South Atlantic Bight
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The South Atlantic Bight is a
bight The word is derived from Old English ''byht'' (“bend, angle, corner; bay, bight”). In modern English, bight may refer to: * Bight (geography), recess of a coast, bay, or other curved feature * Bight (knot), a curved section, slack part, or loo ...
in the
United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...
coastline extending from
Cape Hatteras Cape Hatteras is a cape located at a pronounced bend in Hatteras Island, one of the barrier islands of North Carolina. As a temperate barrier island, the landscape has been shaped by wind, waves, and storms. There are long stretches of beach ...
, North Carolina to the Upper
Florida Keys The Florida Keys are a coral island, coral cay archipelago off the southern coast of Florida, forming the southernmost part of the continental United States. They begin at the southeastern coast of the Florida peninsula, about south of Miami a ...
. The Bight forms the western boundary of the
Sargasso Sea The Sargasso Sea () is a region of the Atlantic Ocean bounded by four currents forming an ocean gyre. Unlike all other regions called seas, it is the only one without land boundaries. It is distinguished from other parts of the Atlantic Oc ...
and the
Gulf Stream The Gulf Stream is a warm and swift Atlantic ocean current that originates in the Gulf of Mexico and flows through the Straits of Florida and up the eastern coastline of the United States, then veers east near 36°N latitude (North Carolin ...
ocean current forms the eastern boundary of the ecosystem of the bight. Major cities along the bight include from north to south: Wilmington,
Myrtle Beach Myrtle Beach is a resort city on the East Coast of the United States in Horry County, South Carolina. It is located in the center of a long and continuous stretch of beach known as the " Grand Strand” in the northeastern part of the state. It ...
, Charleston,
Savannah A savanna or savannah is a mixed woodland-grassland (i.e. grassy woodland) biome and ecosystem characterised by the trees being sufficiently widely spaced so that the canopy does not close. The open canopy allows sufficient light to reach th ...
, Jacksonville,
St. Augustine Augustine of Hippo ( , ; ; 13 November 354 – 28 August 430) was a theologian and philosopher of Berber origin and the bishop of Hippo Regius in Numidia, Roman North Africa. His writings deeply influenced the development of Western philosop ...
,
West Palm Beach West Palm Beach is a city in and the county seat of Palm Beach County, Florida, United States. It is located immediately to the west of the adjacent Palm Beach, Florida, Palm Beach, which is situated on a barrier island across the Lake Worth Lag ...
,
Fort Lauderdale Fort Lauderdale ( ) is a coastal city located in the U.S. state of Florida, north of Miami along the Atlantic Ocean. It is the county seat of and most populous city in Broward County with a population of 182,760 at the 2020 census, making it ...
, and
Miami Miami is a East Coast of the United States, coastal city in the U.S. state of Florida and the county seat of Miami-Dade County, Florida, Miami-Dade County in South Florida. It is the core of the Miami metropolitan area, which, with a populat ...
.


Georgia Bight

Within the South Atlantic Bight, the coast from Cape Fear in North Carolina to
Cape Canaveral Cape Canaveral () is a cape (geography), cape in Brevard County, Florida, in the United States, near the center of the state's Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic coast. Officially Cape Kennedy from 1963 to 1973, it lies east of Merritt Island, separated ...
in Florida forms a fairly smooth curve known as the Georgia Bight or Georgia Embayment. The shape of the coast influences the height of the tides. Tidal ranges are only at the extremes of the bight, Cape Fear and Miami, but reach along the Georgia coast in the middle of the bight. The
Sea Islands The Sea Islands are a chain of over a hundred tidal and barrier islands on the Atlantic Ocean coast of the Southeastern United States, between the mouths of the Santee and St. Johns rivers along South Carolina, Georgia and Florida. The la ...
stretch along the central part of the Georgia Bight shore, from the mouth of the
Santee River } The Santee River is a river in South Carolina in the United States, and is long. The Santee and its tributaries provide the principal drainage for the coastal areas of southeastern South Carolina and navigation for the central coastal plain of ...
to the mouth of the
St. Johns River The St. Johns River () is the longest river in the U.S. state of Florida and is the most significant one for commercial and recreational use. At long, it flows north and winds through or borders 12 counties. The drop in elevation from River s ...
. The Sea Islands have a complex geological history. John Zeigler distinguishes three types: "erosion remnant islands", "marsh islands", and " beach-ridge islands".


