The Bay of Aarhus, or Aarhus Bay, is a Danish

waterway A waterway is any navigable body of water. Broad distinctions are useful to avoid ambiguity, and disambiguation will be of varying importance depending on the nuance of the equivalent word in other languages. A first distinction is necessary ...

Aarhus Aarhus (, , ; officially spelled Århus from 1948 until 1 January 2011) is the second-largest city in Denmark and the seat of Aarhus Municipality. It is located on the eastern shore of Jutland in the Kattegat sea and approximately northwe ...

in eastern

Jutland Jutland ( da, Jylland ; german: Jütland ; ang, Ēota land ), known anciently as the Cimbric or Cimbrian Peninsula ( la, Cimbricus Chersonesus; da, den Kimbriske Halvø, links=no or ; german: Kimbrische Halbinsel, links=no), is a peninsula of ...

. The Bay of Aarhus is bounded by Kalø Vig in the north, Sletterhage and

Helgenæs Helgenæs is a peninsula, approximately twenty square kilometres in size, stretching out from Mols in Denmark. Mols is itself part of the large peninsula of Djursland, in the middle of the Kattegat sea between Denmark and Sweden. West of ...

in the east, Samsø and

Tunø Tunø is a Danish island in the Kattegat, approximately 4 km west of the neighbouring island of Samsø. The island covers an area of , has a circumference of and has total of 66 inhabitants as of November 2022. It comes under the administrat ...

to the south and the east Jutland coast to the west. The bay stretches over an area of and consists of a flat bassin, increasing in depth from 14 m in the west to 18 m in the east. The bay mainly exchanges water with the Kattegat through a deep trench along Helgenæs with depths to 50 m. In the bay's southern section there are a number of stony

reef A reef is a ridge or shoal of rock, coral or similar relatively stable material, lying beneath the surface of a natural body of water. Many reefs result from natural, abiotic processes—deposition of sand, wave erosion planing down rock ...

s including Norsminde Flak, Wulffs Flak, Mejlflak and Tunø Knob. These reefs and the islands of Tunø and Samsø, prevents an open connection with the Belt Sea.

Environmental issues

In 2002, the inner Danish waters suffered serious and prolonged hypoxia with the Bay of Aarhus being hit especially hard. Studies by the

National Environmental Research Institute of Denmark The National Environmental Research Institute of Denmark, abbreviated NERI, ( da, Danmarks Miljøundersøgelser, abbreviated DMU) was an independent research institute under the Ministry of the Environment. It was created in 1989 by merging the e ...

(DMU) in November 2002 and March 2003 showed large areas with noticeable damage to

marine life Marine life, sea life, or ocean life is the plants, animals and other organisms that live in the salt water of seas or oceans, or the brackish water of coastal estuaries. At a fundamental level, marine life affects the nature of the planet. ...

, especially around the areas of

Kalø Vig Kalø Vig (English: ''Kalø Cove'') is a cove in the north end of the Bay of Aarhus, Denmark. It stretches in a semicircle from Skæring in the North West to Kalø Castle below Rønde in the North to the peninsula Skødshoved in the East. The are ...

and the western sections of the bay. In 2013, planning for an offshore

windmill A windmill is a structure that converts wind power into rotational energy using vanes called sails or blades, specifically to mill grain (gristmills), but the term is also extended to windpumps, wind turbines, and other applications, in some ...

park in the bay on the shallow reef of Mejlflak between Tunø, Samsø and Helgenæs was initiated, scheduled to be completed in 2017. In September 2015, the project was put on hold indefinitely as it was not found profitable for energy company NRGi.

Gallery

File:Egens Vig, lavvande, sandorm.JPG, The Bay of Aarhus has several shallow coves (Egens Vig at

Kalø Castle Kalø Castle ( da, Kalø Slot) is a ruined castle located in eastern Jutland, in Denmark, 20 km from the city of Aarhus within Mols Bjerge National Park. History The castle was constructed in 1313 by the Danish king Erik Menved (Erik VI). ...

). File:Egens Vig, tiliset.JPG, The Bay of Aarhus rarely freezes up in winter, but some of the shallow coves do occasionally (Egens Vig). File:Bundgarn2.jpg, Sustainable fishing. Commercial fishing in the bay has almost vanished, due in part to ecological collapse. File:Århus bugten.JPG, Around the city of Aarhus, the coast has been secured from erosion. File:Maersk-containerskib.jpg, The port of Aarhus has heavy traffic. File:Dk og isbjerget.png, The bay is very popular for watersports. File:Aarhus Lystbådehavn 2.JPG, The bay has several

marina A marina (from Spanish , Portuguese and Italian : ''marina'', "coast" or "shore") is a dock or basin with moorings and supplies for yachts and small boats. A marina differs from a port in that a marina does not handle large passenger ships or ...

s, with two in the

port of Aarhus The Port of Aarhus (Danish: Aarhus Havn) is a deep-sea port located in the city of Aarhus. It is the largest container port in Denmark, handling more than 50% of country's container traffic. The Port of Aarhus shipped roughly 8.4 million metric t ...

alone (''Aarhus Lystbådehavn''). File:RisskovStrand.jpg, Sandy beaches form most of the coastline of the bay.

References

External links

Bays of Denmark Geography of Aarhus Kattegat {{Denmark-geo-stub

Environmental issues

Gallery

See also

References

External links