Geography of Estonia
Võhandu 162 km (101 mi) | |
| Largest lake | Lake Peipus 3,555 km2 (1,373 sq mi) |
|---|---|
| Exclusive economic zone | 36,992 km2 (14,283 sq mi) |
Between 57.3 and 59.5
Average elevation in Estonia reaches 50 m (164 ft).
The climate is maritime, wet, with moderate winters and cool summers.
Geographic features
Estonia is a flat country covering 45,339 km2 (17,505 sq mi), of which internal waters comprise 4.6%.
A small, recent cluster of meteorite craters, the largest of which is called Kaali are found on the Estonian island of Saaremaa. The impact may have been witnessed by the Iron Age inhabitants of the area.[4]
Estonia has a temperate climate, with four seasons of near-equal length.[2] Average temperatures range from 16.3 °C (61.3 °F) on the Baltic islands to 17.1 °C (62.8 °F) inland in July, the warmest month, and from −3.5 °C (25.7 °F) on the Baltic islands to −7.6 °C (18.3 °F) inland in February, the coldest month.[2] Precipitation averages 568 mm (22.4 in) per year and is heaviest in late summer.[2]
Estonia's land border with Latvia runs 333 km (207 mi);
Fauna
There live 65 different species of mammals in the Estonian forests. There are an estimated 700 brown bears, over 150 wolves, 400 lynxes, 14,000–16,000 beavers, 3,400 wild boars, 10,000–11,000 moose and 120,000–130,000 deer. There are also red deer and other wild animals.[5]
Flora
Environmental issues
One of the most burdensome legacies of the 1944–1991 Soviet occupation of Estonia is widespread environmental pollution.[2][6] The worst offender in this regard was the Soviet army.[2] Across military installations covering more than 800 square kilometres (310 sq mi) of Estonian territory, the army dumped hundreds of thousands of tons of jet fuel into the ground, improperly disposed of toxic chemicals, and discarded outdated explosives and weapons in coastal and inland waters.[2] In the 1990s, during the army's withdrawal from Estonia, extensive damage was done to discarded buildings and equipment.[2] In October 1993, the Estonian Ministry of Environment issued a preliminary report summing up part of the degradation it had surveyed thus far.[2] The report described the worst damage as having been done to Estonia's topsoil and underground water supply by the systematic dumping of jet fuel at six Soviet army air bases.[2] At the air base near Tapa, site of the worst damage, officials estimated that 6 square kilometres (2.3 sq mi) of land were covered by a layer of fuel; 11 square kilometres (4.2 sq mi) of underground water were said to be contaminated.[2] The water in the surrounding area was undrinkable, and was sometimes set fire by locals to provide heat during the winter.[2] With Danish help, Estonian crews began cleaning up the site, although they estimated the likely cost to be as much as 4 million EEK.[2] The Ministry of Environment assigned a monetary cost of more than 10 billion EEK to the damage to the country's topsoil and water supply.[2] However, the ministry was able to allocate only 5 million EEK in 1993 for cleanup operations.[2]
In a 1992 government report to the United Nations Conference on the Environment and Development, Estonia detailed other major environmental concerns.[2] For instance, for several consecutive years Estonia had led the world in the production of sulfur dioxide per capita.[2] Nearly 75% of Estonia's air pollution was reported to come from two oil shale-based thermal power stations operating near Narva.[2] The mining of oil shale in northeastern Estonia has also left large mounds of limestone tailings dotting the region.[2] Near the town of Sillamäe, site of a former uranium enrichment plant, about 1,200 tons of uranium and about 750 tons of thorium had been dumped into a reservoir on the shore of the Gulf of Finland.[2] This was said to have caused severe health problems among area residents.[2] In the coastal town of Paldiski, the removal of waste left by Soviet army nuclear reactors was also a major concern.[2] The combined cost of environmental cleanup at both towns was put at more than EEK3.5 billion.[2]
Natural hazards: flooding occurs frequently in the spring in certain areas[3]
Environment – current issues: air polluted with sulfur dioxide from oil-shale burning power plants in northeast; however, the amounts of pollutants emitted to the air have fallen dramatically and the pollution load of wastewater at purification plants has decreased substantially due to improved technology and environmental monitoring; Estonia has more than 1,400 natural and manmade lakes, the smaller of which in agricultural areas need to be monitored; coastal seawater is polluted in certain locations.[3]
Environment – international agreements:
party to: Air Pollution, Air Pollution-Heavy Metals, Air Pollution-Nitrogen Oxides, Air Pollution-Persistent Organic Pollutants, Air Pollution-Sulphur 85, Air Pollution-Volatile Organic Compounds, Antarctic Treaty,
Area and boundaries
Area:[3]
total: 45,228 square kilometres (17,463 sq mi)
land: 42,338 square kilometres (16,347 sq mi)
water: 2,840 square kilometres (1,100 sq mi)
note: includes 1,520 islands in the Baltic Sea
Land boundaries:[3]
total: 657 km (408 mi)
border countries: Latvia 333 km (207 mi), Russia 324 km (201 mi)
Coastline: 3,794 km (2,357 mi)
Maritime claims:[3]
territorial sea: 12 nmi (22.2 km; 13.8 mi)
exclusive economic zone: limits as agreed to by Estonia, Finland, Latvia, Sweden, and Russia
Elevation extremes:[3]
lowest point: Baltic Sea 0 m
highest point: Suur Munamägi 318 metres (1,043 ft)
Geographical (landscape) areas
- Northern Estonia (roughly equivalent to Põhja-Eesti maastikuvaldkond (:et), which includes the capital city Tallinn)
- Southern Estonia
- Western Estonia
- Eastern Estonia
Resources and land use
Natural resources: oil shale (kukersite), peat, rare earth elements, phosphorite, clay, limestone, sand, dolomite, arable land, sea mud[3]
Land use (2018 est.):[3]
- agricultural land: 22.2% (14% arable land, 0.1% permanent crops, 7.2% permanent pasture)
- forest: 52.1%
- other: 25.7%
Irrigated land: 40 km2 (15 sq mi)[3]
Total renewable water resources: 12.806 km3 (3.072 cu mi) (2017 est.)[3]
See also
References
- ISSN 2534-4358. Retrieved 5 March 2023.
- ^ OCLC 34245562.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m
This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain: "Estonia". The World Factbook. Central Intelligence Agency. September 2, 2021. Retrieved September 10, 2021.
- S2CID 53476672.
- GBIF
- ^ Auer, M.R., Raukas, A. (2002). Determinants of environmental cleanup in Estonia. Environment and Planning C: Government and Policy, 20: 679–698.
