, image = Looking Northeasterly across Chatham Sound.png , alt = Looking Northeasterly across Chatham Sound , caption = Looking Northeasterly across Chatham Sound , image_bathymetry = , alt_bathymetry = , caption_bathymetry = , location =

British Columbia British Columbia (commonly abbreviated as BC) is the westernmost province of Canada, situated between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains. It has a diverse geography, with rugged landscapes that include rocky coastlines, sandy beaches, ...

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

, between Dundas Islands, Stephens Islands and Tsimpsean Peninsula , group = , coordinates = , type = , etymology = , part_of = , inflow =

Nass River The Nass River is a river in northern British Columbia, Canada. It flows from the Coast Mountains southwest to Nass Bay, a sidewater of Portland Inlet, which connects to the North Pacific Ocean via the Dixon Entrance. Nass Bay joins Portland In ...

Skeena River The Skeena River is the second-longest river entirely within British Columbia, Canada (after the Fraser River). Since ancient times, the Skeena has been an important transportation artery, particularly for the Tsimshian and the Gitxsan—whose n ...

, rivers = , outflow =

Dixon Entrance The Dixon Entrance (french: Entrée Dixon) is a strait about long and wide in the Pacific Ocean at the Canada–United States border, between the U.S. state of Alaska and the province of British Columbia in Canada. The Dixon Entrance is part of t ...

Hecate Strait , image = HecateStrait(PittIsland).JPG , image_size = 260px , alt = , caption = Hecate Strait and Pitt Island , image_bathymetry = Loc-QCS-Hecate-Dixon.png , alt_bathymetry = , caption ...

, oceans = , catchment = , basin_countries = , agency = , designation = , date-built = , engineer = , date-flooded = , length = , width = , area = , depth = , max-depth = , volume = , residence_time = , salinity = , shore = , elevation = , temperature_high = , temperature_low = , frozen = , islands = , islands_category = , sections = , trenches = , benches = , cities = , pushpin_map = Canada British Columbia , pushpin_label_position = , pushpin_map_alt = , pushpin_map_caption = , website = , reference = Chatham Sound is a

sound In physics, sound is a vibration that propagates as an acoustic wave, through a transmission medium such as a gas, liquid or solid. In human physiology and psychology, sound is the ''reception'' of such waves and their ''perception'' by the ...

on the

North Coast of British Columbia North is one of the four compass points or cardinal directions. It is the opposite of south and is perpendicular to east and west. ''North'' is a noun, adjective, or adverb indicating direction or geography. Etymology The word ''north'' is ...

, bordering on

Alaska Alaska ( ; russian: Аляска, Alyaska; ale, Alax̂sxax̂; ; ems, Alas'kaaq; Yup'ik: ''Alaskaq''; tli, Anáaski) is a state located in the Western United States on the northwest extremity of North America. A semi-exclave of the U.S., ...

, United States. It is located between the

Dundas Dundas may refer to: Places Australia * Dundas, New South Wales * Dundas, Queensland, a locality in the Somerset Region * Dundas, Tasmania * Dundas, Western Australia * Fort Dundas, a settlement in the Northern Territory 1824–1828 * Shire of ...

and Stephens Islands and the Tsimpsean Peninsula, it is part of the

Inside Passage The Inside Passage (french: Passage Intérieur) is a coastal route for ships and boats along a network of passages which weave through the islands on the Pacific Northwest coast of the North American Fjordland. The route extends from southeaster ...

and extends from

Portland Inlet Portland Inlet is an inlet of the Pacific Ocean on the north coast of British Columbia, Canada, approximately north of Prince Rupert. It joins Chatham Sound opposite the Dixon Entrance. It is long and as much as wide. It drains the Portland Can ...

in the north to

Porcher Island Porcher Island is an island in Hecate Strait, British Columbia, Canada, near the mouth of the Skeena River and southwest of the port city of Prince Rupert. The locality of Porcher Island is located near the island's northern tip at Humpback Bay ...

in the south. The sound can be divided into two parts, by a line drawn between Tugwell and Melville Islands. The northern part, is influenced by the

outflows and village of

Lax Kw'alaams Los Angeles International Airport , commonly referred to as LAX (with each letter pronounced individually), is the primary international airport serving Los Angeles, California and its surrounding metropolitan area. LAX is located in the W ...

