Northumberland Strait

This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. Find sources: "Northumberland Strait" – news · newspapers · books · scholar · JSTOR (February 2013) (Learn how and when to remove this template message)

46°05′N 63°35′W / 46.083°N 63.583°W / 46.083; -63.583

The Northumberland Strait (French: détroit de Northumberland) is a

Hydrography

The Northumberland Strait varies in depth between 17 and 65 metres, with the deepest waters at either end. The tidal patterns are complex; the eastern end has the usual two tides per day, with a tidal range of 1.2 to 1.8 metres, while the western end effectively has only one tide per day.^[1][2]

The strait's shallow depths lend to warm water temperatures in summer months, with some areas reaching 25°C, or 77°F. Consequently, the strait is reportedly home to the warmest ocean water temperatures in Canada, and some of the warmest ocean water temperatures on the Atlantic coast north of Virginia.

There are many sandy beaches along both the northern and southern coasts of the strait. These beaches, found in New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island, and Nova Scotia, are very popular with tourists.

During the winter months between December and April, sea ice covers the entire strait and Gulf of St. Lawrence.

Geomorphology

While the western shores of

Settlements

Major communities on the strait include the cities of

Shipping

The Northumberland Strait is a minor shipping route, with ports such as Pugwash shipping salt, Summerside, Charlottetown, Georgetown and Souris shipping agricultural products and receiving petroleum and aggregate, and Pictou shipping forestry products and general cargo. Shipping has declined in recent decades with the decline of rail service to ports and the increased capacity of highways to larger ports outside the Gulf of St. Lawrence, which freezes in the winter.

Cruise ships regularly visit Charlottetown during summer and fall, and since 2012 a few smaller cruise ships have been visiting Pictou, NS.^[3]

Confederation Bridge

The narrowest part of the strait, the 13-kilometre (7–nautical mile) wide

• Northumberland Ferries Limited operates a passenger/vehicle service between Caribou, Nova Scotia and Wood Islands, Prince Edward Island.
• A passenger-only ferry service operates from
  Pictou Island
  .
• Cap-aux-Meules, Quebec
  .

All three ferry services are located in the eastern end of the strait and operate during the ice-free months from May - December.

There was a year-round ferry service that operated in the central/western part of the strait across

Swim-related details about crossings, tides, currents, marine life, and navigation can be found at OpenWaterPedia's Northumberland Strait page.

There have been several documented unassisted swim crossings of the strait, although there is no official body to verify these claims. All documented single and double crossings except one have been at the western end of the strait across the Abegweit Passage.

The first documented single crossing of

There have been two documented single-day double crossings of Abegweit Passage (approximately 27 kilometres (15 nmi)) with assistance to date:

• Jennifer Alexander of
  Borden, PEI.^[6]
• Kristin Roe of
  Borden, PEI.^[7]

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Northumberland Strait.

• Natural History of Nova Scotia - Northumberland Strait (Nova Scotia Museum)
• DFO Gulf Region Working Group on the Northumberland Strait Archived 2006-12-08 at the Wayback Machine
• CBC.CA 2007-02-21 "Northumberland Strait ecosystem in trouble"
• Northumberland Strait Ecosystem Overview and Assessment Report