Why doesn't the Gulf of Alaska mix. This is the mixing of the waters of the Gulf of Alaska with the open waters of the Pacific Ocean.

Gulf of Alaska - division Pacific Ocean: coordinates 58°30' north, 148°30' west.

Map gulf of alaska. coastal countries— United States of America, Canada.

The International Hydrographic Organization has established the boundaries for the Gulf of Alaska as follows: a line from Cape Spencer (Alaska), the coastal waters of Alaska and British Columbia, to Cape Kabuch Point and the southeastern border Bering Sea(from the Bering Sea it goes in a narrow strip). All islands east of the 163°W meridian are included in the Gulf of Alaska.

Main islands:

• Kodiak Archipelago (Kojak)
• Montagu Island (at the entrance to Prince William Bay)
• The Alexander Archipelago is a group of islands (about 1100 islands southeast coast Alaska)

The divisions of the Gulf of Alaska are:

1. Cook inlet, also called Nuti - the bay stretches 288 kilometers in length in the western part of the Gulf of Alaska, where the entrance to Anchorage opens ( The largest city Alaska). It separates the Kenai Peninsula from the rest of Alaska and ends in two estuaries in the north; in the west it ends with the volcanic chain of the Chigmit mountains (a sub-chain of the Aleutian chain) with Redut volcano, whose last eruption took place in 1989.
2. Shelikhov Bay, named after the Russian merchant Grigory Shelikhov (1747-1795), who founded the first village on Kodiak Island; it is also called the Kenai Strait, after the Kenai Peninsula. This strait is located on the south west coast Alaska, separates the mainland from the Kodiak Archipelago (Kojak and Afognak Islands).
3. Prince William Bay- bay on south coast Alaska. The Kenai Peninsula separates it from Cook Inlet. The largest port in the bay, Valdez, is the terminal of the Trans-Alaskan pipeline. Other settlements are Cordova and Whittier. The bay also has many small islands. Most of land around Prince William Bay is part of national park Chugach, the second largest national reserve in the United States.
4. Yakutsk bay- 29-kilometer bay in the southwestern part of the bay of the Gulf of Alaska. Bay "Yakutat" (or "Tlingit", "Jakout") often becomes the epicenter of major earthquakes.
5. Cross Bay and Ice Strait — sea ​​passage in the Alexander Archipelago, between Chichagof Island and the mainland.
6. Lituya Bay- a fjord on the coast of Alaska, 14.5 km long and 3.2 km wide at its widest point. The bay was marked on a map in 1786 by the navigator Jean-Francois de La Pérouse, who named it "Porte de France". In this bay, 21 people from his team died.

A crappy day in the Gulf of Alaska

The Gulf of Alaska is prone to heavy rains and snowstorms, and has strong surface currents. In addition, it is famous for the presence of two types of water - natural blue water and heavy dark sedimentary water from glaciers.

Mythbutia "a place where two types of waters meet" in the Gulf of Alaska

The Susitna River flows into the Gulf of Alaska (the 15th largest river in the United States; the river stretches from the Susitna Glacier to Cook Inlet).

The main cities (agglomerations) of the Gulf of Alaska:

• Anchorage
• kenai
• Valdes

Main ports:

• Seward (USA)
• Prince Rupert ( British Columbia, Canada)

Geolocation of the bay on the map: Pacific Ocean

The Gulf of Alaska opens to the east into the Bering Sea (hereinafter referred to as the Chukchi Sea and the Beaufort Sea). The Gulf of Alaska and the Bering Sea to which it adjoins are two important sea ​​areas, ecologically rich (in particular, salmon and unusual fish species, such as moonfish).

Deep sea corals can be found in the Gulf of Alaska. Primnoa pacifica is a deep sea coral that is typically found at depths of 150 to 900 meters.

The Gulf of Alaska is of great economic importance. This is due to the complex phenomenon of mixing icy water from polar oceanic regions with the more saline and denser waters of warm currents.
The Alaska Current is a sea current that belongs to the subarctic system. In the Gulf of Alaska, it spreads west along British Columbia.

In the Gulf of Alaska, the wind often changes its direction and sea storms are a common occurrence in the Gulf of Alaska. This bay is a generator of storms. The largest tsunami occurred in 1958: waves 530 meters high tsunami hit the shore of the Lituya lagoon, destroying everything in its path. In addition to this, massive accumulations of snow and ice have made the Gulf of Alaska the region with the largest concentration of glaciers south of the Arctic Circle.

Main parameters of the Gulf of Alaska:

• Surface area 1,533,000 km²
• The length along the coast of Alaska and Canada is 2477 km
• Bay width 2200 km
• Maximum depth - 5659 meters

The Portuguese Bartomeu Dias became the first European who managed to open the way from the Old World to Asia. This happened in 1488, and the journey included many discoveries. So, on the way to India, Diaz met a cape, which we now call "Cape Good Hope". On the way back, the navigator met another rocky cape, but could not understand that it was the southernmost tip of the African continent. Because of this, for a long time it was believed that the Cape of Good Hope is the southernmost point of the African continent. In fact, this title rightfully belongs to Cape Agulhas, located about 150 kilometers to the south. Moreover, this place is the point where the Atlantic and Indian Oceans merge. So if you are looking for a place on the map where you can buy a house on the sea, this place is quite suitable.

