Some Aspects of the Water Exchange Through the Dardanelles Strait

This paper focuses on describing the hydrographic characteristics of the Black Sea brackish waters flowing through the Dardanelles to the highly saline Athos basin of the Aegean Sea. This region of the Aegean Sea is located between the areas with markedly different physical and geographical conditions, where an intense interaction and transformation of several water masses within a relatively small area takes place. The Aegean Sea connects to the Black Sea by the Dardanelles/ Marmara Sea/ Bosphorus system at the east and joins the Levantine Sea through several passages and straits located between the islands Crete and Rhodes (Fig.1). The Aegean Sea has very irregular coastlines and bottom topography with many islands. It is appears to have the most complicated hydrometeorological regime among the Mediterranean Sea basins. It is divided into three parts isolated from one to another by islands and sills: Athos Basin, Chios Basin and Crete Basin. The water exchange within the surface layer of these parts of the sea is restricted because of the narrow and rather shallow straits between the islands. Important The knowledge on the water formation and spreading characteristics are of crucial importance for the Aegean Sea ecology.