The Irish Sea (Irish: Muir Éireann or Muir Meann; Scottish Gaelic: Muir Eireann Welsh: Môr Iwerddon, Manx: Mooir Vannin) separates the islands of Ireland and Great Britain. Irish (ga ''Gaeilge'' is a Goidelic language of the Indo-European language family originating in Ireland and historically spoken by the Irish. Scottish Gaelic ( Gàidhlig) is a member of the Goidelic branch of Celtic languages. Welsh ( cy Cymraeg or cy y Gymraeg, kəmˈrɑːɨɡ and {{IPA|[ə ɡəmˈrɑːɨɡ]}}, is a member of the Brythonic branch of Celtic Manx ( Gaelg or Gailck, ɡilk or) also known as Manx Gaelic, is a Goidelic language once spoken on the Isle An island (ˈaɪlənd or isle (/ˈaɪl/ is any piece of land that is completely surrounded by water in two dimensions above high tide and isolated from other significant Ireland (pronounced /ˈaɾlənd/ Éire) is the third largest island in Europe, and the twentieth-largest island in the world See also Kingdom of Great Britain Great Britain (Breatainn Mhòr Prydain Fawr Breten Veur Graet Breetain is the larger of the two main islands It is connected to the Celtic Sea portion of the Atlantic Ocean by St George's Channel between Ireland and Wales, and to the north by the North Channel between Northern Ireland and Scotland which forms part of the International Hydrographic Organisation designated Inner Seas off the West Coast of Scotland marine area. The Celtic Sea (An Mhuir Cheilteach Y Môr Celtaidd An Mor Keltek Ar Mor Keltiek La Mer Celtique is the area of the Atlantic Ocean off the South Coast St George's Channel ( Welsh: Sianel San Siôr, Irish Muir Bhreatan) is a channel Ireland ( Irish: Éire, ˈeːrʲə is a country in north-western Europe. The North Channel (known in Irish and Scottish Gaelic as Sruth na Maoile, and alternatively in English as the Straits of Moyle Northern Ireland (Tuaisceart Éireann Ulster Scots: Norlin Airlann) is a Country within the United Kingdom, lying in the northeast of Scotland ( Gaelic: Alba) is a Country in northwest Europethat occupies the northern third of the island of Great Britain. The International Hydrographic Organization (IHO was originally established in 1921 as the International Hydrographic Bureau (IHB The Isle of Man lies in the middle of the Irish Sea. The Isle of Man (Ellan Vannin ˈɛlʲən ˈvanɪn or Mann (Mannin) is a self-governing Crown dependency, located in the Irish Sea at the geographical The sea is of significant economic importance to regional trade, shipping and transport, fishing and power generation in the form of wind power and nuclear plants. Trade is the willing exchange of goods, services, or both Trade is also called Commerce. Shipping is physical process of Transporting goods and Cargo. Transport or transportation is the movement of people and goods from one place to another For the computer security term see Phishing. Fishing is the activity of catching Fish. Electricity generation is the process of converting non-electrical Energy to Electricity. Wind Power is the conversion of wind energy into a useful form such as electricity using Wind turbines At the end of 2007 worldwide capacity of wind-powered generators was Nuclear power is any Nuclear technology designed to extract usable Energy from atomic nuclei via controlled Nuclear reactions There has been long discussion of building an 80 km (50 mile) rail tunnel to link Britain and Ireland. The kilometre ( American spelling: kilometer) symbol km is a unit of Length in the Metric system, equal to one thousand A mile is a unit of Length, usually used to measure Distance, in a number of different systems including Imperial units United States A tunnel is an underground passageway The definition of what constitutes a tunnel is not universally agreed upon Annual traffic between the two islands amounts to over 12 million passengers and 17 million tonnes of trade. This article is about the tonne or metric ton For other tons see Ton.

Contents 1 Shipping 2 Cities and towns 3 Origin 4 Environment 4.1 Biodiversity 4.2 Radioactive pollution 5 Oil and gas exploration 5.1 East Irish Sea Basin 5.2 Caernarfon Bay Basin 5.3 The Cardigan Bay Basin 5.4 The Liverpool Bay Development 6 Proposed tunnel projects 7 Wind power 8 References

Shipping

Unlike Britain, Ireland has no tunnel or bridge connection to mainland Europe. A bridge is a Structure built to span a Gorge, Valley, Road, railroad track, River, Body of water Thus the vast majority of heavy goods trade is done by sea. This article is about the body of water For other uses see SEA and Seas. Northern Irish ports handle 10 million tonnes of goods trade with Britain annually, while ports in the Republic handle 7. ||-||-|-||-||-||-||-||-||-|} A port is a facility for receiving Ships and transferring cargo 6 million tonnes, representing 50% and 40% respectively of total trade by weight. In the Physical sciences weight is a Measurement of the gravitational Force acting on an object

The Port of Liverpool handles 32 million tonnes of cargo and 734 thousand passengers a year. The Port of Liverpool is the name for the enclosed dock system that runs from Herculaneum Dock to Seaforth Dock, in the city of Liverpool, Cargo (or freight) refers to goods or produce transported generally for Commercial gain by ship, aircraft, train, ^[1] Holyhead port handles most of the passenger traffic from Dublin and Dún Laoghaire ports, as well as 3. Holyhead ( IPA /ˈhɒlihɛd/ Welsh: Caergybi, "the fort of Saint Cybi " is the largest town in the county of Dublin Port (Port Átha Cliath is Ireland 's biggest Sea port. Dún Laoghaire (in Irish d̪ˠuːn̪ˠ ˈɫeːrʲə sometimes spelled Dún Laoire; Anglicised as Dunleary, dʌn ˈlɪəri is a suburban 3 million tonnes of freight. ^[2]

Ports in the Republic handle 3,600,000 travellers crossing the Irish Sea each year, amounting to 92% of all sea travel. ^[3] This has been steadily dropping for a number of years (20% since 1999), probably as a result of low cost airlines.

