Hood Canal separates the Kitsap Peninsula and the Olympic Peninsula.

Hood Canal is a fjord off Puget Sound in the U.S. state of Washington. A fjord or fiord (fjɔːd|fiːɔːd or fiːɔːd is a long narrow Inlet with steep sides created in a valley carved by glacial activity. Puget Sound (ˈpjuːʤᵻt is an arm of the Pacific Ocean, connected to the rest of the Pacific by the Strait of Juan de Fuca, in the Pacific Northwest A US state is any one of the fifty subnational entities of the United States of America that share Sovereignty with the federal government Washington ( is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. It is sometimes considered to be one of the four main basins of Puget Sound. ^[1]

Geography

Great Bend of Hood Canal from the southeast

Hood Canal is long and narrow, with an average width of 1. 5 miles (2. 4 km) and an mean depth of 53. 8 metres (177 ft). It has 342. 6 kilometres (212. 9 mi) of shoreline and 42. 4 square kilometres (16. 4 sq mi) of tideland. Its surface area is 385. 6 square kilometres (148. 9 sq mi) and it contains a volume of water totaling 209,000 cubic metres (7,400,000 cu ft). ^[1] Hood Canal extends for about 50 miles (80 km) southwest from the entrance between Foulweather Bluff and Tala Point to Union, where it turns sharply to the northeast, a stretch called The Great Bend. Union is a small unincorporated community in Mason County, Washington, United States. It continues for about 15 miles (24 km) to Belfair, where it ends in shallow tidelands called Lynch Cove. Belfair is an unincorporated community in Mason County, Washington, United States.

Hood Canal separates the Kitsap Peninsula from the Olympic Peninsula for its entire length. The Kitsap Peninsula is an arm of land that is part of the larger Olympic Peninsula in Washington Geography The Olympic Peninsula is home to some of the only Temperate rain forests in the world including the Hoh, Queets, and Quinault The U.S. Navy's Naval Base Kitsap, Bangor Annex, is located on the eastern shore of Hood Canal near Silverdale. Naval Base Kitsap is a US Navy base located on the Kitsap Peninsula in Washington state Silverdale is a Census-designated place (CDP in Kitsap County, Washington, in the United States. Hood Canal has several internal bays, the largest of which is Dabob Bay. Most of Dabob Bay is a Naval Restricted Area, used by the submarines stationed at Bangor. Quilcene Bay is an inlet extending northwest from Dabob Bay. Near the north end of Hood Canal is Port Gamble, a bay and a town of the same name. Port Gamble is an unincorporated community on the northwestern shore of the Kitsap Peninsula in Kitsap County, Washington, United States

Several rivers flow into Hood Canal, mostly from the Olympic Peninsula, including the Skokomish River, Hamma Hamma River, Duckabush River, Dosewallips River, and Big Quilcene River. The Skokomish River is a River in Washington, United States. Geography The Skokomish River originates by draining the southeast corner The Hamma Hamma River is a river on the Olympic Peninsula in the U The Duckabush River is located in the Olympic Peninsula in Washington, USA. The Dosewallips River (pronounced " doh'-si-wall-ips " is a River situated on the Olympic Peninsula in the U The Big Quilcene River is a River on the Olympic Peninsula in the U

History

Hood Canal from Camp Parsons Boy Scout Camp

Hood Canal was named by Royal Navy Captain George Vancouver for Admiral Lord Samuel Hood on May 13, 1792. The Royal Navy of the United Kingdom is the oldest of the British armed services (and is therefore known as the Senior Service) Captain George Vancouver For other related uses see Admiral Hood Samuel Hood 1st Viscount Hood ( 12 December 1724 &ndash 27 January Events 1497 - Pope Alexander VI excommunicates Girolamo Savonarola. Year 1792 ( MDCCXCII) was a Leap year starting on Sunday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar (or a Leap year Vancouver used the name "Hood's Channel" in his journal, but "Hood's Canal" on his charts. The U. S. Geographic Board decided on "Hood Canal" as the official name in 1932. ^[2][3]

Roads and bridges

U.S. Route 101 runs along the west shore of Hood Canal, south of Quilcene. Quilcene is a Census-designated place (CDP in Jefferson County, Washington, United States.

Hood Canal is spanned by the Hood Canal Bridge, the third longest floating bridge in the world at 6,521 feet (1,988 m). The Hood Canal Bridge is located in Washington state in the USA on State Route 104 and connects the Olympic Peninsula and the Kitsap Peninsula According to the Washington State Department of transportation, the Hood Canal Bridge is the only floating bridge constructed on saltwater,^[4] although there are others, such as Nordhordland Bridge and Bergsøysund Bridge. Nordhordland Bridge ( Norwegian: Nordhordlandsbrua) is a bridge that crosses Salhusfjorden between the mainland and Flatøy in Hordaland Bergsøysund Bridge (Bergsøysundbrua is a Pontoon bridge that crosses Bergsøysundet between Aspøya and Bergsøya in Møre og Romsdal The Hood Canal Bridge accommodates sixteen and a half foot tides.

Recreation

There are several state parks ^[5] on the shores of Hood Canal including Belfair, Twanoh, Potlatch, Triton Cove, Scenic Beach, Dosewallips, Kitsap Memorial, and Shine Tidelands.

Low oxygen levels

September of 2006 marked the discovery of the largest dead zone in the history of Hood Canal. This page is about the oceanic phenomenon see Dead Zone for other uses The dead zone may have been caused by low oxygen levels due to algal blooms. Oxygen (from the Greek roots ὀξύς (oxys (acid literally "sharp" from the taste of acids and -γενής (-genēs (producer literally begetteris the An algal bloom is a rapid increase in the population of Algae in an aquatic system ^[6] Algal blooms occur in part because of warm weather and the slow turnover of water in the southern end of the canal, causing the build-up of nutrients from fertilizers and leaky septic systems. The weather is a set of all the phenomena occurring in a given Atmosphere at a given Time. A nutrient is food or chemicals that an organism needs to live and grow or a substance used in an organism's metabolism which must be taken in from its environment Fertilizers ( also spelt fertiliser are chemical compounds given to Plants to promote growth they are usually applied either through the soil for uptake by plant When the algae die, bacteria feed and their populations explode, robbing the water of oxygen. The Bacteria ( singular: bacterium) are a large group of unicellular Microorganisms Typically a few Micrometres in length bacteria have The fish kill may also be part of a natural 50-year cycle of oxygen levels in the canal. ^[7]

In May 2006, divers searching for invasive species discovered a mat of marine bacteria covering a four-mile stretch where all normal sea life was dead. Introduced species|Weed Invasive species is a phrase with several definitions The mat dissipated five months later. ^[8] Jan Newton, oceanographer at the University of Washington, said it was important to note that Hood Canal has had very low oxygen for a long time. See Washington (disambiguation for other uses The University of Washington, founded in 1861, is a public research University Similar mats have been found near Tacoma, Washington; San Diego, California; New York City; and New Orleans, Louisiana. The City of New York New Orleans (nʲuːˈɔrliənz nʲuːˈɔrlənz French: La Nouvelle-Orléans) is a major United States port city and the largest city in Louisiana ^[8]

The oxygen level may also be partially due to a simple change in wind direction. The prevailing north wind generally pushes oxygenated water into the oxygen-depleted area. A sustained south wind will cut off this source of oxygen. ^[6][7]

The Hood Canal Dissolved Oxygen Program has been formed by 38 groups to try to combat the problem.

External links

• Official Tourism Web Site for the Hood Canal

References

Coordinates: 47°48′N 122°42′W / 47.8, -122.7