, and the southern part influenced by the

outflows and the city of

Prince Rupert Prince Rupert of the Rhine, Duke of Cumberland, (17 December 1619 (O.S.) / 27 December (N.S.) – 29 November 1682 (O.S.)) was an English army officer, admiral, scientist and colonial governor. He first came to prominence as a Royalist cavalr ...

. It may have been named in 1788 by British Captain

Charles Duncan Charles Duncan may refer to: Politics and law * Charles T. Duncan (1838–1915), American lawyer and Virginia state judge * Charles Duncan (politician) Charles Duncan (8 June 1865 – 6 July 1933) was a British Labour Party politician and t ...

after

John Pitt, 2nd Earl of Chatham General John Pitt, 2nd Earl of Chatham, also 2nd Viscount Pitt and 2nd Baron Chatham, (9 October 1756 – 24 September 1835) was a British soldier and politician. He spent a lengthy period in the cabinet but is best known for commanding the dis ...

, who was

First Lord of the Admiralty The First Lord of the Admiralty, or formally the Office of the First Lord of the Admiralty, was the political head of the English and later British Royal Navy. He was the government's senior adviser on all naval affairs, responsible for the di ...

at that time.

Geography

Chatham Sound is a semi-enclosed basin with an area of about . It is connected to the open waters of the

and

via several channels, such as Main,

Brown Brown is a color. It can be considered a composite color, but it is mainly a darker shade of orange. In the CMYK color model used in printing or painting, brown is usually made by combining the colors orange and black. In the RGB color model used ...

, Hudson Bay, and Edye Passages. Along its southern end, the sound provides access to inland passages such as the Marcus and Arthur Passages, and the

Grenville Channel Grenville Channel is a strait on the North Coast of British Columbia, Canada, between Pitt Island and the mainland to the south of Prince Rupert. It is part of the Inside Passage shipping route, about long and is wide at its narrowest point. ...

beyond that. The two major rivers that drain into the sound are the

(via the

) and

(via the

Inverness Inverness (; from the gd, Inbhir Nis , meaning "Mouth of the River Ness"; sco, Innerness) is a city in the Scottish Highlands. It is the administrative centre for The Highland Council and is regarded as the capital of the Highlands. Histori ...

and Marcus Passages). Because of the large inflow of fresh water the

salinity Salinity () is the saltiness or amount of salt dissolved in a body of water, called saline water (see also soil salinity). It is usually measured in g/L or g/kg (grams of salt per liter/kilogram of water; the latter is dimensionless and equal ...

of the sound is lower than the adjacent ocean.

Hydrography

Most of Chatham Sound is less than deep, except in the northern part of the sound where depth exceeds . Chatham Sound is characterized by lower salinity near-surface waters on its eastern side, transitioning to higher salinity near-surface waters on the western side. Chatham Sound is an area of very large tides, with tidal ranges reaching peak values of and an average tidal range of . Currents are proportionately strong, and highly variable due to a combination of large tidal ranges, seasonally strong winds, and large peak freshwater discharges from the Skeena and Nass Rivers.

Ecology

As a result of tidal mixing, Chatham Sound is an area of particularly high primary productivity and highly concentrated phytoplankton biomass. The sound has the largest diversity of shrimp species in the Pacific North Coast Integrated Management Area, with numbers dominated by humpback shrimp. There are also major aggregations of

Dungeness crab The Dungeness crab (''Metacarcinus magister'') is a species of crab inhabiting eelgrass beds and water bottoms along the west coast of North America. It typically grows to across the carapace and is a popular seafood. Its common name comes from ...

in the area. Once thought to be extinct,

sponge reef Sponge reefs are reefs formed by Hexactinellid sponges, which have a skeleton made of silica, and are often referred to as ''glass sponges''. Such reefs are now very rare, and found only in waters off the coast of British Columbia, Washington ( ...

s are now known to be a significant component of the sound floor. The largest cluster is now designated the Chatham Sound Reef Complex.

References

External links

Sounds of British Columbia North Coast of British Columbia {{BritishColumbiaCoast-geo-stub

Geography

Hydrography

Ecology

See also

References

External links