118
The Migrant Biota
r---~r-----~-----r----~r-------------------~40'
TURKEY
35'
L-~~------~~--------~------~~--------~--~30 '
25'
30'
35'
Fig. 30. Winter surface isohalines in Eastern Mediterranean (from Lacombe and Tchernia,
1960)
r-----------------~--------------------------------------~37 °
d~
---- ~ J \\\
, \
I , 2600
"<::~:'~:7( /"-. . . . ",
I
,
\
,
\
\
\
\
,
,
' ..... ,
I
ISOTHERMS
I
SURFACE
/
(------_/
275
27'
29'
31'
33'
35'
Fig. 31. Surface isotherms in the Levant basin, August 1967 (courtesy Oren)
hydrographie parameters: the annual surfaee isotherm 20° C and the minimum
surfaee isohaline of 39%0 (39 gjI). These lines are of eourse fluetuating but they ean
be eonsidered as an are whieh extends from the Nile delta to the eastern tip of
Crete and afterwards follows the island are of the Dodeeanese to Rhodes. The
shape of this limit is determined ehiefly by the horizontal defleetion of the isohalines along the Egyptian eoast, where the Atlantic eurrent brings relatively low
salinity waters into the area. As shown by Laeombe and Tehernia (1960) the