Ferry connections from Britain to Ireland across the Irish Sea include the routes from Swansea to Cork; Fishguard and Pembroke to Rosslare; Holyhead to Dún Laoghaire; Holyhead to Dublin; Stranraer to Belfast and Larne; and Cairnryan to Larne. See also Merchant ship A ferry is a form of transport usually a Boat or Ship, used to carry (or ferry) passengers and Swansea ( Abertawe "mouth of the Tawe " is a city and county in Wales. Cork (Corcaigh is the second largest city in the Republic of Ireland and the island of Ireland 's third most populous city after Dublin and Belfast Fishguard (Abergwaun = "Mouth of the River Gwaun " is a coastal Town in Pembrokeshire, south-west Wales, with a population of 3300 Pembroke (Penfro is the traditional County town of Pembrokeshire in west Wales. Stranraer ( Gaelic: An t-Sròn Reamhar, ən̴̪ t̪ɾɔːn ɾãũ Belfast ( is the capital city of Northern Ireland and the seat of government in Northern Ireland. Larne (&mdashthe domain of a Viking chieftain is a substantial seaport and industrial Town on the east coast of County Antrim, Northern Ireland Cairnryan is a small Scottish Village overlooking Loch Ryan and is notable today for its large modern ferry port which opened in 1973 originally operated There is also a connection between Liverpool and Belfast via the Isle of Man or direct from Birkenhead. Liverpool ( is a City and Metropolitan borough of Merseyside, England along the eastern side of the Mersey Estuary The Isle of Man (Ellan Vannin ˈɛlʲən ˈvanɪn or Mann (Mannin) is a self-governing Crown dependency, located in the Irish Sea at the geographical Birkenhead is a town within the Metropolitan Borough of Wirral in Merseyside, England. The world's largest car ferry, Ulysses, is operated by Irish Ferries on the Dublin Port–Holyhead route, Stena Line also operates between Britain and Ireland. Irish Continental Group plc,, trading as Irish Ferries, is a quoted Irish Ferry operator Stena Line is one of the world's largest ferry operators with Ferry services serving Sweden, Denmark, Norway, Great Britain Barrow-in-Furness despite being one of Britain's largest shipbuilding centres, and being home to the United Kingdom's only submarine-building complex, is only a minor port. Barrow-in-Furness is an industrial town and Seaport in Cumbria, England. See also Shipbuilding (song. Shipbuilding is the construction of Ships It normally takes place in a specialized facility known as a The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom, the UK or Britain,is a Sovereign state located A submarine is a Watercraft that can operate independently below water as distinct from a Submersible that has only limited underwater capability

"Irish Sea" is also the name of one of the BBC's Shipping Forecast areas. The Shipping Forecast is a four-times-daily BBC radio broadcast of Weather reports and forecasts for the seas around the coasts of the British Isles.

There have been various tentative proposals for an Irish Sea Tunnel. An Irish Sea Tunnel would link Ireland to Great Britain across the Irish Sea.

During World War I the Irish Sea became known as "U-boat Alley". World War I (abbreviated WWI; also known as the First World War, the Great War, and the War to End All U-boat is the anglicized version of the German word, itself an abbreviation of Unterseeboot ( undersea boat) and refers After the United States entered the war in 1917, the U-boats moved their emphasis from the Atlantic to the Irish Sea. The United States of America —commonly referred to as the ^[4][5]

See also: Transport in Ireland, Transport in the United Kingdom, Transport on the Isle of Man

Cities and towns

Below is a list of cities and towns around the Irish Sea coasts in order of size. Most of the transport system in Ireland is in public hands either side of the Irish border. The transport systems in the United Kingdom are the responsibility of each individual country The UK Department for Transport is the government department responsible There are a number of transport services around the Isle Of Man Mostly consisting of paved roads Rail services and an Airport Service

