Places
North Sea, Shelf, and Monitoring Network
The sea off the Elbe estuary, decisive in Lena’s math
The North Sea is the sea off Germany’s coast; its corner off the Elbe estuary, the German Bight, is where the Lower Elbe dikes end. In Lena’s calculations, this is where whatever happens in the Atlantic arrives: if the overturning circulation slows down, water piles up, and sea level in the German Bight rises faster than the global average. At the same time, storm tracks shift south, bringing more westerly weather in winter. For Lena, the North Sea is also a place of memory: she met Lukas Ahrens off Helgoland. But her study area in Book 1 isn’t the North Sea; it’s the North Atlantic.
First encounter
- First noticed: Lena’s line about the water off the coast, “the water piles up when the pump runs slower”
- Object: Lukas’s historical map of the German Bight
Connected to
- Lena VossOceanographer at the ICRU in Hamburg, following a falling line
- Lukas AhrensOceanographer at Lena’s side, died at sea eight years ago
- The Lower Elbe and the DikeThe land behind the dikes between Hamburg and the estuary
- FS Heron and HelgolandA broken-down ship off Helgoland, where Lena meets Lukas
- The North AtlanticThe current’s ocean and Lena’s study area in Book 1
Spoiler-free. This describes the starting point of the book named, without its major twists or resolutions.