Mediterranean sea (oceanography)

List of mediterranean seas

The mediterranean seas of the Atlantic Ocean

• The namesake Mediterranean Seas, including the Black Sea, the Sea of Azov, the Aegean Sea, the Adriatic Sea, the Alboran Sea, the Ligurian Sea, the Balearic Sea, the Tyrrhenian Sea, the Ionian Sea, and the Sea of Marmara.
• The Arctic Ocean
• The American Mediterranean Sea: the combination of the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean Sea.
• The Baltic Sea
• Baffin Bay

  The mediterranean seas of the Indian Ocean

• The Persian Gulf
• The Red Sea
• The Australasian Mediterranean Sea

  Types of mediterranean seas

Concentration basin

• A concentration basin has a higher salinity than the outer ocean due to evaporation, and its water exchange consists of inflow of the fresher oceanic water in the upper layer and outflow of the saltier mediterranean water in the lower layer of the connecting channel.
• *The Red Sea
• *The Persian Gulf
• *The Eurafrican Mediterranean Sea is also a concentration basin as a whole, but the Black Sea and the Adriatic Sea are dilution basins owing to the Danube, Don, and Dnieper Rivers and the Po River respectively.

  Dilution basin

• A dilution basin has a lower salinity due to freshwater gains such as rainfall and rivers, and its water exchange consists of outflow of the fresher mediterranean water in the upper layer and inflow of the saltier oceanic water in the lower layer of the channel. Renewal of deep water may not be sufficient to supply oxygen to the bottom.
• *The Arctic Ocean
• *The American Mediterranean Sea
• *The Baltic Sea
• *Baffin Bay
• *The Australasian Mediterranean Sea

  Exceptions

• The Hudson Bay is so shallow it functions like a huge estuary.
• Having shallow channels and deep basins, the Sea of Japan could form a mediterranean sea, but the strong currents from the Pacific prevent it from having an independent water circulation.
• The Baltic Sea is a brackish inland sea, alleged to be the largest body of brackish water in the world. It occupies a basin formed by glacial erosion.