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 related to natural environment:
“Under weak government, in a wide, thinly populated country, in the struggle against the raw natural environment and with the free play of economic forces, unified social groups become the transmitters of culture.”
—Johan Huizinga (1872–1945)