Biscay is a province of the Basque Country in Spain.It is generally accepted that Bizkaia, the original Basque term, is a correlate of bizkar Biscay is a province of the Basque Country in Spain.It is generally accepted that Bizkaia, the original Basque term, is a correlate of bizkar Biscay ' onMouseout='HidePop("97854")' href="http://www.absoluteastronomy.com/topics/Continental_shelf">continental shelf
The continental shelf is the extended perimeter of each continent and associated coastal plain, and was part of the continent during the glacial periods, but is undersea during interglacial periods such as the current epoch by relatively shallow seas and gulfs. The continental rise is below the...
extend far into the bay, resulting in fairly shallow water in many areas and thus in the rough seas for which the region is known. The Bay of Biscay is home to some of the
Atlantic OceanThe Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's oceanic divisions. With a total area of about 106.4 million square kilometres , it covers approximately one-fifth of the Earth's surface and about one-quarter of its water surface area. The first part of its name refers to the Atlas of Greek...
's fiercest
weatherWeather is a set of all the phenomena occurring in a given atmosphere at a given time. Weather phenomena lie in the troposphere. Weather refers, generally, to day-to-day temperature and precipitation activity, whereas climate is the term for the average atmospheric conditions over longer periods...
. Large storms occur in the bay, especially during the winter months. Up until recent years it was a regular occurrence for merchant vessels to founder in Biscay storms, and many lives were lost. Improved ships and weather prediction have reduced the toll of the storms.
Rivers
The main rivers that end in the Bay of Biscay are:
- France (named southward): Loire
The Loire is the longest river in France. With a length of , it drains an area of , which represents more than a fifth of France's land area...
, CharenteThe Charente is a 381 km long river in southwestern France.Its source is in the Haute-Vienne département at Chéronnac, a small village near Rochechouart. It flows through the departments of Haute-Vienne, Charente, Vienne and Charente-Maritime...
, GaronneThe Garonne is a river in southwest France and northern Spain, with a length of 575 km .-Origin of the name:...
, DordogneThe Dordogne is a river in south-central and southwest France.-Name:Contrary to appearances, the name of the Dordogne is not a recent word resulting from the names of the Dore and the Dogne...
, AdourThe Adour is a river in southwestern France. It rises in High-Bigorre , at the Col du Tourmalet, and flows into the Atlantic Ocean near Bayonne. It is long, of which the uppermost as the Adour du Tourmalet. At its final stretch, i.e...
, NivelleThe Nivelle is a 41 km long river in the Basque Country flowing largely south-east to north-west, with only 7 km of its length being considered navigable...
.
- Spain (named westward): Bidasoa
The Bidasoa is a river in the Basque Country of northern Spain and southern France that runs largely south to north. Named as such downstream of the small town of Oronoz-Mugairi in the province of Navarre, the river actually results from the merge of several streams near the village Erratzu, with...
, Oiartzun, UrumeaThe Urumea is a river in the Basque Country at the north of the Iberian Peninsula. It's one of a series of Basque rivers flowing into the Bay of Biscay and best known for being the river flowing to the sea on the city of San Sebastian...
, OriaThe Oria is a river in the Basque Country at the north of the Iberian Peninsula. It's one of a series of Basque rivers flowing into the Bay of Biscay and the main river of the province Gipuzkoa in volume , length and basin , the main feature of these rivers aligned south to north being their...
, UrolaThe Urola is a river and valley in Guipuzcoa , Basque Country, Spain.The river is only 55 kilometres in length, and runs from headwaters in the Aizkorri Mountains, near the town of Legazpi to its outflow into the Cantabrian Sea at the town of Zumaia on the Bay of Biscay...
, DebaThe Deba River is a river in the Basque Country, Spain. It rises in Arlaban, into Araba province lands, and flows into the Atlantic Ocean, in the Bay of Biscay, in Deba Gipuzkoa province....
, Artibai, Oka, NervionThe river Nervión runs through the city of Bilbao, Spain into the Cantabrian Sea .It is also known as Estuary of Bilbao on its final tract, from the joining with Ibaizabal river to the sea.-Geography:...
, AsónASON is a concept for the evolution of transport networks which allows for dynamic policy-driven control of an optical or SDH network based on signaling between a user and components of the network. Its aim is to automate the resource and connection management within the network...
, PasThe Pas River is located in the region of Cantabria in the northern part of Spain. The river flows through the autonomous community of Cantabria and empties into the Cantabric Sea....
, NalónThe Nalón is a 153km long river and the longest river in the autonomous community of Asturias, Spain. It joins the Atlantic Ocean and the Bay of Biscay in San Esteban de Pravia. Its tributaries include the Narcea River....
