View source for Place:Mediterranean Sea

{{Short description|Sea between Europe, Africa and Asia}}
{{Infobox body of water
| name               = Mediterranean Sea
| image              = Mediterranee 02 EN.jpg
| caption            = Map of the Mediterranean Sea
| image_bathymetry   = 
| caption_bathymetry = 
| location           = 
{{Plainlist|
* [[Place:Southern Europe|Southern Europe]]
* [[Place:North Africa|North Africa]]
* [[Place:Western Asia|Western Asia]]
}}
| coords             = {{coord|35|N|18|E|region:XZ_type:waterbody_scale:25000000|display=inline,title}}
| type               = [[Earth:Sea|Sea]]
| inflow             = [[Earth:Atlantic Ocean|Atlantic Ocean]], Sea of Marmara, Nile, Ebro, Rhône, Chelif, Po
| outflow            = 
| catchment          = 
| basin_countries    = {{hidden | fw1=normal | headerstyle=text-align:left
  | header  = Coastal countries:<!--ONLY coastal countries-->
  | content = {{flatlist}}
* Albania
* Algeria
* Bosnia and Herzegovina
* Croatia
* [[Place:Cyprus|Cyprus]]
* [[Place:Egypt|Egypt]]
* {{wipe|France}}
* Greece
* [[Place:Israel|Israel]]
* Italy
* [[Place:Lebanon|Lebanon]]
* [[Place:Libya|Libya]]
* Malta
* [[Place:Monaco|Monaco]]
* Montenegro
* Morocco
* Northern Cyprus {{small|(recognized only by Turkey, see Cyprus dispute)}}
* [[Place:State of Palestine|Palestine]]
* Slovenia
* {{wipe|Spain}}
* [[Place:Syria|Syria]]
* Tunisia
* [[Place:Turkey|Turkey]]
* {{wipe|United Kingdom}} (Akrotiri and Dhekelia and [[Place:Gibraltar|Gibraltar]])
* For other countries, see §Hydrography
{{endflatlist}}}}
| length             = 
| width              = 
| area               = {{cvt|2500000|km2|sqmi}}
| depth              = {{cvt|1500|m|ft}}
| max-depth          = {{cvt|5109|m|ft}} ±{{cvt|1|m|ft|0}}
| volume             = {{cvt|3750000|km3|cumi}}
| residence_time     = 80–100 years<ref name="Water Flow in Semienclosed Seaways">{{cite book|title=Invitation to Oceanography |journal=Paleoceanography |volume=30 |issue=5 |first=Paul R. |last=Pinet |page=220 |publisher=Jones & Barlett Learning |year=2008 |isbn=978-0-7637-5993-3 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=6TCm8Xy-sLUC&pg=PA220}}</ref>
| shore              = 
| temperature_high   = {{cvt|28|C|F}}
| temperature_low    = {{cvt|12|C|F}}
| elevation          = 
| frozen             = 
| islands            = 3300+
| cities             = 
{{Plainlist|
* [[Place:Alexandria|Alexandria]]
* [[Place:Barcelona|Barcelona]] 
* [[Place:Algiers|Algiers]] 
* Izmir 
* [[Place:Rome|Rome]]
* Tel Aviv-Yafo
* [[Place:Athens|Athens]]
* [[Place:Valencia|Valencia]] 
* Antalya 
* [[Place:Beirut|Beirut]] 
* Mersin 
* Marseille
* [[Place:Tripoli, Libya|Tripoli]]
* [[Place:Muğla|Muğla]] 
* ''(full list)''
}} 
| reference          = 
}}

The '''Mediterranean Sea''' ({{IPAc-en|ˌ|m|ɛ|d|ɪ|t|ə|ˈ|r|eɪ|n|i|ən}} {{respell|MED|ih|tə|RAY|nee|ən}}) is a [[Earth:Sea|sea]] connected to the [[Earth:Atlantic Ocean|Atlantic Ocean]], surrounded by the [[Place:Mediterranean Basin|Mediterranean Basin]] and almost completely enclosed by land: on the north by [[Place:Southern Europe|Southern Europe]] and [[Earth:Anatolia|Anatolia]], on the south by [[Place:North Africa|North Africa]], and on the east by the [[Place:Levant|Levant]] in [[Place:Western Asia|Western Asia]]. The Mediterranean has played a central role in the [[History:History of Western civilization|history of Western civilization]]. Geological evidence indicates that around 5.9&nbsp;million years ago the Mediterranean was cut off from the Atlantic and was partly or completely desiccated over a period of some 600,000 years during the [[Earth:Messinian salinity crisis|Messinian salinity crisis]] before being refilled by the Zanclean flood about 5.3&nbsp;million years ago.

The Mediterranean Sea covers an area of about {{convert|2500000|km2|sqmi|abbr=on}},<ref>{{Cite web |last=Boxer |first=Baruch |title=Mediterranean Sea |url=https://www.britannica.com/place/Mediterranean-Sea |access-date=23 October 2015 |website=Encyclopædia Britannica |language=en-US}}</ref> representing 0.7% of the global [[Earth:Ocean|ocean]] surface, but its connection to the Atlantic via the Strait of Gibraltar—the narrow strait that connects the Atlantic Ocean to the Mediterranean Sea and separates the [[Place:Iberian Peninsula|Iberian Peninsula]] in [[Earth:Europe|Europe]] from Morocco in [[Earth:Africa|Africa]]—is only {{convert|14|km|mi|0|abbr=on}} wide. The Mediterranean Sea encompasses a vast number of islands, some of them of volcanic origin. The two largest islands, in both area and population, are [[Place:Sicily|Sicily]] and Sardinia.

The Mediterranean Sea has an average depth of {{convert|1500|m|ft|abbr=on}} and the deepest recorded point is  {{Convert|5109|m|ft|abbr=on}} ±{{Convert|1|m|ft|0|abbr=on}} in the [[Earth:Calypso Deep|Calypso Deep]] in the Ionian Sea. It lies between latitudes 30° and 46° N and longitudes 6° W and 36° E. Its west–east length, from the Strait of Gibraltar to the Gulf of Alexandretta, on the southeastern coast of [[Place:Turkey|Turkey]], is about {{Convert|4000|km||abbr=}}. The north–south length varies greatly between different shorelines and whether only straight routes are considered. Also including longitudinal changes, the shortest shipping route between the multinational Gulf of Trieste and the Libyan coastline of the Gulf of Sidra is about {{Convert|1900|km||abbr=}}. The water temperatures are mild in winter and warm in summer and give name to the [[Earth:Mediterranean climate|Mediterranean climate]] type due to the majority of precipitation falling in the cooler months. Its southern and eastern coastlines are lined with hot deserts not far inland, but the immediate coastline on all sides of the Mediterranean tends to have strong maritime moderation.

The sea was an important route for [[Finance:Merchant|merchant]]s and travellers of ancient times, facilitating trade and cultural exchange between the peoples of the region. The history of the Mediterranean region is crucial to understanding the origins and development of many modern societies. The Roman Empire maintained nautical hegemony over the sea for centuries and is the only state to have ever controlled all of its coast.

The countries surrounding the Mediterranean in clockwise order are {{wipe|Spain}}, {{wipe|France}}, [[Place:Monaco|Monaco]], Italy, Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, Albania, Greece, [[Place:Turkey|Turkey]], [[Place:Syria|Syria]], [[Place:Lebanon|Lebanon]], [[Place:Israel|Israel]], [[Place:State of Palestine|Palestine]], [[Place:Egypt|Egypt]], [[Place:Libya|Libya]], Tunisia, Algeria, and Morocco; Malta and [[Place:Cyprus|Cyprus]] are island countries in the sea. In addition, [[Place:Gibraltar|Gibraltar]] and Ceuta, have coastlines on the sea. The drainage basin encompasses a large number of other countries, the Nile being the longest river ending in the Mediterranean Sea.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Nile River |url=https://education.nationalgeographic.org/resource/nile-river |access-date=2023-03-12 |website=education.nationalgeographic.org |language=en}}</ref>

==Names and etymology==
[[File:Wadj-ur.png|left|thumb|upright=0.65|Wadj-Ur, or Wadj-Wer, ancient Egyptian name of the Mediterranean Sea]]
[[File:EFS highres STS034 STS034-86-96.jpg|thumb|With its highly indented coastline and large number of islands, Greece has the longest Mediterranean coastline.]]
The Ancient Egyptians called the Mediterranean Wadj-wr/Wadj-Wer/Wadj-Ur. This term (literally “great green”) was the name given by the Ancient Egyptians to the semi-solid, semi-aquatic region characterized by papyrus forests to the north of the cultivated Nile delta, and, by extension, the sea beyond.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Golvin |first1=Jean-Claude |title=L'Égypte restituée, Tome 3 |year=1991 |publisher=Éditions Errance |location=Paris |isbn=2-87772-148-5 |page=273}}</ref>

The {{wipe|Ancient Greece}} called the Mediterranean simply {{lang|grc|ἡ θάλασσα}} (''hē thálassa''; "the Sea") or sometimes {{lang|grc|ἡ μεγάλη θάλασσα}} (''hē megálē thálassa''; "the Great Sea"), {{lang|grc|ἡ ἡμετέρα θάλασσα}} (''hē hēmetérā thálassa''; "Our Sea"), or {{lang|grc|ἡ θάλασσα ἡ καθ'ἡμᾶς}} (''hē thálassa hē kath’hēmâs''; "the sea around us").

The Romans called it ''Mare Magnum'' ("Great Sea") or ''Mare Internum'' ("Internal Sea") and, starting with the Roman Empire, ''Mare Nostrum'' ("Our Sea"). The term ''Mare Mediterrāneum'' appears later: Solinus apparently used this in the 3rd century, but the earliest extant witness to it is in the 6th century, in [[Biography:Isidore of Seville|Isidore of Seville]].<ref>Geoffrey Rickman, "The creation of ''Mare Nostrum'': 300 BC – 500 AD", in David Abulafia, ed., ''The Mediterranean in History'', {{isbn|1-60606-057-0}}, 2011, p. 133.</ref><ref name="seirinidou"/> It means 'in the middle of land, inland' in [[Social:Latin language|Latin]], a compound of ''medius'' ("middle"), ''terra'' ("land, earth"), and ''-āneus'' ("having the nature of").

The Latin word is a [[Social:Calque|calque]] of Greek {{lang|grc|μεσόγειος}} (''mesógeios''; "inland"), from {{lang|grc|μέσος}} (''mésos'', "in the middle") and {{lang|grc|γήινος}} (''gḗinos'', "of the earth"), from {{lang|grc|γῆ}} (''gê'', "land, earth"). The original meaning may have been 'the sea in the middle of the earth', rather than 'the sea enclosed by land'.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://old.perseus.tufts.edu/cgi-bin/ptext?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.04.0057%3Aentry%3D%2366422|title=entry μεσόγαιος |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091202133428/http://old.perseus.tufts.edu/cgi-bin/ptext?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.04.0057%3Aentry%3D |archive-date=2 December 2009 |publisher=Liddell & Scott}}</ref><ref>''Oxford English Dictionary'', 3rd ed, 2001, [http://www.oed.com/view/Entry/115766 ''s.v.'']</ref>

Ancient Iranians called it the "Roman Sea", and in Classical Persian texts, it was called ''Daryāy-e Rōm'' (دریای روم), which may be from [[Social:Middle Persian|Middle Persian]] form, ''Zrēh ī Hrōm'' (𐭦𐭫𐭩𐭤 𐭩 𐭤𐭫𐭥𐭬).<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.parsi.wiki/fa/wiki/247689/%d8%af%d8%b1%db%8c%d8%a7%db%8c-%d8%b1%d9%88%d9%85|title="دریای روم" entry|last=Dehkhoda|first=Ali Akbar|website=Parsi Wiki}}</ref>

The Carthaginians called it the "Syrian Sea". In ancient Syrian texts, [[Social:Phoenician language|Phoenician]] epics and in the Hebrew [[Religion:Bible|Bible]], it was primarily known as the "Great Sea", הים הגדול ''HaYam HaGadol'', (Numbers; Book of Joshua; Ezekiel) or simply as "The Sea" (1 Kings). However, it has also been called the "Hinder Sea" because of its location on the west coast of Greater Syria or the [[Religion:Holy Land|Holy Land]] (and therefore behind a person facing the east), which is sometimes translated as "Western Sea". Another name was the "Sea of the Philistines", (Book of Exodus), from the people inhabiting a large portion of its shores near the Israelites. In [[Social:Modern Hebrew|Modern Hebrew]], it is called הים התיכון ''HaYam HaTikhon'' 'the Middle Sea'.<ref name="melitensia" /> In [[Social:Persian language|Classic Persian]] texts was called Daryāy-e Šām (دریای شام) "The Western Sea" or "Syrian Sea".<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.parsi.wiki/fa/wiki/247707/%d8%af%d8%b1%db%8c%d8%a7%db%8c-%d8%b4%d8%a7%d9%85|title="دریای شام" entry|last=Dehkhoda|first=Ali Akabar|website=Parsi Wiki}}</ref>

In [[Social:Modern Standard Arabic|Modern Standard Arabic]], it is known as ''{{transl|ar|ALA|al-Baḥr [al-Abyaḍ] al-Mutawassiṭ}}'' ({{lang|ar|البحر [الأبيض] المتوسط}}) 'the [White] Middle Sea'. In Islamic and older Arabic literature, it was ''Baḥr al-Rūm(ī)'' ({{lang|ar|بحر الروم}} or {{lang|ar|بحر الرومي}}) 'the Sea of the Romans' or 'the Roman Sea'. At first, that name referred only to the eastern Mediterranean, but the term was later extended to the whole Mediterranean. Other Arabic names were ''Baḥr al-šām(ī)'' ({{lang|ar|بحر الشام}}) ("the Sea of Syria") and ''Baḥr al-Maghrib'' ({{lang|ar|بحرالمغرب}}) ("the Sea of the West").<ref name="eoi">"Baḥr al-Rūm" in ''Encyclopedia of Islam'', 2nd ed</ref><ref name="seirinidou">Vaso Seirinidou, "The Mediterranean" in Diana Mishkova, Balázs Trencsényi, ''European Regions and Boundaries: A Conceptual History'', series ''European Conceptual History'' '''3''', {{isbn|1-78533-585-5}}, 2017, p. 80</ref>

In [[Social:Turkish language|Turkish]], it is the ''Akdeniz'' 'the White Sea'; in Ottoman, {{lang|ota|ﺁق دكيز}}, which sometimes means only the Aegean Sea.<ref>Diran Kélékian, ''Dictionnaire Turc-Français'', Constantinople, 1911</ref> The origin of the name is not clear, as it is not known in earlier Greek, Byzantine or Islamic sources. It may be to contrast with the Black Sea.<ref name="eoi"/><ref name="melitensia">{{cite journal|journal=Hyphen|last=Vella|first=Andrew P.|date=1985|title=Mediterranean Malta|url=http://melitensiawth.com/incoming/Index/Hyphen/Hyphen.%204(1985)5/02.pdf|volume=4|issue=5|pages=469–472|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170329163002/http://melitensiawth.com/incoming/Index/Hyphen/Hyphen.%204%281985%295/02.pdf|archive-date=29 March 2017|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>Özhan Öztürk claims that in Old Turkish ''ak'' also means "west" and that ''Akdeniz'' hence means "West Sea" and that ''Karadeniz'' (Black Sea) means "North Sea". Özhan Öztürk. {{cite book|url=http://www.karalahana.com/makaleler/kitap/pontus-antik-cagdan-gunumuze-karadeniz-etnik-siyasi-tarihi.htm |title=Pontus: Antik Çağ'dan Günümüze Karadeniz'in Etnik ve Siyasi Tarihi Genesis Yayınları |place=Ankara |year=2011 |pages=5–9 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120915062836/http://www.karalahana.com/makaleler/kitap/pontus-antik-cagdan-gunumuze-karadeniz-etnik-siyasi-tarihi.htm |archive-date=15 September 2012}}</ref> In Persian, the name was translated as ''Baḥr-i Safīd'', which was also used in later Ottoman Turkish.<ref name="eoi"/>

According to Johann Knobloch, in [[History:Classical antiquity|classical antiquity]], cultures in the [[Place:Levant|Levant]] used colours to refer to the cardinal points: black referred to the north (explaining the name Black Sea), yellow or blue to east, red to south (e.g., the Red Sea) and white to west. That would explain the [[Social:Bulgarian language|Bulgarian]] ''Byalo More'', the Turkish ''Akdeniz'', and the Arab nomenclature described above, {{Abbr|lit.|literal translation}} "White Sea".<ref>Johann Knoblock. ''Sprache und Religion'', Vol. 1 (Carl Winter Universitätsverlag, 1979), 18; cf. {{cite encyclopedia |article=Black Sea |last=Schmitt |first=Rüdiger |url=http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/black-sea |encyclopedia=Encyclopaedia Iranica, Vol. IV, Fasc. 3 |pages=310–313 |year=1989 |title=Black – Encyclopaedia Iranica}}</ref>

==History==

===Ancient civilizations===
[[File:AntikeGriechen1.jpg|thumb|upright=1.75|Greek (red) and Phoenician (yellow) colonies in antiquity c. the 6th century BC]]
[[File:Roman Empire Trajan 117AD.png|thumb|upright=1.75|{{legend|#b23938|The Roman Empire at its farthest extent in AD 117}}]]

Major ancient civilizations were located around the Mediterranean. The sea provided routes for trade, colonization, and war, as well as food (from fishing and the gathering of other seafood) for numerous communities throughout the ages.<ref>{{cite book|author=David Abulafia|title=The Great Sea: A Human History of the Mediterranean|publisher=[[Organization:Oxford University Press|Oxford University Press]]|year=2011}}</ref> The earliest advanced civilizations in the Mediterranean were the Egyptians and the Minoans, who traded extensively with each other. Other notable civilizations that appeared somewhat later are the [[History:Hittites|Hittites]] and other Anatolian peoples, the Phoenicians, and Mycenean Greece. Around 1200 BC the eastern Mediterranean was greatly affected by the Bronze Age Collapse, which resulted in the destruction of many cities and trade routes.

