Latest news with #Mediterranean Sea
Arab News
6 days ago
- Business
- Arab News
Greece invites Libya to maritime zone talks to ease strained ties
ATHENS: Greece has invited Libya's internationally recognized government in Tripoli to start talks on demarcating exclusive economic zones in the Mediterranean Sea, Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis said late on Wednesday. The move is aimed at mending relations between the two neighbors, strained by a controversial maritime deal signed in 2019 between the Libyan government and Turkiye, Greece's long-standing foe, which mapped out a sea area close to the Greek island of Crete. 'We invite — and I think you may soon see progress in this area — we invite the Tripoli government to discuss with Greece the delimitation of a continental shelf and an exclusive economic zone,' Mitsotakis told local Skai television. Greece this year launched a new tender to develop its hydrocarbon resources off Crete, a move that Libya has objected to, saying some of the blocks infringed its own maritime zones. Law and order has been weak in Libya since a 2011 uprising that toppled dictator Muammar Qaddafi, with the country divided by factional conflict into eastern and western sections for over a decade. Therefore, any communication with Libya was not easy, Mitsotakis said. He indicated that Greece was determined to continue talking to both the Tripoli-based government and a parallel administration based in Benghazi. In recent months, Athens has sought closer cooperation with Libya to help stem a surge in migrant arrivals from the North African country to Greece's southern islands of Gavdos and Crete and passed legislation banning migrants arriving from Libya by sea from requesting asylum. In an incident earlier this month, the European Union migration commissioner and ministers from Italy, Malta and Greece were denied entry to the eastern part of divided Libya, shortly after meeting the internationally recognized government that controls the west of Libya.
Reuters
6 days ago
- Politics
- Reuters
Greece invites Libya to maritime zone talks to ease strained ties
ATHENS, July 24 (Reuters) - Greece has invited Libya's internationally recognised government in Tripoli to start talks on demarcating exclusive economic zones in the Mediterranean Sea, Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis said late on Wednesday. The move is aimed at mending relations between the two neighbours, strained by a controversial maritime deal signed in 2019 between the Libyan government and Turkey, Greece's long-standing foe, which mapped out a sea area close to the Greek island of Crete. "We invite - and I think you may soon see progress in this area - we invite the Tripoli government to discuss with Greece the delimitation of a continental shelf and an exclusive economic zone," Mitsotakis told local Skai television. Greece this year launched a new tender to develop its hydrocarbon resources off Crete, a move that Libya has objected to, saying some of the blocks infringed its own maritime zones. Law and order has been weak in Libya since a 2011 uprising that toppled dictator Muammar Gaddafi, with the country divided by factional conflict into eastern and western sections for over a decade. Therefore, any communication with Libya was not easy, Mitsotakis said. He indicated that Greece was determined to continue talking to both the Tripoli-based government and a parallel administration based in Benghazi. In recent months, Athens has sought closer cooperation with Libya to help stem a surge in migrant arrivals from the North African country to Greece's southern islands of Gavdos and Crete and passed legislation banning migrants arriving from Libya by sea from requesting asylum. In an incident earlier this month, the European Union migration commissioner and ministers from Italy, Malta and Greece were denied entry to the eastern part of divided Libya, shortly after meeting the internationally recognised government that controls the west of Libya.
