The shallowest sea on Earth — a brackish northern pocket of the Black Sea fed by great rivers and frozen each winter.
Area
39,000 km²
Ocean basin
Atlantic
Location
The shallowest sea in the world
Average depth
about 7 m
Maximum depth
about 14 m
Salinity
~11 ppt (very low)
Temperature
Cold winters to 28°C summers
Region
North of the Black Sea
About the Sea of Azov
The Sea of Azov is a shallow, almost-closed northern extension of the Black Sea, joined to it by the narrow Kerch Strait. Fed by the Don and Kuban rivers, its water is only lightly salty and so shallow it freezes in winter. Those river nutrients once made it one of the most productive fishing seas per area anywhere.
Did you know?
Averaging just 7 metres deep, it is the shallowest sea in the world — shallow enough to freeze over every winter.
Highlights
- The shallowest sea in the world
- Fed by great rivers, barely salty
- Freezes over each winter
Photo gallery
Life in the Sea of Azov
Creatures, seabirds and marine plants — including some of the rarest and strangest — that live in these waters.
Seabirds
Great cormorant
An expert diving seabird that perches with wings spread wide to dry its feathers.
Marine plants & algae
Sea lettuce
A bright-green, paper-thin edible seaweed that drapes rocky shores worldwide.
Surface & deep in the Sea of Azov
The sea is warm where the Sun reaches it and cold far below. Flip between the sunlit surface and the deep water to feel the difference — these are typical figures for a enclosed sea.
Sunlit surface
24°C
typical surface temperature
Ringed by land, enclosed seas heat up more at the surface and, cut off from the open ocean, their trapped deep water often stays comparatively warm.
Recorded range for the Sea of Azov: Cold winters to 28°C summers