Mediterranean Sea Getting Saltier, Hotter

[n2doc]

By LiveScience Staff
posted: 24 May 2010 12:25 pm ET

The Western Mediterranean Sea is heating up and getting saltier, a new study finds.

Each year the temperature of the deep layer of the Western Mediterranean increases by 0.0036 degrees Fahrenheit (0.002 degrees Celsius), and its salt levels increase by 0.001 units of salinity, researchers monitoring the sea found. The change is consistent with the expected effects of global warming.

These changes may sound like small beans, but they have been building up at a faster pace since the 1990s, the study, detailed in the April 1 edition of the Journal of Geophysical Research, suggests.

The results show a consistent trend, "but to confirm this accelerating trend, we need to monitor it over the years to come," said study author Manuel Vargas-Yáñez of the Spanish Institute of Oceanography.

more

http://www.livescience.com/environment/mediterranean-sea-salt-temp-increase-100524.html

[UndertheOcean]

1. The Med. is constantly replenished by the Atlantic though ? n/t

[Fumesucker]

2. Yes..

When the Gibraltar straits close the Med dries up, it has happened several times.. There are vast salt deposits under the Med from when it has dried in the past.

[dipsydoodle]

3. In the past

its been a dry valley, up to a mile deep, with a salt base. Just imagine the pressure at the bottom of the valley. On such occasions when the Straits of Gibralter closed the area also had the world's highest waterfall.