Cook Inlet
Encyclopedia : C : CO : COO : Cook Inlet
The Cook Inlet or Nuti is a large inlet of the Gulf of Alaska in south-central Alaska. It stretches for approximately 195 miles or 310 kilometers southwest to northeast, separating the Kenai Peninsula from mainland Alaska. It branches into the Knik Arm and Turnagain Arm at its northern end, on either side of Anchorage.
The inlet was first explored by Europeans in 1778 when James Cook sailed into it while searching for the Northwest Passage. It was named after Cook in 1794 by George Vancouver, who had served under Cook in 1778. Turnagain Arm was named by William Bligh of HMS Bounty fame. Bligh served as Cook's Sailing Master on his 3rd and final voyage, with the aim to discover the Northwest Passage. Upon reaching the head of Cook Inlet, Bligh was of the opinion that both Knik Arm and Turnagain Arm were the mouths of rivers and not the opening to the Northwest Passage. Under Cook's orders Bligh organized a party to travel up Knik Arm, which quickly returned to report Knik Arm indeed lead only to a river. Afterwards a second party was dispatched up Turnagain Arm and it too returned to report only a river lay ahead. As a result of this frustration the second body of water was given the disingenous name "Turn Again". Early maps label Turnagain Arm as the "Turnagain River".
Its watershed covers about 40,000 square miles or 100,000 km² of southern Alaska east of the Aleutian Range and south of the Alaska Range, receiving the Susitna and Matanuska rivers. The watershed includes the drainage areas of Mount McKinley. Within the watershed there are four active volcanoes and national parks. The inlet provides navigable access to the port of Anchorage at its northern end, and smaller Homer further south. Approximately 400,000 people live within the Cook Inlet watershed.
The Cook Inlet basin contains large oil and gas deposits including several offshore fields. [link] As of 2005 there were 16 platforms in Cook Inlet, the oldest of which is the XTO A platform first installed by Shell in 1964, and newest of which is the Osprey platform installed by Forest Oil in 2000. Most of the platforms are operated by Union Oil [link], which was acquired by Chevron in 2005. There are also numerous oil and gas pipelines running around and under the Cook Inlet. The main destinations of the gas pipelines are to Kenai where the gas is primarily used to fuel commercial fertilizer production [link] and a liquified natural gas (LNG) plant and to Anchorage where the gas is consumed largely for domestic uses [link].
The Cook inlet Beluga whale is a genetically–distinct and geographically–isolated stock [link]. The population has fallen to around 400, apparently due to hunting by Alaska Natives. [link] Cook Inlet activities include commercial fishing, oil and gas development, municipal discharges, noise from aircraft and ships, shipping traffic, and tourism. However, no indication currently exists that these activities have had a quantifiable adverse impact on the beluga whale population. Id. In 2000, the US National Marine Fisheries Service listed the Cook Inlet beluga whale population as depleted and began development of a conservation plan. [link]
Turnagain Arm is one of only about 60 bodies of water worldwide to exhibit a tidal bore. The bore may be more than six feet high and travel at 15 miles per hour on high spring tides. On a typical day, Turnagain Arm sees tides of more than 30 feet, second in North America to Canada's Bay of Fundy. The ocean's natural 12-hour 25-minute tidal cycle is close to Turnagain Arm's natural resonant frequency, which then reinforces the tide similar to water sloshing in a bathtub. Tidal fluctuations in the main body of Cook Inlet, while not as extreme as the shallow and narrow Turnagain Arm, regularly reach 25 feet and exhibit currents in excess of 5 knots at full tidal flow. The inlet and its arms have been proposed as a potentially attractive site for the generation of tidal power.
Turnagain Arm and Knik Arm are known for their abundance of silt. At low tide, the arms' silty bottoms are exposed, making marine navigation impossible. These so-called mudflats are also dangerous to walk on, exhibiting quicksand-like characteristics, and have claimed the limbs and lives of several beach explorers who have wandered out on them. For this reason cruise ships dock at Seward or Whittier in Prince William Sound and transport passengers via bus or train to Anchorage. However, over 95% of freight entering Alaska comes through the Port of Anchorage, which is served by major container ship companies and other carriers.
From Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia. Original article here. Support Wikipedia by contributing or donating.
All text is available under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License See Wikipedia Copyrights for details.