How are the northern slopes of the Carpathian Mountains connected to the Baltic Sea?

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Carpathian Mountains; cross section of the Western Carpathians — Carpathian Mountains Regional division of the Carpathian Mountains (top) and a geologic cross section of the Western Carpathians (bottom). The location of the cross section is shown by the line N–S on the map.

The northern slopes of the Carpathian Mountains are connected to the Baltic Sea through the drainage basins of the Vistula and (in part) the Oder rivers. While the vast majority of water runoff from the Carpathians flows into the Black Sea, these specific northern river systems—located primarily in Poland and partly in Slovakia—provide the hydrological link to the Baltic.1