The most picturesque seas of the planet. Can you see the edge of the sea? Bay with different colors of water

For several years, we have gathered a huge collection of photos of the Black Sea - hundreds of colors and shades from various parts of the Crimea, both in summer and in the off-season. We selected 50, not the best ones, but showing the variety of shades of our sea and decided to use their example to show what the color of the sea changes from.

December, Sevastopol

You can watch the changing color of the Black Sea endlessly! This is one of its amazing features - the ability to change colors depending on the season, day, weather, etc.

Sunset at Cape Khersones

Each time, going ashore, we can observe how easily and naturally the waves change shades. It attracts, captivates, captivates.

Swans wintering in Sevastopol

No wonder so many poets, writers, artists spoke of the sea as an element that inspires creativity, the search for new forms and phrases.

At the Streletskaya Bay

What determines the color of the water in the sea?

First of all, from lighting, but the sun, winds, bottom, shores, marine life make their contribution. For example, recently there were reports that in June 2017 the Black Sea turned turquoise due to the bloom of microscopic algae, and now it resembles the Mediterranean in a hue. But bright blue shades can be found here in any year, for example, in the photo of 2012, the Black Sea turned turquoise in the Foros area:

Foros in July

And here are no less wonderful shades in a completely different part of the peninsula in Kalamitsky Bay:

Surroundings of Beregovoy, Kalamitsky Bay

These reddish clay shores washed away in storms gave a yellow tint to the water.

The sea surface is incomparably beautiful during sunsets and sunrises, when the sun paints the sea in the most unexpected colors - pink:

Peschanoe, Bakhchisaray district

golden:

Dawn in Sevastopol

silvery:

flock of divers

lilac:

Kalamita Bay

And when the night wins, the waves turn inky black:

Ships on the road

When there is no sun, the sea seems to fade, loses its colors, which is especially noticeable in the winter months. This is the South Coast in February:

View from the temple-lighthouse in Malorechensky

Castropol beach

South Bay of Sevastopol in January:

View from the Grafskaya pier to the military hospital

And this is the famous Swallow's Nest in winter:

Photo of the Swallow's Nest from the observation deck

and the gray sky and the sea, and even the pine trees around seemed to have lost all their colors. Sometimes the sea is like this in summer, but rather not gray, but silver:

Neighborhoods of Mezhvodny, Western Crimea

illuminated by the sun:

Sailing regatta

The most interesting thing is to watch the sea in a storm. Here is the pre-storm calm:

Quarantine bay in Sevastopol

the storm has cleared:

spring storm

the sky is no less expressive than the waves:

At the exit from the Sevastopol Bay

and the water turns green instead of blue:

sea ​​element

or even this one, khaki:

Near the mouth of the Alma River

due to clay shores washed out in a storm. Or even this, brown, completely opaque:

Kalamita Bay

This photo was taken elsewhere:

Omega Bay, Sevastopol

The storm subsided, but the turbidity raised from the bottom will settle for about a day.

But back to good weather. A dolphin cuts the azure sea with its fin in the Alupka region:

Photo from Aivazovsky rock

And this is another dolphin at sunset plowing the waters near Sevastopol:

Wild Omega

And these are the bright colors of Fiolent:

At Cape Fiolent

For some reason, there is a sea of ​​​​two colors here - blue and what fancy fashion every season renames “morengo”, “moray eel”, “the color of Lake Ritsa”, “sea wave”, etc. Here is another shade of this color:

Rock Diva, Simeiz

Appolonovka, Sevastopol

And again Fiolent, but already in a chic deep blue color, which is emphasized by multi-colored rocks:

View of St. George's Monastery and Jasper Beach

From a height, the sea also pleases with a variety of shades. This is a view of the Foros Church from the road leading from the Baydar Pass to the South Coast:

Resurrection Church in Foros

View of the Blue Bay from Mount Koshka:

Aquapark "Blue Bay"

And this is a funny optical effect shot in Simeiz:

Sea surface near Simeiz

Over the lilac sea, a dry cargo ship goes through the air.

Why is the sea blue?

Not at all due to the fact that it reflects the sky of the same color. In fact, we see blue because sunlight, consisting of waves of different colors, passes through the water column in different ways - short ones (cold shades) scatter well, long ones (red shades) badly.

