CIRCULATION OF TAMPA AND SARASOTA BAYS 
Carl R. Goodwin 
U.S. Geological Survey 
Tampa, Florida 
INTRODUCTION 
Before addressing the subject of circulation in Tampa and Sarasota 
Bays, it is appropriate to place these two coastal water bodies in 
physical perspective with another well-known estuarine system, San 
Francisco Bay. Figure 1 shows the plan view of each of these three bay 
systems to the same scale and also gives the names of major sub- 
embayments or defined sub-units. For purposes of this article, San 
Francisco Bay is defined to include South, Central, San Pablo, and Suisun 
Bays. Tampa Bay includes Lower, Middle, Old Tampa, and Hillsborough 
Bays. Table 1 lists several physical attributes of each bay system. San 
Francisco Bay is the largest in every category, with Sarasota Bay often 
at least one order of magnitude smaller. Tampa Bay has about 25% less 
surface area than San Francisco Bay. It is also more shallow and has 
less than half the tidal range. San Francisco Bay receives more than 12 
times the average freshwater inflow of Tampa Bay and 1,000 times that of 
Sarasota Bay. 
Table 1. Physical attributes of Sarasota, Tampa, and San Francisco Bay. 
Physical Attribute 
Sarasota 
Bay 
Tampa 
Bay 
San Francisco 
Bay 
Surface area (sq. mi.) 
54 
347 
440 
Average depth (ft) 
5 
12 
19 
Tidal range (ft) 
1.3 
2 
5 
Volume (sq. mi-ft) 
270 
4,140 
8,440 
Tidal prism (sq. mi-ft) 
70 
760 
2,010 
Average annual inflow volume 
(sq. mi-ft) 
27 
2,150 
26,500 
49 