Rank	City/Town	County	Region/Province	Population	Country
1	Dublin	Dublin Region	Leinster	1,045,769	Ireland
2	Liverpool	Merseyside	North West	447,500	England
3	Belfast	County Antrim	Ulster	276,459	Northern Ireland
5	Blackpool	Lancashire	North West	142,900	England
6	Southport	Merseyside	North West	99,456	England
7	Birkenhead	Merseyside	North West	83,729	England
8	Bangor	County Down	Ulster	76,851	Northern Ireland
9	Barrow-in-Furness	Cumbria	North West	71,980	England
10	Wallasey	Merseyside	North West	58,710	England
11	Morecambe	Lancashire	North West	45,000	England
12	Lytham St Annes	Lancashire	North West	41,330	England
13	Drogheda	County Louth	Leinster	35,090	Ireland
14	Dundalk	County Louth	Leinster	35,085	Ireland
15	Rhyl	Denbighshire	Clwyd, Wales	35,000	Wales
17	Bray	County Wicklow	Leinster	31,901	Ireland
18	Thornton-Cleveleys	Lancashire	North West	31,157	England
19	Colwyn Bay	Conwy	Clwyd, Wales	30,265	Wales
20	Carrickfergus	County Antrim	Ulster	27,201	Northern Ireland
21	Fleetwood	Lancashire	North West	26. Dublin (ˈdʌblɨn/ /ˈdʊblɨn or /ˈdʊbəlɪn/, bˠalʲə aːha klʲiəh or cliə(ɸ is both the largest city and capital of Ireland. County Dublin (Contae Bhaile Átha Cliath or more correctly today the Dublin Region ( Réigiúin Átha Cliath) is the area that contains the city of Dublin Leinster (ˈlɛnstər Irish: Laighin, lainʲ one of the Provinces of Ireland, lies in the east of Ireland and comprises the counties of Ireland ( Irish: Éire, ˈeːrʲə is a country in north-western Europe. Liverpool ( is a City and Metropolitan borough of Merseyside, England along the eastern side of the Mersey Estuary Merseyside is a Metropolitan county in North West England, with a population of 1365900 North West England is one of the nine official Regions of England. England is a Country which is part of the United Kingdom. Its inhabitants account for more than 83% of the total UK population whilst its mainland Belfast ( is the capital city of Northern Ireland and the seat of government in Northern Ireland. County Antrim ( Contae Aontroma or simply Aontroim in Irish) is one of six counties that form Northern Ireland, and one of nine counties Ulster ( Ulaidh ˈkwɪɟɪ ˈʌlˠu / ˈʌlˠi is one of the four provinces of Ireland, in addition to Connacht, Munster and Leinster Northern Ireland (Tuaisceart Éireann Ulster Scots: Norlin Airlann) is a Country within the United Kingdom, lying in the northeast of Blackpool (/ˈblækˌpul is a seaside town in Lancashire, England. Lancashire is a non-metropolitan county of historic origin in the North West of England, bounded to the west by the Irish Sea North West England is one of the nine official Regions of England. England is a Country which is part of the United Kingdom. Its inhabitants account for more than 83% of the total UK population whilst its mainland Southport is a seaside town on the Irish Sea coast situated within the Metropolitan Borough of Sefton, in England, UK. Merseyside is a Metropolitan county in North West England, with a population of 1365900 North West England is one of the nine official Regions of England. England is a Country which is part of the United Kingdom. Its inhabitants account for more than 83% of the total UK population whilst its mainland Birkenhead is a town within the Metropolitan Borough of Wirral in Merseyside, England. Merseyside is a Metropolitan county in North West England, with a population of 1365900 North West England is one of the nine official Regions of England. England is a Country which is part of the United Kingdom. Its inhabitants account for more than 83% of the total UK population whilst its mainland Bangor (Beannchor is a large Town in County Down, Northern Ireland, with a population of 76403 people in the 2001 Census, making it the County Down, ( Ulster Scots: Coontie Doun. is one of the nine counties that form the province of Ulster and one of six counties that form Ulster ( Ulaidh ˈkwɪɟɪ ˈʌlˠu / ˈʌlˠi is one of the four provinces of Ireland, in addition to Connacht, Munster and Leinster Northern Ireland (Tuaisceart Éireann Ulster Scots: Norlin Airlann) is a Country within the United Kingdom, lying in the northeast of Barrow-in-Furness is an industrial town and Seaport in Cumbria, England. Boundaries and divisions Cumbria is neighboured by Northumberland, County Durham, North Yorkshire, Lancashire, and the Lieutenancy North West England is one of the nine official Regions of England. England is a Country which is part of the United Kingdom. Its inhabitants account for more than 83% of the total UK population whilst its mainland Wallasey is a large town within the Metropolitan Borough of Wirral, in Merseyside, England, on the mouth of the River Mersey Merseyside is a Metropolitan county in North West England, with a population of 1365900 North West England is one of the nine official Regions of England. England is a Country which is part of the United Kingdom. Its inhabitants account for more than 83% of the total UK population whilst its mainland Morecambe is a resort town within the City of Lancaster district of Lancashire, England. Lancashire is a non-metropolitan county of historic origin in the North West of England, bounded to the west by the Irish Sea North West England is one of the nine official Regions of England. England is a Country which is part of the United Kingdom. Its inhabitants account for more than 83% of the total UK population whilst its mainland Lytham St Annes is a conurbation in the Fylde district of Lancashire, England. Lancashire is a non-metropolitan county of historic origin in the North West of England, bounded to the west by the Irish Sea North West England is one of the nine official Regions of England. England is a Country which is part of the United Kingdom. Its inhabitants account for more than 83% of the total UK population whilst its mainland Drogheda (ˈdrɒhədə ˈdrɔːdə ( Droichead Átha in Irish, meaning "Bridge of the Ford" is an industrial and port town in County Louth on County Louth (Contae Lú is a County on the East coast of Ireland, on the border with Northern Ireland. Leinster (ˈlɛnstər Irish: Laighin, lainʲ one of the Provinces of Ireland, lies in the east of Ireland and comprises the counties of Ireland ( Irish: Éire, ˈeːrʲə is a country in north-western Europe. Dundalk (Dún Dealgan is the County town of County Louth in Ireland, situated close to the border with Northern Ireland. County Louth (Contae Lú is a County on the East coast of Ireland, on the border with Northern Ireland. Leinster (ˈlɛnstər Irish: Laighin, lainʲ one of the Provinces of Ireland, lies in the east of Ireland and comprises the counties of Ireland ( Irish: Éire, ˈeːrʲə is a country in north-western Europe. Rhyl ((ə r̥ɨl Welsh Y Rhyl) is a seaside town on the Irish Sea, in the county of Denbighshire (within the preserved Formation The present principal area was formed on April 1, 1996, under the Local Government (Wales Act 1994, from various parts of the county Clwyd is a preserved county of Wales. From 1974 until 1996 it was a county with a County council, and was divided into six districts Bray (Bré formerly Brí Chulainn) is a town in north County Wicklow, Ireland. County Wicklow (Contae Chill Mhantáin is a county on the east coast of Ireland, immediately south of Dublin. Leinster (ˈlɛnstər Irish: Laighin, lainʲ one of the Provinces of Ireland, lies in the east of Ireland and comprises the counties of Ireland ( Irish: Éire, ˈeːrʲə is a country in north-western Europe. Thornton-Cleveleys is an Unparished area in the English local government district of Wyre, Lancashire, covering the towns of Lancashire is a non-metropolitan county of historic origin in the North West of England, bounded to the west by the Irish Sea North West England is one of the nine official Regions of England. England is a Country which is part of the United Kingdom. Its inhabitants account for more than 83% of the total UK population whilst its mainland Colwyn Bay (Bae Colwyn is a Town and Seaside resort in Conwy county borough on the north coast of Wales. Conwy (formerly Conway in English is a Town in Conwy county borough on the north coast of Wales, which faces Deganwy across Clwyd is a preserved county of Wales. From 1974 until 1996 it was a county with a County council, and was divided into six districts Carrickfergus ( is a large town in County Antrim, Northern Ireland. County Antrim ( Contae Aontroma or simply Aontroim in Irish) is one of six counties that form Northern Ireland, and one of nine counties Ulster ( Ulaidh ˈkwɪɟɪ ˈʌlˠu / ˈʌlˠi is one of the four provinces of Ireland, in addition to Connacht, Munster and Leinster Northern Ireland (Tuaisceart Éireann Ulster Scots: Norlin Airlann) is a Country within the United Kingdom, lying in the northeast of Fleetwood is a town within the Wyre district of Lancashire, England, lying at the northwest corner of The Fylde. Lancashire is a non-metropolitan county of historic origin in the North West of England, bounded to the west by the Irish Sea North West England is one of the nine official Regions of England. 840	England
22	Douglas	Middle	Isle of Man	26,218	Isle of Man
20	Workington	Cumbria	North West	25,978	England
23	Whitehaven	Cumbria	North West	25,500	England
24	Llandudno	Conwy	Clwyd, Wales	20,090	Wales

Origin

The Irish Sea has undergone a series of dramatic changes over the last 20,000 years as the last Ice age ended and was replaced by warmer conditions. England is a Country which is part of the United Kingdom. Its inhabitants account for more than 83% of the total UK population whilst its mainland Douglas (Doolish is the capital of the Isle of Man and its largest town Middle is one of six Sheadings in the Isle of Man and consists of the parishes of Braddan, Marown and Santon. The Isle of Man (Ellan Vannin ˈɛlʲən ˈvanɪn or Mann (Mannin) is a self-governing Crown dependency, located in the Irish Sea at the geographical The Isle of Man (Ellan Vannin ˈɛlʲən ˈvanɪn or Mann (Mannin) is a self-governing Crown dependency, located in the Irish Sea at the geographical Http//uploadwikimediaorg/wikipedia/en/a/ab/Workingtonjpg Workington is a town and port on the west coast of Cumbria, England at the mouth of the Boundaries and divisions Cumbria is neighboured by Northumberland, County Durham, North Yorkshire, Lancashire, and the Lieutenancy North West England is one of the nine official Regions of England. England is a Country which is part of the United Kingdom. Its inhabitants account for more than 83% of the total UK population whilst its mainland For the neighbourhood in Memphis Tennessee see Whitehaven Memphis. Boundaries and divisions Cumbria is neighboured by Northumberland, County Durham, North Yorkshire, Lancashire, and the Lieutenancy North West England is one of the nine official Regions of England. England is a Country which is part of the United Kingdom. Its inhabitants account for more than 83% of the total UK population whilst its mainland Llandudno (pronounced /ɬan'dɪdnɔ/ is a Seaside resort and Town in Conwy, Wales. Conwy (formerly Conway in English is a Town in Conwy county borough on the north coast of Wales, which faces Deganwy across Clwyd is a preserved county of Wales. From 1974 until 1996 it was a county with a County council, and was divided into six districts An ice age is a period of long-term reduction in the Temperature of the Earth 's surface and atmosphere resulting in an expansion of continental Ice sheets At the height of the ice age the central part of the modern sea was probably a long freshwater lake. Freshwater is a word that refers to bodies of water such as Ponds lakes rivers and streams containing low concentrations of dissolved Salts and other Total dissolved A lake (from Latin lacus) is a Terrain feature (or Physical feature) a body of Liquid on the surface of a world that is localized to the As the ice retreated 10,000 years ago the lake reconnected to the sea, becoming brackish and then fully saline once again. Ice is a Solid phase, usually crystalline, of a Non-metalic substance that is liquid or gas at Room temperature, such as Ammonia Saline water is a general term for Water that contains a significant concentration of dissolved Salts ( NaCl)

