New York Bay arm of the Atlantic Ocean at the mouth of the Hudson River, SE N.Y. and NE N.J., enclosed by the shores of NE New Jersey, E Staten Island, S Manhattan, and W Long Island (Brooklyn) and opening on the SE to the Atlantic Ocean between Sandy Hook, N.J., and Rockaway Point, N.Y. It is a sheltered deep harbor able to accommodate the largest ships. The tidal range of the bay is very small and it is ice-free. New York Bay is divided into Upper and Lower Bay, which are connected by the Narrows, a strait (c.3 mi/4.8 km long; 1 mi/1.6 km wide) separating Staten Island from Brooklyn. The Verrazano-Narrows... Read more