Sea Facts

Recent evidence from microfossils suggests that the Mediterranean was never completely dry.
Warm seas such as the Mediterranean lose much more water by evaporation than they gain from rivers. So a current of water flows in steadily from the ocean.
Seas are small oceans, completely enclosed or partly enclosed by land.
Seas are shallower than oceans and have do not have any major currents flowing through them.
In the Mediterranean and other seas, tides can set up a seiche — a standing wave that sloshes back and forth like a ripple running up and down a bath.
If the wave cycle of a seiche is different from the ocean tides, the tides are canceled.
If the natural wave cycle of a seiche is similar to ocean tides, the tides are magnified.
Scientists thought that the Mediterranean was a dry desert 6 million years ago. They believed it was 3000 m lower than it is today, and covered in salts.
Warm seas lose so much water by evaporation that they are usually much saltier than the open ocean.
Waves in enclosed seas tend to be much smaller than those in the open ocean, because there is less space for them to develop.
The Dead Sea is the lowest sea on Earth, 400 m below sea level.
The warm waters of the Mediterranean attract tourists to the coast of Spain.

This entry is filed under Interesting Facts.