The Gulf of Alaska (

Tlingit The Tlingit ( or ; also spelled Tlinkit) are indigenous peoples of the Pacific Northwest Coast of North America. Their language is the Tlingit language (natively , pronounced ),

Pacific Ocean The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean (or, depending on definition, to Antarctica) in the south, and is bounded by the conti ...

defined by the curve of the southern coast of

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 ...

, stretching from the

Alaska Peninsula The Alaska Peninsula (also called Aleut Peninsula or Aleutian Peninsula, ale, Alasxix̂; Sugpiaq: ''Aluuwiq'', ''Al'uwiq'') is a peninsula extending about to the southwest from the mainland of Alaska and ending in the Aleutian Islands. The ...

and Kodiak Island in the west to the

Alexander Archipelago The Alexander Archipelago (russian: Архипелаг Александра) is a long archipelago (group of islands) in North America lying off the southeastern coast of Alaska. It contains about 1,100 islands, the tops of submerged coastal m ...

in the east, where

Glacier Bay Glacier Bay Basin in southeastern Alaska, in the United States, encompasses the Glacier Bay and surrounding mountains and glaciers, which was first proclaimed a U.S. National Monument on February 25, 1925, and which was later, on December 2, 1980 ...

and 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 southeaste ...

are found. The Gulf shoreline is a combination of forest, mountain and a number of tidewater glaciers. Alaska's largest glaciers, the

Malaspina Glacier __NOTOC__ The Malaspina Glacier ( Lingít: ''Sít' Tlein'') in southeastern Alaska is the largest piedmont glacier in the world. Situated at the head of the Alaska Panhandle, it is about wide and long, with an area of some . Name The Lingít n ...

and Bering Glacier, spill out onto the coastal line along the Gulf of Alaska. The coast is heavily indented with

Cook Inlet Cook Inlet ( tfn, Tikahtnu; Sugpiaq: ''Cungaaciq'') stretches from the Gulf of Alaska to Anchorage in south-central Alaska. Cook Inlet branches into the Knik Arm and Turnagain Arm at its northern end, almost surrounding Anchorage. On its so ...

and Prince William Sound, the two largest connected bodies of water. It includes

Yakutat Bay Yakutat Bay ( Lingít: ''Yaakwdáat G̱eeyí'') is a 29-km-wide (18 mi) bay in the U.S. state of Alaska, extending southwest from Disenchantment Bay to the Gulf of Alaska. "Yakutat" is a Tlingit name reported as "Jacootat" and "Yacootat ...

and Cross Sound.

Lituya Bay Lituya Bay (; Tlingit: ''Ltu.aa'',. Spelled L'tua in translation of Tebenkov's log. meaning 'lake within the point') is a fjord located on the coast of the south-east part of the U.S. state of Alaska. It is long and wide at its widest point ...

(a fjord north of Cross Sound, and south of

Mount Fairweather Mount Fairweather (officially gazetted as Fairweather Mountain in Canada but referred to as Mount Fairweather), is the highest mountain in the Canadian province of British Columbia, with an elevation of . It is located east of the Pacific Oce ...

) is the site of the largest recorded

tsunami A tsunami ( ; from ja, 津波, lit=harbour wave, ) is a series of waves in a water body caused by the displacement of a large volume of water, generally in an ocean or a large lake. Earthquakes, volcanic eruptions and other underwater exp ...

in history. It serves as a sheltered anchorage for fishing boats.

Ecology

The Gulf of Alaska is considered a Class I,

productive Productivity is the efficiency of production of goods or services expressed by some measure. Measurements of productivity are often expressed as a ratio of an aggregate output to a single input or an aggregate input used in a production proces ...

ecosystem with more than 300 grams of carbon per square meter per year based on SeaWiFS data. Deep water

coral Corals are marine invertebrates within the class Anthozoa of the phylum Cnidaria. They typically form compact colonies of many identical individual polyps. Coral species include the important reef builders that inhabit tropical oceans and se ...

s can be found in the Gulf of Alaska. '' Primnoa pacifica'' has contributed to the location being labeled as Habitat Areas of Particular Concern. ''P. pacifica'' is a deep water coral typically found between and here. Thanks to

Gulf Stream The Gulf Stream, together with its northern extension the North Atlantic Drift, is a warm and swift Atlantic ocean current that originates in the Gulf of Mexico and flows through the Straits of Florida and up the eastern coastline of the Unit ...

