Juan de Fuca Channel

[3] Along a 350-kilometre (220 mi) track, seismic profiles over Juan de Fuca Channel show the canyon consists of two distinct parts.

[4] The lower part of the channel trends northwestward, parallel to the shelf edge, with a gradient of only 7 metres per kilometre (37 ft/mi), terminating at the apex of Nitinat fan.

Juan de Fuca Channel appears to be a pathway, bringing deep Pacific water into the Salish Sea.

Recent measurements (as of 2017) may explain why this canyon helps the Pacific Northwest’s inland waters support so many shellfish, salmon runs and even pods of whales.

The intense flow and mixing measured inside the Juan de Fuca Channel may help explain the formerly mysterious productivity of the shores of Washington; coastal winds usually bring in some nutrients, but the numbers don’t add up: "Washington is several times more productive – has more phytoplankton – than Oregon or California, and yet the winds here are several times weaker.

[1] "The location of this sill would be an outstanding place to fish," observes Matthew Alford, the oceanographer with the University of Washington's Applied Physics Laboratory.