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Gulf of Alaska
 
 
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The Gulf of Alaska is an arm of the Pacific Ocean
Pacific Ocean

The Pacific Ocean is the largest of the Earth's oceanic divisions. Its name is derived from the Latin name Mare Pacificum, "peaceful sea", bestowed upon it by the Portugal explorer Ferdinand Magellan....
 defined by the curve of the southern coast of Alaska
Alaska

Alaska is the largest U.S. state of the United States by area; it is situated in the northwest extremity of the North American continent, with Canada to the east, the Arctic Ocean to the north, and the Pacific Ocean to the west and south, with Russia further west across the Bering Strait....
, stretching from the Alaska Peninsula
Alaska Peninsula

The Alaska Peninsula is a peninsula extending about 800 km to the southwest from the mainland of Alaska and ending in the Aleutian Islands....
 and Kodiak Island
Kodiak Island

Kodiak Island is a large island on the south coast of the U.S. state of Alaska, separated from the Alaska mainland by the Shelikof Strait. The largest island in the Kodiak Archipelago and at 8975 km? in area, it is the List of islands of the United States by area and the List of islands by area....
 in the west to the Alexander Archipelago
Alexander Archipelago

The Alexander Archipelago is a three-hundred-mile-long archipelago, or group of islands, off the southeastern coast of Alaska. It contains about 1,100 islands, which are the tops of the submerged coastal mountains that rise steeply from the Pacific Ocean....
 in the east, where Glacier Bay
Glacier Bay

Glacier Bay is a bay in south-eastern Alaska, United States. It runs north northwest to south south-east for about 105 km between two pinchets of Alaska....
 and the Inside Passage
Inside Passage

The Inside Passage of the Alaska Panhandle and coastal British Columbia is a coastal route for oceangoing vessels along a series of passages between the mainland and the coastal islands....
 are found.

The entire shoreline of the Gulf is a rugged combination of forest, mountain, and a number of tidewater glaciers. Alaska's largest glaciers, the Malaspina Glacier
Malaspina Glacier

The Malaspina Glacier in southeastern Alaska is the largest piedmont glacier this far south in North America. It is about 65 km wide and 45 km long, with an area of some 3,900 km? ....
 and Bering Glacier
Bering Glacier

Bering Glacier is a glacier in the U.S. state of Alaska. It currently terminates in Vitus Lake south of Alaska?s Wrangell-St. Elias National Park, about 10 km from the Gulf of Alaska....
 spill out onto the coastal plain along the Gulf of Alaska.






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The Gulf of Alaska is an arm of the Pacific Ocean
Pacific Ocean

The Pacific Ocean is the largest of the Earth's oceanic divisions. Its name is derived from the Latin name Mare Pacificum, "peaceful sea", bestowed upon it by the Portugal explorer Ferdinand Magellan....
 defined by the curve of the southern coast of Alaska
Alaska

Alaska is the largest U.S. state of the United States by area; it is situated in the northwest extremity of the North American continent, with Canada to the east, the Arctic Ocean to the north, and the Pacific Ocean to the west and south, with Russia further west across the Bering Strait....
, stretching from the Alaska Peninsula
Alaska Peninsula

The Alaska Peninsula is a peninsula extending about 800 km to the southwest from the mainland of Alaska and ending in the Aleutian Islands....
 and Kodiak Island
Kodiak Island

Kodiak Island is a large island on the south coast of the U.S. state of Alaska, separated from the Alaska mainland by the Shelikof Strait. The largest island in the Kodiak Archipelago and at 8975 km? in area, it is the List of islands of the United States by area and the List of islands by area....
 in the west to the Alexander Archipelago
Alexander Archipelago

The Alexander Archipelago is a three-hundred-mile-long archipelago, or group of islands, off the southeastern coast of Alaska. It contains about 1,100 islands, which are the tops of the submerged coastal mountains that rise steeply from the Pacific Ocean....
 in the east, where Glacier Bay
Glacier Bay

Glacier Bay is a bay in south-eastern Alaska, United States. It runs north northwest to south south-east for about 105 km between two pinchets of Alaska....
 and the Inside Passage
Inside Passage

The Inside Passage of the Alaska Panhandle and coastal British Columbia is a coastal route for oceangoing vessels along a series of passages between the mainland and the coastal islands....
 are found.

