Kenneth Cooperstein wrote: > > Ralph Diaz wrote: > <The waters here are blessed by strong currents that come in from the Atlantic and Long Island Sound.> > > I believe that there is a place of zero current beween the Whitestone and Throggs Neck bridges past which no significant eastern L.I. Sound water flows. So the only "new" water that comes into NY Harbor is from the lower bay and the Hudson. > > Ken Cooperstein You are absolutely right. The waters from Long Island Sound peter out at about where you cite. The waters coming in from the Atlantic also peter out there. Aside from some minute mixing in that area of convergence, water from Long Island Sound would never penetrate into the harbor which is well to the south. For those not familiar with the area, Long Island is about 100 miles long thrusting eastward into the Atlantic. Long Island Sound separates Long Island from the New England coastline. Water comes into Long Island Sound from the Atlantic on the flood tide and goes westward all the way to the area of the Bronx, the upper part of the East River mentioned by Ken (which is really not a river but an estuary or tidal strait). Meanwhile, flood tide water also enters the city area from the south coming in directly through what is called the Lower Bay and into the Upper Bay, aka New York Harbor. That Atlantic water then floods up the East River to its meeting with the water from Long Island Sound. Up until 15,000-18,000 years ago before I started paddling, this was not the case. Long Island Sound was a long large lake cut off from the Atlantic by a glacial moraine at its eastern end. New York Harbor also had a glacial moraine separating it from the Atlantic. With rising sea levels both moraines were breached by the ocean. The Hudson River became a "drowned" river so that now the ocean currents on the flood are felt pretty much all the way up to Albany, some 150 miles from the city. ralph -- ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Ralph Diaz . . . Folding Kayaker newsletter PO Box 0754, New York, NY 10024 Tel: 212-724-5069; E-mail: rdiaz_at_ix.netcom.com "Where's your sea kayak?"----"It's in the bag." ----------------------------------------------------------------------- *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List - All postings copyright the author and not to be reproduced outside PaddleWise without author's permission Submissions: paddlewise_at_lists.intelenet.net Subscriptions: paddlewise-request_at_lists.intelenet.net Website: http://www.paddlewise.net/ ***************************************************************************
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