Bay Separating Spain And France

Gulf of the northeast Atlantic Ocean located south of the Celtic Sea

Body of h2o

Bay of Biscay
Castilian coastline
Bathymetric map
Location	Western Europe and Southern Europe
Coordinates	Coordinates: 45°30′Due north 04°20′W / 45.500°Northward 4.333°West / 45.500; -4.333
Type	Gulf
Ocean/body of water sources	Atlantic Body of water
Bowl countries	France and Spain

Max. length	593.7 km (368.9 mi)
Max. width	511.1 km (317.half dozen mi)
Surface area	223,000 kmⁱⁱ (86,000 sq mi)
Average depth	1,744 one thousand (5,722 ft)
Max. depth	4,735 m (xv,535 ft)
Water volume	389,000 km^three (93,000 cu mi)
Salinity	35 chiliad.L−1

The Bay of Biscay (), known in Spain as the Gulf of Biscay (Spanish: Golfo de Vizcaya, Basque: Bizkaiko Golkoa), and in France and some edge regions as the Gulf of Gascony (French: Golfe de Gascogne, Occitan: Golf de Gasconha, Breton: Pleg-mor Gwaskogn), is a gulf of the northeast Atlantic Body of water located s of the Celtic Sea. It lies along the western coast of France from Point Penmarc'h to the Spanish border, and the northern coast of Spain due west to Cape Ortegal. The south expanse of the Bay of Biscay that washes over the northern declension of Spain is known locally as the Cantabrian Sea.

The average depth is 1,744 m (5,722 ft) and the greatest depth is 4,735 yard (15,535 ft).^[i]

Name [edit]

The Bay of Biscay is named (for English speakers) afterward Biscay on the northern Spanish coast, probably standing for the western Basque districts (Biscay upwardly to the early 19th century). Its name in other languages is:

Asturian: Mar Cantábricu
Basque: Bizkaiko golkoa
Breton: pleg-mor Gwaskogn
French: golfe de Gascogne (named after Gascony, France)
Galician: golfo de Biscaia
Occitan: golf de Gasconha
Latin: Sinus Biscaiensis (Classical: Cantabricus, Cantabrorum, Gallaecum)
Spanish: Golfo de Vizcaya (mar Cantábrico for the ocean area closer to the Castilian coast, the Cantabrian Sea)
Irish: Bá na Bioscáine
Dutch: Golf van Biskaje

Geography [edit]

Basque coast along the Bay of Biscay

Parts of the continental shelf extend far into the bay, resulting in fairly shallow waters in many areas and thus the rough seas for which the region is known. Large storms occur in the bay, peculiarly during the winter months. The Bay of Biscay is habitation to some of the Atlantic Ocean'due south fiercest weather; abnormally high waves occur there.^[two] Upwards until recent years it was a regular occurrence for merchant vessels to founder in Biscay storms.

Extent [edit]

The International Hydrographic Organization defines the limits of the Bay of Biscay equally "a line joining Cap Ortegal ( 43°46′North 7°52′W / 43.767°N 7.867°W / 43.767; -7.867 ) to Penmarch Bespeak ( 47°48′N 4°22′West / 47.800°North 4.367°West / 47.800; -4.367 )".^[3]

The southernmost portion is the Cantabrian Sea.^[4]

Rivers [edit]

The main rivers that empty into the Bay of Biscay are Loire, Charente, Garonne, Dordogne, Adour, Nivelle, Bidasoa, Oiartzun, Urumea, Oria, Urola, Deba, Artibai, Lea, Oka, Nervión, Agüera, Asón, Miera, Pas, Saja, Nansa, Deva, Sella, Nalón, Navia, Esva, Eo, Landro and Sor.

Climate [edit]

In late spring and early summer a big fog triangle fills the southwestern half of the bay, roofing just a few kilometres inland.

As winter begins, atmospheric condition becomes astringent. Depressions enter from the west very frequently and they either bounce north to the British Isles or they enter the Ebro Valley, dry out, and are finally reborn in the form of powerful thunderstorms equally they attain the Mediterranean Sea. These depressions cause severe weather at sea and bring light though very constant pelting to its shores (known every bit orballo, sirimiri, morrina, orbayu, orpin or calabobos). Sometimes powerful windstorms form if the pressure falls rapidly (Galernas), traveling along the Gulf Stream at groovy speed, resembling a hurricane and finally crashing in this bay with their maximum ability, such as the Klaus storm.^[five]

The Gulf Stream enters the bay post-obit the continental shelf's border anti-clockwise (the Rennell Current), keeping temperatures moderate all year long.

Principal cities [edit]

The main cities on the shores of the Bay of Biscay are Bordeaux, Bayonne, Biarritz, Brest, Nantes, La Rochelle, Donostia-San Sebastián, Bilbao, Santander, Gijón and Avilés.

