126
The Migrant Biota
•
•
•
r
•
~~30 •
•
•
•
•
•
--· _ 0, : . )
•
•
•
Fig.35. Autumn salinities and temperatures off Egyptian coast at 25 m depth (from Gorgy,
1966)
November. Such an annual discharge is documented as far back as 600 A.D., but
existed even in classical Egyptian times. Several hundred years aga the two active
branches, Rosetta and Damietta, were dammed during the low water seaSOn by
the earthen dams of Edfina and Faraskur. In August they were opened and the
waters gushed out into the Mediterranean. The two branches were opened at an
interval of several weeks. The Damietta branch, 60 km from Port Said, recently
carried only half the water carried by the Rosetta branch which opens about
200 km west of Port Said.
The outpour of the Nile water through the two branches was felt in the form of
two salinity lows, clearly distinguished even along the coast of Israel (Oren, 1969).
Soon after the opening, the surface near Port Said reached salinities of 3035%0, sometimes even 29%0 (Gorgy, 1966; Morcos, 1967a) (Fig. 35). Oren (1969)
reports One instance when 25%0 was measured off Gaza in 1947.
Liebman (1935) measured a drop of salinity off Haifa to 34.02%0 in September
1930. Rouch (1940) measured 35.4%0 in 1938 off Beirut. More recently the minimum values were higher. For September 1961,-Oren (1969) indicates 35%0 as far
north as Tel-Aviv. The tongue of low salinity water normally did not extend
beyond the southern border area of Lebanon. By the end of October, i.e. after two
months, the salinity was back to normal, over 39%0 (Fig. 32).
The Migrant Biota
•
•
•
r
•
~~30 •
•
•
•
•
•
--· _ 0, : . )
•
•
•
Fig.35. Autumn salinities and temperatures off Egyptian coast at 25 m depth (from Gorgy,
1966)
November. Such an annual discharge is documented as far back as 600 A.D., but
existed even in classical Egyptian times. Several hundred years aga the two active
branches, Rosetta and Damietta, were dammed during the low water seaSOn by
the earthen dams of Edfina and Faraskur. In August they were opened and the
waters gushed out into the Mediterranean. The two branches were opened at an
interval of several weeks. The Damietta branch, 60 km from Port Said, recently
carried only half the water carried by the Rosetta branch which opens about
200 km west of Port Said.
The outpour of the Nile water through the two branches was felt in the form of
two salinity lows, clearly distinguished even along the coast of Israel (Oren, 1969).
Soon after the opening, the surface near Port Said reached salinities of 3035%0, sometimes even 29%0 (Gorgy, 1966; Morcos, 1967a) (Fig. 35). Oren (1969)
reports One instance when 25%0 was measured off Gaza in 1947.
Liebman (1935) measured a drop of salinity off Haifa to 34.02%0 in September
1930. Rouch (1940) measured 35.4%0 in 1938 off Beirut. More recently the minimum values were higher. For September 1961,-Oren (1969) indicates 35%0 as far
north as Tel-Aviv. The tongue of low salinity water normally did not extend
beyond the southern border area of Lebanon. By the end of October, i.e. after two
months, the salinity was back to normal, over 39%0 (Fig. 32).