View source for Santa Barbara Channel

{{Short description|Pacific Ocean separating California from northern Channel Islands}}
[[Image:santa barbara channel.jpg|right|thumb|300px|Looking south-southwest, across the Santa Barbara Channel; the city of Santa Barbara, California is below, and [[Santa Cruz Island]] is in the distance.]]
The '''Santa Barbara Channel''' is a portion of the [[Southern California Bight]] and separates the [[mainland]] of [[California]] from the northern [[Channel Islands of California|Channel Islands]].  It is generally south of the city of [[Santa Barbara, California|Santa Barbara]], and west of the [[Oxnard Plain]] in [[Ventura County, California|Ventura County]].

It trends east–west, is approximately {{convert|130|km|nmi}} long and averages about {{convert|45|km|nmi}} across, becoming narrowest at its easternmost extremity where [[Anacapa Island]] is about {{convert|30|km|nmi}} from the mainland.  During the last ice age, the four northern Channel Islands, including Santa Rosa Island, were conjoined into [[Santa Rosae]], a single island that was only five miles (8&nbsp;km) off the coast.

The islands are visible from the mainland on clear days. Excursion boats cross the channel, taking visitors to watch [[whale]]s and visit the islands.  In the perpendicular (east-west) direction, huge cargo ships and tankers occupy a major shipping lane on their way to or from the ports of [[Port of Los Angeles|Los Angeles]] and [[Port of Long Beach|Long Beach]].

The Channel is the location of numerous oil fields, some of which have substantial reserves.  These include the [[Ellwood Oil Field|Ellwood]], [[Summerland Oil Field|Summerland]], [[Carpinteria Offshore Oil Field|Carpinteria offshore]] and [[Dos Cuadras Offshore Oil Field|Dos Cuadras]] fields.  In 1969, the Dos Cuadras was the point of origin of a major [[1969 Santa Barbara oil spill|oil spill]],<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.geog.ucsb.edu/~jeff/sb_69oilspill/69oilspill_articles2.html |title=A history of the 1969 oil spill event |publisher=Geog.ucsb.edu |date=1969-01-29 |accessdate=2011-07-03 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20161107071114/http://www.geog.ucsb.edu/~jeff/sb_69oilspill/69oilspill_articles2.html |archivedate=2016-11-07 }}</ref> which came about when oil spurted at high pressure through faults and cracks around a zone which had recently been drilled for the first time.  Public outrage over the massive environmental damage inflicted by this spill, which covered hundreds of square miles of the channel and fouled beaches from Ventura to Goleta, was a major spur to the budding [[environmental movement]]. The Santa Barbara Channel contains the world's largest natural oil seepage – [[Coal Oil Point seep field|Coal Oil Point]]. [[Goleta Point]] is a nearby extension into the channel.

[[Point Arguello]], a headland near the city of [[Lompoc]], was the site of the [[Honda Point disaster]] in 1923, in which seven US Navy destroyers ran aground, in the largest peacetime loss of US Navy ships.

==Prehistory==
Prior to the [[Holocene]] era sea levels were considerably lower, such that the water width separating the islands from the mainland was much less, making [[biological colonization]] as well as human transport across the channel easier. In recent times the [[Native Americans in the United States|Native American]] [[Chumash people]]s navigated these waters with ease in [[Tomol|small watercraft]], allowing communication and trade between island and mainland villages. C. Michael Hogan reviews some of the theories of colonization of the [[rare species]] [[Torrey Pine]], ''[[Pinus torreyana]]'' to the islands, suggesting that it is likely that Chumash peoples carried the initial cones in their Tomols.<ref>* C.Michael Hogan (2008) ''Morro Creek'', [http://www.megalithic.co.uk/article.php?sid=18502 The Megalithic Portal], ed. by A. Burnham</ref> The [[pygmy mammoth]], an extinct, endemic species, were capable swimmers able to cross the channel and adapt to the island environment by [[insular dwarfism]].

==Risk of ship-whale collisions==
{{further|Environmental effects of shipping#Wildlife collisions}}
As of at least 2011, a few endangered species of whale (including [[blue whale|blue]], [[fin whale|fin]], and [[humpback whale|humpback]]) have begun to feed in a new area north of the [[Santa Cruz Island|Santa Cruz]] and [[Santa Rosa Island, California|Santa Rosa]] islands of the Santa Barbara Channel. These whales are at risk to be struck by ships passing through a [[shipping lane]] used to move goods south to [[Port of Los Angeles|Los Angeles]] and [[Port of Long Beach|Long Beach]] ports.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2019-08-14/in-the-santa-barbara-channel-an-underwater-sound-system-tries-to-keep-whales-and-ships-apart|title=In the Santa Barbara Channel, an underwater sound system tries to keep whales and ships apart|last=Miller|first=Leila|date=2019-08-16|website=Los Angeles Times|language=en-US|access-date=2019-08-17}}</ref> About 100 collisions have been documented off of the coast of California since 1982, which includes a rate of about 6 per year today, possibly more due to the difficulty of observing the incidents.<ref name=whales>{{cite news|last=Barboza|first=Tony|title=Trying to reduce ship-whale collisions in Santa Barbara Channel|url=https://www.latimes.com/local/la-xpm-2011-jul-27-la-me-adv-whale-lanes-20110727-story.html|access-date=27 October 2011|newspaper=Los Angeles Times|date=July 27, 2011}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2019-08-14/in-the-santa-barbara-channel-an-underwater-sound-system-tries-to-keep-whales-and-ships-apart|title=In the Santa Barbara Channel, an underwater sound system tries to keep whales and ships apart|last=Miller|first=Leila|date=2019-08-16|website=Los Angeles Times|language=en-US|access-date=2019-08-29}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|last=Orozco|first=Lance|date=September 18, 2020|title=Scientists Launch New Technology in Santa Barbara Channel Intended To Protect Whales Against Ships|url=https://www.kclu.org/post/scientists-launch-new-technology-santa-barbara-channel-intended-protect-whales-against-ships|access-date=2020-09-18|website=kclu.org|language=en}}</ref> Scientists estimate that over 80 endangered whales are killed from vessel collisions off the U.S. west coast each year.<ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Rockwood|first1=R. Cotton|last2=Calambokidis|first2=John|last3=Jahncke|first3=Jaime|date=2017-08-21|title=High mortality of blue, humpback and fin whales from modeling of vessel collisions on the U.S. West Coast suggests population impacts and insufficient protection|journal=PLOS One|language=en|volume=12|issue=8|pages=e0183052|doi=10.1371/journal.pone.0183052|pmid=28827838|issn=1932-6203|pmc=5565115|doi-access=free|bibcode=2017PLoSO..1283052R }}</ref>

==See also==
*[[Offshore oil and gas in California]]

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20060218174154/http://gaviotacoastconservancy.org/progress/05_10-09_oil%26water_venco_wants_to_drill.html Oil companies continue efforts for permission to drill in the channel]

{{California}}
{{Authority control}}
{{Coord|34|14|31|N|119|53|24|W|type:waterbody_scale:500000|display=title}}

[[Category:Landforms of the Channel Islands of California]]
[[Category:Bodies of water of Santa Barbara County, California|Channel]]
[[Category:Santa Barbara, California|Channel]]
[[Category:Straits of California]]