The entire shoreline of the Gulf is a rugged combination of forest, mountain, and a number of tidewater glaciers. Alaska's largest glaciers, the Malaspina Glacier
Malaspina Glacier

The Malaspina Glacier in southeastern Alaska is the largest piedmont glacier this far south in North America. It is about 65 km wide and 45 km long, with an area of some 3,900 km? ....
 and Bering Glacier
Bering Glacier

Bering Glacier is a glacier in the U.S. state of Alaska. It currently terminates in Vitus Lake south of Alaska?s Wrangell-St. Elias National Park, about 10 km from the Gulf of Alaska....
 spill out onto the coastal plain along the Gulf of Alaska. The coast is also heavily indented, with Cook Inlet
Cook Inlet

Cook Inlet stretches from the Gulf of Alaska to Anchorage, Alaska in south-central Alaska. Cook Inlet branches into the Knik Arm and Turnagain Arm at its northern end, almost surrounding Anchorage....
 and Prince William Sound
Prince William Sound

Prince William Sound is a Sound of the Gulf of Alaska on the south coast of the U.S. state of Alaska. It is located on the east side of the Kenai Peninsula....
 the two largest connected bodies of water, but also including Yakutat Bay
Yakutat Bay

Yakutat Bay is a 29-km-wide bay in the U.S. state of Alaska, extending southwest from Disenchantment Bay to the Gulf of Alaska. "Yakutat" is a Tlingit name reported as "Jacootat" and "Yacootat" by Yuri Lisianski in 1805....
 and Cross Sound
Cross Sound

Cross Sound is a passage in the Alexander Archipelago in the Alaska Panhandle of the U.S. state of Alaska, located between Chichagof Island to its south and the mainland to its north....
. Lituya Bay
Lituya Bay

Lituya Bay is a fjord located at in the U.S. state of Alaska. It is 14.5 km long and 3.2 km wide at its widest point. The bay was discovered in 1786 by Jean-Fran?ois de La P?rouse, who named it Port des Fran?ais....
, is the site of the largest recorded tsunami
Tsunami

A is a series of ocean surface wave that is created when a large volume of a body of water, such as an ocean, is rapidly displaced. The Japanese term is literally translated into " harbor wave."...
 in history, and is a popular sheltered anchorage for fishing boats.

Meteorologically, the Gulf is a great generator of storm
Storm

A storm is any disturbed state of an astronomical body's Celestial body atmosphere, especially affecting its surface, and strongly implying severe weather....
s. In addition to dumping vast quantities of snow and ice on southern Alaska, resulting in some of the largest concentrations south of the Arctic Circle
Arctic Circle

The Arctic Circle is one of the five major circle of latitude that mark maps of the Earth. It is the parallel of latitude that runs 66degree 33'39? north of the Equator....
, many of the storms move south along the coasts of British Columbia
British Columbia

British Columbia is the westernmost of Canada's Provinces and territories of Canada and is famed for its natural beauty, as reflected in its Latin motto, Splendor sine occasu ....
, Washington
Washington

Washington is a U.S. state in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. Washington was carved out of the western part of Washington Territory which had been ceded by Britain in 1846 by the Oregon Treaty as settlement of the Oregon Boundary Dispute....
, and Oregon
Oregon

Oregon is a U.S. state in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. The area was inhabited by many indigenous tribes before the arrival of traders, explorers and settlers....
. Much of the seasonal rainfall in the Pacific Northwest
Pacific Northwest

The Pacific Northwest is a region in the northwest of North America . There are several partially overlapping definitions but the term Pacific Northwest should not be confused with the Northwest Territory or the Northwest Territories of Canada....
 comes from the Gulf of Alaska.

See also

  • Kodiak-Bowie Seamount chain
    Kodiak-Bowie Seamount chain

    The Kodiak-Bowie Seamount chain, also called the Pratt-Welker Seamount chain, is a seamount chain in southeastern Gulf of Alaska stretching from the Aleutian Trench in the north to Bowie Seamount, the youngest volcano in the chain, which lies west of the Queen Charlotte Islands, British Columbia, Canada....