Geography of Estonia

This article describes the characteristics of the geography of Estonia .

The Estonia is a European country , located at the Southern of the Finland, at the Northern of the Latvia and at the western of the Russia. This country is generally gathered with the Latvia and the Lithuania in a unit Géopolitique called Baltic States or country the Baltic .

Natural situation and conditions

Situation

The Estonia is located in Northern Europe, on the east coast of the the Baltic. It is thus the northern part of the moderate zone and on the transition between the maritime and continental climates. Thanks to the North-Atlantic Current hot, all Northern Europe (which Estonia) enjoys a climate considerably softer than, for example, same latitudes in North America. The Baltic causes great differences in climate between the coastal areas and continental.

The point located more at north is the island Vaindloo (59º49' 17” NR; on the dry land -- the Purekkari peninsula, 59º40' 27” NR) and the point more in the south is close to the village Naha (57º30' 32” NR). The extreme points in the west and the east are, respectively, the island Nootamaa (21º46' 06” E; on the dry land -- the Ramsi peninsula, 23º24' 28” E) and Narva (28º12' 33” E). The longest distances by road reach 400 km. In term of length of trip, the most distant places are small islands without regular traffic by boat nor plane (most distant is the Ruhnu island, to 65 km of the dry land).

Demography

Estonia is a small country. Its surface (45 227 km ²) is similar to that of the Netherlands although its population is ten times smaller (1 439.197 inhabitants the 1/1/2000). The adjoining countries of Estonia are the Russia in the east, the Latvia in the south, the Sweden in the west and the Finland in north. Its land borders 645 km are long, of which the half passes by rivers and lakes. The maritime borders were established in agreement with the Latvia, the Finland, the Russia and the Sweden.

Climate

The principal factor influencing the climate is the Atlantic Ocean (particularly the Nord-Atlantique current), which besides influence climate of the very whole Europe. The cyclonic activity of the northern part of the Atlantic Ocean determines a very high variability of the time in Estonia and causes strong winds, high precipitations and abrupt fluctuations of temperature. The dominant Vent S of the west bring wet maritime air far in the country. That heats the air in winter but cools it in summer. Compared to the European averages, the climate is characterized by one rather cold winter, one soft and a little rainy spring, a relatively hot summer and a length and soft autumn (average temperature in July +16°C; average temperature in February -9°C).

The high latitude of Estonia generates a great difference in light of day between the winter and the summer. The days are with shortest with the winter solstice: with Tallinn (in north) 6 hours and 2 minutes and with Valga (Southern), 6 hours 39 minutes. The longest day, the summer solstice, lasts 18 hours 40 minutes and 18 hours 10, in north and the south respectively. The annual number of sunny hours varies between 1600 and 1900, being higher on the coast and the islands and shorter inside the country. That corresponds to less than half of the maximum quantity of possible sun.

See too

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