Natural Environment
A branch of the warm Kuroshio Current warms the bay, allowing it to host marine organisms typical of more southerly regions and giving a mild climate to the land bordering the bay. The maximum depth of the bay is about 1500 meters.
Organisms from sub-arctic regions are also advected into the bay by intrusions of the Oyashio Current resulting in a very high biodiversity. It is the major study site for research programs at the University of Tokyo (ORI) and the Japan Agency for Marine-Earth Science and Technology (JAMSTEC).
In 2004, soil samples from the bay were found to contain radioactive contamination from the Bikini Atoll nuclear tests that took place from 1946 to 1958.
Read more about this topic: Sagami Bay
Famous quotes containing the words natural and/or environment:
“Surely knowledge of the natural world, knowledge of the human condition, knowledge of the nature and dynamics of society, knowledge of the past so that one may use it in experiencing the present and aspiring to the future—all of these, it would seem reasonable to suppose, are essential to an educated man. To these must be added another—knowledge of the products of our artistic heritage that mark the history of our esthetic wonder and delight.”
—Jerome S. Bruner (20th century)
“We learn through experience and experiencing, and no one teaches anyone anything. This is as true for the infant moving from kicking to crawling to walking as it is for the scientist with his equations. If the environment permits it, anyone can learn whatever he chooses to learn; and if the individual permits it, the environment will teach him everything it has to teach.”
—Viola Spolin (b. 1911)