Environment

Biodiversity

The most accessible and possibly the greatest wildlife resource of the Irish Sea lies in its estuaries: particularly the Dee Estuary, the Mersey Estuary, the Ribble Estuary, Morecambe Bay, the Solway Firth, Loch Ryan, the Firth of Clyde, Belfast Lough, Strangford Lough, Carlingford Lough, Dundalk Bay, Dublin Bay and Wexford Harbour. Brittas Bay (Cuan an Bhriotáis in County Wicklow, Ireland is a 4 Km stretch of Beach on the Irish Sea Coast. County Wicklow (Contae Chill Mhantáin is a county on the east coast of Ireland, immediately south of Dublin. The coast is defined as the part of the land adjoining or near the Ocean. Wildlife includes all non-domesticated plants animals and other organisms An estuary is a semi-enclosed Coastal body of Water with one or more Rivers or Streams flowing into it and with a free connection to the open The Dee Estuary (Aber Dyfrdwy is a large Estuary where the River Dee flows into Liverpool Bay. See also Mersey River (Tasmania and Mersey River (Nova Scotia. The Ribble and Alt Estuaries lie on the Irish Sea coast of the counties of Lancashire and Merseyside in north-west England. Morecambe Bay is a large bay in northwest England, nearly due east of the Isle of Man and just to the south of the Lake District National Park The Solway Firth is a Firth that forms part of the border between England and Scotland, between Cumbria (including the Solway Plain) and Loch Ryan ( Gaelic: Loch Rìoghaine, ɫ̪ɔx r̴iːɛɲə is a Scottish Sea loch that acts as an important Natural harbour for shipping The Firth of Clyde forms a large area of coastal water sheltered from the Atlantic ocean by the Kintyre peninsula which encloses the outer Firth in Belfast Lough ( Loch Lao or Loch Laoigh in Irish) is a large natural intertidal sea lough situated at the mouth of the River Lagan on the Strangford Lough ( describing the fast-flowing Narrows; and Loch Cuan in Irish meaning the calm Lough describing the gentle Waters Carlingford Lough ( Loch Cairlinn in Irish) (Cairlinn being shortened form of "Cathair Linn" literally translated as "City of the Pool" is a sea Dublin Bay ( Cuan Bhaile Átha Cliath) is a delta shaped Inlet of the Irish Sea off the east Coast of Ireland. Wexford Harbour, Loch Garman, County Wexford, Ireland is the natural Harbour at the mouth of the River Slaney. However, a lot of wildlife also depends on the cliffs, saltmarshes and sand dunes of the adjoining shores, the seabed and the open sea itself. In Geography and Geology, a cliff is a significant vertical or near vertical rock exposure A salt marsh is a type of Marsh that is a transitional intertidal between land and salty or Brackish water (e In physical Geography, a dune is a Hill of Sand built by Aeolian processes. A shore or shoreline is the fringe of land at the edge of a large body of water such as an Ocean, Sea, or Lake. "Ocean Floor" redirects here For the 2001 song by Audio Adrenaline, see Lift (Audio Adrenaline album.

The information on the invertebrates of the seabed of the Irish Sea is rather patchy because it is difficult to survey such a large area, where underwater visibility is often poor and information often depends upon looking at material brought up from the seabed in mechanical grabs. An invertebrate is an Animal lacking a Vertebral column. The group includes 98% of all animal Species — all animals except those in the Chordate However, the groupings of animals present depend to a large extent on whether the seabed is composed of rock, boulders, gravel, sand, mud or even peat. In Geology, rock is a naturally occurring aggregate of Minerals and/or Mineraloids The Earth's outer solid layer the ‘ Lithosphere In Geology, a boulder is a rock with grain size of usually no less than 256 mm (10 Inches diameter Gravel is rock that is of a specific Particle size range In Geology, gravel is any loose rock that is larger than two millimeters (2mm Sand is a naturally occurring Granular material composed of finely divided rock and Mineral particles In computer gaming, a MUD ( Multi-User Dungeon, Domain or Dimension) is a multi-player computer game that combines elements of Peat is an accumulation of partially Decayed Vegetation matter. In the soft sediments seven types of community have been provisionally identified, variously dominated by brittle-stars, sea urchins, worms, mussels, tellins, furrow-shells, and tower-shells. Sediment is any particulate matter that can be transported by fluid flow and which eventually is deposited as a layer of solid particles on the bed or bottom of a body of Brittle stars, or ophiurids, are Echinoderms closely related to Sea stars. Sea urchins are small globular spiny sea cat animals composing most of class Echinoidea. A worm is a common name given to a diverse group of invertebrate animals that have a long soft body and no legs The common name mussel is used for members of several different families of Clams or Bivalve Molluscs, from both saltwater and freshwater habitats Tellina is a Genus of marine Bivalve Molluscs in the family Tellinidae, found in the Indo-Pacific The peppery furrow shell, Scrobicularia plana, also known as a sand gaper, is the only species currently recognized by ITIS in the Genus

Parts of the bed of the Irish Sea are very rich in wildlife. The seabed southwest of the Isle of Man is particularly noted for its rarities and diversity ^[6], as are the horse mussel beds of Strangford Lough. Scallops and queen scallops are found in more gravelly areas. A scallop (ˈskɒləp or /ˈskæləp/ is a marine Bivalve Mollusk of the family Pectinidae. The Queen scallop ( Aequipecten opercularis) is a medium-sized member of the Scallop family a species of edible marine Bivalve Mollusk In the estuaries, where the bed is more sandy or muddy, the number of species is smaller but the size of their populations is larger. Brown shrimp, cockles and edible mussels support local fisheries in Morecambe Bay and the Dee Estuary and the estuaries are also important as nurseries for flatfish, herring and sea bass. Crangon crangon ( Common names include brown shrimp, common shrimp and sand shrimp) is a commercially important species of For the fishing industry and the practice of fishing see Fishing. The flatfish are an order ( Pleuronectiformes) of Ray-finned fish, also called the Heterosomata sometimes classified as a suborder of Perciformes Herring are small Oily fish of the genus Clupea found in the shallow temperate waters of the North Atlantic, the Baltic Sea, the North Sea bass refers to many fish species of various families including Black sea bass ( Centropristis striata, in the family Serranidae) Muddy seabeds in deeper waters are home to populations of the Dublin Bay prawn, also known as "scampi". The Norway lobster, Nephrops norvegicus, (also called Dublin Bay prawn, langoustine or scampo) is a slim orange-pink Lobster

The open sea is a complex habitat in its own right. It exists in three spatial dimensions and also varies over time and tide. For example, where freshwater flows into the Irish Sea in river estuaries its influence can extend far offshore as the freshwater is lighter and "floats" on top of the much larger body of saltwater until wind and temperature changes mix it in. Wind is the flow of Air or other Gases that compose an Atmosphere (including but not limited to the Earth's) Temperature is a physical property of a system that underlies the common notions of hot and cold something that is hotter generally has the greater temperature Similarly, warmer water is less dense and seawater warmed in the inter-tidal zone may "float" on the colder offshore water. The amount of light penetrating the seawater also varies with depth and turbidity. This leads to differing populations of plankton in different parts of the sea and varying communities of animals that feed on these populations. Plankton consist of any drifting Organisms ( Animals Plants Archaea, or Bacteria) that inhabit the Pelagic zone of However, increasing seasonal storminess leads to greater mixing of water and tends to break down these divisions, which are more apparent when the weather is calm for long periods. A storm is any disturbed state of an astronomical body's atmosphere, especially affecting its surface and strongly implying Severe weather.

