Rhode Island Sound is asound off the coast of theU.S. state ofRhode Island at the mouth ofNarragansett Bay. It begins east ofBlock Island Sound, continues to the east toBuzzards Bay, and opens south into theAtlantic Ocean betweenBlock Island andMartha's Vineyard. The sound forms part of theIntracoastal Waterway.
Geographically, Rhode Island Sound begins to the east ofBlock Island Sound, and continues toBuzzards Bay in the east. The Rhode Island Sound is approximately 2,500 km2 (970 sq mi) and has a maximum depth of 60 metres (200 ft). Average wave heights range from one to three metres (3.3 to 9.8 ft). Circulation and current strength are mostly impacted by the surrounding geology and not by wind strength. This causes the sea floor habitats in the Rhode Island Sound to be constantly changing.[1]
Studies conducted in 2006 by the Coastal Marine and Geology Program and the Long Island Sound Resource Center useddigital terrain models to make topographical depictions of unknown glacial features and bedforms. Newfound glacial features include an ice-sculptured bedrock surface, residual stagnant-ice-contact deposits, arecessional moraine, and exposed glaciolacustrine sediments. Modernbedforms consist of fields of transversesand waves, barchanoid waves, giant scour depressions, andpockmarks). Bedform asymmetry from multibeam bathymetric data indicate that net sediment transport is westward across the northern part of the study area nearFishers Island, and eastward across the southern part nearGreat Gull Island.[2]
Kelp population density is higher in the Rhode Island Sound compared to other temperate locations, particularly locations north of Rhode Island. However, even though annual kelp production is higher, the productivity of individual plants is lower due to lower biomass accumulation offucoid algae. Studies conducted by Pilson, Asare, and Harlin between 1983 and 1985 illustrated that algal species such asLaminaria saccharina living in Rhode Island Sound waters have maximum nitrogen accumulation in their tissues, which directly correlates with maximum ambient inorganic nitrogen levels in tissues of other algal species as well. The cause of this is majorly impacted by large temporal fluctuations in the Rhode Island waters.[3]
In 2008, research conducted by the University of Rhode Island, Graduate School of Oceanography, shows that there is an increase in the abundance of atunicate species,Didemnum. The species has been spotted in the Rhode Island Sound area since 2000, but has been rapidly increasing in numbers ever since.[4]
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41°26′00″N71°12′58″W / 41.43333°N 71.21611°W /41.43333; -71.21611
