Vital Narragansett Bay Statistics
- Length:25 miles (40 kilometers).Smoke on the bayNarragansett Bay in the winter
- Width:10 miles (16 kilometers).
- Surface Area:147 square miles.
- Volume:706 billion gallons (2.7 billion cubic meters) at mid-tide.
- Average Depth:26 feet (7.8 meters).
- Deepest Point:184 feet (56 meters) in East Passage off Castle Hill.
- Shoreline:256 miles (412 kilometers) including island shorelines.
- Watershed Area:1,853 square miles (4,081 square kilometers); 60% in Massachusetts, 40% in Rhode Island.
- Average Salinity:The average surface salinity ranges from 24 (upper bay) to 32 (towards Ocean) parts part thousand (ppt).
- Daily Freshwater Input, Rivers:2.1 billion gallons.
- Daily Freshwater Input, All Sources:2.4 billion gallons.
- Largest Rivers Entering Narragansett Bay:Pawtuxet, Blackstone, Taunton. Average Temperature (mid-Bay): 32F in the winter, 69F in the summer.
- Average Flushing Time:26 days.
- Tidal Range:3 to 4 feet every 12 hours; tide takes about 20 minutes to move up the Bay from Newport to Providence.
- Prevailing Winds:From the southwest in summer; from the northwest in winter.
- Population:Approximately 1.8 million people live in the watershed: 887,863 in Rhode Island; 949,465 in Massachusetts.
- Tourism:More than 12 million people visit Narragansett Bay each year.
See Also
Surf Captain