Mediterranean Sea

• The Mediterranean Sea is effectively a closed sea with one connection to the Atlantic at the Strait of Gibraltar. It separates Europe’s southern coastline from Africa’s northern coastline.
• The Mediterranean was known to the Romans as Mare Nostrum (Our Sea). All of its Coasts were Provinces of the Roman Empire.

Islands by size

1. Sicily, 2. Sardinia, 3. Cyprus, 4. Corsica, 5. Crete, 6. Euboea, 7. Majorca, 8. Lesbos, 9. Rhodes, 10. Chios, 11. Cephalonia, 12. Minorca, 13. Corfu, 14. Ibiza, 15. Djerba.

Seasons

• Winters in the Mediterranean are wet and windy, but mild.
• Summers are hot and dry, but calm.
• Spring has changeable weather and Autumn is short.

Two Seas

• The Islands of Sicily and Malta divide the Mediterranean into two seas:
  • The Eastern Mediterranean
    • Greece, Crete, Cyprus, Turkey, The Levant, Tripolitania, Cyrenaica and Egypt
  • The Western Mediterranean
    • Spain, France, Italy, Tunisia, Algeria, Morocco, Balearic Islands, Corsica and Sardinia.

The Sea Current

The Mediterranean has an anticlockwise Sea Current which enters from the Atlantic at Gibraltar. The inflow enters the Sea from the surface down to c.250 ft (c.80m), but with evaporation the water becomes more saline and dense, so flows back into the Atlantic below the inflow.

• The Western Mediterranean
  • After passing along the North African countries of Morocco, Algeria and Tunisia, the current flows along the North of Sicily and the Strait of Messina where it meets the returning current from the eastern Mediterranean.
  • It then flows north around the Tyrrhenian Sea coast of Italy, passing to the north of Corsica.
  • The current flows west along French coast, then drops south along the Spanish coast before exiting at Gibraltar.
• The Eastern Mediterranean
  • North Africa:
    • After passing along the coasts of Morocco, Algeria and Tunisia, the current enters into the eastern Mediterranean, passing Libya and Egypt.
  • The Levant:
    • From Egypt the current turns north passing along the coasts of Israel, Lebanon and Syria.
  •  Cyprus and Turkey and Sicily:
    • The current flows north around the eastern tip of Cyprus, and then turns west along the coast of Turkey and continues past Crete and the Peloponnese onto Sicily.
  • Strait of Messina
    • The current then enters the Strait where it meets the easterly current sweeping the north coast of Sicily. Combined with other factors the Strait produces very fast moving high and low tides every six hours.

Winds

Mountain valleys channel the winds that regularly blow into the Mediterranean at certain seasons.

• The Westerly:
  • Atlantic winds that flow through the Strait of Gibraltar.
• The Mistral:
  • Northwesterly cold wind that flows through the Garonne valley and the Rhone valley direct towards Corsica and Sardinia and the Strait of Bonifacio between them.
• The Bora:
  • North or Northeasterly cold Wind that flows through the Adriatic.
• The Meltemi or Etesian Winds:
  • Northerly winds that blow onto the Aegean Sea.
• The Sirocco:
  • Southerly winds that blow from the Sahara and are warm and humid.

Mare clausum

• In the Ancient World, the sea was closed to shipping during the winter season.
• Mare Liberum meant the seas were open to shipping.

Mediterranean Sea