, Navia, EoThe Eo is a river in northwestern Spain. Some 91 km in length, its estuary forms the boundary between the regions of Galicia and Asturias. The river is known for its salmon fishing.-External links:*...
, Landro, SorThe River Sor of Mañón flows between the provinces of A Coruña and Lugo, in the autonomous community of Galicia, Spain.The river has an impressive waterfall called Augas Caídas in Mañon parish....
.
Weather
As in many West coasts, the phenomenon of
June GloomJune Gloom is a California term for a weather pattern that results in overcast skies with mild temperatures during the late spring and early summer...
is common. In late Spring and early Summer a large fog triangle fills the southwestern half of the bay, covering just a few kilometres inland.
As Winter begins, weather becomes severe. 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 arefinally reborn in the form of powerful thunderstorms as they reach the Mediterranean. These depressions cause severe weather at sea and bring light though very constant rain to its shores (known as
orballoDrizzle is a light rain precipitation consisting of liquid water drops smaller than those of rain, and generally smaller than 0.5 mm in diameter. Drizzle is normally produced by low stratiform clouds and stratocumulus clouds. Precipitation rates due to drizzle are on the order of a millimeter per...
in northern Spain). Sometimes powerful windstorms form if the pressure falls rapidly, traveling along the
Gulf StreamThe Gulf Stream, together with its northern extension towards Europe, the North Atlantic Drift, is a powerful, warm, and swift Atlantic ocean current that originates in the Gulf of Mexico, exits through the Strait of Florida, and follows the eastern coastlines of the United States and Newfoundland...
at great speed, resembling a hurricane, and finally crashing in this bay with its maximum power, such as the Klaus storm.
The
Gulf StreamThe Gulf Stream, together with its northern extension towards Europe, the North Atlantic Drift, is a powerful, warm, and swift Atlantic ocean current that originates in the Gulf of Mexico, exits through the Strait of Florida, and follows the eastern coastlines of the United States and Newfoundland...
enters the bay following the continental shelf's border counterclockwise (the Rennell Current), keeping temperatures smooth all year long.
Main cities
The main cities on the shores of the Bay of Biscay are:
- France: Brest
Brest is a city in the Finistère department in Brittany in north-western France.Located in a sheltered position not far from the western tip of the Breton peninsula, Brest is an important seaport and naval base. The 1999 census recorded 303,484 inhabitants of the Brest metropolitan area, while the...
, NantesNantes is a city in western France, located on the Loire River, from the Atlantic coast. The city is the sixth largest in France, while its metropolitan area is the eighth with 804,833 inhabitants at a 2008 estimate....
, La RochelleLa Rochelle is a city in south-western France and a seaport on the Bay of Biscay, a part of the Atlantic Ocean. It is the capital of the Charente-Maritime department....
, Bordeauxis a port city on the Garonne River in southwest France, with one million inhabitants in its metropolitan area at a 2008 estimate. It is the capital of the Aquitaine region, as well as the prefecture of the Gironde department...
, BayonneBayonne is a city and commune in south-western France at the confluence of the Nive and Adour rivers, in the Pyrénées-Atlantiques department, of which it is a sub-prefecture....
.
- Spain: San Sebastián
Donostia-San Sebastián is the capital city of the province of Guipuscoa, in the Basque Country, Spain. Locals call themselves donostiarras, both in Basque and Spanish...
, BilbaoBilbao is the largest city in the Basque Country in northern Spain and the capital of the province of Biscay ....
, SantanderThe port city of Santander is the capital of the autonomous community of Cantabria situated on the north coast of Spain between Asturias and the Basque Country . Population in 2007 was about 184,000. Just over a third of Cantabrians live in Santander...
, GijonGijón , is a coastal industrial city and a municipality in the autonomous community of Asturias in Spain. Early mediaeval texts mention it as "Gigia". It was an important regional Roman city, although the area has been settled since earliest history...
.
History
The southern end of the gulf is also called in Spanish
"Mar Cantábrico" (Cantabrian Sea), for the region of
CantabriaCantabria is a Spanish province and autonomous community with Santander as its capital city. It is bordered on the east by the Basque Autonomous Community , on the south by Castile and León , on the west by the Principality of Asturias, and on the north by the Cantabrian Sea.Cantabria belongs to...
, but this name is not generally used in English. It was named by Romans in 1st century BC as
Sinus Cantabrorum (Bay of the
CantabriThe Cantabri were an ancient confederacy of eleven tribes, perhaps Celtic, that inhabited the north coast of Hispania in the whole modern province of Cantabria, the eastern third of Asturias and the nearby mountainous regions of modern Castile-Leon....