History [edit]

The southern cease of the gulf is also chosen in Spanish "Mar Cantábrico" (Cantabrian Sea), from the Estaca de Bares, as far as the mouth of Adour river, but this proper name is not by and large used in English language. It was named by Romans in the 1st century BC every bit Sinus Cantabrorum (Bay of the Cantabri) and also, Mare Gallaecum (the Bounding main of the Galicians). On some medieval maps, the Bay of Biscay is marked every bit El Mar del los Vascos (the Basque Body of water).^[6]

The Bay of Biscay has been the site of many famous naval engagements over the centuries. In 1592 the Spanish defeated an English language fleet during the Boxing of the Bay of Biscay. The Biscay entrada of June 1795 consisted of a series of manoeuvres and two battles fought between the British Channel Armada and the French Atlantic Fleet off the southern coast of Brittany during the second twelvemonth of the French Revolutionary Wars. USSCalifornian sank hither after striking a naval mine on 22 June 1918.^[7] In 1920 SSAfrique sank after losing power and drifting into a reef in a storm with the loss of 575 lives. On 28 December 1943, the Battle of the Bay of Biscay was fought between HMSGlasgow and HMSEnterprise, and a grouping of High german destroyers as part of Operation Stonewall during Earth War II. U-667 sank on 25 Baronial 1944 in position 46°00′Due north 01°30′W / 46.000°N one.500°W / 46.000; -ane.500 , when she struck a mine. All hands were lost.

On 12 April 1970, Soviet submarineK-eight sank in the Bay of Biscay due to a fire that bedridden the submarine's nuclear reactors. An attempt to save the sub failed, resulting in the death of 40 sailors and the loss of four nuclear torpedoes. Due to the great depth (15,000 ft or 4,600 m), no salvage operation was attempted.^{[ citation needed ]}

Wildlife [edit]

Plaiaundi Ecology Park [edit]

The Plaiaundi Ecology Park is a 24 -hectare coastal wetland lying where the Bidasoa River meets the sea in the Bay of Biscay.The nature of Plaiaundi consists of a wide variety of flora (visitors view them mainly in the leap) and creature (visitors with binoculars make it all during the year, because of the birds migratory habits).This nature park contains a variety of birds, reptiles, mammals and insects.^[8]

Marine mammals [edit]

The automobile ferries from Gijón to Nantes/Saint-Nazaire, Portsmouth to Bilbao and from Plymouth, Portsmouth and Poole to Santander provide one of the most user-friendly means to see cetaceans in European waters. Often specialist groups take the ferries to hear more data. Volunteers and employees of ORCA regularly observe and monitor cetacean activity from the bridge of the ships on Brittany Ferries' Portsmouth to Santander road. Many species of whales and dolphins can be seen in this area. Near importantly, it is one of the few places in the world where the beaked whales, such as the Cuvier'south beaked whale, take been observed relatively often. Biscay Dolphin Enquiry monitored cetacean activity from the P&O Ferries cruiseferry Pride of Bilbao, on voyages from Portsmouth to Bilbao.

North Atlantic right whales, 1 of the virtually endangered whales, once came to the bay for feeding and probably for calving as well, just whaling activities by Basque people almost wiped them out sometime prior to the 1850s. The eastern population of this species are considered to be almost extinct, and there has been no record of right whales in the Bay of Biscay except for a pair in 1977 (perhaps a mother and dogie) at 43°00′N x°30′W / 43.000°N 10.500°West / 43.000; -ten.500 ,^[nine] and another pair in June 1980. Other records in the late 20th century include one off Galicia at 43°00′N x°30′W / 43.000°Northward x.500°Westward / 43.000; -10.500 in September 1977 reported by a whaling company and some other one seen off the Iberian Peninsula.

The best areas to see the larger cetaceans are in the deep waters beyond the continental shelf, particularly over the Santander Canyon and Torrelavega Canyon in the due south of the Bay.

The alga Colpomenia peregrina was introduced and first noticed in 1906 by oyster fishermen in the Bay of Biscay.

Grammatostomias flagellibarba (scaleless dragonfish) are native to these waters.^[x]

References [edit]

^ "Bay of Biscay". Eoearth.org. Archived from the original on 2015-07-20. Retrieved 2015-07-17 .
^ A Summary of Wave Data Needs and Availability: A Study. 1979. p. 7. The Gulf Steam off Cape Hatteras, the Gulf of Alaska, the English language Channel, and the Bay of Biscay are some of the other areas where storms and electric current combine to produce abnormally high, steep waves.
^ "Limits of Oceans and Seas, 3rd edition + corrections" (PDF). International Hydrographic Arrangement. 1971. p. 42 [corrections to page thirteen]. Archived from the original (PDF) on 8 October 2011. Retrieved 28 December 2020.
^ VVAA (2012). "Estrategia marina. Demarcación marina Noratlántica. Parte I. Marco full general evaluación inicial y buen estado ambiental" (PDF) (in Spanish). Retrieved 22 January 2021.
^ "Why the Bay of Biscay is Unsafe for Ships?". Marine Insight. 2011-10-21. Retrieved 2019-05-07 .
^ "El mar de los vascos, Two: del Golfo de Vizcaya al Mediterráneo" (PDF). Euskomedia.org. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2018-07-29. Retrieved 2015-07-17 .
^ "USS Californian (1918–1918)". History.navy.mil. Archived from the original on 2004-12-24. Retrieved 2015-07-17 .
^ "Plaiaundi Ecology Park | Plans to know the Basque State | Tourism E…". annal.is. 2013-02-22. Archived from the original on 2013-02-22. Retrieved 2021-07-24 .
^ Reeves, R.R. & Mitchell, E. (1986). "American pelagic whaling for correct whales in the Due north Atlantic" (PDF). Report of the International Whaling Committee (Special Result 10): 221–254. Retrieved 2013-10-09 . ^{[ permanent dead link ]}
^ Froese, R.; D. Pauly, eds. (2016). "Grammatostomias flagellibarba". FishBase. Archived from the original on 2015-08-25.