, while the

Okhotsk Sea The Sea of Okhotsk ( rus, Охо́тское мо́ре, Ohótskoye móre ; ja, オホーツク海, Ohōtsuku-kai) is a marginal sea of the western Pacific Ocean. It is located between Russia's Kamchatka Peninsula on the east, the Kuril Islands ...

was "closed by ice in winter", just 10° further north, the "Gulf of Alaska was ice-free throughout the year". In 1977, the Gulf of Alaska started to manifest an unexpected and at that time inexplicable shift on its normal climate regime, resulting in a growth of the mean temperature of the sea surface and in an increased availability and variety of commercial fish species. A similar volatile

climate change In common usage, climate change describes global warming—the ongoing increase in global average temperature—and its effects on Earth's climate system. Climate change in a broader sense also includes previous long-term changes to ...

was observed during the 1970s in the

North Pacific The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean (or, depending on definition, to Antarctica) in the south, and is bounded by the continen ...

seas.

Meteorology

The Gulf is a great generator of

storm A storm is any disturbed state of the natural environment or the atmosphere of an astronomical body. It may be marked by significant disruptions to normal conditions such as strong wind, tornadoes, hail, thunder and lightning (a thunderstorm), ...

s. In addition to dumping vast quantities of snow and ice on southern Alaska, resulting in some of the largest concentrations south of the

Arctic Circle The Arctic Circle is one of the two polar circles, and the most northerly of the five major circles of latitude as shown on maps of Earth. Its southern equivalent is the Antarctic Circle. The Arctic Circle marks the southernmost latitude at ...

, many of the storms move south along the coasts of

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, for ...

Washington Washington commonly refers to: * Washington (state), United States * Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States ** A metonym for the federal government of the United States ** Washington metropolitan area, the metropolitan area centered o ...

Oregon Oregon () is a U.S. state, state in the Pacific Northwest region of the Western United States. The Columbia River delineates much of Oregon's northern boundary with Washington (state), Washington, while the Snake River delineates much of it ...

, and as far south as

Southern California Southern California (commonly shortened to SoCal) is a geographic and cultural region that generally comprises the southern portion of the U.S. state of California. It includes the Los Angeles metropolitan area, the second most populous urban ...

(primarily during

El Niño El Niño (; ; ) is the warm phase of the El Niño–Southern Oscillation (ENSO) and is associated with a band of warm ocean water that develops in the central and east-central equatorial Pacific (approximately between the International Date ...

events). Much of the seasonal rainfall and snowfall in the

Pacific Northwest The Pacific Northwest (sometimes Cascadia, or simply abbreviated as PNW) is a geographic region in western North America bounded by its coastal waters of the Pacific Ocean to the west and, loosely, by the Rocky Mountains to the east. Thou ...

and

Southwestern United States The Southwestern United States, also known as the American Southwest or simply the Southwest, is a geographic and cultural region of the United States that generally includes Arizona, New Mexico, and adjacent portions of California, Colorado, N ...

comes from the Gulf of Alaska.

Extent

The

International Hydrographic Organization The International Hydrographic Organization (IHO) is an intergovernmental organisation representing hydrography. , the IHO comprised 98 Member States. A principal aim of the IHO is to ensure that the world's seas, oceans and navigable waters ...

defines the limits of the Gulf of Alaska as follows:

''On the north.'' The coast of
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 ...
. ''On the south.'' A line drawn from Cape Spencer, the northern limit of the Coastal Waters of Southeast Alaska and British Columbia to Kabuch Point, the southeast limit of the
Bering Sea The Bering Sea (, ; rus, Бе́рингово мо́ре, r=Béringovo móre) is a marginal sea of the Northern Pacific Ocean. It forms, along with the Bering Strait, the divide between the two largest landmasses on Earth: Eurasia and The Am ...
, in such a way that all the adjacent islands are included in the Gulf of Alaska.

The

US Geological Survey The United States Geological Survey (USGS), formerly simply known as the Geological Survey, is a scientific agency of the United States government. The scientists of the USGS study the landscape of the United States, its natural resources, and ...

Geographic Names Information System The Geographic Names Information System (GNIS) is a database of name and locative information about more than two million physical and cultural features throughout the United States and its territories, Antarctica, and the associated states of ...

database defines the Gulf of Alaska as bounded on the north by the coast of Alaska and on the south by a line running from the south end of Kodiak Island on the west to

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 o ...

on the east.