The border of the confluence of the two oceans was not chosen by chance. The reason for this decision is that it is here warm waters indian ocean meet with the cold current of the Atlantic Ocean. It is almost impossible to notice this, since the currents are tritely mixed together and do not have distinctive features.

In general, there is still a lot of various disputes on the topic of the confluence of the oceans. So, some consider Cape Point, located about a kilometer east of the Cape of Good Hope, to be the boundary of two oceans. Marine biologists have refuted this theory based on observations of various flora and fauna. So, the algae Ecklonia loves cold water and grows on the west coast up to Cape Agulhas. This once again confirms the fact that the warm waters of the Indian Ocean begin further, in which the algae no longer feels comfortable, because of which the line of its growth abruptly ends.

But, despite all the evidence, Cape Point still attracts a lot more tourists. This is due to an active advertising campaign and an abundance travel companies working in this region. In particular, people are offered to buy a lot of souvenirs, most of which are decorated with the following slogan - “Cape Point, South Africa: the place where two oceans meet.

Perhaps the reason lies also in the fact that Cape Agulhas is not so beautiful in comparison with Cape Point. And here you can always see whales, for which most tourists prefer Cape Point as end point of your journey.

When the Portuguese explorer Bartolomeu Dias rounded the rocky promontory of the Cape Peninsula in South Africa, he became the first European to discover the route from Europe to Asia. It happened in 1488. He called it the "Cape of Storms" because of the dangerous sea, but later it was renamed the "Cape of Good Hope" because it gave hope for a new sea ​​route to India. On the way back, Diaz discovered another rocky promontory, but never realized that this unimpressive point was the southern tip of Africa. Indeed, many people still believe that the Cape of Good Hope is the most south point African continent. In fact, this title belongs to Cape Agulhas - an inconspicuous rocky cape 150 kilometers to the south. Cape Agulhas is also the site of the official dividing line between the Atlantic and Indian Oceans, as stated by the stone plaque.

The border was not chosen arbitrarily. This is where the warm current of the Indian Ocean meets the cold water. Atlantic Ocean. However, any physical definition of a meeting point or a dividing line between two oceans ignores the fact that the currents do not stop their flow at this point. Ocean currents pass into each other and simply mix.

The meeting point of two oceans has been the subject of many heated arguments among South Africans. For example, the meeting point of currents tends to fluctuate seasonally between Cape Agulhas and Point Point, about 1.2 kilometers east of the Cape of Good Hope. According to marine biologists, the actual venue can be ascertained by observing differences in marine life caused by changes in temperature along the coast. For example, the fertile seaweed (Ecklonia) prefers colder water, and grows all along the west coast as far as Cape Agulhas. This fact supports the argument that the dividing line between warm and cold waters lies in Agulhas rather than anywhere else.

However, to the chagrin of the people of Cape Agulhas, Cape Point attracts more tourists who want to see the confluence of the oceans. Companies at Cape Point cash in on misinformed tourists. Gift shops in the area sell coffee mugs, T-shirts, spoons and bottles. ocean water, emblazoned with the slogan "Cape Point, South Africa: Where Two Oceans Meet".

This is partly because Cape Agulhas is not as scenic as Cape Point. “Standing at Cape Point feels like you're on the edge of the Grand Canyon,” writes John Murphy in the Baltimore Sun. In addition, whales always gather here, for the sake of which many travelers come.

Author - Radiance_Roses_Life. This is a quote from this post.

You haven't seen this yet! The meeting of two oceans!

Natural perfection! How beautiful and incredible!

Such a phenomenon as a visible dividing line between two seas is very rare to see and outline. In the north of Denmark, at Cape Grenen, the inhabitants enjoy the opportunity to contemplate this vision. There the waters of the Baltic and North seas. Waves connect and, at the same time, repel each other, never mixing. "Edge of the World" - the local name for this place - is such an unimaginable picture that it takes your breath away. It seems that mysticism has intervened in nature, or that the seas are in an eternal struggle for their place.

With this amazing fact encountered oceanographer and traveler Jacques Yves Cousteau, exploring open spaces water in Strait of Gibraltar. He discovered the existence of two layers of water that do not mix with each other. They seem to be separated by a film and have clear boundaries between them.
Each of them has its own characteristic temperature, salt composition, animal and vegetable world. Upon discovering this obvious and incredible fact the scientist was extremely surprised.
But the confluence of two seas can look even more distinct if there is a significant difference in salinity between them. The transitional boundary between waters of different salinity is called halocline. For such a boundary to form, the waters of one of the seas must be about five times saltier than the waters of the other sea. If such a boundary is horizontal, when the upper layer of water is fresh, and at a depth it is salty, then we will not notice anything on the surface of the sea.

But it is another matter if the halocline is vertical. Near southwest coast Alaska, there is a border between the waters of the Gulf of Alaska with open waters Pacific Ocean. In this case, the difference in color between waters of different salinity is clearly visible - the waters of the Pacific Ocean and the Gulf of Alaska differ significantly from each other in composition.

The water of the Gulf of Alaska is constantly replenished by the weathering of glaciers, so it is a lighter shade. The surface tension of two water masses, according to the laws of physics, does not allow them to merge together. And also, apparently, here is the boundary of the current.

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