The most notable Mediterranean civilizations in classical antiquity were the {{wipe|Ancient Greece}} city states and the Phoenicians, both of which extensively colonized the coastlines of the Mediterranean.

Darius I of Persia, who conquered Ancient Egypt, built a canal linking the Red Sea to the Nile, and thus the Mediterranean. Darius's canal was wide enough for two triremes to pass each other with oars extended and required four days to traverse.<ref>Rappoport, S. (Doctor of Philosophy, Basel). History of Egypt (undated, early 20th century), Volume 12, Part B, Chapter V: "The Waterways of Egypt", pp. 248–257 ([https://archive.org/stream/historyofegyptch12masp#page/248/mode/2up online]). London: The Grolier Society.</ref>

Following the Punic Wars in the 3rd and 2nd centuries BC, the Roman Republic defeated the Carthaginians to become the preeminent power in the Mediterranean. When Augustus founded the Roman Empire, the Romans referred to the Mediterranean as ''Mare Nostrum'' ("Our Sea"). For the next 400 years, the Roman Empire completely controlled the Mediterranean Sea and virtually all its coastal regions from Gibraltar to the Levant, being the only state in history to ever do so, being given the nickname "Roman Lake". 

===Middle Ages and empires===
The [[Place:Western Roman Empire|Western Roman Empire]] collapsed around 476 AD. The east was again dominant as Roman power lived on in the [[Place:Byzantine Empire|Byzantine Empire]] formed in the 4th century from the eastern half of the Roman Empire. Though the Eastern Roman Empire would continue to hold almost all of the Mediterranean, another power arose in the 7th century, and with it the religion of [[Religion:Islam|Islam]], which soon swept across from the east; at its greatest extent, the Arabs, under the [[Place:Umayyad Caliphate|Umayyads]], controlled most of the Mediterranean region and left a lasting footprint on its eastern and southern shores.

The Arab invasions disrupted the trade relations between Western and Eastern Europe while disrupting trade routes with Eastern Asian Empires. This, however, had the indirect effect of promoting trade across the Caspian Sea. The export of grains from [[Place:Egypt|Egypt]] was re-routed towards the [[Place:Eastern world|Eastern world]]. Products from East Asian empires, like silk and spices, were carried from Egypt to ports like [[Place:Republic of Venice|Venice]] and Constantinople by sailors and Jewish merchants. The Viking raids further disrupted the trade in western Europe and brought it to a halt. However, the Norsemen developed the trade from Norway to the White Sea, while also trading in luxury goods from Spain and the Mediterranean. The Byzantines in the mid-8th century retook control of the area around the north-eastern part of the Mediterranean. Venetian ships from the 9th century armed themselves to counter the harassment by Arabs while concentrating trade of Asian goods in Venice.<ref>{{cite book|last=Couper |first=Alastair |title=The Geography of Sea Transport|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=WFVACwAAQBAJ&q=The+Geography+of+Sea+Transport&pg=PA37|year=2015|isbn=978-1-317-35150-4|pages=33–37}}</ref>
[[File:Battle of Lepanto 1571.jpg|thumb|left|The Battle of Lepanto, 1571, ended in victory for the European Holy League against the Ottoman Turks.]]
The Fatimids maintained trade relations with the Italian city-states like Amalfi and [[Place:Republic of Genoa|Genoa]] before the Crusades, according to the Cairo Geniza documents. A document dated 996 mentions Amalfian merchants living in [[Place:Cairo|Cairo]]. Another letter states that the Genoese had traded with [[Place:Alexandria|Alexandria]]. The caliph al-Mustansir had allowed Amalfian merchants to reside in [[Place:Jerusalem|Jerusalem]] about 1060 in place of the Latin hospice.<ref>{{cite book|last=Balard|first=Michel|editor-first1=Marcus Graham|editor-last1=Bull |editor-last2=Edbury|editor-first2=Peter|editor-last3=Phillips|editor-first3=Jonathan|title=The Experience of Crusading, Volume 2 – Defining the Crusader Kingdom|publisher=Cambridge University Press |year=2003|isbn=978-0-521-78151-0|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=JEN-0A3icQUC&q=amalfi+cairo&pg=PA233|pages=23–35}}</ref>

The [[Religion:Crusades|Crusades]] led to the flourishing of trade between Europe and the ''[[Religion:Outremer|outremer]]'' region.<ref>{{cite book|last=Housley|first=Norman|title=Contesting the Crusades|publisher=Blackwell Publishing|year=2006|isbn=978-1-4051-1189-8|pages=152–54}}</ref> Genoa, Venice and Pisa created colonies in regions controlled by the Crusaders and came to control the trade with the Orient. These colonies also allowed them to trade with the Eastern world. Though the fall of the Crusader states and attempts at banning of trade relations with Muslim states by the Popes temporarily disrupted the trade with the Orient, it however continued.<ref>{{cite book|first=James|last=Brundage|title=Medieval Italy: An Encyclopedia|publisher=Routledge|year=2004|isbn=978-1-135-94880-1|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=E2CTAgAAQBAJ&q=through+all+these+military+triumphs+and+reverses,+italian+merchants+constituted+the+mainstay&pg=PT303|page=273}}</ref>

Europe started to revive, however, as more organized and centralized states began to form in the later [[History:Middle Ages|Middle Ages]] after the [[History:Renaissance of the 12th century|Renaissance of the 12th century]].

[[File:De Engels-Nederlandse vloot in de Baai van Algiers ter ondersteuning van het ultimatum tot vrijlating van blanke slaven, 26 augustus 1816. Rijksmuseum SK-A-1377.jpeg|thumb|The bombardment of Algiers by the Anglo-Dutch fleet in support of an ultimatum to release European slaves, August 1816]]

[[Place:Ottoman Empire|Ottoman]] power based in Anatolia continued to grow, and in 1453 extinguished the Byzantine Empire with the Conquest of Constantinople. Ottomans gained control of much of the eastern part sea in the 16th century and also maintained naval bases in southern France (1543–1544), Algeria and Tunisia. Barbarossa, the Ottoman captain is a symbol of this domination with the victory of the Battle of Preveza (1538). The Battle of Djerba (1560) marked the apex of Ottoman naval domination in the eastern Mediterranean. As the naval prowess of the European powers increased, they confronted Ottoman expansion in the region when the Battle of Lepanto (1571) checked the power of the Ottoman Navy. This was the last naval battle to be fought primarily between [[Engineering:Galley|galley]]s.

The Barbary pirates of [[Place:Northwest Africa|Northwest Africa]] preyed on Christian shipping and coastlines in the Western Mediterranean Sea.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://archive.org/details/trent_0116405722392 |url-access=registration |title=Christian Slaves, Muslim Masters: White Slavery in the Mediterranean, the Barbary Coast and Italy, 1500–1800 |author=Robert Davis |publisher=Palgrave Macmillan |date=5 December 2003|access-date=17 January 2013|isbn=978-0-333-71966-4}}</ref> According to Robert Davis, from the 16th to 19th centuries, pirates captured 1&nbsp;million to 1.25&nbsp;million Europeans as slaves.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/british/empire_seapower/white_slaves_01.shtml |title=British Slaves on the Barbary Coast |publisher=Bbc.co.uk |access-date=17 January 2013}}</ref>

The development of oceanic shipping began to affect the entire Mediterranean. Once, most of the trade between Western Europe and the East was passing through the region, but after the 1490s the development of a sea route to the Indian Ocean allowed the importation of Asian [[Finance:Spice trade|spices]] and other goods through the Atlantic ports of western Europe.<ref>C.I. Gable – [http://www.boglewood.com/timeline/ottomans.html Constantinople Falls to the Ottoman Turks] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141029132035/http://www.boglewood.com/timeline/ottomans.html |date=29 October 2014}} – '' Boglewood Timeline'' – 1998 – Retrieved 3 September 2011.</ref><ref>[http://www.sephardicstudies.org/ottoemp.html "History of the Ottoman Empire, an Islamic Nation where Jews Lived"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141018040430/http://www.sephardicstudies.org/ottoemp.html |date=18 October 2014}} – ''Sephardic Studies and Culture'' – Retrieved 3 September 2011.</ref><ref>Robert Guisepi – {{usurped|1=[https://web.archive.org/web/20150311160503/http://history-world.org/ottoman%20empire.htm The Ottomans: From Frontier Warriors To Empire Builders]}} – 1992 – ''History World International'' – Retrieved 3 September 2011.</ref>

The sea remained strategically important. British mastery of [[Place:Gibraltar|Gibraltar]] ensured their influence in Africa and Southwest Asia. Especially after the naval battles of Abukir (1799, Battle of the Nile) and Trafalgar (1805), the British had for a long time strengthened their dominance in the Mediterranean.<ref>See: Brian Lavery "Nelson's Navy: The Ships, Men, and Organization, 1793–1815" (2013).</ref> Wars included Naval warfare in the Mediterranean during World War I and Mediterranean theatre of World War II.

With the opening of the lockless Suez Canal in 1869, the flow of trade between Europe and Asia changed fundamentally. The fastest route now led through the Mediterranean towards East Africa and Asia. This led to a preference for the Mediterranean countries and their ports like Trieste with direct connections to Central and Eastern Europe experienced a rapid economic rise. In the 20th century, the 1st and 2nd World Wars as well as the Suez Crisis and the [[History:Cold War|Cold War]] led to a shift of trade routes to the European northern ports, which changed again towards the southern ports through European integration, the activation of the Silk Road and free world trade.<ref>Mary Pelletier "A brief history of the Suez Canal" In: Apollo 3 July 2018; Harry de Wilt: Is One Belt, One Road a China crisis for North Sea main ports? in World Cargo News, 17. December 2019; Marcus Hernig: Die Renaissance der Seidenstraße (2018), pp 112; Hans Reis "Der Suezkanal – die wichtigste von Menschen geschaffene Wasserstrasse wurde vor 150 Jahren gebaut und war oft umkämpft" In: Neue Zürcher Zeitung 17 November 2019; Bernhard Simon: Can The New Silk Road Compete With The Maritime Silk Road? in The Maritime Executive, 1 January 2020.</ref>

===21st century and migrations===
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|Alt         =
}}
In 2013, the Maltese president described the Mediterranean Sea as a "cemetery" due to the large number of migrants who drowned there after their boats capsized.<ref>{{cite web|title=Migrant deaths prompt calls for EU action|url=https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2013/10/13/migrant-deaths-prompt-calls-for-eu-action/|website=Al Jazeera&nbsp;– English|access-date=14 March 2022|date=13 October 2013}}</ref> European Parliament president Martin Schulz said in 2014 that Europe's migration policy "turned the Mediterranean into a graveyard", referring to the number of drowned refugees in the region as a direct result of the policies.<ref>{{cite web|title=Schulz: EU migrant policy 'turned Mediterranean into graveyard'|url=http://euobserver.com/tickers/121894|website=EUobserver|access-date=12 December 2014|date=24 October 2013}}</ref> An Azerbaijani official described the sea as "a burial ground ... where people die".<ref>{{cite web|url=http://topnews.az/en/news/148766/Novruz-Mammadov-The-Mediterranean-become-a-burial-ground.html|title=Novruz Mammadov: The Mediterranean become a burial ground}}</ref>

Following the 2013 Lampedusa migrant shipwreck, the Italian government decided to strengthen the national system for the patrolling of the Mediterranean Sea by authorising "Operation Mare Nostrum", a military and humanitarian mission in order to rescue the migrants and arrest the traffickers of immigrants. In 2015, more than one million migrants crossed the Mediterranean Sea into Europe.<ref>{{cite web|title=Over one million sea arrivals reach Europe in 2015 |url=http://www.unhcr.org/news/latest/2015/12/5683d0b56/million-sea-arrivals-reach-europe-2015.html |website=UNHCR – The UN Refugee Agency |date=30 December 2015}}</ref>

Italy was particularly affected by the European migrant crisis. Since 2013, over 700,000 migrants have landed in Italy,<ref>{{cite news |title=What will Italy's new government mean for migrants? |url=https://www.thelocal.it/20180521/what-will-italys-new-government-mean-for-migrants |newspaper=The Local Italy |date=21 May 2018}}</ref> mainly sub-Saharan Africans.<ref>{{cite news |title=African migrants fear for future as Italy struggles with surge in arrivals |url=https://www.reuters.com/article/us-italy-migrants-africa/african-migrants-fear-for-future-as-italy-struggles-with-surge-in-arrivals-idUSKBN1A30QD |work=Reuters |date=18 July 2017}}</ref>

==Geography==
{{multiple image
| width    = 180
| footer   =
| image1   = STS059-238-074 Strait of Gibraltar.jpg
| alt1     =
| caption1 = A satellite image showing the Mediterranean Sea. The Strait of Gibraltar appears in the bottom left (north-west) quarter of the image; to its left is the [[Place:Iberian Peninsula|Iberian Peninsula]] in [[Earth:Europe|Europe]], and to its right, the [[Place:Maghreb|Maghreb]] in [[Earth:Africa|Africa]].
| image2   = Gallipoli peninsula from space.jpg
| alt2     =
| caption2 = The Dardanelles strait in [[Place:Turkey|Turkey]]. The north (upper) side forms part of [[Earth:Europe|Europe]] (the Gelibolu Peninsula in the Thrace region); on the south (lower) side is [[Earth:Anatolia|Anatolia]] in [[Earth:Asia|Asia]].
}}
The Mediterranean Sea connects:
* to the [[Earth:Atlantic Ocean|Atlantic Ocean]] by the Strait of Gibraltar (known in [[Biography:Homer|Homer]]'s writings as the "[[Unsolved:Pillars of Hercules|Pillars of Hercules]]") in the west
* to the Sea of Marmara and the Black Sea, by the Straits of the Dardanelles and the Bosporus respectively, in the east

The {{convert|163|km|mi|abbr= on}} long artificial Suez Canal in the southeast connects the Mediterranean Sea to the Red Sea without ship lock, because the water level is essentially the same.<ref name="melitensia">{{cite journal|journal=Hyphen|last=Vella|first=Andrew P.|date=1985|title=Mediterranean Malta|url=http://melitensiawth.com/incoming/Index/Hyphen/Hyphen.%204(1985)5/02.pdf|volume=4|issue=5|pages=469–472|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170329163002/http://melitensiawth.com/incoming/Index/Hyphen/Hyphen.%204%281985%295/02.pdf|archive-date=29 March 2017|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>Harald Krachler "Alois Negrelli, der Suezkanalplaner" In: Wiener Zeitung 18 January 1999.</ref>

The westernmost point of the Mediterranean is located at the transition from the Alborán Sea to the Strait of Gibraltar, the easternmost point is on the coast of the Gulf of Iskenderun in southeastern Turkey. The northernmost point of the Mediterranean is on the coast of the Gulf of Trieste near Monfalcone in northern Italy while the southernmost point is on the coast of the Gulf of Sidra near the Libyan town of El Agheila.

Large islands in the Mediterranean include:
* [[Place:Cyprus|Cyprus]], Crete, Euboea, Rhodes, Lesbos, Chios, Kefalonia, Corfu, Limnos, Samos, Naxos, and Andros in the [[Place:Eastern Mediterranean|Eastern Mediterranean]]
* [[Place:Sicily|Sicily]], Cres, Krk, Brač, Hvar, Pag, Korčula, and Malta in the central Mediterranean
* Sardinia, [[Place:Corsica|Corsica]], and the Balearic Islands: Ibiza, Majorca, and Menorca in the Western Mediterranean

The [[Place:Alps|Alpine arc]], which also has a great meteorological impact on the Mediterranean area, touches the Mediterranean in the west in the area around Nice.

The typical [[Earth:Mediterranean climate|Mediterranean climate]] has hot, dry summers and mild, rainy winters. Crops of the region include [[Biology:Olive|olive]]s, grapes, oranges, [[Biology:Tangerine|tangerine]]s, [[Biology:Carob|carob]]s and [[Biology:Cork (material)|cork]].