Beach of the park "Victory" in Sevastopol

Therefore, we see the sunlight coming back out of the water as blue. And since the height of the sun above the horizon, the thickness of the water, the transparency of water and air are different, then its shades are very different.

Cossack Bay

The brightest shades of turquoise and blue can boast of the surroundings of Fiolent and Tarkhankut. This is some water in the Dzhangul area:

White rocks of the tract Dzhangul

And this is in the area of ​​​​the Belyaus Spit (Lake Donuzlav), where the water is transparent, like crystal:

Sandy beach of the Belyaus spit

The photo was taken just before the thunderstorm, it is clear that the rain is already close. No wonder artists love to paint such moments so much, nature is the best painter:

Bay Round

creating magnificent canvases:

Wild Omega Beach

and painting them with the most delicate watercolor:

Gagarinsky district of Sevastopol

Why is the Black Sea called the Black Sea?

Apparently, the Greek sailors, getting from the Mediterranean to the Black Sea, marked the difference between them with this name. If the former is dominated by turquoise and aquamarine in shades, then the Black Sea is often completely different -

In summer, at the entrance to Lake Donuzlav:

Donuzlav Strait before a thunderstorm

In winter in the Sevastopol Bay:

Monument to the Scuttled Ships

Autumn in Balaklava:

Exit from Balaklava Bay

Spring in Feodosia:

Photo from the Feodosiya embankment

True, according to the words of the ancient Greek geographer and historian Strabo, the Greek colonists called the place that unpleasantly struck them with storms and fogs Pont Aksinsky - an inhospitable sea.

Fog in Laspi Bay

Another version - the name was invented by the Meots and Sinds, the peoples who inhabited the northern shores of the Sea of ​​\u200b\u200bAzov, who noticed that the two seas are of different colors - the Black Sea is much darker than the Sea of ​​\u200b\u200bAzov.

summer sunset

By the way, it is not only black in Russian, but also in Turkish - Karadeniz, Bulgarian - Black Sea, German - Schwarze Meer, English - Black Sea, French - mer Noire, etc.

Sunset in Kalamitsky Bay

The third version of the name was put forward by hydrologists, they suggested that even the ancients noticed a unique feature of this particular reservoir - everything that turns out to be at a depth turns black over time due to hydrogen sulfide accumulated there.

In any case, the Black Sea can be almost any color, from white:

In honor of the upcoming season of holidays and vacations, we bring to your attention a selection of interesting facts about the Black Sea.
The first mention of the Black Sea is found in documents dating back to the 5th century BC. It was along the Black Sea that Jason and the Argonauts went to Colchis for the Golden Fleece.

1. The ancient Greek name of the sea is Pont Aksinsky (Greek Πόντος Ἄξενος), which means "Inhospitable Sea". It is assumed that the sea was so named because of the difficulties with navigation. Later, after the successful development of the coast by the Greek colonists, the sea became known as Pontus Euxinus (Greek Πόντος Εὔξενος, “Hospitable Sea”). In Romanian, the Black Sea is called Marea Neagră.

2. A characteristic feature of the Black Sea is the complete (except for some bacteria) absence of life at depths above 150–200 m. The fact is that the deep layers of the Black Sea are saturated with hydrogen sulfide.

3. Two huge closed circulations with a wavelength of 350–400 km are distinguished in the Black Sea current scheme. In honor of the oceanographer Nikolai Knipovich, who first described this scheme, it was called "Knipovich glasses"

4. The only large peninsula of the Black Sea is Crimean.

5. There are 2,500 animal species in the Black Sea. This is very small (for comparison, about 9,000 species live in the Mediterranean). At the bottom of the Black Sea live mussels, oysters and a mollusk - a predator of the rapana brought with ships from the Far East.

6. Among the planktonic algae living in the Black Sea, there is a very unusual species - the nightlight. It has the ability to phosphoresce, and it is because of it that the Black Sea sometimes glows in August.

7. Mammals are represented in the Black Sea by two species of dolphins, the harbor porpoise and the white-bellied seal. Some species of animals are brought into the Black Sea through the Bosporus and Dardanelles by the current.

