Gulf of Trieste

From World travel guide

Gulf of Trieste and the littoral

The Gulf of Trieste (Template:Lang-it, Template:Lang-sl, Template:Lang-hr, Template:Lang-de) is a shallow bay of the Adriatic Sea, in the extreme northern part of the Mediterranean Sea. It is part of the Gulf of Venice and is shared by Italy, Slovenia and Croatia. It is closed to the south by the peninsula of Istria, the largest peninsula in the Adriatic Sea, shared between Croatia and Slovenia.

The gulf is limited by an imaginary line connecting the Punta Tagliamento on the Italian and Savudrija (Punta Salvore) on the Croatian coast. Its area is approximately 550 km², its average depth 16 m, and its maximal depth 37 m. With the exception of flat islets blocking the entrance to Laguna di Grado, there are no islands in the gulf. Its eastern coasts, with Trieste and the Slovenian Littoral, have more rugged relief.

The sea current in the gulf flows in the counterclockwise direction. Its average speed is 0.8 knots. Tides in the gulf are among the largest in the Adriatic Sea, but nevertheless do usually not exceed Template:Convert. The average salinity is 37-38‰, but in the summer it falls under 35‰.

Its most prominent features are:

Bay of Panzano in Italy
Bay of Muggia in Italy
Bay of Koper (Capodistria) in Slovenia
Gulf of Piran (Pirano), the sovereignty over which has been a matter of dispute between Croatia and Slovenia since 1991.

The entire Slovenian coastline is located on the Gulf of Trieste. Its length is 46.6 km<ref name="CIA Fact book">The World Factbook by CIA (retrieved 2008-02-12)</ref>. Towns along the coastline include (from east to west) Koper, Izola, and Piran.

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