===Marginal seas===
[[File:Lopud island, Croatia (48612709613).jpg|thumb|The Elaphiti Islands off the coast of Croatia; the Adriatic Sea contains over 1200 islands and islets.]]
[[File:Illots d'Eivissa (Pitiüses) 12. Es Malvins.jpg|thumb|Es Malvins, Balearic Sea]]
[[File:Ionian sea islands, pic1.JPG|thumb|230px|The Ionian Sea, view from the island Lefkada, Greece]]

The Mediterranean Sea includes 15 marginal seas:<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Bai |first1=Yan |last2=He |first2=Xianqiang |last3=Yu |first3=Shujie |last4=Chen |first4=Chen-Tung |date=2018-02-28 |title=Changes in the Ecological Environment of the Marginal Seas along the Eurasian Continent from 2003 to 2014 |journal=Sustainability |language=en |volume=10 |issue=3 |page=635 |doi=10.3390/su10030635 |issn=2071-1050|doi-access=free}}</ref>{{Failed verification|date=April 2023}}

{| class="wikitable"
!Number
!Sea
!Area (km<sup>2</sup>)
!Marginal countries and territories
|-
| align=center|1 || '''Libyan Sea''' || align=center|350,000 || [[Place:Libya|Libya]], [[Place:Turkey|Turkey]], Greece, Malta, Italy
|-
| align=center|2 || '''Levantine Sea''' || align=center|320,000 || [[Place:Turkey|Turkey]], [[Place:Syria|Syria]], [[Place:Lebanon|Lebanon]], [[Place:Israel|Israel]], [[Place:Palestine (region)|Palestine]], [[Place:Egypt|Egypt]], Greece, [[Place:Cyprus|Cyprus]], Akrotiri & Dhekelia
|-
| align=center|3 || '''Tyrrhenian Sea''' || align=center|275,000 || Italy, {{wipe|France}}
|-
| align=center|4 || '''Aegean Sea''' || align=center|214,000 || Greece, [[Place:Turkey|Turkey]]
|-
| align=center|5 || '''Icarian Sea''' || align=center|<small>(Part of Aegean)</small> || Greece
|-
| align=center|6 || '''Myrtoan Sea''' || align=center|<small>(Part of Aegean)</small> || Greece
|-
| align=center|7 || '''Thracian Sea''' || align=center|<small>(Part of Aegean)</small> || Greece, [[Place:Turkey|Turkey]]
|-
| align=center|8 || '''Ionian Sea''' || align=center|169,000 || Greece, Albania, Italy
|-
| align=center|9 || '''Balearic Sea''' || align=center|150,000 || {{wipe|Spain}}
|-
| align=center|10 || '''[[Place:Adriatic Sea|Adriatic Sea]]''' || align=center|138,000 || Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Italy, Montenegro, Slovenia
|-
| align=center|11 || '''Sea of Sardinia''' || align=center|120,000 || Italy, {{wipe|Spain}}
|-
| align=center|12 || '''Sea of Crete''' || align=center|95,000 || Greece<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.britannica.com/place/Sea-of-Crete |title=Sea of Crete &#124; sea, Greece |website=Britannica}}</ref>
|-
| align=center|13 || '''Ligurian Sea''' || align=center|80,000 || Italy, {{wipe|France}}
|-
| align=center|14 || '''Alboran Sea''' || align=center|53,000 || {{wipe|Spain}}, Morocco, Algeria, [[Place:Gibraltar|Gibraltar]]
|-
| align=center|15 || '''Sea of Marmara''' || align=center|11,500 || [[Place:Turkey|Turkey]]
|-
| align=center|– || '''Other''' || align=center|~500,000 || Consists of gulfs, straits, channels and other parts that do not have the name of a specific sea.
|- style="background:#9acdff;"
!Total!!Mediterranean Sea!!~2,500,000!!
|}
* [[Earth:List of seas#Marginal seas by ocean|List of seas]]

Note 1: The [[Organization:International Hydrographic Organization|International Hydrographic Organization]] defines the area as generic Mediterranean Sea, in the Western Basin. It does not recognize the label Sea of Sardinia.<ref name="IHO" />

Note 2: Thracian Sea and Myrtoan Sea are seas that are part of the Aegean Sea.

Note 3: The Black Sea is not considered part of it.

===Extent===
[[File:Locatie Middellandse Zee.PNG|thumb|Borders of the Mediterranean Sea]]

The [[Organization:International Hydrographic Organization|International Hydrographic Organization]] defines the limits of the Mediterranean Sea as follows:<ref name="IHO">{{cite web|url=https://iho.int/uploads/user/pubs/standards/s-23/S-23_Ed3_1953_EN.pdf|title=Limits of Oceans and Seas, 3rd edition|year=1953|publisher=International Hydrographic Organization|access-date=28 December 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111008191433/http://www.iho-ohi.net/iho_pubs/standard/S-23/S23_1953.pdf|archive-date=8 October 2011}}</ref> Stretching from the Strait of Gibraltar in the west to the entrances to the Dardanelles and the Suez Canal in the east, the Mediterranean Sea is bounded by the coasts of Europe, Africa, and Asia and is divided into two deep basins:
* Western Basin:
** On the west: A line joining the extremities of Cape Trafalgar (Spain) and Cape Spartel (Africa)
** On the northeast: The west coast of Italy. In the Strait of Messina, a line joining the north extreme of Cape Paci (15°42′E) with Cape Peloro, the east extreme of the Island of [[Place:Sicily|Sicily]]. The north coast of Sicily
** On the east: A line joining Cape Lilibeo the western point of Sicily ({{coord|37|47|N|12|22|E|display=inline}}), through the Adventure Bank to Cape Bon (Tunisia)
* Eastern Basin:
** On the west: The northeastern and eastern limits of the Western Basin
** On the northeast: A line joining Kum Kale (26°11′E) and Cape Helles, the western entrance to the Dardanelles
** On the southeast: The entrance to the Suez Canal
** On the east: The coasts of [[Place:Lebanon|Lebanon]], [[Place:Syria|Syria]], and [[Place:Israel|Israel]]

===Hydrography===
<!--This section is linked from the Infobox and the [[Place:Mediterranean Basin|Mediterranean Basin]] article-->
[[File:Mediterranean Basin.png|thumb|Approximate extent of the Mediterranean drainage basin (dark green). Nile basin only partially shown]]

The [[Earth:Drainage basin|drainage basin]] of the Mediterranean Sea is particularly heterogeneous and extends much further than the Mediterranean region.<ref>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=a2u4HMfAMXoC |title=The Climate of the Mediterranean Region: From the Past to the Future |publisher=[[Company:Elsevier|Elsevier]] |author=Lionello, P. |year=2012 |page=lxii |isbn=9780123914774 |quote=Geographically, the Mediterranean catchment is extremely large and heterogeneous, covering an area of approximately 5 millions km<sup>2</sup>. It extends from the equator, where the springs of the White Nile River are located, to the source of the Rhone River at approximately 48°N. In longitude, it spans about 40°, from the middle of the Iberian peninsula, at 4°W, towards southern Turkey and the Middle East coasts facing the Mediterranean Sea (35°E).}}</ref> Its size has been estimated between {{convert|4000000|km2|sqmi|abbr=on}} and {{convert|5500000|km2|sqmi|abbr=on}},{{NoteTag|Not including the area of the Mediterranean Sea}} depending on whether non-active parts (deserts) are included or not.<ref>{{cite book |url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/226665381 |title=Advances in the Research of Aquatic Environment |chapter=An insight to the fluvial characteristics of the Mediterranean and Black Sea watersheds |page=191 |publisher=[[Company:Springer Nature|Springer Nature]] |author=Poulos, Serafeim |year=2011 |quote=The drainage basin of the Mediterranean Sea, accounting for some 4,184 10<sup>3</sup> km<sup>2</sup> (including the R. Nile)}}</ref><ref name="Margat 2004 p4">{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=n5CGAAAAIAAJ |title=Mediterranean Basin Water Atlas |publisher=[[Organization:UNESCO|UNESCO]] |author=Margat, Jean F. |year=2004 |page=4 |isbn=9782951718159 |quote=A basin of varied geometry: Area of the entire Mediterranean Basin, including the whole of the Nile Basin = 4,562,480 km<sup>2</sup>; Area of the 'conventional' Mediterranean Basin (i.e. counting only part of the Nile Basin in Egypt) = 1,836,480 km<sup>2</sup> [...] There are few rivers with an abundant flow. Only three rivers have a mean discharge of more than 1000 m<sup>3</sup>/s: the Nile (at Aswan), the Rhône and the Po.}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |title=Hydrological cycle of the Mediterranean-Black Sea system |author=García-García, D. |journal=Climate Dynamics |year=2022 |volume=59 |issue=7–8 |pages=1919–1938 |doi=10.1007/s00382-022-06188-2 |bibcode=2022ClDy...59.1919G |s2cid=247013753 |quote=In the continents, the drainage basins discharging into the Mediterranean and Black seas are defined according to the global continental runoff pathways scheme (Oki and Sud 1998), and they cover 5.34 × 10<sup>6</sup> and 2.43 × 10<sup>6</sup> km<sup>2</sup>, respectively |doi-access=free}}</ref> The longest river ending in the Mediterranean Sea is the Nile, which takes its sources in equatorial Africa. The basin of the Nile constitutes about two-thirds of the Mediterranean drainage basin<ref name="Margat 2004 p4" /> and encompasses areas as high as the Ruwenzori Mountains.<ref>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=gXgyHLT_hwIC |title=Large Rivers: Geomorphology and Management |publisher={{wipe|John Wiley & Sons}} |author=Gupta, Avijit |year=2008 |page=275 |isbn=9780470723715 |quote=The highest point in the Nile basin is Mount Stanley (5109 m) in the Ruwenzori Mountain range between Lake Edward and Lake Albert}}</ref> Among other important rivers in Africa, are the Moulouya and the Chelif, both on the north side of the Atlas Mountains. In Asia, are the Ceyhan and Seyhan, both on the south side of the [[Place:Taurus Mountains|Taurus Mountains]].<ref name="UNEP">{{cite web |url=https://www.medqsr.org/mediterranean-marine-and-coastal-environment |title=The Mediterranean Marine and Coastal Environment: Hydrological and climatic setting. |publisher=Mediterranean Action Plan of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP/MAP) |access-date=16 April 2022 |quote=The Mediterranean is an area of transition between a temperate Europe with relatively abundant and consistent water resources, and the arid African and Arabian deserts that are very short of water.}}</ref> In Europe, the largest basins are those of the Rhône, Ebro, Po, and Maritsa.<ref name="UNECE">{{cite book |url=https://unece.org/fileadmin/DAM/env/water/publications/pub76.htm |title=Our Waters: Joining Hands Across Borders: First Assessment of Transboundary Rivers, Lakes and Groundwaters |publisher=United Nations Economic Commission for Europe |year=2007 |chapter=Drainage basin of the Mediterranean Sea |pages=154–181 |access-date=15 April 2022 |archive-date=15 April 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220415181121/https://unece.org/fileadmin/DAM/env/water/publications/pub76.htm |url-status=dead}}</ref> The basin of the Rhône is the largest and extends up as far north as the [[Earth:Jura Mountains|Jura Mountains]], encompassing areas even on the north side of the [[Place:Alps|Alps]].<!--Lake Geneva for example--><ref>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=4ZiKCgAAQBAJ |title=The Central European Magdalenian: Regional Diversity and Internal Variability |publisher=[[Company:Springer Publishing|Springer Publishing]] |author=Maier, Andreas |year=2015 |page=187 |isbn=9789401772068 |quote=The major geographic features characterizing the landscape are the Rhône-Saône valley, the Jura Mountains, the Molasse basin and the northwestern slopes of the Alps.}}</ref> The basins of the Ebro, Po, and Maritsa, are respectively south of the Pyrenees, Alps, and Balkan Mountains, which are the major ranges bordering Southern Europe.

Total annual precipitation is significantly higher on the European part of the Mediterranean basin, especially near the Alps (the 'water tower of Europe') and other high mountain ranges. As a consequence, the [[Physics:Discharge (hydrology)|river discharges]] of the Rhône and Po are similar to that of the Nile, despite the latter having a much larger basin.<ref name="UNEP" /> These are the only three rivers with an average discharge of over {{convert|1000|m3/s|cuft/s|abbr=on}}.<ref name="Margat 2004 p4"/> Among large natural fresh bodies of water are Lake Victoria (Nile basin), [[Earth:Lake Geneva|Lake Geneva]] (Rhône), and the Italian Lakes (Po). While the Mediterranean watershed is bordered by other river basins in Europe, it is essentially bordered by [[Earth:Endorheic basin|endorheic basin]]s or deserts elsewhere.<!--Depending on whether or not non-active parts of the drainage basin are included-->

The following countries are in the Mediterranean drainage basin while ''not'' having a coastline on the Mediterranean Sea:

* In Europe, through various rivers:<ref name="UNECE"/> [[Religion:Andorra|Andorra]],{{NoteTag|Through the Ebro}} Bulgaria,{{NoteTag|Through the Struma, Maritsa and Nestos, see Geography of Bulgaria#Hydrography}} Kosovo,{{Notetag|Through the Drin}} North Macedonia,{{NoteTag|Through the Drin and Vardar}} San Marino,{{NoteTag|Through the Marecchia<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.britannica.com/place/San-Marino-republic-Europe |title=San Marino |publisher=[[Encyclopædia Britannica]] |access-date=22 April 2022}}</ref>}} Serbia,{{NoteTag|Through the Struma}} and {{wipe|Switzerland}}.{{NoteTag|Through the Rhône, Po and Adige, see [[Earth:Hydrology of Switzerland|Hydrology of Switzerland]]}}
* In Africa, through the Nile:<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.rti.org/impact/nile-river-basin-initiative |title=The Nile River Basin Initiative |date=23 May 2018 |publisher=[[Organization:RTI International|RTI International]] |access-date=14 March 2022 |quote=The longest river in the world, the Nile spans 35 degrees of latitude, drains three million square kilometers of land (one-tenth of the total surface area of Africa), and runs through 11 countries whose combined population totals over 300 million people: Egypt, Ethiopia, Eritrea, Kenya, Rwanda, Burundi, Tanzania, Uganda, Sudan, South Sudan, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo. The Nile's primary water source, Lake Victoria, is the world's second-largest body of fresh water, and the Nile Delta in northern Egypt covers over 150 miles of the Mediterranean coastline.}}</ref> Congo, Burundi, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Kenya, [[Biology:Rwanda|Rwanda]], South Sudan, Sudan, Tanzania and Uganda.

===Coastal countries===
[[File:Area of the Mediterranean.jpg|upright=1.35|thumb|Map of the Mediterranean Sea from open Natural Earth data, 2020]]

The following countries have a coastline on the Mediterranean Sea:
* '''Northern shore''' (from west to east): {{wipe|Spain}}, {{wipe|France}}, [[Place:Monaco|Monaco]], Italy, Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, Albania, Greece, [[Place:Turkey|Turkey]].
* '''Eastern shore''' (from north to south): [[Place:Turkey|Turkey]], [[Place:Syria|Syria]], [[Place:Lebanon|Lebanon]], [[Place:Israel|Israel]], [[Place:State of Palestine|Palestine]], [[Place:Egypt|Egypt]].
* '''Southern shore''' (from west to east): Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, [[Place:Libya|Libya]], [[Place:Egypt|Egypt]].
* '''Island nations''': Malta, [[Place:Cyprus|Cyprus]].

Several other territories also border the Mediterranean Sea (from west to east):
* the British overseas territory of [[Place:Gibraltar|Gibraltar]]
* the Spanish autonomous cities of Ceuta and Melilla and nearby islands
* the Sovereign Base Areas on Cyprus
* the Palestinian Gaza Strip

[[File:Alexandria coast (2715600220).jpg|thumb|right|Alexandria, the largest city on the Mediterranean]]
[[File:Barcelona skyline.jpg|thumb|Barcelona, the second largest metropolitan area on the Mediterranean Sea (after Alexandria) and the headquarters of the Union for the Mediterranean]]
[[File:Attica 06-13 Athens 36 View from Lycabettus.jpg|thumb|right|The Acropolis of Athens with the Mediterranean Sea in the background]]
[[File:Coast of Tel Aviv-Yaffo.JPG|thumb|The ancient port of Jaffa (now in Tel Aviv-Yafo), from which the biblical Jonah set sail before being swallowed by a whale<ref>{{Bibleverse||Jonah|1:3|9}} – "But Jonah rose up to flee unto Tarshish from the presence of the LORD, and went down to Joppa; and he found a ship going to Tarshish: so he paid the fare thereof, and went down into it, to go with them unto Tarshish [...]."</ref>]]

[[File:Sicilia - Catania dall'alto.jpg|thumb|Catania, Sicily, Italy, with Mount Etna in the background]]
[[File:Skyscrapers in Izmir - Turkey.jpg|thumb|İzmir, the third metropolis of Turkey (after Istanbul and Ankara)]]

===Exclusive economic zone===
Exclusive economic zones in Mediterranean Sea:<ref name="Sea Around Us">{{Cite web |title=Sea Around Us &#124; Fisheries, Ecosystems and Biodiversity |url=http://www.seaaroundus.org/data/#/eez |access-date=15 September 2020 |website=seaaroundus.org}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.seaaroundus.org/data/#/eez/793?chart=catch-chart&dimension=taxon&measure=tonnage&limit=10|title=Sea Around Us &#124; Fisheries, Ecosystems and Biodiversity}}</ref>

{| class="wikitable" style="font-size:100%"
|-
!width=75|Number
!width=250|Country
!width=100|Area (Km<sup>2</sup>)
|-
| align=center|1 || '''{{ITA}}''' || align=center|541,915
|-
| align=center|2 || '''{{GRE}}''' || align=center|493,708
|-
| align=center|3 || '''{{LBA}}''' || align=center|355,604
|-
| align=center|4 || '''{{ESP}}''' || align=center|260,000
|-
| align=center|5 || '''{{EGY}}''' || align=center|169,125
|-
| align=center|6 || '''{{ALG}}''' || align=center|128,843
|-
| align=center|7 || '''{{TUN}}''' || align=center|102,047
|-
| align=center|8 || '''{{CYP}}''' || align=center|98,088
|-
| align=center|9 || '''{{FRA}}''' || align=center|88,389
|-
| align=center|10 || '''{{TUR}}''' || align=center|72,195
|-
| align=center|11|| '''{{CRO}}''' || align=center|59,032
|-
| align=center|12|| '''{{MLT}}''' || align=center|55,542
|-
| align=center|13 || '''{{ISR}}''' || align=center|25,139
|-
| align=center|14 || '''{{LBN}}''' || align=center|19,265
|-
| align=center|15 || '''{{MAR}}''' || align=center|18,302
|-
| align=center|16 || '''{{ALB}}''' || align=center|13,691
|-
| align=center|17 || '''{{SYR}}''' || align=center|10,189
|-
| align=center|18 || '''{{MNE}}''' || align=center|7,745
|-
| align=center|19 || '''{{PLE}}''' || align=center|2,591
|-
| align=center|20 || '''{{MON}}''' || align=center|288
|-
| align=center|21 || '''{{SLO}}''' || align=center|220
|-
| align=center|22 || '''{{BIH}}''' || align=center|50
|-
| align=center|23 || '''{{GBR}}''' || align=center|6.8 
|- style="background:#9acdff;"
!Total
|'''Mediterranean Sea''' || align=center|'''2,500,000'''
|}

