edgepedia

Waters and hydrographic features

2,436 articles

Gulf of Aden (خليج عدن)

Gulf of Aden (خليج عدن), sea basin between Yemen and Somalia linking the Red Sea at Bab el-Mandeb to the Arabian Sea; young ocean basin with the Sheba Ridge, a key Asia-Europe shipping route, and renewed piracy since 2023.

Gulf of Alaska

The Gulf of Alaska is the North Pacific bight along Alaska's southern coast, bounded roughly from Kodiak Island to Dall Island, driven by glacial freshwater feeding the Alaska Coastal Current, and known for major fisheries and 2014–2019 marine heatwaves.

Gulf of Alexandretta

The Gulf of Alexandretta, also known as the Gulf of İskenderun, is a shallow, semi-enclosed bay at the northeastern corner of the Mediterranean on the southeastern coast of Turkey.

Gulf of Anadyr (Анадырский залив)

Gulf of Anadyr (Анадырский залив), a northwestern Bering Sea gulf off Chukotka at the Anadyr River mouth; source of the Anadyr Current, dense shelf water, polynyas, and a highly productive diatom plume feeding the western Arctic.

Gulf of Aqaba (خليج العقبة)

Gulf of Aqaba (خليج العقبة, Gulf of Eilat): narrow northeastern arm of the Red Sea between Sinai and Arabia, bordered by Egypt, Israel, Jordan, and Saudi Arabia; rift-valley gulf up to 1,850 m deep, connected via the Strait of Tiran, with resilient coral reefs and the ports of Aqaba and Eilat.

Gulf of Boothia

Gulf of Boothia, a gulf in Nunavut, Canada, between Boothia Peninsula and Baffin Island and Melville Peninsula. Discovered and named by John Ross's 1829-1833 expedition for sponsor Felix Booth; site of the first distinct localization of the north magnetic pole.

Gulf of Bothnia

Gulf of Bothnia, the northernmost arm of the Baltic Sea between Sweden and Finland, comprising the Bothnian Bay, Quark, and Bothnian Sea; area 115,516 km2, salinity 0-7 psu, maximum postglacial land uplift 9 mm/yr, and good environmental status.

Gulf of California

Gulf of California (Sea of Cortez, Golfo de California): semi-enclosed sea between Baja California and mainland Mexico on a Pacific-North American oblique-divergent boundary; opened by ~6 Ma, young oceanic crust, UNESCO-listed biodiversity, critically endangered vaquita.

Gulf of Carpentaria

The Gulf of Carpentaria is a large, shallow embayment on northern Australia between Arnhem Land and Cape York Peninsula, named by Jan Carstenszoon in 1623 after Pieter de Carpentier.

Gulf of Corcovado

The Gulf of Corcovado (Spanish: Golfo Corcovado) is a large gulf in northern Patagonia, Chile, lying between the mainland coast and Chiloé Island in the southeastern Pacific.

Gulf of Corryvreckan

Gulf of Corryvreckan (Coire Bhreacain), a 3.2 km tidal channel between Scarba and Jura, western Scotland, site of the world's third largest whirlpool, with tidal currents up to ten knots and a 219 m hole beside a basalt pinnacle.

Gulf of Finland (Финский залив)

The Gulf of Finland (Suomenlahti) is the easternmost arm of the Baltic Sea, bordered by Finland, Estonia, and Russia, receiving the Neva River's freshwater at St. Petersburg.

Gulf of Fonseca

The Gulf of Fonseca, or Golfo de Fonseca, is a shallow bay on the Pacific coast of Central America shared by El Salvador, Honduras, and Nicaragua.

Gulf of Gabès (خليج قابس)

The Gulf of Gabès (خليج قابس) is a broad, shallow gulf on Tunisia's Mediterranean coast, holding the Mediterranean's highest tidal range and most of its fishing fleet.

Gulf of Guayaquil

The Gulf of Guayaquil is a large Pacific embayment on the coast of western South America, opening between Ecuador and Peru and receiving the Guayas River estuary.

