Gulf of Alaska Facts for Kids

The Gulf of Alaska is found in the North Pacific Ocean.

The Gulf of Alaska stretches from Kodiak Island and the Alaska Peninsula to the Alexander Archipelago which is located at the Glacier Bay.

The Gulf follows Alaska’s southern coast curve and is home to several deep-water corals which has led to the Gulf of Alaska being regarded as a Habitat Area of Particular Concern.

Gulf of Alaska Facts for Kids

• The Gulf of Alaska has a shore that comprises majorly tidewater glaciers, mountains, and several forests.
• The largest glaciers you will find in the Gulf of Alaska include the Malaspina Glacier and the Bering Glacier. The glaciers spill out along the coastline of the Gulf of Alaska.
• The coast of the Gulf of Alaska has many indents such as the Cook Inlet which stretches as long as 310 kilometers, and the Prince William Sound.
• The Lituya Bay which is located along the coast of the Gulf of Alaska is the region where the largest tsunami ever recorded happened.

• Often times, fishing boats are anchored there for the purpose of shelter.
• Highly regarded as a productive ecosystem, the Gulf of Alaska has been categorized as a Class I based on the SeaWiFS.
• The Gulf of Alaska is the source of vast amounts of seasonal rain that falls on the southwestern United States and the Pacific Northwest.
• Also, the Gulf of Alaska has been considered as a generator of storms as lots of snows and ice are dumped in the southern region of Alaska. It has been noted that certain storms reach from British Columbia to as far as Southern California.
• One of the things the Gulf of Alaska is famous for is that it has two kinds of water. The Natural Bluewater and the heavy sediment water.
• Other storms arising from the Gulf of Alaska have moved toward the coasts of Oregon and Washington.

• Two oceans meet in the middle of the Gulf of Alaska. Rather than the two oceans mixing, they are crashing. The two oceans which are of different geographical regions also have distinct temperatures, density, salinity, and receive different amounts of direct sunlight. This has been said as the reason why both oceans meet together but do not mix together.

Frequently Asked Questions

1. What is a Habitat Area of Particular Concern?

Answer: A Habitat Area of Particular Concern is a designated location that comprises distinct subdivisions of Essential Fish Habitat that provide extremely important ecological functions or are especially susceptible to degradation.

2. What is the SeaWiFS

Answer: SeaWiFS means Sea-Viewing Wide Field-of-View Sensors. It was a satellite-borne sensor that was developed to retrieve global ocean biological data. It was active between September 1997 to December 2010.

3. Do the two oceans mix together in the Gulf of Alaska?

Answer No, because they have different salinity, temperature, density, and other geographic features also differ.