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

waterway A waterway is any Navigability, 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 ways. A first distinction is ...

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

in eastern

Jutland Jutland (; , ''Jyske Halvø'' or ''Cimbriske Halvø''; , ''Kimbrische Halbinsel'' or ''Jütische Halbinsel'') is a peninsula of Northern Europe that forms the continental portion of Denmark and part of northern Germany (Schleswig-Holstein). It ...

. 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 Samsø (Anglicized: "Samso" or "Samsoe") is a Denmark, Danish island in the Kattegat off the Jutland Peninsula. Samsø is located in Samsø municipality. The community has 3,724 inhabitants (2017) (January 2010:4,010) called ''Samsings'' and is ...

and Tunø 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 The Kattegat (; ; ) is a sea area bounded by the peninsula of Jutland in the west, the Danish straits islands of Denmark and the Baltic Sea to the south and the Swedish provinces of Bohuslän, Västergötland, Halland and Scania in Swede ...

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 component, abiotic (non-living) processes such as deposition (geol ...

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, (, abbreviated DMU) was an independent research institute under the Ministry of the Environment. It was created in 1989 by merging the existing laboratories of the Environ ...

(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 collective ecological communities that encompass all aquatic animals, aquatic plant, plants, algae, marine fungi, fungi, marine protists, protists, single-celled marine microorganisms, microorganisms ...

, especially around the areas of Kalø Vig and the western sections of the bay. In 2013, planning for an offshore

windmill A windmill is a machine operated by the force of wind acting on vanes or sails to mill grain (gristmills), pump water, generate electricity, or drive other machinery. Windmills were used throughout the high medieval and early modern period ...

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 () 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 Eric VI of Denmark, Erik Menved (Erik ...

). 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 : "related to the sea") 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 cargo ...

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 ...

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