Lower New York Bay is a section of
New York Bay south of
the Narrows, the relatively narrow strait between the shores of
Staten Island and
Brooklyn. The southern end of the bay opens directly to the
Atlantic Ocean between two spits of land,
Sandy Hook, New Jersey, and
Rockaway, Queens, on
Long Island. The southern portion between Staten Island and
New Jersey, at the mouth of the
Raritan River, is named
Raritan Bay. The
Hudson Canyon, the ancient riverbed of the
Hudson River which existed during the
last ice age when the ocean levels were lower, extends southeast from Lower New York Bay for hundreds of miles into the Atlantic Ocean. The nearby part of the Atlantic Ocean between New Jersey and Long Island is the
New York Bight.