).
On some medieval maps, the Bay of Biscay is marked as
El Mar del los Vascos, the Basque Sea. The Bay of Biscay is the birthplace of what is considered one of the world's most successful and most renowned maritime industries, the Basque and Cantabrian shipbuilders and fishermen.
The
BritishThe United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is a sovereign state located off the northwestern coast of continental Europe. It is an island country, spanning an archipelago including Great Britain, the northeastern part of Ireland, and many small islands...
yachtswoman
Ellen MacArthurDame Ellen Patricia MacArthur, DBE is an English sailor from Whatstandwell near Matlock in Derbyshire, now based in Cowes, on the Isle of Wight. She is best known as a solo long-distance yachtswoman. On 7 February 2005 she broke the world record for the fastest solo circumnavigation of the...
finished her first trip around the world here, and there is a famous song based on this.
Wildlife
The car ferries from
PortsmouthPortsmouth is a city located in the county of Hampshire on the south coast of England. Portsmouth is the United Kingdom's only island city and is located on Portsea Island. The City of Portsmouth and Portsmouth Football Club are both nicknamed Pompey...
to
BilbaoBilbao is the largest city in the Basque Country in northern Spain and the capital of the province of Biscay ....
and from
PlymouthPlymouth is a city and unitary authority area on the coast of Devon, England, about south west of London. It is built between the mouths of the rivers Plym to the east and Tamar to the west, where they join Plymouth Sound...
,
PortsmouthPortsmouth is a city located in the county of Hampshire on the south coast of England. Portsmouth is the United Kingdom's only island city and is located on Portsea Island. The City of Portsmouth and Portsmouth Football Club are both nicknamed Pompey...
and
PoolePoole is a large coastal town and seaport in Dorset on the south coast of England. The town is east of Dorchester, and Bournemouth adjoins Poole to the east. The Borough of Poole was made a unitary authority in 1997, gaining administrative independence from Dorset County Council...
to
SantanderThe port city of Santander is the capital of the autonomous community of Cantabria situated on the north coast of Spain between Asturias and the Basque Country . Population in 2007 was about 184,000. Just over a third of Cantabrians live in Santander...
provide one of the most convenient ways to see cetaceans in
EuropeEurope is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally divided from Asia to its east by the water divide of the Ural Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian Sea, the Caucasus Mountains , and the Black Sea to the southeast...
an waters, and there are often specialist trips on board.
Volunteers and employees from the
Biscay Dolphin Research Programme use the bridge of the vessel on the
P&OP&O Ferries is a constituent company of DP World...
Portsmouth to Bilbao run to observe and monitor cetacean activity. Many species of
whaleWhale is the common name for marine mammals of the order Cetacea. The term whale is sometimes used to refer to all cetaceans, but in more common English usage it generally excludes the members of the Delphinoidea superfamily, such as dolphins and porpoises...
s and
dolphinDolphins are marine mammals that are closely related to whales and porpoises. There are almost forty species of dolphin in seventeen genera. They vary in size from and , up to and . They are found worldwide, mostly in the shallower seas of the continental shelves, and are carnivores, mostly...
s can be seen in this area but it is one of the few places where the
beaked whaleA beaked whale is any of at least twenty species of small whale in the family Ziphiidae. They are one of the least-known families of large mammals: several species have only been described in the last two decades, and it is entirely possible that more remain as yet undiscovered. Six genera have...
s such as the
Cuvier's beaked whaleCuvier's Beaked Whale, Ziphius cavirostris is the most widely distributed of all the beaked whales. It is the only member of the genus Ziphius. Another common name for the species is Goose-beaked Whale on account of the fact that its head is said to be shaped like the beak of a goose...
have been observed relatively frequently. This is the best study area for beaked whales in the world.
The best areas to see the larger cetaceans are those over deep water off the continental shelf particularly over the Santander Canyon and Torrelavega Canyon in the south of the Bay.
The three-day round trip also gives sightings of good numbers of several species of
seabirdSeabirds are birds that have adapted to life within the marine environment. While seabirds vary greatly in lifestyle, behaviour and physiology, they often exhibit striking convergent evolution, as the same environmental problems and feeding niches have resulted in similar adaptations...
s, particularly gannets.
The alga
Colpomenia peregrinaColpomenia peregrina Hamel is a seaweed not native to the British Isles but recorded in Ireland since 1934. It appears to have been introduced from the Pacific and was first noticed in Europe in 1906 on oyster beds. It has now been recorded throughout the eastern north Atlantic from Norway and...
was introduced and first noticed by oyster fishermen in the Bay of Biscay in 1906.