Islands

Admiralty Island Admiralty Island is an island in the Alexander Archipelago in Southeast Alaska, at . It is long and wide with an area of , making it the seventh-largest island in the United States and the 132nd largest island in the world. It is one of the ...

* Afognak Island * Aghiyuk Island * Aiaktalik Island *

Akun Island Akun Island ( ale, Akungan) is one of the Fox Islands (Alaska), Fox Islands subgroup of the Aleutian Islands in the Aleutians East Borough, Alaska, Aleutians East Borough of southwestern Alaska. Geography The island lies east of Akutan Island and ...

Akutan Island Akutan Island ( ale, Akutanax̂; russian: Акутан) is an inhabited island in the Fox Islands group of the eastern Aleutian Islands in the Aleutians East Borough of Alaska. Geography The island is approximately 18 mi (30 km) ...

* Aleutika Island * Amaknak Island * Adronica Island *

Annette Island Annette Island or ''Taak'w Aan'' (Tlingit) is an island in the Gravina Islands of the Alexander Archipelago of the Pacific Ocean on the southeastern coast of the U.S. state of Alaska. It is at . It is about long and about wide. The land are ...

* Anyaka Island * Ariadne Island * Augustine Island *

Avatanak Island Avatanak Island ( ale, Agutanax̂; russian: Аватанак) is the second-largest (with a length of 10 mi) of the Krenitzin Islands, a subgroup of the Fox Islands in the eastern Aleutian Islands in the U.S. state of Alaska. It lies southe ...

Baker Island Baker Island, formerly known as New Nantucket, is an uninhabited atoll just north of the Equator in the central Pacific Ocean about southwest of Honolulu. The island lies almost halfway between Hawaii and Australia. Its nearest neighbor is H ...

Ban Island Ban, or BAN, may refer to: Law * Ban (law), a decree that prohibits something, sometimes a form of censorship, being denied from entering or using the place/item ** Imperial ban (''Reichsacht''), a form of outlawry in the medieval Holy Roman ...

Baranof Island Baranof Island is an island in the northern Alexander Archipelago in the Alaska Panhandle, in Alaska. The name Baranof was given in 1805 by Imperial Russian Navy captain U. F. Lisianski to honor Alexander Andreyevich Baranov. It was called Sh ...

* Beautiful Isle * Bell Island * Benjamin Island *

Biorka Island Biorka Island is an island near Sitka, Alaska. The National Weather Service has a radar there. The island is also a popular spot to watch sealions. Thus, a 2005 proposal by the State of Alaska to give a parcel of on the island to the University o ...

* Bligh Island * Chat Island * Chenega Island *

Chichagof Island Chichagof Island (russian: Остров Чичагова), or Shee Kaax, is an island in the Alexander Archipelago of the Alaska Panhandle. At long and wide, it has a land area of , making it the fifth largest island in the United States and ...

* Chisik Island * Chiswell Island(s) * Chowiet Island * Coronation Island *

Cronin Island The Chevron Island is an urban island that lies in the Nerang River and is a neighbourhood within the suburb of Surfers Paradise in the City of Gold Coast, Queensland, Australia. History Chevron Island is a natural island previously known as ...

Culross Island Culross Island is an island near the western end of Prince William Sound of the Gulf of Alaska in Alaska, United States. It lies just off the Northeast corner of the Kenai Peninsula The Kenai Peninsula ( Dena'ina: ''Yaghenen'') is a large peni ...

* Dall Island * Deer Island * Doggie Island * Dolgoi Island *

Douglas Island Douglas Island is a tidal island in the U.S. state of Alaska. It is part of the city and borough of Juneau, just west of downtown Juneau and east of Admiralty Island. It is separated from mainland Juneau by the Gastineau Channel, and contains the ...

* Duke Island *

East Chugach Island East or Orient is one of the four cardinal directions or points of the compass. It is the opposite direction from west and is the direction from which the Sun rises on the Earth. Etymology As in other languages, the word is formed from the fa ...

* Egg Island * Egg Island(s) * Eldred Rock * Eleanor Island *

Elizabeth Island Elizabeth Island may refer to: * Elizabeth Island (Alaska) * Elizabeth Island, Bahamas * Elizabeth Island, Bermuda * Elizabeth Island (Georgian Bay) * Elizabeth Island, Michigan * Elizabeth Island, New Zealand * Elizabeth Island (Victoria) * ...