8. The only massive shark that lives in the Black Sea is the spiny katran shark. He is afraid of people and rarely comes to the shore. The only danger to humans is the dorsal fins of the katran, which are equipped with large poisonous spikes.

1. The Black Sea is an inland sea of ​​a large basin of the Atlantic Ocean. Today, the most popular holiday destination in Russia. It is famous for its warm waters, hot climate and indescribable beauty of picturesque landscapes. ( 11 photos)

2. Black Sea takes square at 422,000 km², the greatest length of the sea from north to south is 580 km, and the greatest depth is 2210 meters, the average is 1240 m.

3. The Black Sea surprises with its beauty and unusual nature, the Black Sea is located on the territory, the beaches of the Black Sea are known throughout the country as warm and cozy.

4. Surprisingly, in the Black Sea at a depth of more than 150-200 meters, there is no life, with the exception of some bacteria, this is due to the saturation of the deep layers of water with hydrogen sulfide.

5. The Black Sea is an important transportation area.

6. The Black Sea is one of the largest resort regions of Eurasia, and the largest resort in Russia, rest on the Black Sea is a warm sea, beautiful nature, beautiful beaches. Large tourist cities, Sochi, Adler, etc., are concentrated on the Black Sea coast.

7. In addition, the Black Sea retains an important strategic and military significance; a number of military bases are located here.

8. Mild climate, beautiful amazing nature, warm clear sea makes the Black Sea a famous resort in Russia. Many famous people came and come to rest here. Writers enthusiastically write and compose poems about the warm clear waters of the Black Sea, artists get a new object for creativity.

9. From where such an interesting name of the Black Sea appeared, no one can say for sure, there are completely different hypotheses, it is only known that the first mention of the Black Sea was used in the 18th century.

Most maps do not show the boundaries of the seas, so it seems that they just smoothly transition into each other and into the oceans. But in fact, the boundaries of the seas are not only along the seabed. Different density, salinity and temperature lead to the fact that at the junction of the seas two walls seem to run into each other. In several places on Earth, it is even visually noticeable!

The boundaries of the seas (or the sea and the ocean) are most clearly visible where a vertical halocline appears. What is this phenomenon?

A halocline is a strong difference in salinity between two layers of water. Jacques Yves Cousteau discovered the same phenomenon while exploring the Strait of Gibraltar. Layers of water of different salinity seem to be separated by a film. Each layer has its own flora and fauna!

For a halocline to arise, one body of water must be five times saltier than another. In this case, physical laws will prevent the waters from mixing. Anyone can see a halocline in a glass by pouring a layer of fresh water and a layer of salt water into it.

Now imagine a vertical halocline that occurs when two seas collide, in one of which the percentage of salt is five times higher than in the other. The border will be vertical.

To see this phenomenon with your own eyes, go to the Danish city of Skagen. This is where you will see the place where the North Sea meets the Baltic. On the border of the watershed, one can often observe even small waves with lambs: these are the waves of two seas colliding with each other.

The watershed boundary is so prominent for several reasons:

The Baltic Sea is much inferior in salinity to the North, their density is different;
- the meeting of the seas takes place in a small area and, moreover, in shallow water, which makes it difficult to mix the waters;
- The Baltic Sea is tidal, its waters practically do not go beyond the basin.

But, despite the spectacular border of these two seas, their waters are gradually mixed. This is the only reason why the Baltic Sea has at least a small amount of salinity. If it were not for the flow of salt streams from the North Sea through this narrow meeting point, the Baltic would generally be a huge freshwater lake.

A similar effect can be seen in southwest Alaska. There the Pacific Ocean meets the waters of the Gulf of Alaska. They also cannot mix immediately, and not only because of the difference in salinity. The ocean and the bay have a different composition of water. The effect is very colorful: the waters vary greatly in color. The Pacific Ocean is darker, and the Gulf of Alaska, replenished by glacial waters, is light turquoise.

The visual boundaries of water basins can be seen at the border of the White and Barents Seas, in the Bab el-Mandeb and the Straits of Gibraltar. In other places, water boundaries also exist, but they are smoother and not noticeable to the eye, since the mixing of waters is more intense. And yet, while relaxing in Greece, Cyprus and some other island resorts, it is easy to notice that the sea on one side of the island behaves completely differently than the sea washing the opposite coast.