Table 1 
Comparisons of San Francisco Bay 
with Other North American Estuaries 
Basin Area 
Surface Area 
Inflow 
(1000 km 2 ) 
(km 2 ) 
(m 3 /s) 
San Francisco Bay 
153 
1240 
500 
Columbia River 
671 
380 
5500 
Fraser River 
203 
- 
2700 
Delaware Bay 
33 
303 
550 
Chesapeake Bay 
166 
11400 
1600 
From Conomos et al. (1985) 
Statistic 
Table 2 
Geostatistics of San Francisco Bay 
Value (x 1C) 9 ) 
Area (mean lower low water) 
1.04 m 
Including mud flats 
1.24 m 
Volume 
6.66 m 
Tidal Prism 
1.59 m 
Average Depth 
6.1 m 
Median Depth 
2.0 m 
Regulated River discharge (annual) 
Delta outflow 
19.0 m 3 
All other streams 
1.9 m 3 
2 
2 
3 
3 
Modified From Conomos et al. (1985) 
13 
