Suppose one were given the task of mapping the general circulation in an unfamiliar ocean. The ocean, like our own, is subdivided into basins and marginal seas interconnected by sea straits. Assuming a limited budget for this undertaking, one would do well to choose the straits as observational starting points. To begin with, the currents flowing from one basin to the next, over possibly wide and time-varying paths, are confined to narrow and stable routes within the straits. Mass, heat and chemical budgets for individual basins can be formulated in terms of the fluxes measured across the straits using a relatively small number of instruments. The confinement of the flow by a strait can also give rise to profound dynamical conse quences including choking or hydraulic control, a process similar to that by which a dam regulates the flow from a reservoir. The funneling geometry can lead to enhanced tidal modulation and increased velocities, giving rise to local instabilities, mixing, internal bores, jumps, and other striking hydraulic and fine scale phenomena. In short, sea straits repre sent choke points which are observationally and dynamically strategic and which contain a full range of fascinating physical processes.

Hydrodynamics of Semi-Enclosed Seas

One of the most crucial but still very poorly understood topics of oceanographic science is the role of ocean processes in contributing to the dynamics of climate and global change. This book presents a series of high level lectures on the major categories of ocean/atmosphere processes. Three of these major issues are the focus of the lectures: (1) air--sea interaction processes; (2) water mass formation, dispersion and mixing; (3) general circulation, with specific emphasis on the thermohaline component. Global examples in the world ocean are provided and discussed in the lectures. In parallel, the Mediterranean Sea is a laboratory basin in providing analogues of the above global processes relevant to climate dynamics. They include the Mediterranean thermohaline circulation with its own `conveyor belt'; intermediate and deep water mass formation and transformations, dispersion and mixing. No other book in the field provides a review of fundamental lectures on these processes, coupled with global examples and their Mediterranean analogues.

The second edition of this well-received title from the Royal Cruising Club Pilotage Foundation covers the entire Mediterranean mainland coast of Spain from Gibraltar to the French border. This is the only detailed pilot for the Spanish Mediterranean coast running up from Gibraltar to the border with France. It covers a varied cruising area that includes the mountain-backed Costas del and Sol and Blanca, the expansive lagoon of the Mar Menor, the low-lying Ebro delta and the rugged Costa Brava. In between are several great cities including Malaga, Valencia, Tarragona and Barcelona, the Catalan capital. The volume opens with Gibraltar and La Línea. With Imray charts for the same coast, Mediterranean Spain provides all the data necessary for anyone based in Spain, transitting to and from areas further East or the Balearics, or just exploring this rich and varied coast and its hinterland. The coverage has been revised with the text updated, new plans added and other plan updates based on the latest information. This edition has been enhanced by the addition of over 100 aerial photographs showing coastline and harbour approaches.

This book has been published by Allenvi (French National Alliance for Environmental Research) to coincide with the 22nd Conference of Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP22) in Marrakesh. It is the outcome of work by academic researchers on both sides of the Mediterranean and provides a remarkable scientific review of the mechanisms of climate change and its impacts on the environment, the economy, health and Mediterranean societies. It will also be valuable in developing responses that draw on “scientific evidence” to address the issues of adaptation, resource conservation, solutions and risk prevention. Reflecting the full complexity of the Mediterranean environment, the book is a major scientific contribution to the climate issue, where various scientific considerations converge to break down the boundaries between disciplines.

After an introductory chapter concerning the definition of Straits used for international navigation', the author examines in detail the evolution of the question in the years prior to the convening of UNCLOS-III, during the preparatory works of the Sea-Bed Committee and throughout the Conference. The second part of the book studies the legal norms set up by the 1982 UN Convention on the Law of the Sea concerning the regime of transit passage for maritime and air navigation applicable in most of the straits used for international navigation and the regime of innocent passage residually applied in the other straits. In the final chapter, the author makes a critical appraisal of the new regimes of navigation and overflight in straits, exposes the implications of such regimes in Spain, analyzes the applicability of the Convention's regulations before their coming into force, and examines the practice followed in the last few years by the most important States which favoured or opposed the regime of transit passage. From his position as Deputy-Head of the Spanish Delegation to the Law of the Sea Conference, Ambassador de Yturriaga participated from the very beginning in the work of UNCLOS-III and was an active protagonist in the debates of the straits' question. The book offers a first hand testimony of the straits' negotiation, which will be extremely useful for scholars and students of the Law of the Sea.