===Coastline length===
The Coastline length is about 46,000&nbsp;km.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.britannica.com/place/Mediterranean-Sea|title=Mediterranean Sea &#124; Facts, History, Islands, & Countries|website=Encyclopedia Britannica|access-date=15 September 2020}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://wwf.panda.org/knowledge_hub/where_we_work/mediterranean/|title=The Mediterranean – a sea surrounded by land &#124; WWF}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.fao.org/3/W4347E/w4347e0s.htm|title=The Mediterranean coast|publisher=FAO |access-date=15 September 2020}}</ref>

===Coastal cities===

Major cities (municipalities), with populations larger than 200,000 people, bordering the Mediterranean Sea include:
* Algeria: [[Place:Algiers|Algiers]], Annaba, Oran
* Egypt: [[Place:Alexandria|Alexandria]], [[Place:Damietta|Damietta]], [[Place:Port Said|Port Said]]
* France: Marseille, Toulon, Nice
* Greece: [[Place:Athens|Athens]], [[Place:Thessaloniki|Thessaloniki]], [[Place:Patras|Patras]], [[Place:Heraklion|Heraklion]]
* Israel: Ashdod, Haifa, Netanya, Rishon LeZion, [[Place:Tel Aviv|Tel Aviv]]
* Italy: Bari, Catania, Genoa, Messina, Naples, Palermo, [[Place:Rome|Rome]], Taranto, Trieste, Venice
* Lebanon: [[Place:Beirut|Beirut]], Tripoli
* Libya: Benghazi, Misrata, [[Place:Tripoli, Libya|Tripoli]], Zawiya, Zliten
* Malta: [[Place:Valletta|Valletta]]
* Morocco: [[Place:Tétouan|Tétouan]], [[Place:Tangier|Tangier]]
* Palestine: Gaza City
* Spain: Alicante, Almería, Badalona, [[Place:Barcelona|Barcelona]], Cartagena, Málaga, Palma de Mallorca, [[Place:Valencia|Valencia]].
* Syria: Latakia, Tartus
* Tunisia: Sfax, Sousse, [[Place:Tunis|Tunis]]
* Turkey: Alanya, Antalya, Çanakkale, İskenderun, İzmir, Mersin

===Subdivisions===
[[File:Bucht & Straße von Gibraltar.jpg|thumb|Africa (left, on horizon) and Europe (right), as seen from Gibraltar]]

The [[Organization:International Hydrographic Organization|International Hydrographic Organization]] (IHO) divides the Mediterranean into a number of smaller waterbodies, each with their own designation (from west to east):<ref name="IHO"/>
* the Strait of Gibraltar
* the Alboran Sea, between Spain and Morocco
* the Balearic Sea, between mainland Spain and its Balearic Islands
* the Ligurian Sea between [[Place:Corsica|Corsica]] and Liguria (Italy)
* the Tyrrhenian Sea enclosed by Sardinia, [[Place:Corsica|Corsica]], Italian peninsula and [[Place:Sicily|Sicily]]
* the Ionian Sea between Italy, Albania and Greece
* the [[Place:Adriatic Sea|Adriatic Sea]] between Italy, Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro and Albania
* the Aegean Sea between Greece and Turkey

====Other seas====
[[File:Positano - 01.jpg|thumb|Positano, Italy, Tyrrhenian Sea]]

Some other seas whose names have been in common use from the ancient times, or in the present:
* the Sea of Sardinia, between Sardinia and Balearic Islands, as a part of the Balearic Sea
* the Sea of Sicily between [[Place:Sicily|Sicily]] and Tunisia
* the Libyan Sea between [[Place:Libya|Libya]] and Crete
* In the Aegean Sea,
** the Thracian Sea in its north
** the Myrtoan Sea between the Cyclades and the Peloponnese
** the Sea of Crete north of Crete
** the Icarian Sea between Kos and Chios
* the Cilician Sea between Turkey and [[Place:Cyprus|Cyprus]]
* the Levantine Sea at the eastern end of the Mediterranean
Many of these smaller seas feature in local myth and folklore and derive their names from such associations.

====Other features====
[[File:Bey-Sannine-BCD.jpg|thumb|View of the Saint George Bay, and snow-capped Mount Sannine from a tower in the Beirut Central District]]
[[File:Port Autonome de Marseille.JPG|thumb|The Port of Marseille seen from L'Estaque]]
[[File:CIty of Saranda Albania 2016.jpg|thumb|Sarandë, Albania, stands on an open-sea gulf of the Ionian sea in the central Mediterranean.]]
[[File:Serra de Tramuntana - 6.jpg|thumb|''Serra de Tramuntana'', Mallorca]]
In addition to the seas, a number of gulfs and [[Earth:Strait|strait]]s are recognised:
* the Saint George Bay in Beirut, Lebanon
* the Ras Ibn Hani cape in Latakia, [[Place:Syria|Syria]]
* the Ras al-Bassit cape in northern Syria.
* the Minet el-Beida ("White Harbour") bay near ancient Ugarit, [[Place:Syria|Syria]]
* the Strait of Gibraltar, connects the Atlantic Ocean to the Mediterranean Sea and separates Spain from Morocco
* the Bay of Algeciras, at the southern end of the [[Place:Iberian Peninsula|Iberian Peninsula]]
* the Gulf of Corinth, an enclosed sea between the Ionian Sea and the Corinth Canal
* the Pagasetic Gulf, the gulf of Volos, south of the Thermaic Gulf, formed by the Mount Pelion [[Earth:Peninsula|peninsula]]
* the Saronic Gulf, the gulf of [[Place:Athens|Athens]], between the Corinth Canal and the Mirtoan Sea
* the Thermaic Gulf, the gulf of [[Place:Thessaloniki|Thessaloniki]], located in the northern Greek region of Macedonia
* the Kvarner Gulf, Croatia
* the Gulf of Almeria, southeast of Spain
* the Gulf of Lion, south of France
* the Gulf of Valencia, east of Spain
* the Strait of Messina, between [[Place:Sicily|Sicily]] and Calabrian peninsula
* the Gulf of Genoa, northwestern Italy
* the Gulf of Venice, northeastern Italy
* the Gulf of Trieste, northeastern Italy
* the Gulf of Taranto, southern Italy
* the Gulf of Saint Euphemia, southern Italy, with the international airport nearby
* the Gulf of Salerno, southwestern Italy
* the Gulf of Gaeta, southwestern Italy
* the Gulf of Squillace, southern Italy
* the Strait of Otranto, between Italy and Albania
* the Gulf of Haifa, northern Israel
* the Gulf of Sidra, between Tripolitania (western Libya) and [[Place:Cyrenaica|Cyrenaica]] (eastern Libya)
* the Strait of Sicily, between [[Place:Sicily|Sicily]] and Tunisia
* the Corsica Channel, between [[Place:Corsica|Corsica]] and Italy
* the Strait of Bonifacio, between Sardinia and [[Place:Corsica|Corsica]]
* the Gulf of Antalya, between west and east shores of Antalya (Turkey)
* the Gulf of İskenderun, between İskenderun and Adana (Turkey)
* the Gulf of İzmir, in İzmir (Turkey)
* the [[Biology:Gulf of Fethiye|Gulf of Fethiye]], in Fethiye (Turkey)
* the Gulf of Kuşadası, in İzmir (Turkey)
* the Bay of Kotor, in south-western Montenegro and south-eastern Croatia
* the Malta Channel, between Sicily and Malta
* the Gozo Channel, between Malta Island and Gozo

===Largest islands===
[[File:Tunisia - Sicily - South Italy.jpg|thumb|The two biggest islands of the Mediterranean: Sicily and Sardinia (Italy)]]
[[File:The Tower of Porto Giunco Beach (Spiaggia Torre Porto Giunco) with a view to the beach and the lake Stagno di Notteri in Sardinia, Italy (48402759012).jpg|thumb|Medieval watchtower on the coast of Sardinia]]

The Mediterranean Sea encompasses about 10,000 islands and islets, of which about 250 are permanently inhabited.<ref>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=e799DwAAQBAJ |title=The Mediterranean region under climate change: A scientific update |publisher=Institut de recherche pour le développement |author=Moatti, Jean-Paul |author2= Thiébault, Stéphane |year=2018 |page=363 |isbn=9782709922203 |quote=With about 10,000 islands and islets (approx. 250 inhabited by humans), the Mediterranean Sea can be considered as one of the largest archipelagos in the world.}}</ref> In the table below are listed the ten largest by size.

{| class="wikitable sortable"
|- style="background:#efefef;"
!Country
!Island
!Area in km<sup>2</sup>
!Population
|-
|Italy
|[[Place:Sicily|Sicily]]
|25,460
|5,048,995
|-
|Italy
|Sardinia
|23,821
|1,672,804
|-
|Cyprus
|[[Place:Cyprus|Cyprus]]
|9,251
|1,088,503
|-
|France
|[[Place:Corsica|Corsica]]
|8,680
|299,209
|-
|Greece
|Crete
|8,336
|623,666
|-
|Greece
|Euboea
|3,655
|218,000
|-
|Spain
|Majorca
|3,640
|869,067
|-
|Greece
|Lesbos
|1,632
|90,643
|-
|Greece
|Rhodes
|1,400
|117,007
|-
|Greece
|Chios
|842
|51,936
|}

===Climate===
Much of the Mediterranean coast enjoys a [[Earth:Mediterranean climate#Hot-summer Mediterranean climate|hot-summer Mediterranean climate]]. However, most of its southeastern coast has a [[Earth:Desert climate#Hot desert climates|hot desert climate]], and much of Spain's eastern (Mediterranean) coast has a [[Earth:Semi-arid climate#Cold semi-arid climates|cold semi-arid climate]], while most of Italy's northern (Adriatic) coast has a [[Earth:Humid subtropical climate|humid subtropical climate]]. Although they are rare, [[Earth:Mediterranean tropical-like cyclone|tropical cyclones occasionally form in the Mediterranean Sea]], typically in September–November.

{{wide image|Koppen World Map (Mediterranean Sea area only).png|769px|Map of climate zones in the areas surrounding the Mediterranean Sea, according to the [[Earth:Köppen climate classification|Köppen climate classification]]}}

====Sea temperature====
{|class="wikitable"
|+Mean sea temperature (°C)
|-
!
!Jan
!Feb
!Mar
!Apr
!May
!Jun
!Jul
!Aug
!Sep
!Oct
!Nov
!Dec
!Year

|-
|Málaga<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.weather2visit.com/europe/spain/malaga.htm|title=Malaga Climate: Monthly Weather Averages – Costa del Sol|last=Weather2Visit.com}}</ref>
|16
|15
|16
|16
|18
|20
|22
|23
|22
|20
|18
|17
!18.6
|-
|[[Place:Barcelona|Barcelona]]<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.weather2travel.com/climate-guides/spain/barcelona.php|title=Barcelona Climate: Monthly Weather Averages – Spain|last=Weather2Travel.com}}</ref>
|13
|12
|13
|14
|17
|20
|23
|25
|23
|20
|17
|15
!17.8
|-
|Marseille<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.weather2travel.com/climate-guides/france/marseille.php|title=Marseille Climate: Monthly Weather Averages – France|last=Weather2Travel.com}}</ref>
|13
|13
|13
|14
|16
|18
|21
|22
|21
|18
|16
|14
!16.6
|-
|Naples<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.weather2travel.com/climate-guides/italy/neapolitan-riviera/naples.php|title=Naples Climate: Monthly Weather Averages – Neapolitan Riviera|last=Weather2Travel.com}}</ref>
|15
|14
|14
|15
|18
|22
|25
|27
|25
|22
|19
|16
!19.3
|-
|Malta<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.weather2travel.com/climate-guides/malta/valletta.php|title=Valletta Climate: Monthly Weather Averages – Malta – Malta|last=Weather2Travel.com}}</ref>
|16
|16
|15
|16
|18
|21
|24
|26
|25
|23
|21
|18
!19.9
|-
|Venice<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.weather2travel.com/climate-guides/italy/venetian-riviera/venice.php|title=Venice Climate: Monthly Weather Averages – Venetian Riviera|last=Weather2Travel.com}}</ref>
|11
|10
|11
|13
|18
|22
|25
|26
|23
|20
|16
|14
!17.4
|-
|[[Place:Athens|Athens]]<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.weather2travel.com/climate-guides/greece/athens.php|title=Athens Climate: Monthly Weather Averages – Greece – Greece|last=Weather2Travel.com}}</ref>
|16
|15
|15
|16
|18
|21
|24
|24
|24
|21
|19
|18
!19.3
|-
|[[Place:Heraklion|Heraklion]]<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.weather2travel.com/climate-guides/greece/crete/iraklion.php|title=Iraklion Climate: Monthly Weather Averages – Crete – Crete|last=Weather2Travel.com}}</ref>
|16
|15
|15
|16
|19
|22
|24
|25
|24
|22
|20
|18
!19.7
|-
|Antalya<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.weather2travel.com/antalya-coast/antalya/climate/|title=Antalya: Monthly Weather Averages - Antalya Coast - Turkey|last=Weather2Travel.com}}</ref>
|17
|17
|16
|17
|21
|24
|27
|29
|27
|25
|22
|19
!21.8
|-
|Limassol<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.weather2travel.com/climate-guides/cyprus/limassol.php|title=Limassol Climate: Monthly Weather Averages – Cyprus|last=Weather2Travel.com}}</ref>
|18
|17
|17
|18
|20
|24
|26
|28
|27
|25
|22
|19
!21.7
|-
|Mersin<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.seatemperature.org/middle-east/turkey/mercin.htm|title=Mercin (alternate names - Mersin, Mersina, Mersine): Monthly Weather Averages - Turkey|last=Seatemperature.org}}</ref>
|18
|17
|17
|18
|21
|25
|28
|29
|28
|25
|22
|19
!22.3
|-
|[[Place:Tel Aviv|Tel Aviv]]<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.weather2travel.com/climate-guides/israel/tel-aviv.php|title=Tel Aviv Climate: Monthly Weather Averages – Israel|last=Weather2Travel.com}}</ref>
|18
|17
|17
|18
|21
|24
|27
|28
|28
|26
|23
|20
!22.3
|-
|[[Place:Alexandria|Alexandria]]<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.seatemperature.org/africa/egypt/alexandria.htm|title=Alexandria Climate: Monthly Weather Averages – Egypt|last=Seatemperature.org}}</ref>
|18
|17
|17
|18
|20
|23
|25
|26
|26
|25
|22
|20
!21.4
|}

==Oceanography==
[[File:MEDCURR.GIF|thumb|upright=1.65|Predominant surface currents for June]]

Being nearly landlocked affects conditions in the Mediterranean Sea: for instance, [[Astronomy:Tide|tide]]s are very limited as a result of the narrow connection with the Atlantic Ocean. The Mediterranean is characterised and immediately recognised by its deep blue colour.

[[Physics:Evaporation|Evaporation]] greatly exceeds precipitation and river runoff in the Mediterranean, a fact that is central to the water circulation within the basin.<ref>{{citation|last=Pinet|first=Paul R.|year=1996|title=Invitation to Oceanography|location=St Paul, Minnesota|publisher=West Publishing Co.|isbn=978-0-314-06339-7|edition=3rd|page=202}}</ref> Evaporation is especially high in its eastern half, causing the water level to decrease and [[Earth:Salinity|salinity]] to increase eastward.<ref>Pinet 1996, p. 206.</ref> The average salinity in the basin is 38 [[Earth:Salinity|PSU]] at 5 m depth.<ref name=tempandsal>{{cite journal |year=2000 |title=Temperature and salinity variations of Mediterranean Sea surface waters over the last 16,000 years from records of planktonic stable oxygen isotopes and alkenone unsaturation ratios |citeseerx=10.1.1.378.4964 |journal=Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology |volume=158 |issue=3–4 |pages=259–280 |doi=10.1016/s0031-0182(00)00053-5 |last1=Emeis |first1=Kay-Christian |last2=Struck |first2=Ulrich |last3=Schulz |first3=Hans-Martin |last4=Rosenberg |first4=Reinhild |last5=Bernasconi |first5=Stefano |last6=Erlenkeuser |first6=Helmut |last7=Sakamoto |first7=Tatsuhiko |last8=Martinez-Ruiz |first8=Francisca |bibcode=2000PPP...158..259E}}</ref>
The temperature of the water in the deepest part of the Mediterranean Sea is {{convert|13.2|°C}}.<ref name=tempandsal/>

The net water influx from the Atlantic Ocean is ca. 70,000 m<sup>3</sup>/s or {{convert|2.2e12|m3/a|cuft/a|abbr=on}}.<ref>Ludwig Ellenberg: ''Die Meerenge von Gibraltar – Küstenmorphologie zwischen Mittelmeer und Atlantik''. In: ''Geographica Helvetica''. Vol.&nbsp;36, No.&nbsp;3, 1981, pp.&nbsp;109–120, doi:10.5194/gh-36-109-1981</ref> Without this Atlantic water, the sea level of the Mediterranean Sea would fall at a rate of about 1 m per year.<ref>Robert Hofrichter (ed.): [https://books.google.com/books?id=u1vrDwAAQBAJ&dq=wasserbilanz+mittelmeer&pg=PA530 ''Das Mittelmeer: Geschichte und Zukunft eines ökologisch sensiblen Raums'', p.&nbsp;530] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221122070127/https://books.google.pt/books?id=u1vrDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA530&lpg=PA530&dq=wasserbilanz+mittelmeer&source=bl&ots=-K0WQHmByt&sig=ACfU3U2UKtRe0TMUQ66vEH_4m5NKTE4Avg&hl=de&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwi31MaXtaXrAhXO3YUKHdN9BqYQ6AEwDnoECAEQAQ#v=onepage&q=wasserbilanz%20mittelmeer&f=false |date=22 November 2022}}</ref>

In [[Physics:Oceanography|oceanography]], it is sometimes called the ''Eurafrican Mediterranean Sea'', the ''European Mediterranean Sea'' or the ''African Mediterranean Sea'' to distinguish it from [[Earth:Mediterranean sea (oceanography)|mediterranean seas]] elsewhere.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.ifremer.fr/lobtln/OTHER/ext_abstr_East_Sea_workshop_TLM.pdf |title=Microsoft Word&nbsp;– ext_abstr_East_sea_workshop_TLM.doc|access-date=23 April 2010}}</ref>{{Who else|date=December 2022}}