Plankton includes viruses, bacteria, plants (phytoplankton) and animals (zooplankton) that drift in the sea. A virus (from the Latin virus meaning Toxin or Poison) is a sub-microscopic infectious agent that is unable The Bacteria ( singular: bacterium) are a large group of unicellular Microorganisms Typically a few Micrometres in length bacteria have Plants are living Organisms belonging to the kingdom Plantae. Phytoplankton are the Autotrophic component of the Plankton community Zooplankton are the Heterotrophic (sometimes detritivorous) type of Plankton. Most are microscopic, but some, such as the various species of jellyfish and sea gooseberry, can be much bigger. Jellyfish are free-swimming members of the phylum Cnidaria. They have several different basic morphologies that represent several different cnidarian classes including the The phylum Ctenophora (tɨˈnɒfərə commonly known as comb jellies, is a phylum that includes the Sea gooseberry ( Pleurobrachia pileus) and

Diatoms and dinoflagellates dominate the phytoplankton. Diatoms ( Greek: (dia = "through" + (temnein = "to cut" i The dinoflagellates are a large group of Flagellate Protists Most are marine Plankton, but Although they are microscopic plants, diatoms have hard shells and dinoflagellates have little tails that propel them through the water. The tail is the section at the rear end of an Animal 's Body; in general the term refers to a distinct flexible Appendage to the Torso. Phytoplankton populations in the Irish Sea have a spring "bloom" every April and May, when the seawater is generally at its greenest.

Crustaceans, especially copepods, dominate the zooplankton. Structure of crustaceans As Arthropods crustaceans have a stiff Exoskeleton, which must be shed to allow the animal to grow ( Ecdysis or molting Copepods are a group of small Crustaceans found in the sea and nearly every freshwater habitat and they constitute the biggest source of protein in the oceans However, many animals of the seabed, the open sea and the seashore spend their juvenile stages as part of the zooplankton. The whole plankton "soup" is vitally important, directly or indirectly, as a food source for most species in the Irish Sea, even the largest. The enormous basking shark, for example, lives entirely on plankton and the leatherback turtle's main food is jellyfish. The basking shark, Cetorhinus maximus, is the second largest Fish, after the Whale shark. The leatherback turtle ( Dermochelys coriacea) is the largest of all living turtles

A colossal diversity of invertebrate species live in the Irish Sea and its surrounding coastline, ranging from flower-like fan-worms to predatory swimming crabs to large chameleon-like cuttlefish. An invertebrate is an Animal lacking a Vertebral column. The group includes 98% of all animal Species — all animals except those in the Chordate In Biology, a species is one of the basic units of Biological classification and a Taxonomic rank. A flower, also known as a bloom or Blossom, is the reproductive structure found in Flowering plants (plants of the division Magnoliophyta, also Portunidae is the family containing the swimming crabs. It includes many well-known shoreline crabs such as the European shore crab, Blue crab Chameleons (family Chamaeleonidae) are squamates that belong to one of the best-known Lizard families Cuttlefish are marine animals of the order Sepiida belonging to the Cephalopoda class (which also includes Squid, Octopuses Some of the most significant for other wildlife are the reef-building species like the inshore horse mussel of Strangford Lough and the inter-tidal honeycomb worm of Morecambe Bay, Cumbria and Lancashire. Boundaries and divisions Cumbria is neighboured by Northumberland, County Durham, North Yorkshire, Lancashire, and the Lieutenancy Lancashire is a non-metropolitan county of historic origin in the North West of England, bounded to the west by the Irish Sea These build up large structures over many years and, in turn, provide surfaces, nooks and crannies where other marine animals and plants may become established and live out some or all of their lives.

There are quite regular records of live and stranded leatherback turtle in and around the Irish Sea. This species travels north to the waters off the British Isles every year following the swarms of jellyfish that form its prey. The British Isles (Irish variously Na hOileáin Bhriotanacha, Oileáin Iarthair Eorpa, Éire agus an Bhreatain Mhór; Ellanyn Goaldagh Eileanan Loggerhead turtle, Ridley sea turtle and green turtle are found very occasionally in the Irish Sea but are generally unwell or dead when discovered. Ridley Sea Turtles ( Lepidochelys) are a genus of Sea turtles with two species the Kemp's Ridley and the Olive Ridley. "Chelonia" redirects here It is also the name of the Superorder uniting turtles tortoises and terrapins ( Testudines) with the "proto-turtle" They have strayed or been swept out of their natural range further south into colder waters.

The estuaries of the Irish Sea are of international importance for birds. Birds ( class Aves) are bipedal endothermic ( Warm-blooded) Vertebrate animals that lay eggs. They are vital feeding grounds on migration flyways for shorebirds travelling between the Arctic and Africa. Waders, called shorebirds in North America (where "wader" is used to refer to long-legged wading Birds such as Storks and The Arctic is the Region around the Earth 's North Pole, opposite the Antarctic region around the South Pole. Others depend on the milder climate as a refuge when continental Europe is in the grip of winter. Winter is one of the four Seasons of Temperate zones Calculated astronomically, it begins on the Solstice and ends on the Equinox

Twenty-one species of seabird are reported as regularly nesting on beaches or cliffs around the Irish Sea. Seabirds are Birds that have adapted to life within the marine environment Huge populations of the sea duck, common scoter, spend winters feeding in shallow waters off eastern Ireland, Lancashire and North Wales. The Common Scoter ( Melanitta nigra) is a large sea duck, 43-54 cm in length which breeds over the far north of Europe and Asia east to North Wales (Gogledd Cymru is the northernmost unofficial region of Wales, bordered to the south by Mid Wales and to the east by England.

