Bay of Bengal

The world's largest bay, a cradle of devastating cyclones/Water

The Bay of Bengal is the largest bay in the world, a northeastern extension of the Indian Ocean bordered by India, Bangladesh, Myanmar, Sri Lanka, and the Andaman and Nicobar Islands. Covering approximately 2.17 million square kilometers, its warm surface waters (often exceeding 28 degrees Celsius) provide ideal fuel for tropical cyclones, making it one of the most cyclone-prone basins on Earth. The 1970 Bhola cyclone that struck Bangladesh (then East Pakistan) killed an estimated 300,000 to 500,000 people. The bay receives enormous freshwater inflow from the Ganges-Brahmaputra-Meghna delta, the world's largest river delta, which discharges roughly 40,000 cubic meters per second.