PATOS LAGOON

Portuguese Lagoa Dos Patos, shallow lagoon in Rio Grande do Sul estado (state), in extreme southeastern Brazil. It is the largest lagoon in Brazil and the second largest in South America. The lagoon is 180 miles (290 km) long and up to 40 miles (64 km) wide, with an area of more than 3,900 square miles (10,100 square km). A sandbar that is 20 miles (32 km) wide separates the lagoon from the Atlantic in the north, but the sandbar narrows in the south, where smaller lagoons predominate. The lagoon receives the Jacu River (via the Guaba River) in the north and the Mirim Lagoon overflow (via the So Gonalo Canal) in the south. A mile-wide channel leads to the Atlantic at the city of Rio Grande in the south. The dredged channel allows vessels to ply between Rio Grande and Prto Alegre, the state capital. The waters of the Patos Lagoon are fished.