Cook Inlet
| Cook Inlet | ||
|---|---|---|
 Turnagain Arm in Cook Inlet |
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| Waters | Gulf of Alaska ( Pacific Ocean ) | |
| Land mass | North America | |
| Geographical location | 60 ° 20 ′ N , 151 ° 53 ′ W | |
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| width | approx. 75 km | |
| length | 310 km | |
| Islands | Augustine Island , Kalgin Island , Fire Island | |
| Tributaries | Susitna River , Matanuska River , Kenai River , Chakachatna River , Beluga River | |
 Cook Inlet |
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The Cook Inlet is a bay in the Gulf of Alaska , the Kenai Peninsula from mainland Alaska separates. It has a length of 310 km and branches at the northeast end at Anchorage into Knik Arm and Turnagain Arm .
James Cook was the first European to sail into the bay in 1778 in search of the Northwest Passage , which was named after him by George Vancouver in 1794 . After the Knik Arm had only turned out to be an estuary and not an access to the Northwest Passage, William Bligh gave the Turnagain Arm its name, because this branch of the bay only ends in an estuary and the expedition had to turn back again .
The Turnagain Arm is one of only about 60 bays in the world where a tidal wave forms. On the North American continent, only the Bay of Fundy has a larger tidal range than the ten meters reached in the Turnagain Arm . In the bay itself, the tidal range can be up to eight meters.
The bay is a hydrological catchment area for an area of around 100,000 km² east of the Aleutian Islands and south of the Alaska Range and is fed by the rivers Susitna and Matanuska , among others . The meltwater from Denali also flows into the bay. In addition to Anchorage, there is Homer, a second place with a seaport that passenger ships call at. The port of Kenai is only used for shipping oil.
On the west side of the bay are the Chigmit Mountains with the 3108 m high Mount Redoubt , one of the most active volcanoes in Alaska. 50 km further south is the only slightly lower volcano Mount Iliamna . In the northwest are the Tordrillo Mountains with the Mount Spurr volcano .
A genetically and geographically isolated beluga population has developed in Cook Inlet, the population of which had sunk to only approx. 400 animals due to environmental influences. Protective measures have been in place since 2000.
literature
- Alaska Geographic: Anchorage and the Cook Inlet Basin . Graphic Arts Center Publishing Company, 1983, ISBN 0882401726 .
Web links
- Cook Inlet in the United States Geological Survey's Geographic Names Information System
- Cook Inlet Keepers (Engl.)
- Cook Inlet Tribal Council (Engl.)
Individual evidence
- ↑ Cook Inlet-South Central Alaska map and volcano list
- ↑ Management and Recovery of Cook Inlet Beluga Whales
