshore...
of the southern Wadden Sea, Trischen is considerably smaller and younger. All attempts by human inhabitants to fortify the island have failed. With several large estuaries the salinity in the central Wadden Sea is lower than in the rest of the Wadden Sea and is subject to higher fluctuations.
See also
- Wadden Sea National ParksWadden Sea National ParksThe Wadden Sea National Parks, part of a UNESCO World Heritage Site, are located along the German coast of the North Sea. Named after the Wadden Sea, they consist of three national parks:...
- Lower Saxony Wadden Sea National Park
- Hamburg Wadden Sea National ParkHamburg Wadden Sea National ParkThe Hamburg Wadden Sea National Park is an exclave of the city state of Hamburg in North Germany and lies 12.5 km off Cuxhaven in the estuary of the Elbe in the North Sea . This part of the Wadden Sea lies inside the area of the Lower Saxon Wadden Sea National Park and also includes the...
Literature
- Common Wadden Sea Secretariat (CWSS) (Hrsg.): Nomination of the Dutch-German Wadden Sea as World Heritage Site. 2008 als PDF
- Landesamt für den Nationalpark Schleswig-Holsteinisches Wattenmeer (Hrsg.): Wattenmeermonitoring 2000 – Schriftenreihe des Nationalparks Schleswig-Holsteinisches Wattenmeer, Sonderheft, Tönning 2001
- Landesamt für den Nationalpark Schleswig-Holsteinisches Wattenmeer (Hrsg.): SÖM-Bericht 2008 als pdf
- Landesamt für den Nationalpark Schleswig-Holsteinisches Wattenmeer / Landesamt für den Nationalpark Niedersächsisches Wattenmeer / Umweltbundesamt (Hrsg.): Umweltatlas Wattenmeer. Bd. 1 (Nordfriesisches und Dithmarscher Wattenmeer), Verlag Ulmer, Stuttgart, ISBN 3-8001-3492-6
- Ministerium für Landwirtschaft, Umweltschutz und Ländliche Räume des Landes Schleswig-Holstein (MLUL) (Hrsg.): Bericht zur Überprüfung des Biosphärenreservats Schleswig-Holsteinisches Wattenmeer und Halligen durch die UNESCO. Berichtszeitraum 1990 bis 2005. Juni 2005 als pdf
- Dirk Legler: Die Organisation deutscher Nationalparkverwaltungen. Nomos, Baden-Baden 2006, ISBN 3-8329-1978-3
- Martin Stock et al.: Salzwiesen an der Westküste von Schleswig-Holstein 1986–2001. Boyens Buchverlag, Heide 2005, ISBN 3-8042-0703-0
Filmography
- Im Nationalpark Wattenmeer. Documentary, 45 min., Germany, 1998, by Jens-Uwe Heins and Michael Sutor, Production: Komplett-Media-GmbH, Grünwald (ISBN 3-89672-492-4), Brief description by the ARD