Baltic Sea May Completely Freeze over This Winter

This winter is so cold that the Baltic Sea may completely freeze over. This is the opinion of experts in naval research as reported on Wednesday, January 8, in Finnish newspaper Helsingin Sanomat.

Researchers believe there is every reason to expect a situation similar to that of 1948 when the sea froze over completely or of 1979 when most of the Baltic Sea was covered by ice.

In an interview with the newspaper, researcher Ari Seine said that usually about 200 thousand square kilometres of the Baltic Sea is covered by ice. However this area was already frozen over by the beginning of 2003 and, in his opinion, the area of frozen ice will expand fast until late February-early March and eventually encompass an area of 350-370 thousand square kilometres, which is effectively the whole surface of the Baltic Sea.