Atlantic Ocean - Bay Of FundyThe Bay of Fundy is a bay located on the Atlantic coast of North America, on the northeast end of the Gulf of Maine between the Canadian provinces of New Brunswick and Nova Scotia, with a small portion touching the U.S. state of Maine. The Bay of Fundy is best well known for having the greatest difference in water level between its high and low tides in the world. The name 'Fundy' is thought to date back to the 16th century when the Portuguese referred to the bay as 'Rio Fundo' or 'deep river'.
Folklore claims that the tides in the Bay of Fundy are caused by a giant whale splashing in the water. Oceanographers attribute it to tidal resonance resulting from a coincidence of timing: the time it takes a large wave to go from the mouth of the bay to the opposite end and back is the same as the time from one high tide to the next. In other words, the 12.4 hour period of the lunar tides is close to the natural sloshing period of the bay, so the moon sloshes it as if it were a bathtub. The highest water level ever recorded in the Bay of Fundy system occurred at the head of the Minas Basin on the night of October 4–5, 1869 during a tropical cyclone named the “Saxby Gale”. The water level of 21.6 metres resulted from the combination of high winds, abnormally low atmospheric pressure, and a spring tide. There have been several proposals to build tidal harnesses (capturing the energy contained in moving water mass due to tides) for electrical power generation put forward in recent decades. Such proposals have mainly involved building barrages which effectively dam off a smaller arm of the bay and extract power from water flowing through them. However,damming a large arm of the Bay of Fundy would have significant and not well-understood effects both within the dammed bay itself and in the surrounding regions. Inter tidal habitats would be drastically affected and a facility would bring the bay closer to resonance, increasing tidal range over a very large area. One effect could be an increase in tidal range of 0.2 metre (from approximately 1 metre) for certain coastal sites in Maine, possibly leading to flooding. Fundy bay is home to several islands, the largest of which is Grand Manan Island at the boundary with the Gulf of Maine. Other important islands on the north side of the bay include Campobello Island, Moose Island, and Deer Island in the Passamaquoddy Bay area. Brier Island and Long Island can be found on the south side of the bay while Isle Haut is located in the upper bay off Cape Chignecto. Smaller islands and islets also exist in Passamaquoddy Bay, Back Bay, and Annapolis Basin. The Five Islands, in the Minas Basin, are particularly scenic. The bay receives the waters of several rivers, including: New Brunswick Magaguadavic River Annapolis River The bay's extreme tidal range causes several interesting phenomena in the various rivers which empty into it. One phenomenon which occurs in these rivers of the upper bay is a "tidal bore", whereby the river flow is completely reversed by the rising tide.
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