Whales, dolphins and porpoises all frequent the Irish Sea, but knowledge of how many there may be and where they go is somewhat sketchy. Whales are marine mammals which are neither Dolphins (ie members of the families Delphinidae or Platanistoidae) nor Porpoises Orcas Dolphins are Marine mammals that are closely related to Whales and Porpoises There are almost forty species of dolphin in seventeen genera. Porpoises are Small Cetaceans of the Family Phocoenidae; they are related to Whales and Dolphins They are distinct from dolphins About a dozen species have been recorded since 1980, but only three are seen fairly often. These are the harbour porpoise, bottlenose dolphin and common dolphin. The Harbor Porpoise ( Phocoena phocoena) is one of six Species of Porpoise. The Bottlenose Dolphin is one of the most common and well-known Dolphins. The Common Dolphin is the name given to up to three species of Dolphin making up the Genus Delphinus. The more rarely seen species are minke whale, fin whale, sei whale, sperm whale, northern bottlenose whale, long-finned pilot whale, orca, white-beaked dolphin, striped dolphin and Risso's dolphin. Minke Whale ( or Lesser Rorqual is a name given to two species of Marine mammal belonging to a Clade within the suborder of Baleen whales The The Sei Whale ( or) Balaenoptera borealis is a Baleen whale, the third largest Rorqual after the Blue Whale and the Fin Whale. The Sperm Whale ( Physeter macrocephalus or Physeter catodon) is the largest of all Toothed whales and largest living toothed animal A bottlenose whale is one of two Species of Whale in the Ziphiid family. The Long-finned pilot whale ( Globicephala melas) is one of the two Species of Cetacean in the Genus Globicephala. The Orca or Killer Whale ( Orcinus orca) less commonly Blackfish or Seawolf, is the largest species of the Oceanic dolphin family The White-beaked Dolphin ( Lagenorhynchus albirostris) is a Marine mammal belonging to the family Delphinidae (dolphins in the suborder of the Odontoceti The Striped Dolphin ( Stenella coeruleoalba) is an extensively studied Dolphin that is found in temperate and tropical waters of all the world's oceans The Risso's Dolphin ( Grampus griseus) is the only Species of Dolphin in the Genus Grampus.

The common or harbour seal and the grey seal are both resident in the Irish Sea. Common seals breed in Strangford Lough, grey seals in southwest Wales and, in small numbers, on the Isle of Man. Grey seals haul out, but do not breed, off Hilbre and Walney islands, Merseyside, the Wirral, Barrow-in-Furness Borough, and Cumbria. Hilbre Island (ˈhɪlbriː HILL-bree) is the largest of a group of three Islands at the mouth of the Estuary of the River Dee, which is a Walney Island, also known as the Isle of Walney, is the eighth largest marine Island in England. Merseyside is a Metropolitan county in North West England, with a population of 1365900

Radioactive pollution

The Irish Sea has been described by Greenpeace as the most radioactively contaminated sea in the world with some "eight million litres of nuclear waste" discharged into it each day from Sellafield reprocessing plants, contaminating seawater, sediments and marine life. Greenpeace, originally known as the Greenpeace Foundation, was founded in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada in 1972 Radioactive contamination is the uncontrolled distribution of radioactive material in a given environment The litre or liter (see spelling differences) is a unit of Volume. Radioactive wastes are Waste types containing radioactive Chemical elements that do not have a practical purpose Sellafield is a nuclear processing and former electricity generating site close to the village of Seascale on the coast of the Irish Sea in Cumbria ^[7]

Low-level radioactive waste has been discharged into the Irish Sea as part of operations at Sellafield since 1952. Radioactive decay is the process in which an unstable Atomic nucleus loses energy by emitting ionizing particles and Radiation. The rate of discharge began to accelerate in the mid- to late 1960s, reaching a peak in the 1970s and generally declining significantly since then. As an example of this profile, discharges of plutonium (specifically ²⁴¹Pu) peaked in 1973 at 2,755TBq^[8] falling to 8. The becquerel (symbol Bq) is the SI derived unit of radioactivity. 1TBq by 2004. ^[9] Improvements in the treatment of waste in 1985 and 1994 resulted in further reductions in radioactive waste discharge although the subsequent processing of a backlog resulted in increased discharges of certain types of radioactive waste. Discharges of technetium in particular rose from 6. Technetium (tɛkˈniːʃɪəm is the lightest Chemical element with no Stable isotope. 1TBq in 1993 to a peak of 192TBq in 1995 before dropping back to 14TBq in 2004. ^{[8] [9]} In total 22PBq of ²⁴¹Pu was discharged over the period 1952 to 1998. ^[10] Current rates of discharge for many radionuclides are at least 100 times lower than they were in the 1970s. A radionuclide is an Atom with an unstable nucleus, which is a nucleus characterized by excess energy which is available to be imparted either to a newly-created ^[11]

Analysis^[12][13] of the distribution of radioactive contamination after discharge reveals that mean sea currents result in much of the more soluble elements such as caesium being flushed out of the Irish Sea through the North Channel about a year after discharge. Caesium or cesium (ˈsiːziəm is the Chemical element with the symbol Cs and Atomic number 55 Measurements of technetium concentrations post-1994 has produced estimated transit times to the North Channel of around six months with peak concentrations off the northeast Irish coast occurring 18-24 months after peak discharge. Less soluble elements such as plutonium are subject to much slower redistribution. Whilst concentrations have declined in line with the reduction in discharges they are markedly higher in the eastern Irish Sea compared to the western areas. The dispersal of these elements is closely associated with sediment activity, with muddy deposits on the seabed acting as sinks, soaking up an estimated 200kg of plutonium. In computer gaming, a MUD ( Multi-User Dungeon, Domain or Dimension) is a multi-player computer game that combines elements of ^[14] The highest concentration is found in the eastern Irish Sea in sediment banks lying parallel to the Cumbrian coast. This area acts as a significant source of wider contamination as radionuclides are dissolved once again. Studies have revealed that 80% of current sea water contamination by caesium is sourced from sediment banks, whilst plutonium levels in the western sediment banks between the Isle of Man and the Irish coast are being maintained by contamination redistributed from the eastern sediment banks.

The consumption of seafood harvested from the Irish Sea is the main pathway for exposure of humans to radioactivity. Seafood is any Sea Animal or Seaweed that is served as Food, or is suitable for eating particularly saltwater animals such Human beings, humans or man (Origin 1590–1600 L homō man OL hemō the earthly one (see Humus ^[15] The environmental monitoring report for the period 2003 to 2005 published by the Radiological Protection Institute of Ireland (RPII) reported that in 2005 average quantities of radioactive contamination found in seafood ranged from less than 1Bq/kg for fish to under 44Bq/kg for mussels. The Radiological Protection Institute of Ireland ( RPII) is the national institute in the Republic of Ireland responsible for Ionising radiation and ^[16] Doses of man-made radioactivity received by the heaviest consumers of seafood in Ireland in 2005 was 1. 10µSv. The sievert (symbol Sv is the SI derived unit of dose equivalent. ^[17] This compares with a corresponding dosage of radioactivity naturally occurring in the seafood consumed by this group of 148µSv and a total average dosage in Ireland from all sources of 3620µSv. Ireland (pronounced /ˈaɾlənd/ Éire) is the third largest island in Europe, and the twentieth-largest island in the world ^[18] In terms of risk to this group, heavy consumption of seafood generates a 1 in 18 million chance of causing cancer. Cancer (medical term Malignant Neoplasm) is a class of Diseases in which a group of cells display uncontrolled The general risk of contracting cancer in Ireland is 1 in 522. In the UK, the heaviest seafood consumers in Cumbria received a radioactive dosage attributable to Sellafield discharges of 0. 22mSv (220µSv) in 2005. ^[19] This compares to average annual dose of naturally sourced radiation received in the UK of 2. 23mSv (2230µSv). ^[20]