Bathymetry

The bight is fairly shallow with the continental shelf extending far offshore except off south Florida and North Carolina. The
Blake Plateau The Blake Plateau lies in the western Atlantic Ocean off the coasts of North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, and Florida in the southeastern United States. The Blake Plateau lies between the North American continental shelf and the deep ocean ...
forms a zone of intermediary depth before dropping to the Hatteras Abyssal Plain with the Blake Escarpment. The Escarpment is defined as the geological bathymetric eastern boundary of the bight. Within the northern plateau is the
Charleston Bump The Charleston Bump is a deepwater rocky ocean bottom feature approximately 90 miles (140 km) southeast of Charleston, South Carolina. The Bump, rising from the Blake Plateau, lies in the path of the Gulf Stream and deflects the Gulf Stream ...
which deflects the Gulf Stream northeastward from its initial northerly motion. Due to storms and unpredictable shoaling, the area off the North Carolina Outer Banks is known as the
Graveyard of the Atlantic Graveyard of the Atlantic is a nickname for the treacherous waters and area of numerous shipwrecks off the Outer Banks of North Carolina, United States, which are due to the coast's shifting sands and inlets. To a lesser degree, this nickname has a ...
. The southern part of the bight borders the
Bermuda Triangle The Bermuda Triangle, also known as the Devil's Triangle, is a loosely defined region in the North Atlantic Ocean, roughly bounded by Florida, Bermuda, and Puerto Rico. Since the mid-20th century, it has been the focus of an urban legend sug ...
where many aircraft and sea vessels have been lost off Florida from various causes. The seafloor of the bight contains various debris and discarded rocket components from decades of launches from
Cape Canaveral Cape Canaveral () is a cape (geography), cape in Brevard County, Florida, in the United States, near the center of the state's Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic coast. Officially Cape Kennedy from 1963 to 1973, it lies east of Merritt Island, separated ...
. A notable spacecraft, the
Liberty Bell 7 Mercury-Redstone 4 was the second United States human spaceflight, on July 21, 1961. The suborbital Project Mercury flight was launched with a Mercury-Redstone Launch Vehicle, MRLV-8. The spacecraft, Mercury capsule #11, was nicknamed ''Liber ...
was recovered from the Blake Escarpment in 1999 after being lost. Debris from launches often washes up on shores as far as North Carolina after being dredged up by hurricanes and moved around by currents.


Hurricanes

Hurricanes frequently make landfall along the bight except in Northern Florida and Georgia where seasonal steering patterns usually cause storms to recurve before encountering land in these areas. The warmer waters of the Gulf Stream allows storms to intensify before making landfall. Notable storms include hurricanes Hugo, Fran, Floyd,
Isabel Isabel is a female name of Iberian origin. Isabelle is a name that is similar, but it is of French origin. It originates as the medieval Spanish form of ''Elizabeth (given name), Elisabeth'' (ultimately Hebrew ''Elisheba''). Arising in the 12th c ...
,
Matthew Matthew may refer to: * Matthew (given name) * Matthew (surname) * ''Matthew'' (album), a 2000 album by rapper Kool Keith * Matthew (elm cultivar), a cultivar of the Chinese Elm ''Ulmus parvifolia'' Christianity * Matthew the Apostle, one of ...
,
Florence Florence ( ; ) is the capital city of the Italy, Italian region of Tuscany. It is also the most populated city in Tuscany, with 362,353 inhabitants, and 989,460 in Metropolitan City of Florence, its metropolitan province as of 2025. Florence ...
, and Dorian in the Carolinas as well as hurricanes
King King is a royal title given to a male monarch. A king is an Absolute monarchy, absolute monarch if he holds unrestricted Government, governmental power or exercises full sovereignty over a nation. Conversely, he is a Constitutional monarchy, ...
,
David David (; , "beloved one") was a king of ancient Israel and Judah and the third king of the United Monarchy, according to the Hebrew Bible and Old Testament. The Tel Dan stele, an Aramaic-inscribed stone erected by a king of Aram-Dam ...
,
Francis Francis may refer to: People and characters *Pope Francis, head of the Catholic Church (2013–2025) *Francis (given name), including a list of people and fictional characters * Francis (surname) * Francis, a character played by YouTuber Boogie2 ...
, and Jeanne, in Florida. In the winter,
Nor'easter A nor'easter (also northeaster; see below) is a large-scale extratropical cyclone in the western North Atlantic Ocean. The name derives from the direction of the winds that blow from the northeast. Typically, such storms originate as a low ...
s begin their formation in the South Atlantic Bight as northeast moving low pressure systems carrying cold air from Canada encounter the warm waters of the Gulf Stream.


References

{{Reflist Bights (geography) Bodies of water of Florida Bodies of water of Georgia (U.S. state) Bodies of water of North Carolina Bodies of water of South Carolina