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Ungava Bay

  (ŭn-gā'və, -gä'-) pronunciation

An inlet of Hudson Strait in northeast Quebec, Canada, between northern Labrador and Ungava Peninsula, which is bordered on the west by Hudson Bay.

 

 
 

Inlet, southern Hudson Strait, northeastern Quebec, Canada. It is about 200 mi (320 km) long and 160 mi (260 km) wide at its mouth, with a maximum depth of 978 ft (298 m). Fed by several large rivers, including the Feuilles, Arnaud, Baleine, and George, it is ice-free only four months a year. At its mouth, Akpatok Island (551 sq mi [1,427 sq km]) rises to 930 ft (283 m).

For more information on Ungava Bay, visit Britannica.com.

 
(ŭng''və, –gā') , inlet of the Atlantic Ocean, N Que., Canada, extending c.200 mi (320 km) S from Hudson Strait between the N Quebec mainland and the north tip of the Labrador peninsula. It is 160 mi (257 km) wide at its mouth.


 
Wikipedia: Ungava Bay
Ungava Bay.
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Ungava Bay.

Ungava Bay (French: baie d'Ungava, Inuktitut (Roman/Syllabics) ᐅᖓᕙ ᑲᖏᖅᓗᒃ/ungava kangiqluk) is a large bay in northeastern Canada separating Nunavik (far northern Québec) from Baffin Island. The bay is shaped like a rounded square with a side length of about 180 km (110 mi) and has an area of approximately 33,000 km² (12,700 mi²). It is generally fairly shallow, though at its border with the Atlantic Ocean depths of 300 metres (980 feet) are reached.

There are a number of islands within Ungava Bay. The largest, Akpatok Island, and others north of 60° N are part of the territory of Nunavut, whilst smaller islands south of 60° N belong to Québec.

Although it is quite close to the open Atlantic (separated only by Hudson Strait), Ungava Bay is generally considered part of the Arctic because the land surrounding it has an exceedingly cold climate. Due to the influence of the Labrador Current, summers are too cold for tree growth and all the land surrounding the bay is treeless tundra. Typically, temperatures in summer at Kuujjuaq about twenty kilometres up the Koksoak River are about 7°C (44°F), whilst winter temperatures are about –20°C (–4°F). Precipitation averages around 400–450 mm (16-18 in) per year, most of it falling in the summer.

Ungava Bay is surrounded by numerous Inuit villages, the largest of which is Kuujjuaq at the mouth of the Koksoak River. Iron ore has been mined in the past, but despite the high grade of the ores the impossibility of cheap transportation meant that mining was discontinued early in the twentieth century. Traditional Inuit hunting activities still dominate the region's life, along with expensive adventure tourism.

The southwestern corner of Ungava Bay, along with Bay of Fundy, has either the highest or second-highest tidal ranges in the world. Some sources estimate the spring tide range at the mouth of the Leaf River (Rivière aux Feuilles) as being as high as 17 m or 56 ft. Attempts have been made to develop tidal power in the bay, but this is made difficult by the harsh climate and the fact that the bay is ice-free for only a small part of the year.

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Coordinates: 59°00′N, 67°30′W


 
 

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Copyrights:

Dictionary. The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition Copyright © 2007, 2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Updated in 2007. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.  Read more
Britannica Concise Encyclopedia. Britannica Concise Encyclopedia. © 2006 Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc. All rights reserved.  Read more
Columbia Encyclopedia. The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition Copyright © 2003, Columbia University Press. Licensed from Columbia University Press. All rights reserved. www.cc.columbia.edu/cu/cup/  Read more
Wikipedia. This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Ungava Bay" Read more

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