Bays and bays are hollows formed by tidal erosion on the coastline of an ocean, lake or sea. The bay is poorly defined as a body of water partially surrounded by land. Often they have calmer waters than the surrounding sea, and are a great place to shelter ships from the weather.
Being large and, as a rule, deep, bays play the role of natural harbors, which usually have great economic and strategic importance. Many of the great cities of the world are located in a natural harbor.
Our rating contains the largest bays and famous coastal areas in the world.
List
- 10. Persian, 239 thousand km²
- 9. St. Lawrence, 249 thousand km²
- 8. Aden, 295 thousand km²
- 7. Carpentaria, 328,000 km²
- 6. Hudson, 819 thousand km²
- 5. Alaska, 1 327 thousand km²
- 4. Greater Australian, 1,335 thousand km²
- 3. Guinean, 1,533 thousand km²
- 2. Mexican, 1,543 thousand km²
- 1. Bengali, 2 191 thousand km²
10. km²
Length Persian Gulf It is about 615 miles (990 km) and the width varies: a maximum of about 210 miles (340 km) - a minimum of 35 miles (55 km) in the Strait of Hormuz. It borders in the north, northeast and east with Iran; in the southeast and south from Oman and the United Arab Emirates; in the southwest and west of Qatar, Bahrain and Saudi Arabia; and in northwest Kuwait and Iraq.
The term Persian Gulf (or Arabian Gulf, the name used by the Arabs) is sometimes used to denote not only the Persian Gulf itself, but also its exits, the Strait of Hormuz and the Gulf of Oman, which overlook the Arabian Sea.
9. km²
St. Lawrence Bay located very close to the Bering Strait. The bay is open to the southeast; length 45 km, average width about 8 km. Inside the bay there are two small islands. On the southern shore of the bay, at Cape Khargila, is the village of Port Lawrence.
British captain James Cook landed for several hours in St. Lawrence Bay and met with some local Chukchi in August 1778, but he did not stay in the bay. For the first time, this bay was surveyed by the Russian sailor Count Fedor Petrovich Litke in 1828.
8. km²
Gulf of aden, a deep-sea basin forming a natural maritime connection between the Red Sea and the Arabian Sea. Named after the seaport of Aden in southern Yemen, the bay is located between the coasts of Arabia and the Horn of Africa.
In oceanographic and geological terms, however, it extends to the eastern borders of the continental shelf beyond Huriyya Muriya. Its total length, measured from east to north-east to west to south-west, is 920 miles (1480 km), and the average width measured from north-north-east to south-south-west is 300 miles (480 km )
7. Carpentaria, 328,000 km²
Gulf of Carpentaria, shallow rectangular bay of the Arafura Sea (part of the Pacific Ocean), retreating from the northern coast of Australia. The bay gained international significance in the late 20th and early 21st centuries, thanks to the exploitation of manganese and shrimp resources.
The bay has an area of 120,000 square miles (310,000 square kilometers) and a maximum depth of 230 feet (70 meters). This is a rare modern example of the epicontinental sea (the shallow sea on the top of the continent), a feature characteristic of earlier periods of the geological history of the Earth.
Carpentaria Bay is surrounded in the west by Arnhem Land, and in the east by the Cape York Peninsula. The bottom of the bay is the continental shelf, common to Australia and New Guinea.
6. km²
Hudson Bay - This is a large body of salt water in northeastern Canada. English researchers and colonists named the Hudson Bay in honor of Sir Henry Hudson, who explored the bay from August 2, 1610 on his Discovery ship.
During his fourth voyage to North America, Hudson made his way across the west coast of Greenland into the bay, mapping a large part of its east coast. In the winter, Discovery was trapped in ice, and the crew survived on the shore at the southern tip of James Bay.
5. Alaska, 1 327 thousand km²
Alaska Bay, wide entrance to the northern Pacific Ocean on the southern coast of Alaska, USA, bounded by the Alaskan Peninsula and Kodiak Island (west) and Cape Spencer (east).
From the shores of the bay in Alaska rise the high mountains of Chugach, Kenai, Fairweather and St. Elias. Ports along the bay include Anchorage, Seward.
Oil was discovered at the entrance to Cook and under the Gulf of the Controller. In 1741, the first Europeans to enter the bay was a Russian expedition led by Danish sailor Vitus Bering.
4. km²
Great Australian Cove is home to one of the most stunning marine environments in the world. She claims the largest number of southern whales in the world - but they are not alone. Sea lions sit on the rocks, dolphins sway in and out of the water, and the fish population creates a range of colors that you never dreamed of.
Outside the water, albatrosses take off, ospreys descend and dive for food, while penguins gather at the foot of the Nallarbor cliffs while the ocean swims against the base of the Bay. Stretching over almost 3,800 kilometers, this is one of the last truly untouched wonders of the world.
3. Guinean, 1,533 thousand km²
Gulf of guinea - part of the eastern tropical part of the Atlantic Ocean, its main tributaries include the Volta and Niger rivers. The continental shelf in the Gulf of Guinea narrows almost evenly and expands to as much as 100 miles (160 km).
The diversity of marine flora and fauna of the Gulf of Guinea is limited in comparison with the western tropical Atlantic and, especially, with the biogeographic kingdom of the Indo-Pacific region. This relative biological poverty is a consequence of the lack of ecosystems of coral reefs due to the low salinity and high turbidity of the water of the Guinean current.
2. Mexican, 1,543 thousand km²
Gulf of Mexico is a geographic area and body of water that forms the so-called third coast of the neighboring United States.
The Gulf of Mexico is surrounded on the United States by the coastlines of western and northern Florida, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana and Texas. In Mexico, the bay borders with the states of Tamaulipas, Veracruz, Tabasco, Campeche and Yucatan.
The western end of Cuba is a partial barrier to the eastern Gulf of Mexico, where it connects with the Caribbean Sea. The Gulf of Mexico is approximately oval in shape and has a length of about 950 miles (1,500 km).
For over 500 years, the Gulf of Mexico has played a key role in the economic and political development of the United States, Cuba, and Mexico.
1. km²
Bay of Bengal, the largest bay in the world, is the sea, which is part of the northeastern Indian Ocean. This sea has played a key role in the history of the peoples that surround it, including India, Bangladesh, Myanmar and Indonesia.
A unique feature of the bay is the extreme variability of its physical properties. The temperature in the coastal areas, however, is warm and noticeably uniform throughout the seasons, dropping slightly to the north. Surface density is much higher in spring than in autumn, when river flow is highest.
In addition to changes in water level as a result of waves and tides, average sea levels change throughout the year. Since the amount of precipitation and river runoff exceeds evaporation, a net increase in water is observed annually in the bay. The bay is also prone to occasional tsunamis.