* Erlington Island * Esther Island *

Etolin Island Etolin Island is an island in the Alexander Archipelago of southeastern Alaska, United States at . It is between Prince of Wales Island, to its west, and the Alaska mainland, to its east. It is southwest of Wrangell Island. It was first chart ...

* Fish Island *

Fitzgerald Island The FitzGerald/FitzMaurice Dynasty is a noble and aristocratic dynasty of Cambro-Norman, Anglo-Norman and later Hiberno-Norman origin. They have been peers of Ireland since at least the 13th century, and are described in the Annals of the ...

* Forrester Island * Goloi Island * Granite Island * Gravina Island * Green Island *

Gregson Island Gregson is a surname. People * Alf Gregson (1889–1968), English footballer *Edward Gregson (born 1945), English composer * John Gregson (1919–1975), English actor *Joseph Gelson Gregson (1835–1909), a Baptist preacher from England who worked ...

* Gull Island *

Haenke Island Haenke Island is an island located in Disenchantment Bay in Alaska. It was named in 1791 by Alessandro Malaspina for Thaddäus Haenke Thaddeus Xaverius Peregrinus Haenke (5 October 1761 – 4 November 1816) ( cs, Tadeáš Haenke; es, Tadeo Ha ...

Harbor Island Harbor Island is an artificial island in the mouth of the Duwamish River in Seattle, Washington, US, where it empties into Elliott Bay. Built by the Puget Sound Bridge and Dredging Company, it was completed in 1909 and was then the largest art ...

* Hawkins Island * Heceta Island * Herring Island(s) * Hesketh Island *

Hinchinbrook Island Hinchinbrook Island (or Pouandai to the Biyaygiri people) is an island in the Cassowary Coast Region, Queensland, Australia. It lies east of Cardwell and north of Lucinda, separated from the north-eastern coast of Queensland by the narrow H ...

* Kalgin Island * Kanak Island *

Karpa Island Karpa Island is a small island in Aleutians East Borough, Alaska, United States. It lies just south of the Alaska Peninsula's Stepovak Bay Stepovak Bay is a bay located on the Alaska Peninsula, Alaska, on the Gulf of Alaska. It was named Ste ...

* Kataguni Island * Kayak Island * Khantaak Island * Knight Island * Kodiak Island *

Korovin Island Korovin Island (''Tanĝanuk'' in Aleut) is one of the Shumagin Islands in the Gulf of Alaska south of the Alaska Peninsula in the Aleutians East Borough of Alaska, United States. The island lies northeast of Popof Island and across the Unga Strait ...

* Kosciusko Island * Kriwoi Island * Kruzof Island *

Kuiu Island Kuiu Island is an island in the Alexander Archipelago in southeastern Alaska. It lies between Kupreanof Island, to its east, and Baranof Island, to its west. The island is long, and wide. It is nearly cut in two by Affleck Canal. It has of la ...

* Kupreanof Island *

Latouche Island Latouche Island is an island in the southern part of Alaska, United States. It lies in the Gulf of Alaska between Montague Island to the east and Evans Island Evans Island is an island in the Prince William Sound of southern Alaska. It lies just ...

Lemesurier Island Lemesurier Island is the second-largest island in the Icy Strait between Chichagof Island and the mainland of the Alaska Panhandle in the U.S. state of Alaska. The island lies about midway between the mainland city of Gustavus and the northwest Chi ...

* Lincoln Island * Lone Island *

Long Island Long Island is a densely populated island in the southeastern region of the U.S. state of New York, part of the New York metropolitan area. With over 8 million people, Long Island is the most populous island in the United States and the 18 ...

Lulu Island Lulu Island is the name of the largest island in the estuary of the Fraser River, located south of Vancouver, British Columbia, and the second-most populous island in British Columbia, after Vancouver Island. The city of Richmond occupies m ...

* Lynn Brothers * Ma Relle Island(s) * Mab Island *

Marmot Island Marmot Island is an island of the Kodiak Archipelago in the Gulf of Alaska in the U.S. state of Alaska. It is part of Kodiak Island Borough and lies east of Afognak Island Afognak (Alutiiq: ''Agw’aneq''; russian: Афогнак) is an island ...

* Mitkof Island * Montague Island * Nakchamik Island * Naked Island * Near Island *

Noyes Island Noyes Island is located in the Alexander Archipelago of Southeast Alaska, United States. It is located west of Prince of Wales Island. It was named in 1879 by William Healy Dall of the U.S. Coast and Geodetic Survey after William M. Noyes, also o ...