Forbes
22-07-2025
- Science
- Forbes
Study Sheds Light On The Origins Of Giant Salt Formations
Outcrops with thick salt deposits in Sicily. While wandering along the cliffs of the Mediterranean Sea — particularly in southern Italy and Sicily — one might come across outcrops composed entirely of thick layers of salt and gypsum. Thanks to geophysical surveys and an extensive drilling campaign conducted during the Glomar Challenger expedition, we now know that these salt layers extend beneath the Mediterranean Sea and, in some regions, reach thicknesses of up to 2.5 kilometers. Such deposits can only form by evaporating large amounts of seawater. For almost 200 years scientists wondered how this was possible, and one unique salt lake — the Dead Sea in Israel — may provide an answer. 'These large deposits in the earth's crust can be many, many kilometers horizontally, and they can be more than a kilometer thick in the vertical direction,' says UC Santa Barbara mechanical engineering professor Eckart Meiburg, lead author of a new study. 'How were they generated? The Dead Sea is really the only place in the world where we can study the mechanism of these things today.' Salinity levels in the Dead Sea are famously so high that only few organisms can survive in its waters, giving it its name. Indeed, while there are other bodies of water in the world with high salinity levels, only in the Dead Sea they form massive salt deposits, which allows researchers to tackle the physical processes behind their evolution, and in particular, the spatial and temporal variations in their thickness. In their study, Meiburg and fellow author Nadav Lensky of the Geological Survey of Israel cover the fluid dynamics and associated sediment transport processes currently governing the Dead Sea. In 2019, the researchers observed a rather unique process occurring in the lake during the summer. While evaporation was increasing the salinity of the water on the surface, salts washed into the lake were nonetheless continuing to dissolve due to its warmer temperature. As the dense, salt-rich water sinks to the ground, it mixes with cooler water rising upwards. At the interface between the two layers, halite (common salt) crystals start to grow. The heavy crystals fall to the bottom, forming a sort of 'salt snow' covering the bottom of the Dead Sea basin. Detail of the outcrop showing single salt and gypsum crystals. In addition to other factors including internal currents and surface waves, this process is highly effective in creating salt deposits of various shapes and sizes, the authors conclude. In contrast to shallower hypersaline bodies in which precipitation and deposition occur during the dry season, in the Dead Sea salt formation occurs during the entire year. About 5.96 to 5.33 million years ago tectonic forces closed off the Strait of Gibraltar, reducing the inflow from the Atlantic into the Mediterranean basin and creating conditions similar to the Dead Sea basin — but on a vastly larger scale. 'The sea level dropped 3 to 5 kilometers (2-3 miles) due to evaporation, creating the same conditions currently found in the Dead Sea and leaving behind the thickest of this salt crust that can still be found buried below the deep sections of the Mediterranean,' Meiburg explains. 'But then a few million years later the Strait of Gibraltar opened up again, and so you had inflow coming in from the North Atlantic and the Mediterranean filled up again.' The full study, "Fluid Mechanics of the Dead Sea," was published in the journal Annual Review of Fluid Mechanics and can be found online here. Additional material and interviews provided by University of California - Santa Barbara.
The Guardian
21-07-2025
- Climate
- The Guardian
Weather tracker: Mediterranean heatwave sparks concern for marine life
A recent heatwave in the Mediterranean Sea has been so severe scientists are concerned for marine life. The human-induced climate crisis is making marine heatwaves more intense and prolonged, with sea surface temperatures off the coast of Mallorca since late June frequently exceeding 30C (86F). Portugal's maritime authority said the southern Algarve had experienced a marine heatwave between the 28 June and the 9 July. Temperatures have been significantly higher than the average observed over the past 20 years – with some areas 5C above normal. This most recent marine heatwave has been the western Mediterranean's most extreme for this time of year. While sea surface temperatures above 30C are not that unusual later in the summer, such conditions are unprecedented in late June. The impact on marine wildlife and ecosystems from marine heatwaves can be significant. Prolonged exposure can drain the energy from sea creatures to a point where they can no longer survive. There is also evidence that some species go into survival mode and will not reproduce. Meanwhile, days of torrential rain across South Korea have been responsible for at least four deaths, with two people still unaccounted for. The country has been pounded by heavy rainfall since Wednesday, prompting the authorities to warn of landslides and flooding. Landslide alerts were raised to the highest level in several regions late last week, including across Chungcheong. The Ministry of the Interior and Safety said more than 500mm had been recorded in Seosan, South Chungcheong province, since Wednesday. As of Saturday, almost 3,000 people had not returned to their homes after more than 7,000 were evacuated. More than 600 properties were reported damaged. Meanwhile, Tropical Storm Wipha has brought heavy rain and strong winds to parts of south-east Asia. The weather system hit parts of the Philippines before passing to the south of Taiwan on Saturday. Rain lashed Hong Kong on Sunday as Wipha moved southwards before making landfall on the coast of Guangdong province in China. The storm is expected to reach northern Vietnam this week, bringing very heavy rain. More than 110mm of rain was recorded in three hours in Hong Kong, with up to 100mph (161km/h) gusts. Cathay Pacific cancelled all flights for much of Sunday and elsewhere trees and scaffolding were toppled.