Oil and gas exploration

East Irish Sea Basin

With 7. 5 trillion cubic feet (210 km³) of natural gas and 176 million barrels (28,000,000 m³) of petroleum estimated by the field operators as initially recoverable hydrocarbon reserves from eight producing fields (DTI, 2001), the East Irish Sea Basin is at a mature exploration phase. The cubic foot is an imperial and US customary (non- metric) unit of Volume, used in the United States Canada and the United Kingdom CM3 redirects here If you were looking for the 3rd game in the Cooking Mama series abbreviated as CM3 see here. Natural gas is a Gaseous Fossil fuel consisting primarily of Methane but including significant quantities of Ethane, Propane, CM3 redirects here If you were looking for the 3rd game in the Cooking Mama series abbreviated as CM3 see here. Petroleum ( L petroleum, from Greek πετρέλαιον, lit In Organic chemistry, a hydrocarbon is an Organic compound consisting entirely of Hydrogen and Carbon. Early Namurian basinal mudstones are the source rocks for these hydrocarbons. Mudstone (also called mudrock) is a fine grained Sedimentary rock whose original constituents were Clays or Muds Grain size is up Production from all fields is from fault-bounded traps of the Lower Triassic formation, principally the aeolian Sherwood Sandstone reservoir, top-sealed by younger Triassic continental mudstones and evaporites. The Triassic is a geologic period and system that extends from about 251 to 199 Ma (million years ago Evaporites (iˈvæpəraɪt are water-soluble Mineral sediments that result from the Evaporation of bodies of surficial Water. Future mineral exploration will initially concentrate on extending this play, but there remains largely untested potential also for gas and oil within widespread Carboniferous fluvial sandstone reservoirs. Mineral exploration is the process undertaken by companies partnerships or corporations in the endeavour of finding Ore (commercially viable concentrations of minerals to The Carboniferous is a geologic period and system that extends from the end of the Devonian period about 359 Fluvial is used in Geography and Earth science to refer to the deposits and landforms created by the action of rivers or streams and the processes associated with Sandstone is a Sedimentary rock composed mainly of Sand -size Mineral or rock grains. This play requires intraformational mudstone seal units to be present, as there is no top-seal for reservoirs subcropping the regional base Permian unconformity in the east of the basin, and Carboniferous strata crop out at the sea bed in the west. The Permian is a geologic period and system that extends from 299 An unconformity is a buried Erosion surface separating two rock masses or strata of different ages indicating that Sediment deposition was not In Geology and related fields a stratum (plural strata) is a layer of rock or Soil with internally consistent characteristics that distinguishes

Caernarfon Bay Basin

The Caernarfon Bay basin contains up to 7 km³ of Permian and Triassic syn-rift sediments in an asymmetrical graben that is bounded to the north and south by Lower Paleozoic massifs. Caernarfon Bay (occasionally Caernarvon Bay) is an Inlet of the Irish Sea defined by the Llŷn peninsula and Anglesey. A graben is a depressed block of land bordered by parallel faults Graben is German for ditch. This is about the direction for other uses see North (disambiguation. South is one of Cardinal directions and is opposite to the North. The Paleozoic or Palaeozoic Era (from the Greek palaio (παλαιο "old" and zoe (ζωη "life" meaning "ancient life" In Geology, a massif is a section of a planet's crust that is demarcated by faults or Flexures In the movement of the crust, a massif Only two exploration wells have been drilled so far, and there remain numerous undrilled targets in tilted fault block plays. As in the East Irish Sea Basin, the principal target reservoir is the Lower Triassic, Sherwood Sandstone, top-sealed by younger Triassic mudstones and evaporites. Wells in the Irish Sector to the west have demonstrated that pre-rift, Westphalian coal measures are excellent hydrocarbon source rocks, and are at peak maturity for gas generation (Maddox et al. The Coal Measures is a lithostratigraphical term used mainly in the British Isles for the coal-bearing part of the Upper Carboniferous System , 1995). Seismic profiles clearly image these strata continuing beneath a basal Permian unconformity into at least the western part of the Caernarfon Bay Basin. A seismogram is a graph output by a Seismograph. It is a record of the ground motion at a measuring station The timing of gas generation presents the greatest exploration risk. Maximum burial of, and primary gas migration from, the source rocks could have terminated as early as the Jurassic, whereas many of the tilted fault blocks were reactivated or created during Paleogene inversion of the basin. The Jurassic is a geologic period and system that extends from about Ma (million years ago to  Ma that is from the end of the Triassic to the beginning The Paleogene (alternatively Palaeogene) is a geologic period and system that began 65 However, it is also possible that a secondary gas charge occurred during regional heating associated with intrusion of Paleogene dykes, such as those that crop out nearby on the coastline of north Wales. A dike or dyke in Geology is a type of Sheet intrusion referring to any geologic body that cuts Discordantly ' across planar (Floodpage et al. , 1999) have invoked this second phase of Paleogene hydrocarbon generation as an important factor in the charging of the East Irish Sea Basin’s oil and gas fields. It is not clear as yet whether aeromagnetic anomalies in the southeast of Caernarfon Bay are imaging a continuation of the dyke swarm into this area too, or whether they are instead associated with deeply buried Permian syn-rift volcanics. Plate tectonics and hotspots Divergent plate boundaries At the Alternatively, the fault block traps could have been recharged by exsolution of methane from formation brines as a direct result of the Tertiary uplift (cf. A solid solution is a Solid - state Solution of one or more solutes in a Solvent. Methane is a Chemical compound with the molecular formula. It is the simplest Alkane, and the principal component of Natural gas. Brine (lat saltus) is Water saturated or nearly saturated with Salt (NaCl The chuprichondira geological time interval covers roughly the time span between the demise of the non- avian Dinosaurs and beginning of the most recent Ice Age, approximately Doré and Jensen, 1996).

The Cardigan Bay Basin

The Cardigan Bay Basin forms a continuation into British waters of Ireland’s North Celtic Sea Basin, which has two producing gas fields. Cardigan Bay (Bae Ceredigion is a large inlet of the Irish Sea, indenting the west coast of Wales between the Llŷn and Pembrokeshire peninsulas The basin comprises a south-easterly deepening half-graben near the Welsh coastline, although its internal structure becomes increasingly complex towards the southwest. Permian to Triassic, syn-rift sediments within the basin are less than 3 km thick and are overlain by up to 4 km of Jurassic strata, and locally also by up to 2 km of Paleogene fluvio-deltaic sediments. The kilometre ( American spelling: kilometer) symbol km is a unit of Length in the Metric system, equal to one thousand The basin has a proven petroleum system, with potentially producible gas reserves at the Dragon discovery near the UK/ROI median line, and oil shows in a further three wells. The Cardigan Bay Basin contains multiple reservoir targets, which include the Lower Triassic (Sherwood Sandstone), Middle Jurassic shallow marine sandstones and limestone (Great Oolite), and Upper Jurassic fluvial sandstone, the reservoir for the Dragon discovery. The Middle Jurassic, called the Dogger in the European system of classification is the second epoch of the Jurassic Period. Oolite ( egg stone) is a Sedimentary rock formed from Ooids spherical grains composed of concentric layers The most likely hydrocarbon source rocks are Early Jurassic marine mudstones. For general context see Jurassic. The Early Jurassic (in geology referred to as the Lower Jurassic, originally (and still in Europe the These are fully mature for oil generation in the west of the British sector, and are mature for gas generation nearby in the Irish sector. Gas-prone, Westphalian pre-rift coal measures may also be present at depth locally. The Cardigan Bay Basin was subjected to two Tertiary phases of compressive uplift, whereas maximum burial that terminated primary hydrocarbon generation was probably around the end of the Cretaceous, or earlier if Cretaceous strata, now missing, were never deposited in the basin. The Cretaceous (kriːˈteɪʃəs, usually abbreviated 'K' for its German translation "Kreide" is a geologic period and system, reaching from the end of Despite the Tertiary structuration, the Dragon discovery has proved that potentially commercial volumes of hydrocarbons were retained at least locally in Cardigan Bay. In addition to undrilled structural traps, the basin contains untested potential for stratigraphic entrapment of hydrocarbons near synsedimentary faults, especially in the Middle Jurassic section. ^[21][22]