===General circulation===
Water circulation in the Mediterranean can be attributed to the surface waters entering from the Atlantic through the Strait of Gibraltar (and also low salinity water entering the Mediterranean from the Black Sea through the Bosphorus). The cool and relatively low-salinity Atlantic water circulates eastwards along the North African coasts. A part of the surface water does not pass the Strait of Sicily, but deviates towards [[Place:Corsica|Corsica]] before exiting the Mediterranean. The surface waters entering the eastern Mediterranean basin circulate along the Libyan and Israeli coasts. Upon reaching the Levantine Sea, the surface waters having warmed and increased its salinity from its initial Atlantic state, is now denser and sinks to form the Levantine Intermediate Waters (LIW). Most of the water found anywhere between 50 and 600 m deep in the Mediterranean originates from the LIW.<ref>{{cite book |doi=10.1007/b107143 |chapter=Circulation in the Mediterranean Sea |title=The Mediterranean Sea |volume=5K |pages=29–66 |series=Handbook of Environmental Chemistry |year=2005 |last1=Millot |first1=Claude |last2=Taupier-Letage |first2=Isabelle |isbn=978-3-540-25018-0 |s2cid=55831361 |chapter-url=https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-01191856/file/Millot_Taupier-Letage_Circulation_Med_Handbook_2005_HAL%20%281%29.pdf}}</ref> LIW are formed along the coasts of Turkey and circulate westwards along the Greek and South Italian coasts. LIW are the only waters passing the Sicily Strait westwards. After the Strait of Sicily, the LIW waters circulate along the Italian, French and Spanish coasts before exiting the Mediterranean through the depths of the Strait of Gibraltar. Deep water in the Mediterranean originates from three main areas: the [[Place:Adriatic Sea|Adriatic Sea]], from which most of the deep water in the eastern Mediterranean originates, the Aegean Sea, and the Gulf of Lion. Deep water formation in the Mediterranean is triggered by strong winter [[Astronomy:Convection|convection]] fueled by intense cold winds like the Bora. When new deep water is formed, the older waters mix with the overlaying intermediate waters and eventually exit the Mediterranean. The [[Physics:Water cycle#Residence times|residence time of water]] in the Mediterranean is approximately 100 years, making the Mediterranean especially sensitive to climate change.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Millot |first1=C. |year=1989 |title=La Circulation Générale En Méditerranée Occidentale : Aperçu De Nos Connaissances Et Projets D'études |trans-title=General Circulation in the Western Mediterranean: Overview of Our Knowledge and Study Projects |language=fr |journal=Annales de Géographie |volume=98 |issue=549 |pages=497–515 |jstor=23452851 |doi=10.3406/geo.1989.20925}}</ref>

===Other events affecting water circulation===
Being a semi-enclosed basin, the Mediterranean experiences transitory events that can affect the water circulation on short time scales. In the mid-1990s, the Aegean Sea became the main area for deep water formation in the eastern Mediterranean after particularly cold winter conditions. This transitory switch in the origin of deep waters in the eastern Mediterranean was termed Eastern Mediterranean Transient (EMT) and had major consequences on water circulation of the Mediterranean.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Gasparini |first1=G.P. |last2=Ortona |first2=A. |last3=Budillon |first3=G. |last4=Astraldi |first4=M. |last5=Sansone |first5=E. |title=The effect of the Eastern Mediterranean Transient on the hydrographic characteristics in the Strait of Sicily and in the Tyrrhenian Sea |journal=Deep Sea Research Part I: Oceanographic Research Papers |date=June 2005 |volume=52 |issue=6 |pages=915–935 |doi=10.1016/j.dsr.2005.01.001 |bibcode=2005DSRI...52..915G}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last1=Lascaratos |first1=Alex |last2=Roether |first2=Wolfgang |last3=Nittis |first3=Kostas |last4=Klein |first4=Birgit |title=Recent changes in deep water formation and spreading in the eastern Mediterranean Sea: a review |journal=Progress in Oceanography |date=August 1999 |volume=44 |issue=1–3 |pages=5–36 |doi=10.1016/S0079-6611(99)00019-1 |bibcode=1999PrOce..44....5L}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last1=Theocharis |first1=Alexander |last2=Nittis |first2=Kostas |last3=Kontoyiannis |first3=Harilaos |last4=Papageorgiou |first4=Emanuel |last5=Balopoulos |first5=Efstathios |title=Climatic changes in the Aegean Sea influence the eastern Mediterranean thermohaline circulation (1986–1997) |journal=Geophysical Research Letters |date=1 June 1999 |volume=26 |issue=11 |pages=1617–1620 |doi=10.1029/1999GL900320 |bibcode=1999GeoRL..26.1617T |doi-access=free}}</ref>

Another example of a transient event affecting the Mediterranean circulation is the periodic inversion of the North Ionian Gyre, which is an [[Earth:Anticyclonic rotation|anticyclonic]] [[Physics:Ocean gyre|ocean gyre]] observed in the northern part of the Ionian Sea, off the Greek coast. The transition from anticyclonic to cyclonic rotation of this gyre changes the origin of the waters fueling it; when the circulation is anticyclonic (most common), the waters of the gyre originate from the Adriatic Sea. When the circulation is cyclonic, the waters originate from the Levantine Sea. These waters have different physical and chemical characteristics, and the periodic inversion of the North Ionian Gyre (called Bimodal Oscillating System or BiOS) changes the Mediterranean circulation and biogeochemistry around the Adriatic and Levantine regions.<ref>Civitarese, G., Gacic, M., Lipizer, M., and Borzelli, G. L. E. (2010). On the impact of the Bimodal Oscillating System (BiOS) on the biogeochemistry and biology of the Adriatic and Ionian Seas (Eastern Mediterranean). Biogeosciences, 7(12) : 3987–3997. WOS :000285574100006.</ref>

===Climate change===
Because of the short residence time of waters, the Mediterranean Sea is considered a hot spot for climate change effects.<ref name="Giorgi, F. 2006">Giorgi, F. (2006). Climate change hot spots. Geophysical Research Letters, 33(8) :L08707. 15</ref> Deep water temperatures have increased by {{Convert|0.12|C-change||abbr=}} between 1959 and 1989.<ref>Béthoux, J. P., Gentili, B., Raunet, J., and Tailliez, D. (1990). Warming trend in the western Mediterranean deep water. Nature, 347(6294) : 660–662.</ref> According to climate projections, the Mediterranean Sea could become warmer. The decrease in precipitation over the region could lead to more evaporation ultimately increasing the Mediterranean Sea salinity.<ref name="Giorgi, F. 2006"/><ref>Adloff, F., Somot, S., Sevault, F., Jordà, G., Aznar, R., Déqué, M., Herrmann, M., Marcos, M., Dubois, C., Padorno, E., Alvarez-Fanjul, E., and Gomis, D. (2015). Mediterranean Sea response to climate change in an ensemble of twenty-first century scenarios. Climate Dynamics, 45(9–10) : 2775–2802</ref> Because of the changes in temperature and salinity, the Mediterranean Sea may become more stratified by the end of the 21st century, with notable consequences on water circulation and [[Chemistry:Biogeochemistry|biogeochemistry]]. The stratification and warming have already led to the eastern Mediterranean to become a net source of CO<sub>2</sub> to the atmosphere <ref>{{cite journal |last1=Sisma-Ventura |first1=Guy |last2=Bialik |first2=Or M. |last3=Yam |first3=Ruth |last4=Herut |first4=Barak |last5=Silverman |first5=Jacob |title=p CO 2 variability in the surface waters of the ultra-oligotrophic Levantine Sea: Exploring the air–sea CO 2 fluxes in a fast warming region |journal=Marine Chemistry |date=November 2017 |volume=196 |pages=13–23 |doi=10.1016/j.marchem.2017.06.006|bibcode=2017MarCh.196...13S}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last1=Wimart-Rousseau |first1=Cathy |last2=Wagener |first2=Thibaut |last3=Álvarez |first3=Marta |last4=Moutin |first4=Thierry |last5=Fourrier |first5=Marine |last6=Coppola |first6=Laurent |last7=Niclas-Chirurgien |first7=Laure |last8=Raimbault |first8=Patrick |last9=D'Ortenzio |first9=Fabrizio |last10=Durrieu de Madron |first10=Xavier |last11=Taillandier |first11=Vincent |last12=Dumas |first12=Franck |last13=Conan |first13=Pascal |last14=Pujo-Pay |first14=Mireille |last15=Lefèvre |first15=Dominique |title=Seasonal and Interannual Variability of the {{CO2}} System in the Eastern Mediterranean Sea: A Case Study in the North Western Levantine Basin |journal=Frontiers in Marine Science |date=2021 |volume=8 |doi=10.3389/fmars.2021.649246 |issn=2296-7745|doi-access=free}}</ref> notably during summer. This strong summer degassing, combined with the prolonged and pronounced stratification results in the formation of [[Chemistry:Aragonite|aragonite]] crystals abiotically in the water column.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Bialik |first1=Or M. |last2=Sisma-Ventura |first2=Guy |last3=Vogt-Vincent |first3=Noam |last4=Silverman |first4=Jacob |last5=Katz |first5=Timor |title=Role of oceanic abiotic carbonate precipitation in future atmospheric {{CO2}} regulation |journal=Scientific Reports |date=24 September 2022 |volume=12 |issue=1 |page=15970 |doi=10.1038/s41598-022-20446-7|pmid=36153366 |pmc=9509385}}</ref> The cumulative warming at the surface of the Mediterranean has a significant impact on the ecological system. Extreme warming has led to [[Biology:Biodiversity loss|biodiversity loss]]<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Verdura |first1=Jana |last2=Linares |first2=Cristina |last3=Ballesteros |first3=Enric |last4=Coma |first4=Rafel |last5=Uriz |first5=María J. |last6=Bensoussan |first6=Nathaniel |last7=Cebrian |first7=Emma |title=Biodiversity loss in a Mediterranean ecosystem due to an extreme warming event unveils the role of an engineering gorgonian species |journal=Scientific Reports |date=December 2019 |volume=9 |issue=1 |page=5911 |doi=10.1038/s41598-019-41929-0|pmid=30976028 |pmc=6459914 |bibcode=2019NatSR...9.5911V |s2cid=108292968}}</ref> and presents an existential threat to some habitats <ref>{{cite journal |last1=Jordà |first1=Gabriel |last2=Marbà |first2=Núria |last3=Duarte |first3=Carlos M. |title=Mediterranean seagrass vulnerable to regional climate warming |journal=Nature Climate Change |date=November 2012 |volume=2 |issue=11 |pages=821–824 |doi=10.1038/nclimate1533|bibcode=2012NatCC...2..821J}}</ref> while making conditions more hospitable to invasive tropical species.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Grossowicz |first1=Michal |last2=Bialik |first2=Or M. |last3=Shemesh |first3=Eli |last4=Tchernov |first4=Dan |last5=Vonhof |first5=Hubert B. |last6=Sisma-Ventura |first6=Guy |title=Ocean warming is the key filter for successful colonization of the migrant octocoral Melithaea erythraea (Ehrenberg, 1834) in the Eastern Mediterranean Sea |journal=PeerJ |date=24 June 2020 |volume=8 |page=e9355 |doi=10.7717/peerj.9355|pmid=32612887 |pmc=7320722}}</ref>

==Biogeochemistry==
In spite of its great [[Biology:Biodiversity|biodiversity]], concentrations of [[Biology:Chlorophyll|chlorophyll]] and nutrients in the Mediterranean Sea are very low, making it one of the most oligotrophic ocean regions in the world. The Mediterranean Sea is commonly referred to as an LNLC (Low-Nutrient, Low-Chlorophyll) area. The Mediterranean Sea fits the definition of a [[Earth:Desert|desert]] in which its nutrient contents are low, making it difficult for plants and animals to develop.

There are steep gradients in nutrient concentrations, chlorophyll concentrations and primary productivity in the Mediterranean. Nutrient concentrations in the western part of the basin are about double the concentrations in the eastern basin. The Alboran Sea, close to the Strait of Gibraltar, has a daily primary productivity of about 0.25 g C (grams of carbon) m<sup>−2</sup> day<sup>−1</sup> whereas the eastern basin has an average daily productivity of 0.16 g C m<sup>−2</sup> day<sup>−1</sup>.<ref>Uitz, J., Stramski, D., Gentili, B., D'Ortenzio, F., and Claustre, H. (2012). Estimates of phytoplankton class-specific and total primary production in the Mediterranean Sea from satellite ocean color observations: primary production in the Mediterranean. Global Biogeochemical Cycles, 26(2)</ref> For this reason, the eastern part of the Mediterranean Sea is termed "ultraoligotrophic". The productive areas of the Mediterranean Sea are few and small. High (i.e. more than 0.5 grams of [[Chemistry:Chlorophyll a|Chlorophyll ''a'']] per cubic meter) productivity occurs in coastal areas, close to the river mouths which are the primary suppliers of dissolved nutrients. The Gulf of Lion has a relatively high productivity because it is an area of high vertical mixing, bringing nutrients to the surface waters that can be used by [[Earth:Phytoplankton|phytoplankton]] to produce Chlorophyll ''a''.<ref name="Bosc, E. 2004">Bosc, E., Bricaud, A., and Antoine, D. (2004). Seasonal and interannual variability in algal biomass and primary production in the Mediterranean Sea, as derived from 4 years of SeaWiFS observations : Mediterranean Sea Biomass and Production. Global Biogeochemical Cycles, 18(1).</ref>

Primary productivity in the Mediterranean is also marked by an intense seasonal variability. In winter, the strong winds and precipitation over the basin generate [[Physics:Convective mixing|vertical mixing]], bringing nutrients from the deep waters to the surface, where phytoplankton can convert it into [[Earth:Biomass (ecology)|biomass]].<ref>Lebeaupin Brossier, C., Béranger, K., Deltel, C., and Drobinski, P. (2011). The Mediterranean response to different space–time resolution atmospheric forcings using perpetual mode sensitivity simulations. Ocean Modelling, 36(1–2) : 1–25</ref> However, in winter, light may be the limiting factor for primary productivity. Between March and April, spring offers the ideal trade-off between light intensity and nutrient concentrations in surface for a [[Earth:Spring bloom|spring bloom]] to occur. In summer, high atmospheric temperatures lead to the warming of the surface waters. The resulting [[Physics:Density|density]] difference virtually isolates the surface waters from the rest of the water column and nutrient exchanges are limited. As a consequence, primary productivity is very low between June and October.<ref>d'Ortenzio, F. and Ribera d'Alcalà, M. (2009). On the trophic regimes of the Mediterranean Sea: a satellite analysis. Biogeosciences, 6(2) : 139–148</ref><ref name="Bosc, E. 2004"/>

Oceanographic expeditions uncovered a characteristic feature of the Mediterranean Sea biogeochemistry: most of the chlorophyll production does not occur on the surface, but in sub-surface waters between 80 and 200 meters deep.<ref>Moutin, T., Van Wambeke, F., and Prieur, L. (2012). Introduction to the Biogeochemistry from the Oligo- trophic to the Ultraoligotrophic Mediterranean (BOUM) experiment. Biogeosciences, 9(10) : 3817–3825.</ref> Another key characteristic of the Mediterranean is its high nitrogen-to-phosphorus ratio (N:P). Redfield demonstrated that most of the world's oceans have an average N:P ratio around 16. However, the Mediterranean Sea has an average N:P between 24 and 29, which translates a widespread phosphorus limitation.{{clarify|date=August 2019}}<ref>Berland, B., Bonin, D., and Maestrini, S. (1980). Azote ou phosphore ? Considérations sur le paradoxe nutritionnel de la mer méditerranée. Oceanologica Acta, 3(1) : 135–141</ref><ref>Béthoux, J. P., Morin, P., Madec, C., and Gentili, B. (1992). Phosphorus and nitrogen behaviour in the Mediterranean Sea. Deep Sea Research Part A. Oceanographic Research Papers, 39(9) : 1641–1654.</ref><ref>Kress, N. and Herut, B. (2001). Spatial and seasonal evolution of dissolved oxygen and nutrients in the Southern Levantine Basin (Eastern Mediterranean Sea) : chemical characterization of the water masses and inferences on the N : P ratios. Deep Sea Research Part I : Oceanographic Research Papers, 48(11) : 2347–2372</ref><ref>Krom, M. D., Thingstad, T. F., Brenner, S., Carbo, P., Drakopoulos, P., Fileman, T. W., Flaten, G. A. F., Groom, S., Herut, B., Kitidis, V., Kress, N., Law, C. S., Liddicoat, M. I., Mantoura, R. F. C., Pasternak, A., Pitta, P., Polychronaki, T., Psarra, S., Rassoulzadegan, F., Skjoldal, E. F., Spyres, G., Tanaka, T., Tselepides, A., Wassmann, P., Wexels Riser, C., Woodward, E. M. S., Zodiatis, G., and Zohary, T. (2005). Summary and overview of the CYCLOPS P addition Lagrangian experiment in the Eastern Mediterranean. Deep Sea Research Part II : Topical Studies in Oceanography, 52(22–23) : 3090–3108.</ref>

Because of its low productivity, plankton assemblages in the Mediterranean Sea are dominated by small organisms such as picophytoplankton and [[Biology:Bacteria|bacteria]].<ref>Sammartino, M., Di Cicco, A., Marullo, S., and Santoleri, R. (2015). Spatio-temporal variability of micro-, nano- and pico-phytoplankton in the Mediterranean Sea from satellite ocean colour data of SeaWiFS. Ocean Sciences, 11(5) : 759–778</ref><ref>Uitz, J., Stramski, D., Gentili, B., D'Ortenzio, F., and Claustre, H. (2012). Estimates of phytoplankton class-specific and total primary production in the Mediterranean Sea from satellite ocean color obser- vations : primary production in the mediterranean. Global Biogeochemical Cycles, 26(2)</ref>

==Geology==
[[File:Vrulja kod Omiša.jpg|thumb|A submarine karst spring, called ''vrulja'', near Omiš; observed through several ripplings of an otherwise calm sea surface.]]

