Puget Sound is a sound of the Pacific Northwest, an inlet of the Pacific Ocean, and part of the Salish Sea. It is located along the northwestern coast of the U.S. state of Washington. It is a complex estuarine system of interconnected marine waterways and basins, with one major and two minor connections to the open Pacific Ocean via the Strait of Juan de Fuca—Admiralty Inlet being the major connection and Deception Pass and Swinomish Channel being the minor.
A distributary, or a distributary channel, is a stream that branches off and flows away from a main stream channel. Distributaries are a common feature of river deltas. The phenomenon is known as river bifurcation. The opposite of a distributary is a tributary, which flows towards and joins another stream. Distributaries are often found where a stream approaches a lake or an ocean. They can also occur inland, on alluvial fans, or where a tributary stream bifurcates as it nears its confluence with a larger stream. In some cases, a minor distributary can divert so much water from the main channel that it can later become the main route.
Whatcom County is a county located in the northwestern corner of the U.S. state of Washington, bordered by the Canadian Lower Mainland to the north, Okanogan County to the east, Skagit County to the south, San Juan County across Rosario Strait to the southwest, and the Strait of Georgia to the west. Its county seat and largest population center is the coastal city of Bellingham, comprising the Bellingham, WA Metropolitan Statistical Area, and as of the 2020 census, the county's population was 226,847.
The Fraser River is the longest river within British Columbia, Canada, rising at Fraser Pass near Blackrock Mountain in the Rocky Mountains and flowing for 1,375 kilometres (854 mi), into the Strait of Georgia just south of the City of Vancouver. The river's annual discharge at its mouth is 112 cubic kilometres (27 cu mi) or 3,550 cubic metres per second (125,000 cu ft/s), and it discharges 20 million tons of sediment into the ocean.
The Chattahoochee River forms the southern half of the Alabama and Georgia border, as well as a portion of the Florida - Georgia border. It is a tributary of the Apalachicola River, a relatively short river formed by the confluence of the Chattahoochee and Flint rivers and emptying from Florida into Apalachicola Bay in the Gulf of Mexico. The Chattahoochee River is about 430 miles (690 km) long. The Chattahoochee, Flint, and Apalachicola rivers together make up the Apalachicola–Chattahoochee–Flint River Basin. The Chattahoochee makes up the largest part of the ACF's drainage basin.
The Strait of Georgia or the Georgia Strait is an arm of the Salish Sea between Vancouver Island and the extreme southwestern mainland coast of British Columbia, Canada and the extreme northwestern mainland coast of Washington, United States. It is approximately 240 kilometres (150 mi) long and varies in width from 20 to 58 kilometres. Along with the Strait of Juan de Fuca and Puget Sound, it is a constituent part of the Salish Sea.
The Santee River is a river in South Carolina in the United States, and is 143 miles (230 km) long. The Santee and its tributaries provide the principal drainage for the coastal areas of southeastern South Carolina and navigation for the central coastal plain of South Carolina, emptying into the Atlantic Ocean about halfway between Myrtle Beach and Charleston near the community of McClellanville. The farthest headwaters lie 440 miles (708 km) away on the Catawba River in North Carolina. Besides the Catawba, other principal rivers of the Santee watershed include the Congaree, Broad, Linville, Saluda and the Wateree. The watershed drains a large portion of the Piedmont regions of South and North Carolina. The Santee River is the second largest river on the eastern coast of the United States, second only to the Susquehanna River in drainage area and flow. Much of the upper river is impounded by the expansive, horn-shaped Lake Marion reservoir, formed by the 8-mile (13 km)-long Santee Dam. The dam was built during the Great Depression of the 1930s as a Works Progress Administration (WPA) project to provide a major source of hydroelectric power for the state of South Carolina.
The Nooksack River is a river in western Whatcom County of the northwestern U.S. state of Washington, draining extensive valley systems within the North Cascades around Mount Shuksan, Mount Baker and the Twin Sisters, and a portion of Fraser Lowland south of the Canada–United States border.
