On July
24, 2002, northern New England
and Canada are lush with summer's
greenery. This true-color image
from the Moderate Resolution Imaging
Spectroradiometer (MODIS) shows
the Gulf of St. Lawrence north
of center. The Bay of Fundy separates
mainland New Brunswick from island-like
Nova Scotia in the lower left
quadrant of the image. The orange
color of the water in the inlets
is likely the result of extreme
tidal changes churning up sediment.
The Bay of Fundy has the highest
tides in the world. [2]
Credit
Jacques Descloitres, MODIS Land
Rapid Response Team, NASA/GSFC
[2]
The Gulf of St. Lawrence
is a body of water covering about
60,000 square miles (155,000 square
km) at the mouth of the St. Lawrence
River. It fringes the shores of half
the provinces of Canada and is a gateway
to the interior of the entire North
American continent. Its name is not
entirely accurate, for in a hydrologic
context the gulf has to be considered
more as a sea bordering the North
American continent than as simply
a river mouth. Its boundaries may
be taken as the maritime estuary at
the mouth of the St. Lawrence River,
in the vicinity of Anticosti Island,
on the west; the Strait of Belle Isle
between Newfoundland and the mainland,
to the north; and Cabot Strait, separating
Newfoundland from the Nova Scotian
peninsula, on the south.
Each spring, starting
in late February or early march, female
harp seals move out onto the sea,
each giving birth to a single, snowy-white
pup. The pupping grounds of the "Gulf
herd" are near the Magdalen Islands,
and here there can be up to 2,00 female
seas per square kilometer. Their pups
are known as "whitecoats"
and they are fed a rich milk containing
45 per cent fat. They put on weight
rapidly and are weaned in as little
as 12 days, and then abandoned by
their mothers. Why the nursing time
is so short is not clear, although
it is an effective way to get the
youngsters ready to swim before the
ice breaks up in mid-March. This way
they spend the minimum of time on
the ice, where they are vulnerable
to polar bears looking for food. The
seals are also a target of a controversial
cull.----
The Gulf of Saint Lawrence (French:
golfe du Saint-Laurent), the world's
largest estuary, is the outlet of
North America's Great Lakes via the
Saint Lawrence River into the Atlantic
Ocean. It is a semi–enclosed
sea, covering an area of about 236
000 km2 and containing 35000 km3 of
water (including the St. Lawrence
estuary). It opens to the Atlantic
Ocean through the Cabot Strait (104
km wide and 480 m at its deepest)
and the Strait of Belle Isle (17 km
wide and 60 m at its deepest).
The gulf is bounded
on the north by the Labrador Peninsula,
to the east by Newfoundland, to the
south by the Nova Scotia peninsula
and Cape Breton Island, and to the
west by the Gaspé and New Brunswick.
It contains Anticosti Island, Prince
Edward Island, and the Magdalen Islands.
Besides the Saint Lawrence
River itself, semi-major tributaries
of the Gulf of Saint Lawrence include
the Miramichi River, the Natashquan
River, the Restigouche River, the
Margaree River, and the Humber River.
Arms of the Gulf include the Chaleur
Bay, Miramichi Bay, St. George's Bay,
Bay of Islands, and Northumberland
Strait.[1]