The [[Earth:Geology|geologic history]] of the Mediterranean Sea is complex. Underlain by [[Earth:Oceanic crust|oceanic crust]], the sea basin was once thought to be a tectonic remnant of the ancient [[Earth:Tethys Ocean|Tethys Ocean]]; it is now known to be a structurally younger basin, called the Neotethys, which was first formed by the convergence of the African and Eurasian plates during the Late [[Earth:Triassic|Triassic]] and Early [[Earth:Jurassic|Jurassic]]. Because it is a near-landlocked body of water in a normally dry climate, the Mediterranean is subject to intensive evaporation and the precipitation of evaporites. The [[Earth:Messinian salinity crisis|Messinian salinity crisis]] started about six million years ago (mya) when the Mediterranean became landlocked, and then essentially dried up. There are salt deposits accumulated on the bottom of the basin of more than a million cubic kilometres—in some places more than three kilometres thick.<ref>{{cite journal |doi=10.1111/j.1365-3091.2008.01031.x |title=Decoding the Mediterranean salinity crisis |journal=Sedimentology |volume=56 |issue=1 |pages=95–136 |year=2009 |last1=Ryan |first1=William B. F. |bibcode=2009Sedim..56...95R |s2cid=52266741}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal|author1=William Ryan|title=Modeling the magnitude and timing of evaporative drawdown during the Messinian salinity crisis|journal=Stratigraphy|date=2008|volume=5|issue=3–4|page=229|url=http://eesc.ldeo.columbia.edu/courses/w4937/Readings/Ryan_Messinian_Stratigraphy_2008.pdf|access-date=5 November 2014|archive-date=4 March 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304093103/http://eesc.ldeo.columbia.edu/courses/w4937/Readings/Ryan_Messinian_Stratigraphy_2008.pdf|url-status=dead}}</ref>

Scientists estimate that the sea was last filled about 5.3&nbsp;million years ago (mya) in less than two years by the Zanclean flood. Water poured in from the Atlantic Ocean through a newly breached gateway now called the Strait of Gibraltar at an estimated rate of about three orders of magnitude (one thousand times) larger than the current flow of the Amazon River.<ref name="GCetal2009">{{cite journal |doi=10.1038/nature08555 |pmid=20010684 |title=Catastrophic flood of the Mediterranean after the Messinian salinity crisis |journal=Nature |volume=462 |issue=7274 |pages=778–781 |year=2009 |last1=Garcia-Castellanos |first1=D. |last2=Estrada |first2=F. |last3=Jiménez-Munt |first3=I. |last4=Gorini |first4=C. |last5=Fernàndez |first5=M. |last6=Vergés |first6=J. |last7=De Vicente |first7=R. |bibcode=2009Natur.462..778G |s2cid=205218854}}</ref>

The Mediterranean Sea has an average depth of {{convert|1500|m|ft|abbr=on}} and the deepest recorded point is {{convert|5267|m|ft|abbr=on}} in the [[Earth:Calypso Deep|Calypso Deep]] in the Ionian Sea. The coastline extends for {{convert|46000|km|mi|abbr=on}}. A shallow submarine ridge (the Strait of Sicily) between the island of [[Place:Sicily|Sicily]] and the coast of Tunisia divides the sea in two main subregions: the Western Mediterranean, with an area of about 850,000&nbsp;km<sup>2</sup> (330,000&nbsp;mi<sup>2</sup>); and the Eastern Mediterranean, of about 1.65&nbsp;million&nbsp;km<sup>2</sup> (640,000&nbsp;mi<sup>2</sup>). Coastal areas have submarine [[Earth:Karst spring|karst spring]]s or {{lang|hr|vrulja}}s, which discharge pressurised groundwater into the water from below the surface; the discharge water is usually fresh, and sometimes may be thermal.<ref name="LaMoreaux2001">{{cite book |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=sjEoBmfUka0C&pg=PA58 |chapter=Geologic/Hydrogeologic Setting and Classification of Springs |page=57 |title=Springs and Bottled Waters of the World: Ancient History, Source, Occurrence, Quality and Use |first=Philip |last=Elmer LaMoreaux |year=2001 |publisher=Springer |isbn=978-3-540-61841-6}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal|url=http://zgs.zrc-sazu.si/Portals/8/Geografski_obzornik/go_2004_2.pdf|journal=Geografski Obzornik|year=2004|volume=51|issue=2|issn=0016-7274|language=sl|first=Jože|last=Žumer|title=Odkritje podmorskih termalnih izvirov|trans-title=Discovery of submarine thermal springs|pages=11–17}} {{in lang|sl}}</ref>

===Tectonics and paleoenvironmental analysis===
The Mediterranean basin and sea system were established by the ancient African-Arabian continent colliding with the Eurasian continent. As Africa-Arabia drifted northward, it closed over the ancient [[Earth:Tethys Ocean|Tethys Ocean]] which had earlier separated the two supercontinents [[Earth:Laurasia|Laurasia]] and [[Earth:Gondwana|Gondwana]].
At about that time in the middle [[Earth:Jurassic|Jurassic]] period (roughly 170&nbsp;million years ago {{dubious|date=November 2018}}) a much smaller sea basin, dubbed the Neotethys, was formed shortly before the Tethys Ocean closed at its western (Arabian) end. The broad line of collisions pushed up a very long system of mountains from the Pyrenees in Spain to the [[Place:Zagros Mountains|Zagros Mountains]] in Iran in an episode of mountain-building tectonics known as the Alpine orogeny. The Neotethys grew larger during the episodes of collisions (and associated foldings and subductions) that occurred during the [[Earth:Oligocene|Oligocene]] and Miocene epochs (34 to 5.33 mya); see animation: [[Earth:Supercontinent|Africa-Arabia colliding with Eurasia]]. Accordingly, the Mediterranean [[Earth:Oceanic basin|basin]] consists of several stretched [[Earth:Tectonics|tectonic]] plates in [[Earth:Subduction|subduction]] which are the foundation of the eastern part of the Mediterranean Sea. Various zones of subduction contain the highest oceanic ridges, east of the Ionian Sea and south of the Aegean. The [[Earth:Central Indian Ridge|Central Indian Ridge]] runs east of the Mediterranean Sea south-east across the in-between{{clarify|date=August 2019}} of [[Earth:Africa|Africa]] and the [[Place:Arabian Peninsula|Arabian Peninsula]] into the [[Earth:Indian Ocean|Indian Ocean]].

====Messinian salinity crisis====

[[File:Etapa3muda.jpg|thumb|upright=1.2|Messinian salinity crisis before the Zanclean flood]]
[[File:Crisis salina del Messiniense.ogv|thumb|upright=1.2|Animation: Messinian salinity crisis]]
{{Main|Earth:Messinian salinity crisis}}

During [[Earth:Mesozoic|Mesozoic]] and [[Earth:Cenozoic|Cenozoic]] times, as the northwest corner of Africa converged on Iberia, it lifted the Betic-Rif mountain belts across southern Iberia and northwest Africa. There the development of the intramontane Betic and Rif basins created two roughly parallel marine gateways between the Atlantic Ocean and the Mediterranean Sea. Dubbed the [[Earth:Betic corridor|Betic]] and Rifian corridors, they gradually closed during the middle and late Miocene: perhaps several times.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=de la Vara |first1=Alba |last2=Topper |first2=Robin P.M. |last3=Meijer |first3=Paul Th. |last4=Kouwenhoven |first4=Tanja J. |year=2015 |title=Water exchange through the Betic and Rifian corridors prior to the Messinian Salinity Crisis: A model study |journal=Paleoceanography |volume=30 |issue=5 |pages=548–557 |doi=10.1002/2014PA002719 |bibcode=2015PalOc..30..548D |hdl=1874/326590 |s2cid=134905445 |hdl-access=free}}</ref> In the late Miocene the closure of the Betic Corridor triggered the so-called "[[Earth:Messinian salinity crisis|Messinian salinity crisis]]" (MSC), characterized by the deposition of a thick evaporitic sequence – with salt deposits up to 2&nbsp;km thick in the Levantine sea – and by a massive drop in water level in much of the Basin. This event was for long the subject of acute scientific controversy, now much appeased,<ref>Briand, F. (ed.) (2008). The Messinian Salinity Crisis Mega-Deposits to Microbiology – A consensus report. CIESM Publishers, Paris, Monaco. 168 p.[https://www.researchgate.net/publication/240612581]</ref> regarding its sequence, geographic range, processes leading to evaporite facies and salt deposits. The start of the MSC was recently estimated astronomically at 5.96 mya, and it persisted for some 630,000 years until about 5.3 mya;<ref>{{cite journal |title=Astrochronology for the Messinian Sorbas basin (SE Spain) and orbital (precessional) forcing for evaporite cyclicity |year=2001 |doi=10.1016/S0037-0738(00)00171-8 |first1=W. |last1=Krijgsman |first2=A.R. |last2=Fortuin |first3=F.J. |last3=Hilgen |first4=F.J. |last4=Sierro |journal=Sedimentary Geology |volume=140 |issue=1 |pages=43–60 |bibcode=2001SedG..140...43K |hdl=1874/1632 |url=https://dspace.library.uu.nl/bitstream/1874/1632/1/Krijgsman01.pdf}}{{Dead link|date=March 2022 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes}}</ref> see Animation: Messinian salinity crisis, at right.

After the initial drawdown{{clarify|date=August 2019}} and re-flooding, there followed more episodes—the total number is debated—of sea drawdowns and re-floodings for the duration of the MSC. It ended when the Atlantic Ocean last re-flooded the basin—creating the Strait of Gibraltar and causing the Zanclean flood—at the end of the Miocene (5.33 mya). Some research has suggested that a desiccation-flooding-desiccation cycle may have repeated several times, which could explain several events of large amounts of salt deposition.<ref>{{cite journal|author1=Gargani J., Rigollet C.|title=Mediterranean Sea level variations during the Messinian Salinity Crisis.|journal=Geophysical Research Letters|date=2007|volume=34|issue=L10405|page=L10405|doi=10.1029/2007GL029885|bibcode=2007GeoRL..3410405G|s2cid=128771539|doi-access=free}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal|author1=Gargani J. |author2=Moretti I. |author3=Letouzey J. |title=Evaporite accumulation during the Messinian Salinity Crisis: The Suez Rift Case.|journal=Geophysical Research Letters|date=2008|volume=35|issue=2|page=L02401|doi=10.1029/2007gl032494|bibcode=2008GeoRL..35.2401G|s2cid=129573384 |url=https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-00357241/file/2007GL032494.pdf}}</ref> Recent studies, however, show that repeated desiccation and re-flooding is unlikely from a geodynamic point of view.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Govers |first1=Rob |title=Choking the Mediterranean to dehydration: The Messinian salinity crisis |journal=Geology |date=February 2009 |volume=37 |issue=2 |pages=167–170 |doi=10.1130/G25141A.1 |bibcode=2009Geo....37..167G |s2cid=34247931 |url=https://semanticscholar.org/paper/2707c259bad288d60259e4f386b32f114fcf7e5c}}</ref><ref name=GCV>{{cite journal |last1=Garcia-Castellanos |first1=D. |last2=Villaseñor |first2=A. |title=Messinian salinity crisis regulated by competing tectonics and erosion at the Gibraltar arc |journal=Nature |date=15 December 2011 |volume=480 |issue=7377 |pages=359–363 |doi=10.1038/nature10651 |pmid=22170684 |bibcode=2011Natur.480..359G |s2cid=205227033}}</ref>

====Desiccation and exchanges of flora and fauna====
{{Seealso|Pleistocene megafauna|Dwarf elephant}}
The present-day Atlantic gateway, the Strait of Gibraltar, originated in the early Pliocene via the Zanclean Flood. As mentioned, there were two earlier gateways: the Betic Corridor across southern Spain and the Rifian Corridor across northern Morocco. The Betic closed about 6 mya, causing the Messinian salinity crisis (MSC); the Rifian or possibly both gateways closed during the earlier [[Biology:Tortonian|Tortonian]] times, causing a "Tortonian salinity crisis" (from 11.6 to 7.2 mya), long before the MSC and lasting much longer. Both "crises" resulted in broad connections between the mainlands of Africa and Europe, which allowed migrations of flora and fauna—especially large mammals including primates—between the two continents. The Vallesian crisis indicates a typical extinction and replacement of mammal species in Europe during Tortonian times following climatic upheaval and overland migrations of new species:<ref>{{Cite book
 | last1 = Agusti | first1 = J
 | last2 = Moya-Sola | first2 = S
 | title = Mammal extinctions in the Vallesian (Upper Miocene)
 | volume = 30 | year = 1990 | pages = 425–432
 | issn = 1613-2580 | doi = 10.1007/BFb0011163
 | series = Lecture Notes in Earth Sciences
 | isbn = 978-3-540-52605-6
 }} (Abstract)</ref> see Animation: Messinian salinity crisis (and mammal migrations), at right.

The almost complete enclosure of the Mediterranean basin has enabled the oceanic gateways to dominate seawater circulation and the environmental evolution of the sea and basin. Circulation patterns are also affected by several other factors—including climate, bathymetry, and water chemistry and temperature—which are interactive and can induce precipitation of [[Earth:Evaporite|evaporite]]s. Deposits of evaporites accumulated earlier in the nearby Carpathian foredeep during the [[Earth:Middle Miocene|Middle Miocene]], and the adjacent Red Sea Basin (during the Late Miocene), and in the whole Mediterranean basin (during the MSC and the [[Biology:Messinian|Messinian]] age). Many diatomites are found underneath the evaporite deposits, suggesting a connection between their{{clarify|date=August 2019}} formations.

Today, evaporation of surface seawater (output) is more than the supply (input) of fresh water by precipitation and coastal drainage systems, causing the salinity of the Mediterranean to be much higher than that of the Atlantic—so much so that the saltier Mediterranean waters sink below the waters incoming from the Atlantic, causing a two-layer flow across the Strait of Gibraltar: that is, an outflow ''submarine current'' of warm saline Mediterranean water, counterbalanced by an inflow surface current of less saline cold oceanic water from the Atlantic. In the 1920s, Herman Sörgel proposed the building of a hydroelectric dam (the [[Unsolved:Atlantropa|Atlantropa]] project) across the Straits, using the inflow current to provide a large amount of hydroelectric energy. The underlying energy grid was also intended to support a political union between Europe and, at least, the Maghreb part of Africa (compare Eurafrika for the later impact and Desertec for a later project with some parallels in the planned grid).<ref>Politische Geographien Europas: Annäherungen an ein umstrittenes Konstrukt, Anke Strüver, LIT Verlag Münster, 2005, p. 43</ref>

====Shift to a "Mediterranean climate"====
The end of the Miocene also marked a change in the climate of the Mediterranean basin. Fossil evidence from that period reveals that the larger basin had a humid subtropical climate with rainfall in the summer supporting [[Earth:Laurel forest|laurel forest]]s. The shift to a "Mediterranean climate" occurred largely within the last three million years (the late Pliocene epoch) as summer rainfall decreased. The subtropical laurel forests retreated; and even as they persisted on the islands of Macaronesia off the Atlantic coast of Iberia and North Africa, the present Mediterranean vegetation evolved, dominated by coniferous trees and sclerophyllous trees and shrubs with small, hard, waxy leaves that prevent moisture loss in the dry summers. Much of these forests and shrublands have been altered beyond recognition by thousands of years of human habitation. There are now very few relatively intact natural areas in what was once a heavily wooded region.

==Paleoclimate==
Because of its latitude and its landlocked position, the Mediterranean is especially sensitive to astronomically induced climatic variations, which are well documented in its sedimentary record. Since the Mediterranean is subject to the deposition of eolian dust from the Sahara during dry periods, whereas riverine [[Earth:Detritus (geology)|detrital]] input prevails during wet ones, the Mediterranean marine [[Chemistry:Sapropel|sapropel]]-bearing sequences provide high-resolution climatic information. These data have been employed in reconstructing astronomically calibrated time scales for the last 9 Ma of the Earth's history, helping to constrain the time of past [[Earth:Geomagnetic reversal|geomagnetic reversal]]s.<ref>{{cite journal |author=F.J. Hilgen |title=Astronomical calibration of Gauss to Matuyama sapropels in the Mediterranean and implication for the Geomagnetic Polarity Time Scale |journal=Earth and Planetary Science Letters |volume=104 |year=1991 |pages=226–244 |url=http://igitur-archive.library.uu.nl/geo/2007-0119-200857/hilgen_91_astronomical.pdf |access-date=4 December 2009 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110724171928/http://igitur-archive.library.uu.nl/geo/2007-0119-200857/hilgen_91_astronomical.pdf |archive-date=24 July 2011}}</ref> Furthermore, the exceptional accuracy of these paleoclimatic records has improved our knowledge of the Earth's orbital variations in the past.