Burrard Inlet is a relatively shallow-sided fjord in northwestern Lower Mainland, British Columbia, Canada. Formed during the last Ice Age, it separates the City of Vancouver and the rest of the lowland Burrard Peninsula to the south from the coastal slopes of the North Shore Mountains, which span West Vancouver and the City and District of North Vancouver to the north.
The Burrard Peninsula is a peninsula in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia, Canada, bounded by the Burrard Inlet to the north, the Georgia Strait to the west, the North Arm of Fraser River to the south, and the Pitt River and Douglas Island to the east. The City of Vancouver occupies almost all of the western half of the peninsula, and the Cities of Burnaby and New Westminster occupy more than half of the eastern half. At its northeastern end, the peninsula is connected to the Eagle Mountain and Mount Burke of the Coast Mountains via a small isthmus at the center of the Tri-Cities.
A squamish is a strong and often violent wind occurring in many of the fjords, inlets and valleys of British Columbia. Squamishes occur in those fjords oriented in a northeast–southwest or east–west direction where cold polar air can be funneled westward, the opposite of how the wind generally flows on the Coast. These winds in winter can create high windchills by coastal standards of −20 to −30 °C. They are notable in Jervis, Toba, and Bute Inlets and in Dean Channel and the Portland Canal. Squamishes lose their strength when free of the confining fjords and are not noticeable more than 25 km offshore.
The South Branch Raritan River is a 50-mile-long (80 km) tributary of the Raritan River in New Jersey.
The Musqueam Indian Band is a First Nations band government in the Canadian province of British Columbia. It is the only First Nations band whose reserve community lies within the boundaries of the City of Vancouver.
Lulu Island is the name of the largest island in the estuary of the Fraser River, located south of Vancouver, British Columbia, and the second-most populous island in British Columbia, after Vancouver Island. The city of Richmond occupies most of the island, while a small section at the eastern tip, known as Queensborough, is part of the city of New Westminster.
Iona Island in Richmond, British Columbia, Canada was formerly an island, but is now a peninsula physically connected to Sea Island via a causeway and Ferguson Road. Iona is home to a primary sewage treatment plant, an animal refuge and a park. The Iona Sewage Plant is located near the centre of the island and has tours for the public. Iona Beach Regional Park also features a beach adjacent to wildlife from the nearby animal refuge. The park is managed by Metro Vancouver. Iona Island is located almost adjacent to the Vancouver International Airport. The park is mostly visited by birders, as the sewage ponds have attracted many rare shorebirds such as Spoon-billed Sandpiper, Great Knot, and Red-necked Stint.
Opened in 1931, the Canadian National Railway (CNR) steel truss swing span railway bridge over the north arm of the Fraser River in Metro Vancouver links Burnaby with Richmond and the south arm Vancouver Fraser Port Authority facilities on Lulu Island.
An anabranch is a section of a river or stream that diverts from the main channel or stem of the watercourse and rejoins the main stem downstream. Local anabranches can be the result of small islands in the watercourse. In larger anabranches, the flow can diverge for a distance of several kilometers before rejoining the main channel.
The Two Rivers is a 7.0-mile-long (11.3 km) river in Kittson County, northwestern Minnesota, in the United States. Formed by the North Branch of the Two Rivers and the South Branch of the Two Rivers, it is a tributary of the Red River of the North, with its outflow traveling north through Lake Winnipeg and the Nelson River to Hudson Bay.
The Sebec River is a tributary of the Piscataquis River in Piscataquis County, Maine. From the outflow of Sebec Lake in Sebec, the river runs 10.0 miles (16.1 km) east and southeast to its confluence with the Piscataquis in Milo.
Taylor Creek is a stream in Georgia, and is a tributary of the Chestatee River. The creek is approximately 3.66 miles (5.89 km) long.
