"Roma sub Rosa"

**nokhor** · 03-08-2005, 16:42

which way does the current flow between the mediterranean and the atlantic? i assume it flows from the atlantic into the med. is this correct?

**SwordsMaster** · 03-08-2005, 17:32

Originally Posted by nokhor

which way does the current flow between the mediterranean and the atlantic? i assume it flows from the atlantic into the med. is this correct?

Not exactly.

There is a continuous inflow of surface water from the Atlantic Ocean. After passing through the Straits of Gibraltar, the main body of the incoming surface water flows eastward along the north coast of Africa. This current is the most constant component of the circulation of the Mediterranean. It is most powerful in summer, when evaporation in the Mediterranean is at a maximum. This inflow of Atlantic water loses its strength as it proceeds eastward, but it is still recognizable as a surface movement in the Sicilian channel and even off the Levant coast.

This is the surface current. Into the Mediterranean

But:

In summer Mediterranean surface water becomes more saline through the intense evaporation, and, correspondingly, its density increases. It therefore sinks, and the excess of this denser bottom water emerges into the Atlantic Ocean over the sill forming the shallow Strait of Gibraltar as a westward subsurface current below the inward current. The inflowing water extends from the surface down to 230 or 260 feet. The Mediterranean has been metaphorically described as breathing, inhaling surface water from the Atlantic and exhaling deep water in a countercurrent below.

This is the deep sea current back into the Atlantic.

**frogbeastegg** · 03-08-2005, 18:55

Really? Now I shall have to pass that along to the person who first mentioned the tidal issue; he might find it interesting.

**Hosakawa Tito** · 03-09-2005, 03:40

Here's a link for the Med tides. http://curious.astro.cornell.edu/que...php?number=627

I have read all of Saylor's Roma sub Rosa books and enjoyed them. The ending to the last one "Caesar's Judgement" is a bit odd, but I don't wish to say anymore to avoid spoiling it for frogmeister.

**Wishazu** · 03-09-2005, 08:35

i think i might of missed it as i was away on holiday last week, but i saw an advert on TV over here in Britain for a program all about Cicero, i think it was a dramatization of one of his cases. If it has been on did anyone see it?