Nuka Island Nuka Island is an island in the northern Gulf of Alaska in Kenai Peninsula Borough, Alaska, United States. It lies just off the southeastern corner of the Kenai Peninsula The Kenai Peninsula ( Dena'ina: ''Yaghenen'') is a large peninsula jutting ...

Osier Island Osier may refer to: * Willow or osiers, a genus of deciduous trees and shrubs ** Common osier (''Salix viminalis''), a species of willow * Red osier (''Cornus sericea''), a species of flowering plant *Osier, Colorado, an unincorporated communit ...

* Otmeloi Island * Outer Island * Partofshikof Island * Pearl Island * Perry Island * Pleasant Island * Popof Island * Powder Island * Prince of Wales Island * Rabbit Island * Ragged Island * Rugged Island * Raspberry Island * Revillagigedo Island * Rootok Island * San Fernando Island * San Juan Island * Sebree Island * Sentinel Island * Shelter Island * Shikosi Island * Shuyak Island * Sinith Island(s) *

Sitkalidak Island Sitkalidak Island (russian: Ситкалидак) is an island in the western Gulf of Alaska in the Kodiak Island Borough of the state of Alaska, United States. It lies just off the southeast shore of Kodiak Island, across the Sitkalidak Strait f ...

Sitkinak Island Sitkinak Island is an island of the Kodiak Archipelago of the state of Alaska, United States. It lies south of the southern tip of Kodiak Island in the western part of the Gulf of Alaska. Tugidak Island lies to its west. The two islands are the l ...

Spruce Island Spruce Island (russian: Еловый остров) is an island in the Kodiak Archipelago of the Gulf of Alaska in the US state of Alaska. It lies just off the northeast corner of Kodiak Island, across the Narrow Strait. Demographics Spruce Islan ...

* Strawberry Island *

Suemez Island Suemez Island is located in the Alexander Archipelago of southeastern Alaska, United States. It resides in the west-central coast of Prince of Wales Island (Alaska), Prince of Wales Island. The northern tip of Dall Island lies to its southeast, whil ...

Sullivan Island Sullivan Island is an island in Lynn Canal, southwest of Chilkat Island, Southeast Alaska, United States. It was named in 1869 by Commander R. W. Meade, USN, for the master of the schooner ''Louisa Downs'', which had wrecked on the island in 186 ...

Sutwik Island Sutwik Island is a 14-mile-long (22.5 km) island in the U.S. state of Alaska, located at off the Alaska Peninsula, east of Chignik Bay. It is part of Lake and Peninsula Borough and the Alaska Peninsula unit of the Alaska Maritime National ...

* Talsani Island * Tanker Island * Tigalda Island *

Tugidak Island Tugidak Island is an island of the Kodiak Archipelago in Kodiak Island Borough, Alaska, United States. It lies southwest of the southern tip of Kodiak Island in the western part of the Gulf of Alaska. Sitkinak Island lies to its east. The two isla ...

* Twoheaded Island *

Uganik Island Uganik Island is an island lying just off the west coast of Kodiak Island in the Kodiak Archipelago of Alaska, United States. The island has a land area of 146.7 km2 (56.64 sq mi) and is uninhabited. However, salmon setnetters occupy fish cam ...

* Unalaska Island * Unalga Island * Unavikshak Island *

Unga Island Unga Island (Uĝnaasaqax̂ in Aleut) is the largest of the Shumagin Islands off the Alaska Peninsula in southwestern Alaska, United States. The island has a land area of 170.73 sq mi (442.188 km2), making it the 36th largest island in the Un ...

* Warren Island * Whale Island * Wingham Island * Wooded Island(s) *

Woronkofski Island Woronkofski Island is an island in the Alexander Archipelago of southeastern Alaska, United States. It is separated from Wrangell Island to the east by Zimovia Strait, just west of the city of Wrangell; to the west it is separated from Zarembo Isl ...

* Wrangell Island * Yakobi Island *

Yukon Island Yukon Island is an island in outer Kachemak Bay, an inlet of the Cook Inlet of south central Alaska. The island is located about south of Homer. The island is archaeologically sensitive, with a number of sites documenting the prehistory of the ...

* Zarembo Island

References

External links

World Atlas: Gulf Of Alaska – Map & Description
* https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AwgCKF0QcPU {{DEFAULTSORT:Alaska Bodies of water of Alaska Gulfs of the Pacific Ocean Gulfs of the United States Temperate Northern Pacific