The East River is a saltwater tidal estuary or strait in New York City. The waterway, which is actually not a river despite its name, connects Upper New York Bay on its south end to Long Island Sound on its north end. It separates Long Island, with the boroughs of Brooklyn and Queens, from Manhattan Island, and from the Bronx on the North American mainland.
East River (foreground) and the headquarters of the United Nations in Manhattan (background) seen from Roosevelt Island in December 2006
A "bird's-eye" view of New York City from 1859; Wallabout Bay and the East River are in the foreground, the Hudson River and New York Bay in the background
The 1885 explosion
A panorama of the suspension section of the Robert F. Kennedy Bridge (left) and the Hell Gate Bridge (right), as seen from Astoria Park in Queens
An estuary is a partially enclosed coastal body of brackish water with one or more rivers or streams flowing into it, and with a free connection to the open sea. Estuaries form a transition zone between river environments and maritime environments and are an example of an ecotone. Estuaries are subject both to marine influences such as tides, waves, and the influx of saline water, and to fluvial influences such as flows of freshwater and sediment. The mixing of seawater and freshwater provides high levels of nutrients both in the water column and in sediment, making estuaries among the most productive natural habitats in the world.
Río de la Plata estuary
New York–New Jersey Harbor Estuary
River Exe estuary
Estuary mouth located in Darwin, Northern Territory, Australia