The Liverpool Bay Development

The Liverpool Bay Development is BHP Billiton Petroleum's largest operated asset. It comprises the integrated development of five offshore oil and gas fields in the Irish Sea:

• Douglas oil field
• Hamilton gas field
• Hamilton North gas field
• Hamilton East gas field
• Lennox oil and gas fiel

Oil is produced from the Lennox and Douglas fields. It is then treated at the Douglas Complex and piped 17 kilometres to an oil storage barge ready for export by tankers. Gas is produced from the Hamilton, Hamilton North and Hamilton East reservoirs. After initial processing at the Douglas Complex the gas is piped by subsea pipeline to the Point of Ayr gas terminal for further processing. The Douglas Complex is a 54 Metre high system of three linked platforms in the Irish Sea, 24 km off the North Wales coast There are also two similarly named points in the British Isles: Point of Ayre Isle of Man and Point of Ayre Scotland. The gas is then sent by onshore pipeline to PowerGen's combined cycle gas turbine power station at Connah's Quay. EON UK is an energy company in the United Kingdom and a subsidiary of E A combined cycle is characteristic of a power producing engine or plant that employs more than one Thermodynamic cycle. A power station (also referred to as generating station, power plant or powerhouse) is an industrial facility for the generation of Connah's Quay (Cei Connah is the largest Town in Flintshire, North Wales, lying on the River Dee, near the border with England PowerGen is the sole purchaser of gas from the Liverpool Bay development.

The Liverpool Bay development comprises four offshore platforms. Offshore storage and loading facilities. The onshore gas processing terminal at Point of Ayr.

Production first started at each filed as follows: Hamilton North in 1995, Hamilton in 1996, Douglas in 1996, Lennox (oil only) in 1996 and Hamilton East 2001. The first contract gas sales were in 1996.

Proposed tunnel projects

Main article: Irish Sea Tunnel

Discussions of linking Britain to Ireland began in 1895,^[23] with an application £15,000 towards the cost of carrying out borings and soundings in the North Channel to see if a tunnel between Ireland and Scotland was viable. An Irish Sea Tunnel would link Ireland to Great Britain across the Irish Sea. The North Channel (known in Irish and Scottish Gaelic as Sruth na Maoile, and alternatively in English as the Straits of Moyle Sixty years later Harford Montgomery Hyde, Unionist MP for North Belfast, called for the building of such a tunnel. Harford Montgomery Hyde ( August 14, 1907 &ndash August 10, 1989) born in Belfast, was a Barrister, politician (Ulster Unionism in Ireland, is a belief in the desirability of a full constitutional and institutional relationship between Ireland and Great Britain based on the terms and ^[24] A tunnel project has been discussed several times in the Irish Parliament. ga '''Dáil Éireann''' ( English House of Representatives of Ireland) is the principal chamber of the Oireachtas (Irish parliament ^{[25][26][27][28]}

Several potential Irish Sea tunnel projects have been proposed, most recently the "Tusker Tunnel" between the ports of Rosslare and Fishguard proposed by The Institute of Engineers of Ireland in 2004. ^[29][30] A different proposed route between Dublin and Holyhead, was proposed in 1997 by a British engineering firm, Symonds, for a rail tunnel from Dublin to Holyhead. Either tunnel, at 80 kilometres (49. The kilometre ( American spelling: kilometer) symbol km is a unit of Length in the Metric system, equal to one thousand 71 miles), would be by far the longest in the world, and would cost an estimated €20 billion. A mile is a unit of Length, usually used to measure Distance, in a number of different systems including Imperial units United States

Wind power

One of the world's largest wind farms is being developed on Arklow Bank^[31], Arklow Bank Wind Park, about 10 km off the coast of County Wicklow in the south Irish Sea. Arklow ( is a historic town located in County Wicklow on the east coast of Ireland. Ireland's first offshore wind project the Arklow Bank Wind Park in the Irish Sea, is now in operation County Wicklow (Contae Chill Mhantáin is a county on the east coast of Ireland, immediately south of Dublin. The site currently has seven GE 3. 6 MW turbines, each with 104 m rotor diameters, the world's first commercial application of offshore wind turbines over three megawatts in size. A turbine is a rotary Engine that extracts Energy from a Fluid flow ROTOR was a huge and elaborate air defence Radar system built by the British Government in the early 1950s to counter possible attack by Soviet Bombers The watt (symbol W) is the SI derived unit of power, equal to one Joule of energy per Second. The operating company, Airtricity, has indefinite plans for nearly 100 further turbines on the site. Airtricity is an international Wind farm developer and operator and an integrated renewable electricity utility in the Republic of Ireland and the United Kingdom

Further wind turbine sites include:

• The North Hoyle site 4-5 miles off the coast from Rhyl and Prestatyn in North Wales, containing thirty 2 MW turbines. Wales ' first offshore Wind farm, and the UK's first major offshore renewable power project the North Hoyle Offshore Wind Farm in Liverpool Bay, commenced Rhyl ((ə r̥ɨl Welsh Y Rhyl) is a seaside town on the Irish Sea, in the county of Denbighshire (within the preserved Prestatyn (prɛs-tə-tin is a Seaside resort in Denbighshire, North Wales. North Wales (Gogledd Cymru is the northernmost unofficial region of Wales, bordered to the south by Mid Wales and to the east by England. ^[32], NPower Renewables
• Burbo Bank site 10km off the north Wirral coast
• A site in the Solway Firth is being developed
• Turbines are being erected off the coast of Walney Island
• Turbines are being erected off the coast of Clogherhead (to be called the Oriel Wind Farm)^[33]

References

ga '''Dáil Éireann''' ( English House of Representatives of Ireland) is the principal chamber of the Oireachtas (Irish parliament ga '''Dáil Éireann''' ( English House of Representatives of Ireland) is the principal chamber of the Oireachtas (Irish parliament Airtricity is an international Wind farm developer and operator and an integrated renewable electricity utility in the Republic of Ireland and the United Kingdom

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