==Biodiversity==
[[File:Eunicella.jpg|thumb|Soft coral ''[[Biology:Eunicella cavolini|Eunicella cavolini]]'']]
Unlike the vast multidirectional [[Earth:Ocean current|ocean current]]s in open [[Earth:Ocean|ocean]]s within their respective [[Earth:Oceanic zone|oceanic zone]]s; [[Earth:Marine ecosystem|biodiversity]] in the Mediterranean Sea is that of a stable one due to the subtle but strong locked nature of [[Earth:Ocean current|currents]] which affects favourably, even the smallest macroscopic type of [[Earth:Hydrothermal vent|volcanic life form]]. The stable [[Earth:Marine ecosystem|marine ecosystem]] of the Mediterranean Sea and [[Physics:Sea surface temperature|sea temperature]] provides a nourishing environment for [[Biology:Marine biology|life in the deep sea]] to flourish while assuring a balanced [[Earth:Aquatic ecosystem|aquatic ecosystem]] excluded from any external [[Earth:Deep sea|deep]] [[Earth:Ocean|oceanic factors]]. It is estimated that there are more than 17,000 [[Biology:Marine life|marine species]] in the Mediterranean Sea with generally higher marine [[Biology:Biodiversity|biodiversity]] in [[Earth:Coast|coastal areas]], [[Earth:Continental shelf|continental shelves]], and decreases with depth.<ref>Coll, Marta, et al., "The biodiversity of the Mediterranean Sea: estimates, patterns, and threats". ''PLOS ONE 5.8'', 2010.</ref>

As a result of the drying of the sea during the [[Earth:Messinian salinity crisis|Messinian salinity crisis]],<ref>Hsu K.J., "When the Mediterranean Dried Up" ''Scientific American'', Vol. '''227''', December 1972, p. 32</ref> the marine biota of the Mediterranean are derived primarily from the Atlantic Ocean. The North Atlantic is considerably colder and more nutrient-rich than the Mediterranean, and the marine life of the Mediterranean has had to adapt to its differing conditions in the five million years since the basin was reflooded.

The Alboran Sea is a transition zone between the two seas, containing a mix of Mediterranean and Atlantic species. The Alboran Sea has the largest population of [[Biology:Bottlenose dolphin|bottlenose dolphin]]s in the Western Mediterranean, is home to the last population of harbour porpoises in the Mediterranean and is the most important feeding grounds for [[Biology:Loggerhead sea turtle|loggerhead sea turtle]]s in Europe. The Alboran Sea also hosts important commercial fisheries, including [[Biology:Sardine|sardine]]s and [[Biology:Swordfish|swordfish]]. The [[Biology:Mediterranean monk seal|Mediterranean monk seal]]s live in the Aegean Sea in Greece. In 2003, the World Wildlife Fund raised concerns about the widespread drift net fishing endangering populations of dolphins, turtles, and other marine animals such as the spiny squat lobster.

There was a resident population of [[Biology:Orca|orca]]s in the Mediterranean until the 1980s, when they went extinct, probably due to long-term PCB exposure. There are still annual sightings of orca vagrants.<ref>Carrington, Damian. [https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2016/jan/14/uks-last-resident-killer-whales-doomed-to-extinction "UK's last resident killer whales 'doomed to extinction'"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190220003210/https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2016/jan/14/uks-last-resident-killer-whales-doomed-to-extinction |date=20 February 2019}}, ''{{wipe|The Guardian}}'', London, 14 January 2016. Retrieved 17 February 2019.</ref>


==Environmental issues==
For 4,000 years, human activity has transformed most parts of Mediterranean Europe, and the "humanisation of the landscape" overlapped with the appearance of the present Mediterranean climate.<ref name="Yale" /> The image of a simplistic, environmental determinist notion of a Mediterranean paradise on Earth in antiquity, which was destroyed by later civilisations, dates back to at least the 18th century and was for centuries fashionable in archaeological and historical circles. Based on a broad variety of methods, e.g. historical documents, analysis of trade relations, [[Earth:Floodplain|floodplain]] sediments, [[Biology:Pollen|pollen]], tree-ring and further archaeometric analyses and population studies, Alfred Thomas Grove's and Oliver Rackham's work on "The Nature of Mediterranean Europe" challenges this common wisdom of a Mediterranean Europe as a "Lost Eden", a formerly fertile and forested region, that had been progressively degraded and desertified by human mismanagement.<ref name="Yale" /> The belief stems more from the failure of the recent landscape to measure up to the imaginary past of the [[Social:Classics|classics]] as idealised by artists, poets and scientists of the early modern [[Philosophy:Age of Enlightenment|Enlightenment]].<ref name="Yale" />

[[File:Palomares H-Bomb Incident.jpg|thumb|The thermonuclear bomb that fell into the sea recovered off Palomares, Almería, 1966]]
The historical evolution of climate, vegetation and landscape in southern Europe from prehistoric times to the present is much more complex and underwent various changes. For example, some of the deforestation had already taken place before the Roman age. While in the Roman age large enterprises such as the latifundia took effective care of forests and agriculture, the largest depopulation effects came with the end of the empire. Some{{who|date=September 2014}} assume that the major deforestation took place in modern times—the later usage patterns were also quite different e.g. in southern and northern Italy. Also, the climate has usually been unstable and there is evidence of various ancient and modern "[[Earth:Little Ice Age|Little Ice Age]]s",<ref>Jean M. Grove (2004). ''Little Ice Ages: Ancient and Modern''. Taylor & Francis.</ref>{{page needed|date=April 2023}} and plant cover accommodated to various extremes and became resilient to various patterns of human activity.<ref name="Yale" />

Human activity was therefore not the cause of climate change but followed it.<ref name="Yale" /> The wide ecological diversity typical of Mediterranean Europe is predominantly based on human behaviour, as it is and has been closely related to human usage patterns.<ref name="Yale" /> The diversity range{{clarify|date=August 2019}} was enhanced by the widespread exchange and interaction of the longstanding and highly diverse local agriculture, intense transport and trade relations, and the interaction with settlements, pasture and other land use. The greatest human-induced changes, however, came after [[Social:World War II|World War II]], in line with the "1950s syndrome"<ref>Christian Pfister (editor), ''Das 1950er Syndrom: Der Weg in die Konsumgesellschaft'', Berne 1995</ref> as rural populations throughout the region abandoned traditional subsistence economies. Grove and Rackham suggest that the locals left the traditional agricultural patterns and instead became scenery-setting agents{{clarify|date=August 2019}} for tourism. This resulted in more uniform, large-scale formations{{Fix|text=of what?}}.<ref name="Yale" /> Among further current important threats to Mediterranean landscapes are overdevelopment of coastal areas, abandonment of mountains and, as mentioned, the loss of variety via the reduction of traditional agricultural occupations.<ref name="Yale" >The Nature of Mediterranean Europe: An Ecological History, by Alfred Thomas Grove, Oliver Rackham, Yale University Press, 2003, [http://yalepress.yale.edu/book.asp?isbn=9780300100556 review at Yale university press] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141006140735/http://yalepress.yale.edu/book.asp?isbn=9780300100556 |date=6 October 2014}} [https://muse.jhu.edu/login?auth=0&type=summary&url=/journals/journal_of_interdisciplinary_history/v032/32.3fagan.pdfThe Nature of Mediterranean Europe: An Ecological History (review)] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141006073018/https://muse.jhu.edu/login?auth=0&type=summary&url=%2Fjournals%2Fjournal_of_interdisciplinary_history%2Fv032%2F32.3fagan.pdfThe |date=6 October 2014}}, [[Biography:Brian M. Fagan|Brian M. Fagan]], Journal of Interdisciplinary History, Volume 32, Number 3, Winter 2002, pp. 454–455</ref>

===Natural hazards===
[[File:Aerial image of Stromboli (view from the northeast).jpg|thumb|upright=1.1|Stromboli volcano in Italy]]
The region has a variety of geological hazards which have closely interacted with human activity and land use patterns. Among others, in the eastern Mediterranean, the Thera eruption, dated to the 17th or 16th century BC, caused a large [[Tsunami|tsunami]] that some experts hypothesise devastated the Minoan civilisation on the nearby island of Crete, further leading some to believe that this may have been the catastrophe that inspired the [[Philosophy:Atlantis|Atlantis]] legend.<ref>[http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/6568053.stm The wave that destroyed Atlantis] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070501203423/http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/6568053.stm |date=1 May 2007}} Harvey Lilley, BBC News Online, 20 April 2007. Retrieved 21 April 2007.</ref> [[Earth:Mount Vesuvius|Mount Vesuvius]] is the only active [[Earth:Volcano|volcano]] on the European mainland, while others, [[Earth:Mount Etna|Mount Etna]] and [[Earth:Stromboli|Stromboli]], are on neighbouring islands. The region around Vesuvius including the [[Earth:Phlegraean Fields|Phlegraean Fields]] Caldera west of Naples are quite active<ref>Antonio Denti, [https://www.reuters.com/article/us-italy-volcano-idUSBRE8720WI20120803 "Super volcano", global danger, lurks near Pompeii] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210602214012/https://www.reuters.com/article/us-italy-volcano-idUSBRE8720WI20120803 |date=2 June 2021}}, {{wipe|Reuters}}, 3 August 2012.</ref> and constitute the most densely populated volcanic region in the world where an eruptive event may occur within decades.<ref>{{cite journal
 | first = Roberto
 | last = Isaia
 | author2 = Paola Marianelli
 | author3 = Alessandro Sbrana
 | year = 2009
 | title = Caldera unrest prior to intense volcanism in Campi Flegrei (Italy) at 4.0 ka B.P.: Implications for caldera dynamics and future eruptive scenarios
 | journal = [[Earth:Geophysical Research Letters|Geophysical Research Letters]]
 | volume = 36
 | issue = L21303
 | doi = 10.1029/2009GL040513
 | pages = L21303
 | bibcode = 2009GeoRL..3621303I
 | doi-access = free
 }}</ref>

Vesuvius itself is regarded as quite dangerous due to a tendency towards explosive ([[Earth:Plinian eruption|Plinian]]) eruptions.<ref name=mcguire2003>{{cite news|first=Bill|last=McGuire|title=In the shadow of the volcano|date=16 October 2003|publisher=Guardian News and Media Limited|newspaper=The Guardian |url=https://www.theguardian.com/education/2003/oct/16/research.highereducation2|access-date=8 May 2010}}</ref> It is best known for its eruption in AD 79 that led to the burying and destruction of the [[History:Ancient Rome|Roman]] cities of Pompeii and [[Religion:Herculaneum|Herculaneum]].

The large experience{{clarify|date=August 2019}} of member states and regional authorities has led to exchange{{Fix|text=of what?}} on the international level with the cooperation of NGOs, states, regional and municipality authorities and private persons.<ref name=evch>{{cite web|url=http://www.infopuntveiligheid.nl/Infopuntdocumenten/7._Eric_van_der_Horst.pdf|title=Alle kennisdossiers van het Instituut Fysieke Veiligheid|access-date=20 September 2014|archive-date=5 February 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150205041217/http://www.infopuntveiligheid.nl/Infopuntdocumenten/7._Eric_van_der_Horst.pdf|url-status=dead}}</ref> The Greek–Turkish earthquake diplomacy is a quite positive example of natural hazards leading to improved relations between traditional rivals in the region after earthquakes in İzmir and Athens in 1999. The European Union Solidarity Fund (EUSF) was set up to respond to major natural disasters and express European solidarity to disaster-stricken regions within all of Europe.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://ec.europa.eu/commission/presscorner/home/en|title=Press corner|website=European Commission|access-date=15 September 2020}}</ref> The largest amount of funding requests in the EU relates to forest fires, followed by floods and earthquakes. Forest fires, whether human-made or natural, are a frequent and dangerous hazard in the Mediterranean region.<ref name=evch/> [[Tsunami]]s are also an often-underestimated hazard in the region. For example, the 1908 Messina earthquake and tsunami took more than 123,000 lives in Sicily and Calabria and were among the deadliest natural disasters in modern Europe.

===Invasive species===
[[File:Himantura uarnak egypt.jpg|thumb|The [[Biology:Reticulate whipray|reticulate whipray]] is one of the species that colonised the Eastern Mediterranean through the Suez Canal as part of the ongoing Lessepsian migration.]]

The opening of the Suez Canal in 1869 created the first salt-water passage between the Mediterranean and the Red Sea. The Red Sea is higher than the [[Place:Eastern Mediterranean|Eastern Mediterranean]], so the canal functions as a [[Earth:Tidal strait|tidal strait]] that pours Red Sea water into the Mediterranean. The Bitter Lakes, which are hyper-saline natural lakes that form part of the canal, blocked the migration of Red Sea species into the Mediterranean for many decades, but as the salinity of the lakes gradually equalised with that of the Red Sea, the barrier to migration was removed, and plants and animals from the Red Sea have begun to colonise the Eastern Mediterranean. The Red Sea is generally saltier and more nutrient-poor than the Atlantic, so the Red Sea species have advantages over Atlantic species in the salty and nutrient-poor Eastern Mediterranean. Accordingly, Red Sea species invade the Mediterranean biota, and not vice versa; this phenomenon is known as the [[Biology:Lessepsian migration|Lessepsian migration]] (after Ferdinand de Lesseps, the French engineer) or Erythrean ("red") invasion. The construction of the Aswan High Dam across the Nile River in the 1960s reduced the inflow of freshwater and nutrient-rich [[Earth:Silt|silt]] from the Nile into the Eastern Mediterranean, making conditions there even more like the Red Sea and worsening the impact of the [[Earth:Invasive species|invasive species]].

Invasive species have become a major component of the Mediterranean ecosystem and have serious impacts on the Mediterranean ecology, endangering a number of local and [[Biology:Endemism|endemic]] Mediterranean species. A first look at some groups of marine species shows that over 70% of exotic [[Biology:Decapoda|decapod]]s <ref name="Briand">{{cite book |editor-last1=Briand |editor-first1=Frederic |last1=Galil |first1=Bella |last2=Froglia |first2=Carlo |last3=Noël |first3=Pierre |title=CIESM Atlas of Exotic Species in the Mediterranean: Vol 2 Crustaceans |date=2002 |publisher=CIESM Publishers |location=Paris, Monaco |isbn=92-990003-2-8 |page=192 |url=https://ciesm.org/catalog/index.php?article=2002}}</ref> and some 2/3 of exotic fishes <ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.issg.org/infpaper_invasive.pdf |title=IUCN Guidelines for the Prevention of Biodiversity Loss Caused by Alien Invasive Species |access-date=11 August 2009 |year=2000 |publisher=International Union for Conservation of Nature |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090115235640/http://www.issg.org/infpaper_invasive.pdf |archive-date=15 January 2009}}</ref> found in the Mediterranean are of [[Earth:Indo-Pacific|Indo-Pacific]] origin, [[Earth:Introduced species|introduced]] from the Red Sea via the Suez Canal. This makes the Canal the first pathway of arrival of [[Earth:Introduced species|alien]] species into the Mediterranean. The impacts of some Lessepsian species have proven to be considerable, mainly in the Levantine basin of the Mediterranean, where they are replacing native species and becoming a familiar sight.

According to definitions by the Mediterranean Science Commission and the [[Organization:International Union for Conservation of Nature|International Union for Conservation of Nature]], and to [[Biology:Convention on Biological Diversity|Convention on Biological Diversity]] (CBD) and Ramsar Convention terminologies, they are alien species, as they are non-native (non-indigenous) to the Mediterranean Sea, and are found outside their normal, non-adjacent area of distribution. When these species succeed in establishing populations in the Mediterranean Sea, compete with and begin to replace native species they are "Alien Invasive Species", as they are an agent of change and a threat to the native biodiversity. In the context of CBD, "introduction" refers to the movement by human agency, indirect or direct, of an alien species outside of its natural range (past or present). The Suez Canal, being an artificial (human-made) canal, is a human agency. Lessepsian migrants are therefore "introduced" species (indirect, and unintentional). Whatever wording is chosen, they represent a threat to the native Mediterranean biodiversity, because they are non-indigenous to this sea. In recent years, the Egyptian government's announcement of its intentions to deepen and widen the Canal <ref>{{Cite web |title=Egypt to deepen, widen Suez Canal after blockage |website=Al-Monitor |url=https://www.al-monitor.com/originals/2021/05/egypt-deepen-widen-suez-canal-after-blockage |access-date=2022-07-12 |language=en}}</ref> raised concerns from marine biologists, fearing that such an act will only worsen the invasion of Red Sea species into the Mediterranean, and lead to even more species passing through the Canal.<ref>Galil, B.S. and Zenetos, A. (2002). A sea change: exotics in the eastern Mediterranean Sea, in: Leppäkoski, E. et al. (2002). ''Invasive aquatic species of Europe: distribution, impacts and management''. pp. 325–336.</ref>

====Arrival of new tropical Atlantic species====
In recent decades, the arrival of exotic species from the tropical Atlantic has become noticeable. In many cases this reflects an expansion – favoured by a warming trend of sub-tropical Atlantic waters, and also by a fast-growing maritime traffic – of the natural range of species that now enter the Mediterranean through the Strait of Gibraltar. While not as intense as [[Biology:Lessepsian migration|Lessepsian migration]], the process is of importance and is therefore receiving increased levels of scientific coverage.<ref>Atlas of Exotic Fishes in the Mediterranean Sea. 2nd Edition. 2021. (Briand, Frederic, Ed.) CIESM Publishers, Paris, Monaco 366 p.[https://ciesm.org/catalog/index.php?article=2021]</ref>

===Sea-level rise===
By 2100 the overall level of the Mediterranean could rise between {{convert|3|and|61|cm|1|abbr=on}} as a result of the [[Biology:Effects of global warming|effects of climate change]].<ref>{{cite web|title=Mediterranean Sea Level Could Rise By Over Two Feet, Global Models Predict|url=https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/03/090303084057.htm|website=Science Daily|date=3 March 2009}}</ref> This could have adverse effects on populations across the Mediterranean:
* Rising sea levels will submerge parts of Malta. Rising sea levels will also mean rising salt water levels in Malta's groundwater supply and reduce the availability of drinking water.<ref>{{cite news|title=Briny future for vulnerable Malta|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/6525069.stm|date=4 April 2007|work=BBC News}}</ref>
* A {{convert|30|cm|0|abbr=on}} rise in sea level would flood {{convert|200|km2|0|abbr=out}} of the [[Place:Nile Delta|Nile Delta]], displacing over 500,000 Egyptians.<ref>{{cite web|title=Egypt fertile Nile Delta falls prey to climate change |url=http://news.egypt.com/en/201001288902/news/-egypt-news/egypt-fertile-nile-delta-falls-prey-to-climate-change.html |date=28 January 2010 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110209093815/http://news.egypt.com/en/201001288902/news/-egypt-news/egypt-fertile-nile-delta-falls-prey-to-climate-change.html |archive-date=9 February 2011}}</ref>
* [[Place:Cyprus|Cyprus]] wetlands are also in danger of being destroyed by the rising temperatures and sea levels.<ref>{{cite web|title=Cyprus wetlands in danger of being destroyed by climate change|url=https://cyprus-mail.com/2019/11/08/cyprus-wetlands-in-danger-of-being-destroyed-by-climate-change/|website=cyprus-mail.com|date=8 November 2019}}</ref>

