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Mississippi Sound
Mississippi Sound extends from Lake Borgne, Louisiana to Mobile Bay, Alabama, spanning the entire Gulf coast of the state of Mississippi. The Sound is separated from the Gulf of Mexico by a series of narrow islands and sand bars including Cat, Ship, Horn, Petit Bois and Dauphin islands. Water exchange with the Gulf takes place through numerous passes. Numerous coastal bays are contained within the system including St. Louis Bay, Biloxi Bay, Pascagoula Bay and Grand Bay. The Escatawpa, Pascagoula, Tchoutacabouffa, Biloxi, Wolf and Jourdan Rivers (east to west) provide freshwater to the estuary. The Mississippi Department of Natural Resources maintains over 20 marine reserves in the area, and the protected areas of these islands form a portion of the Gulf Islands National Seashore (see link below). 
Coordinates: 30.39° N 89.07° W Selected Characteristics: (USEPA, 1999) Surface Area: 4,792 km2 Drainage Area: 69,700 km2 Average Daily FW Inflow: 1,235 m3/s Average Depth: 4.0 m Average Salinity: 24 ppt Coastal Wetlands: 4,326 km2 Submerged Aquatic Vegetation: 121 km2 References: USFW, 1982. Gulf Coast Ecological Inventory Map; Mobile- Ala., Miss., LA. area. U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. USEPA. 1999. Ecological condition of estuaries in the Gulf of Mexico. EPA 620-R-98-004. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Office of Research and Development, National Health and Environmental Effects Research Laboratory, Gulf Ecology Division, Gulf Breeze, Florida. 80 pp. Additional Information: The Mississippi Department of Marine Resources National Estuarine Research Reserve System - Grand Bay Reserve Mississippi-Alabama Sea Grant Consortium National Park Service - Gulf Islands National Seashore Mississippi Wildlife, Fisheries & Parks - Buccaneer State Park Mississippi Sandhill Crane National Wildlife Refuge U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service - Grand Bay National Wildlife Refuge Keywords: Bays, Estuaries, Islands, Marine, Reserve, Mississippi Sound |
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Harte
Research Institute for Gulf of Mexico Studies at Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi.
To give proper credit to the original authors, please cite information taken from GulfBase by the original source as displayed. 
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M. Nipper, J.A. Sánchez Chávez,
and J.W. Tunnell, Jr., Editors. 2010.
GulfBase: Resource Database for Gulf of Mexico Research.
World Wide
Web electronic publication. http://www.gulfbase.org, 29 July 2010. |
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