Is San Francisco Bay a bay or estuary?

The San Francisco Bay is the largest estuary on the west coast. It includes unparalleled marshes and mudflats along the shoreline that provide food and shelter to fish and wildlife and account for 77% of California’s remaining perennial estuarine wetlands.

What kind of estuary is the San Francisco Bay?

Freshwater flows define the San Francisco Bay estuary. As the place where fresh water and saltwater mix, the estuary provides a unique brackish water ecosystem for hundreds of plant and animal species – many found nowhere else on Earth.

How was the San Francisco Bay estuary formed?

The San Francisco Bay as we know it is a very young landform in geologic time. formed as a result of rising sea levels at the end of the last ice age.

Is the bay Area fresh water?

San Francisco Bay and Estuary. The Bay’s shoreline is approximately half the length of the California coastline. The mixture of salt and fresh water is the foundation of the Bay’s biological diversity and richness. The San Francisco Bay is the largest estuary on the west coast.

Why is San Francisco Bay water so cold?

The chill is in part a result of San Francisco’s location between the ocean and the Central Valley, according to Diana Henderson, a forecaster with the National Weather Service Forecast Office for the San Francisco Bay Area/Monterey. To the west, the marine layer sits above the cold Pacific.

Are there sharks in SF bay?

Around 11 species of Sharks are found in the Bay itself – including Leopard Shark, Pacific Angel Shark, Brown Smoothhound, Broadnose Sevengill, Soupfin Shark. The Leopard Shark is the most common in the Bay. Small Spiny Dogfish are found swimming on the bottom of the Bay.

How big is the San Francisco Estuary watershed?

About the Estuary The San Francisco Estuary is the largest estuary on the west coast of North America. Its watershed extends from the ridgeline of the Sierra Nevada mountains to the strait of the Golden Gate, including almost 60,000 square miles and nearly 40% of California.

Where is the South Bay estuary in San Francisco?

The more shallow South Bay extends south into quiet backwaters surrounded by restored marshes, salt ponds, and office parks and lagoon communities. Upstream of the Bay, the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta is a 1,000 square-mile triangle of diked and drained wetlands.

What do you need to know about the San Francisco Bay?

SFEWS provides credible scientific information on California’s complex water issues, linking new science to policy with great effect. SFEWS retains a regional focus on the San Francisco Bay and the…

What are the needs of a healthy estuary?

A healthy Estuary needs more freshwater flows through the system, more flooding in the right places, more space for habitats and species and connections between those spaces, more sediment moving through watersheds, and less hardscape, among many needs.