Coastal ecosystems also appear to be threatened by [[Earth:Sea level rise|sea level rise]], especially enclosed seas such as the [[Place:Baltic Sea|Baltic]], the Mediterranean and the Black Sea. These seas have only small and primarily east–west movement corridors, which may restrict northward displacement of organisms in these areas.<ref>Nicholls, R.J.; Klein, R.J.T. (2005). Climate change and coastal management on Europe's coast, in: Vermaat, J.E. et al. (Ed.) (2005). Managing European coasts: past, present and future. pp. 199–226.</ref> Sea level rise for the next century (2100) could be between {{convert|30|cm|in|abbr=on}} and {{convert|100|cm|in|abbr=on}} and temperature shifts of a mere 0.05–0.1&nbsp;°C in the deep sea are sufficient to induce significant changes in species richness and functional diversity.<ref name="greenpeace.org">{{cite web|url=http://www.greenpeace.org/international/campaigns/oceans/marine-reserves/the-mediterranean/mediterranean-other-threats|title=Other threats in the Mediterranean &#124; Greenpeace International|publisher=Greenpeace|access-date=23 April 2010|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100416071023/http://www.greenpeace.org/international/campaigns/oceans/marine-reserves/the-mediterranean/mediterranean-other-threats|archive-date=16 April 2010|url-status=dead}}</ref>

===Pollution===
[[Earth:Marine pollution|Pollution]] in this region has been extremely high in recent years.{{When|date=May 2012}} The [[Organization:United Nations Environment Programme|United Nations Environment Programme]] has estimated that {{convert|650000000|t|ST|abbr=on}} of [[Earth:Sewage|sewage]], {{convert|129000|t|ST|abbr=on}} of [[Chemistry:Mineral oil|mineral oil]], {{convert|60000|t|ST|abbr=on}} of mercury, {{convert|3800|t|ST|abbr=on}} of lead and {{convert|36000|t|ST|abbr=on}} of [[Chemistry:Phosphate|phosphate]]s are dumped into the Mediterranean each year.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.explorecrete.com/nature/mediterranean.html|title=Pollution in the Mediterranean Sea. Environmental issues|publisher=Explore Crete|access-date=23 April 2010}}</ref> The [[Earth:Barcelona Convention|Barcelona Convention]] aims to 'reduce pollution in the Mediterranean Sea and protect and improve the marine environment in the area, thereby contributing to its sustainable development.'<ref>{{cite web|url=http://europa.eu/scadplus/leg/en/lvb/l28084.htm |title=EUROPA |publisher=Europa |access-date=23 April 2010 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090409220807/http://europa.eu/scadplus/leg/en/lvb/l28084.htm |archive-date=9 April 2009}}</ref>
Many marine species have been almost wiped out because of the sea's pollution. One of them is the [[Biology:Mediterranean monk seal|Mediterranean monk seal]] which is considered to be among the world's most endangered [[Biology:Marine mammal|marine mammal]]s.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.monachus-guardian.org/factfiles/medit01.htm|title=Mediterranean Monk Seal Fact Files: Overview|publisher=Monachus-guardian.org|date=5 May 1978|access-date=23 April 2010}}</ref> 
The Mediterranean is also plagued by [[Earth:Marine debris|marine debris]]. A 1994 study of the [[Earth:Seabed|seabed]] using trawl nets around the coasts of Spain, France and Italy reported a particularly high mean concentration of debris; an average of 1,935 items per km<sup>2</sup>.<ref name="nep.org/regionalseas/ma">{{cite web |url=http://www.unep.org/regionalseas/marinelitter/publications/docs/anl_oview.pdf |title=Marine Litter: An Analytical Overview |access-date=1 August 2008 |year=2005 |publisher=United Nations Environment Programme |archive-date=17 July 2007 |archive-url=http://webarchive.loc.gov/all/20070717141400/http://www.unep.org/regionalseas/marinelitter/publications/docs/anl_oview.pdf |url-status=dead}}</ref>

===Shipping===
[[File:Portacontainer MSC in navigazione nello stretto di Messina.jpg|thumb|A cargo ship cruises towards the Strait of Messina]]
Some of the world's busiest shipping routes are in the Mediterranean Sea. In particular, the Maritime Silk Road from Asia and Africa leads through the Suez Canal directly into the Mediterranean Sea to its deep-water ports in [[Place:Valencia|Valencia]], Piraeus, Trieste, Genoa, Marseilles and [[Place:Barcelona|Barcelona]]. It is estimated that approximately 220,000 [[Engineering:Merchant vessel|merchant vessel]]s of more than 100 [[Engineering:Gross tonnage|tonnes]] cross the Mediterranean Sea each year—about one-third of the world's total merchant shipping. These ships often carry hazardous cargo, which if lost would result in severe damage to the marine environment.

The discharge of chemical tank washings and oily wastes also represent a significant source of marine pollution. The Mediterranean Sea constitutes 0.7% of the global water surface and yet receives 17% of global marine oil pollution. It is estimated that every year between {{convert|100000|t|LT|abbr=on}} and {{convert|150000|t|LT|abbr=on}} of crude oil are deliberately released into the sea from shipping activities.
[[File:Porto nuovo di Trieste 1.4.2012.jpg|350px|thumb|Port of Trieste]]
Approximately {{convert|370000000|t|LT|abbr=on}} of oil are transported annually in the Mediterranean Sea (more than 20% of the world total), with around 250–300 [[Engineering:Oil tanker|oil tanker]]s crossing the sea every day. An important destination is the Port of Trieste, the starting point of the Transalpine Pipeline, which covers 40% of Germany's oil demand (100% of the federal states of Bavaria and Baden-Württemberg), 90% of Austria and 50% of the Czech Republic.<ref>Thomas Fromm "Pipeline durch die Alpen: Alles im Fluss" In: Süddeutsche Zeitung, 26 December 2019.</ref> Accidental [[Earth:Oil spill|oil spill]]s happen frequently with an average of 10 spills per year. A major oil spill could occur at any time in any part of the Mediterranean.<ref name="greenpeace.org"/>

{{Location map+
| Mediterranean
| width          = 700
| float          = center
| border         =
| caption        = Largest ports of the Mediterranean area per total vessel traffic as of 2016.<ref>{{Cite book|url=http://documents1.worldbank.org/curated/en/508771540319329808/pdf/131217-PUB-PUBLIC-publication-date-is-10-23-18.pdf|last1=Arvis|first1=Jean-François|first2=Vincent|last2=Vesin|first3=Robin|last3=Carruthers|page=41|first4=César|last4=Ducruet|first5=Peter|last5=de Langen|year=2019|title=Maritime Networks, Port Efficiency, and Hinterland Connectivity in the Mediterranean. International Development in Focus|location=Washington, DC|publisher=[[Organization:World Bank|World Bank]]|isbn=978-1-4648-1274-3|doi=10.1596/978-1-4648-1274-3|hdl=10398/08c83467-00f6-4f56-9833-1beda9f7734f|s2cid=134161640}}</ref>
| alt            =
| relief         =
| AlternativeMap = Relief Map of Mediterranean Sea.png
| overlay_image  =
| places =
{{Location map~ | Mediterranean
    | label = Valencia
    | position =
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    | marksize = 12
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    | lat_deg = 39 | lat_min = 26 | lat_sec = 39 | lat_dir = N
    | lon_deg = 0 | lon_min = 19  | long_sec = 48 | lon_dir = W
  }}
{{Location map~ | Mediterranean
    | label = Barcelona
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{{Location map~ | Mediterranean
    | label = Genoa
    | position = left
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{{Location map~ | Mediterranean
    | label = Ambarlı
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{{Location map~ | Mediterranean
    | label = Piraeus
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{{Location map~ | Mediterranean
    | label = Limassol
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{{Location map~ | Mediterranean
    | label = Fos
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{{Location map~ | Mediterranean
    | label = Marsaxlokk
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{{Location map~ | Mediterranean
    | label = La Spezia
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{{Location map~ | Mediterranean
    | label = Algeciras
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{{Location map~ | Mediterranean
    | label = Gioia Tauro
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{{Location map~ | Mediterranean
    | label = Tanger-Med
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{{Location map~ | Mediterranean
    | label = Leghorn
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{{Location map~ | Mediterranean
    | label = Evyap
    | position = right
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{{Location map~ | Mediterranean
    | label = Mersin
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{{Location map~ | Mediterranean
    | label = Haifa
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{{Location map~ | Mediterranean
    | label = Ashdod
    | position =
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{{Location map~ | Mediterranean
    | label = Beirut
    | position =
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{{Location map~ | Mediterranean
    | label = Gemlik
    | position = bottom
    | background =
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    | marksize = 12
    | link =
    | lat_deg = 40 | lat_min = 25 | lat_dir = N
    | lon_deg = 29 | lon_min = 5 | lon_dir = E
  }}
{{Location map~ | Mediterranean
    | label = Nemrut Bay
    | position = right
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}}

===Tourism===
[[File:Kemer beach, Antalya.jpg|thumb|Kemer Beach in Antalya on the Turkish Riviera (Turquoise Coast). In 2019, Turkey ranked sixth in the world in terms of the number of international tourist arrivals, with 51.2 million foreign tourists visiting the country.<ref name="WTO Tourism Highlights 2019 Edition">{{Cite book|title=UNWTO Tourism Highlights: 2019 Edition {{!}} World Tourism Organization|year=2019|doi=10.18111/9789284421152|isbn=978-92-844-2115-2|s2cid=240665765}}</ref>]]
The coast of the Mediterranean has been used for tourism since ancient times, as the Roman villa buildings on the Amalfi Coast or in Barcola show. From the end of the 19th century, in particular, the beaches became places of longing for many Europeans and travellers. From then on, and especially after World War II, mass tourism to the Mediterranean began with all its advantages and disadvantages. While initially, the journey was by train and later by bus or car, today the plane is increasingly used.<ref>Rüdiger Hachtmann "Tourismus-Geschichte". (2007); Attilio Brilli "Quando viaggiare era un'arte. Il romanzo del grand tour." (1995).</ref>

Tourism is today one of the most important sources of income for many Mediterranean countries, despite the human-made geopolitical conflicts{{clarify|date=August 2019}} in the region. The countries have tried to extinguish rising human-made chaotic zones{{clarify|date=August 2019}} that might affect the region's economies and societies in neighbouring coastal countries, and shipping routes. Naval and rescue components in the Mediterranean Sea are considered to be among the best{{citation needed|date=August 2019}} due to the rapid cooperation between various naval fleets. Unlike the vast open oceans, the sea's closed position facilitates effective naval and rescue missions{{citation needed|date=August 2019}}, considered the safest{{citation needed|date=August 2019}} and regardless of{{clarify|date=August 2019}} any human-made or natural disaster.<ref>[https://cor.europa.eu/en/engage/studies/Documents/sustainable-tourism-mediterranean/sustainable-tourism-mediterranean.pdf#:~:text=Within%20the%20wider%20Mediterranean%20region%2C%20the%20Mediterranean%20countries,is%20likely%20to%20resume%20when%20the%20situation%20stabilises. Sustainable tourism in the Mediterranean]</ref>

Tourism is a source of income for small coastal communities, including islands, independent of urban centres. However, tourism has also played a major role in the degradation of the coastal and marine environment. Rapid development has been encouraged by Mediterranean governments to support the large numbers of tourists visiting the region, but this has caused serious disturbance to [[Earth:Marine habitat|marine habitat]]s by erosion and pollution in many places along the Mediterranean coasts.

Tourism often concentrates in areas of high natural wealth{{clarify|date=August 2019}}, causing a serious threat to the habitats of endangered species such as [[Biology:Sea turtle|sea turtle]]s and [[Biology:Monk seal|monk seal]]s. Reductions in natural wealth may reduce the incentive for tourists to visit.<ref name="greenpeace.org"/>


===Overfishing===
Fish stock levels in the Mediterranean Sea are alarmingly low. The European Environment Agency says that more than 65% of all fish stocks in the region are outside safe biological limits and the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation, that some of the most important fisheries—such as [[Biology:Albacore|albacore]] and [[Biology:Atlantic bluefin tuna|bluefin tuna]], [[Biology:Hake|hake]], [[Biology:Marlin|marlin]], [[Biology:Swordfish|swordfish]], [[Biology:Red mullet|red mullet]] and sea bream—are threatened.{{date missing}}

There are clear indications that catch size and quality have declined, often dramatically, and in many areas, larger and longer-lived species have disappeared entirely from commercial catches.

Large open-water fish like tuna have been a shared fisheries resource for thousands of years but the stocks are now dangerously low. In 1999, Greenpeace published a report revealing that the amount of bluefin tuna in the Mediterranean had decreased by over 80% in the previous 20 years and government scientists warn that without immediate action the stock will collapse.

===Marine heatwaves===
{{Main|Earth:Marine heatwave}}
A study showed that [[Earth:Effects of climate change on oceans|climate change-related]] exceptional [[Earth:Marine heatwave|marine heatwave]]s in the Mediterranean Sea during 2015–2019 resulted in widespread mass sealife die-offs in five consecutive years.<ref>{{cite news |title=Marine heatwave: Record sea temperatures seen in the Mediterranean could devastate marine life |url=https://interestingengineering.com/science/marine-heatwave-sea-temperaturesmediterranean |access-date=21 August 2022 |work=interestingengineering.com |date=20 August 2022}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last1=Garrabou |first1=Joaquim |last2=Gómez‐Gras |first2=Daniel |last3=Medrano |first3=Alba |last4=Cerrano |first4=Carlo |last5=Ponti |first5=Massimo |last6=Schlegel |first6=Robert |last7=Bensoussan |first7=Nathaniel |last8=Turicchia |first8=Eva |last9=Sini |first9=Maria |last10=Gerovasileiou |first10=Vasilis |display-authors=et al. |title=Marine heatwaves drive recurrent mass mortalities in the Mediterranean Sea |journal=Global Change Biology |date=18 July 2022 |volume=28 |issue=19 |pages=5708–5725 |doi=10.1111/gcb.16301 |pmid=35848527 |pmc=9543131 |hdl=10754/679702 |s2cid=250622761 |language=en |issn=1354-1013}}</ref>

==Gallery==
<!--Please limit the images in this gallery to only 1 image per country/territory-->
<gallery mode="packed" heights="120px" style="text-align:center">
File:Gibraltar-Europa-Point-LH-from-the-sea.jpg|Europa Point, Gibraltar
File:ForbysIbizaTown 02.jpg|Old city of Ibiza Town, Spain
File:Monaco City 001.jpg|Panoramic view of La Condamine, Monaco
File:Plage-de-la-courtade.jpg|The beach of la Courtade in the Îles d'Hyères, France
File:Chia beach, Sardinia, Italy.jpg|Sardinia's south coast, Italy
File:Malta - Birzebbuga - Triq il-Bajja s-Sabiha + Pretty Bay + Gnien Mons. Guzeppi Minuti 03 ies.jpg|Pretty Bay in Birżebbuġa, Malta
File:Piran Stadtpanorama.jpg|Panoramic view of Piran, Slovenia
File:Cavtat Croatia 2008-10-07.JPG|Panoramic view of Cavtat, Croatia
File:Neum02451.JPG|View of Neum, Bosnia and Herzegovina
File:svetistefan1756.JPG|A view of Sveti Stefan, Montenegro
File:Ksamill-1.jpg|Ksamil Islands, Albania
File:Panagiotis wreck.jpg|Navagio, Greece
File:Blue_Lagoon_-_2014.10_-_panoramio.jpg|Ölüdeniz, Turquoise Coast, Turkey
File:Petra tou romiou beach.jpg|Paphos, Cyprus
File:Burjeslam.jpg|Burj Islam Beach, Latakia, Syria
File:BeirutRaouche1.jpg|A view of Raouché off the coast of [[Place:Beirut|Beirut]], Lebanon
File:Bat Galim neighborhood and Haifa Bay.jpg|A view of Haifa, Israel
File:شاطئ دير البلح horizon adjusted.jpg|Sunset at the Deir al-Balah beach, Gaza Strip
File:Coast of Alexandria, A view From Bibliotheca Alexandrina, Egypt.jpg|Coast of [[Place:Alexandria|Alexandria]], view From Bibliotheca Alexandrina, Egypt
File:Ras Elhilal Coast Sea Cave's.jpg|Ras El Hilal sea caves, Libya
File:Hammametgolf.jpg|Beach of Hammamet, Tunisia
File:Les Aiguades.jpg|Les Aiguades near Béjaïa, Algeria
File:EL Jebha1.jpg|El Jebha, a port town in Morocco
</gallery>

==See also==
{{div col}}
* {{annotated link|Unsolved:Atlantropa}}
* {{annotated link|Place:Eastern Mediterranean}}
* {{annotated link|Medicine:Familial Mediterranean fever}}
* {{annotated link|Earth:Mediterranean sea (oceanography)}}
{{div col end}}

==Notes==
{{NoteFoot}}

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
* [http://www.foraminifera.eu/querydb.php?area=Mediterranean+Sea&aktion=suche Mediterranean Sea Microorganisms: 180+ images of Foraminifera]
* [http://med-lter.haifa.ac.il/index.php/about Eastern Mediterranean Sea Long Term Ecological Research Station]

{{Regions of the world}}

{{subject bar|portal3=Geography |voy=y |commons=y |wikt=y |n=y |q=y |s=y|v=y}}

[[Category:Geography of Central Europe]]

{{Sourceattribution|Mediterranean Sea|1}}