Gulf of Guinea

The Gulf of Guinea is the northeastern tropical Atlantic bay along West Africa from Liberia to Gabon, marked by seasonal coastal upwelling, fisheries, oil production, and the world's peak piracy zone in 2020.

Gulf of Honduras

The Gulf of Honduras, or Golfo de Honduras, is a broad embayment of the western Caribbean Sea where the coastlines of Belize, Guatemala, and Honduras meet.

Gulf of Khambhat

Gulf of Khambhat (Gulf of Cambay), a funnel-shaped gulf of the Arabian Sea between Saurashtra and mainland Gujarat, India; semi-diurnal tides up to about 11 m, currents near 3 m/s, Narmada, Tapti, and Sabarmati river discharge, historic port of Cambay, and the proposed Kalpasar dam project.

Gulf of Kutch

Gulf of Kutch (Gulf of Kachchh), an Arabian Sea inlet in Gujarat, India, between Kutch and Saurashtra; 7,350 sq km, macrotidal, with India's first marine national park, northernmost coral reefs, and Kandla and Mundra ports.

Gulf of Lion

Gulf of Lion (golfe du Lion; ancient Sinus Gallicus), large NW Mediterranean bay on the French coast from Cape Creus to Marseille; broad shelf, submarine canyons, mistral winds, dense-water formation, 4,010 km² marine park.

Gulf of Maine

The Gulf of Maine is a semi-enclosed North Atlantic sea off New England and Nova Scotia, bounded by Georges Bank and Browns Bank, with basins to 350 m, a counterclockwise Labrador Current-driven gyre, and warming nearly three times the global ocean rate, anchoring the U.S. lobster fishery.

Gulf of Mannar

The Gulf of Mannar is a shallow 10,500 km² bay between Tamil Nadu, India and Sri Lanka, part of the Laccadive Sea. A 1989 biosphere reserve and 2001 UNESCO MAB site with 21 coral islands, dugongs, and rich marine biodiversity.

Gulf of Martaban

The Gulf of Mottama, also known as the Gulf of Martaban, is a large muddy embayment in southern Myanmar where the Sittaung River meets the Andaman Sea.

Gulf of Masirah

The Gulf of Masirah is a shallow embayment of the Arabian Sea between Masirah Island and the Omani mainland, Oman's largest and one of its most biologically productive coastal waters.

Gulf of Mexico

The Gulf of Mexico (also officially styled Gulf of America by some U.S. agencies) is a 218,000-square-mile semi-enclosed Atlantic basin linked to the Caribbean by the Yucatan Channel, defined by the Loop Current, major hurricanes, and half of U.S. petroleum refining capacity.

Gulf of Ob

Gulf of Ob (Обская губа), also Ob Bay, a ~850 km long estuary of the Ob River in the southern Kara Sea, Siberia; among the world's largest estuaries, receiving ~530 km³ freshwater yearly and hosting major Yamal LNG projects.

Gulf of Oman

The Gulf of Oman, or Sea of Oman, is the 560-km-long arm of the Arabian Sea linking the Persian Gulf through the Strait of Hormuz to the Indian Ocean, a deep monsoon-driven basin with seasonal coastal hypoxia and major oil shipping routes.

Gulf of Papua

Gulf of Papua: large embayment on Papua New Guinea's south coast opening to the Coral Sea, fed by the Fly, Purari, and Kikori rivers; major tide-dominated deltaic clinoform with ~385 million tonnes of annual sediment input.

Gulf of Penas

Gulf of Penas (Golfo de Penas), an open Pacific gulf in Chile's Aysén Region at about 47°22'S, 74°50'W between Cabo Tres Montes and Cabo Mogotes; named by 1557 for stormy crossings, it overlies the Golfo de Penas-Taitao basin near the Chile Triple Junction.

Gulf of Salalah

The Gulf of Salalah is a broad embayment of the Arabian Sea on the southern coast of Oman's Dhofar governorate, fronting the Salalah plain and the Port of Salalah.