Full text of "Oceanus"
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ISSN 0029-8182
Oceanus
The International Magazine of Marine Science and Policy
Volume 33, Number 1 , Spring 1990
Paul R. Ryan, Editor
T. M. Hawley, Assistant Editor
Sara L. Ellis, Editorial Assistant
Robert W. Bragclon, Advertising Coordinator
Editorial Advisory Board
1930
Robert D. Ballard, Director of the Center for Marine Exploration, WHOI
James M. Broadus, Director of the Marine Policy Center, WHOI
Henry Charnock, Professor of Physical Oceanography, University of Southampton, England
Gotthilf Hempel, Director of the Alfred Wegener Institute for Polar Research, West Germany
Charles D. Hollister, Vice-President and Associate Director for External Affairs, WHOI
John Imbrie, Henry L. Doherty Professor of Oceanography, Brown University
John A. Knauss, U.S. Undersecretary for Oceans and Atmosphere, NOAA
Arthur E. Maxwell, Director of the Institute for Geophysics, University of Texas
Timothy R. Parsons, Professor, Institute of Oceanography, University of British Columbia, Canada
Allan R. Robinson, Gordon McKay Professor of Geophysical Fluid Dynamics, Harvard University
David A. Ross, Chairman, Department of Geology and Geophysics, and Sea Grant Coordinator, WHOI
Published by the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution
Guy W. Nichols, Chairman of the Board of Trustees
John H. Steele, President of the Corporation
Charles A. Dana III, President of the Associates
Craig E. Dorman, Director of the Institution
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mental security, an ability to integrate such diversity becomes ever
more important.
Finally, we hope you enjoy the changes to our format intro-
duced in this issue. We're striving for improved readability while
retaining our thematic concentration.
— Craig E. Dorrnan
Director, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution
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From the Bridge
he Mediterranean, theme of this issue of Ocentuis,
has throughout history held a pivotal position in the
development of Western Civilization. The Med and
its adjoining seas have served variously as
barriers to and conduits for international con-
quest while dominating the surrounding climate and
providing for both resources and trade. Indeed, the very
terms we use to position ourselves on the globe, longitude
and latitude, derive from and reflect its orientation.
The Mediterranean is important to oceanography both
in its own right and as a model for many of the processes
that drive the global oceans. Deep-water formation, mixing
and flow across sills, biochemical processes in anoxic
bottom water, and sea-level rise are just a few topics
for which the Med is an ideal laboratory. And its
waters that spill out across the Strait of Gibraltar
serve as an important tracer throughout much of
the North and Central Atlantic.
The Med also opens exceptional opportunities
for collaborative science; for example, I had the
honor last year of hosting a meeting of the POEM
(Physical Oceanography of the Eastern Mediterra-
nean) group — headed in the United States by Allan
Robinson of Harvard and Paula Malanotte-Rizzoli
of MIT — where oceanographers from nations as
diverse as Israel, Egypt, Greece, Turkey, Italy, and Yugoslavia are
working together to improve their knowledge of common waters.
Similarly, some of WHOI's closest contacts in the Soviet Union
derive from our collaborative work in the Black Sea.
In this issue, Occniuts, in its deliberately eclectic fashion, brings
you a sampler of the sea flavors of the Mecl — from its present and
past physical characteristics, through its biology and the dual (and
often dueling) issues of use and protection of its resources, to its
fascinating archaeology (some of which, you may recall, we ex-
plored with "Jason" last summer). The very diversity of our topics
reflects the endless fascination of the area and its limitless chal-
lenges to our field. As our science becomes more centrally relevant
to social issues like global change, and economic and environ-
mental security, an ability to integrate such diversity becomes ever
more important.
Finally, we hope you enjoy the changes to our format intro-
duced in this issue. We're striving for improved readability while
retaining our thematic concentration.
— Craig E. Dorman
Director, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution
THE MEDITERRANEAN
IFrom the Bridge
In/ Craig E. Donnnn
Oceanographic studies in the Mediterrean are im-
portant to our understanding of the processes that drive
the global ocean.
4 Introduction: The Med
In/ Maurice Julian ami Paul R. Ri/an
From the Strait of Gibraltar to Soviet shores on the
Black Sea, the Med is a complex marine laboratory still
presenting surprises to the scientists who work there—
despite the long history of research in these waters.
Cousteau aboard RV Atlantis 11
u
Med Desert Theory Is Drying Up
In/ Daniel Jean Stanley
The author challenges the popularly held
belief that the Med was once a deep desert similar to
Death Valley. A re-evaluation of deep-sea drilling
evidence suggests briny pools in a relatively shallow
basin.
26
Water, Salt, Heat, and Wind in the Med
In/ Henri Laeonibe
Physical Oceanographers study Med circula-
tion, heat and water exchange, and deep-water formation
for an understanding of the mechanisms at work in the
global ocean, many regions of which are inhospitable for
conducting research.
RV Atlantis at Monaco
38
The Med Is Cleaner
In/ Peter M. Mass and Julie Zuekinan
After more than a decade of research and
regulations, the effects of the Mediterranean Action Plan
indicate some progress in the battle to overcome severe
pollution.
•
" *
Cleaner beaches at Cannes
Copyright © 1990 by the Woods Hole Oceanographic
Institution. Occnnus (ISSN 0029-8182) is published in March,
lune, September, and December by the Woods Hole Oceano-
graphic Institution, 9 Maury Lane, Woods Hole, Massachusetts
02543. Second-class postage paid at Falmouth, Massachusetts;
Windsor, Ontario; and additional mailing points.
POSTMASTER: Send address change to Occnnus Subscriber
Service Center, P.O. Box b419, Syracuse, NY 13217.
Headings and Readings
Fishing on the Nile
yf ^\ Med Biology
/I -^ In/ Gnston Frcdj and others
JL\^s The history of Mediterranean biology is
outlined here, along with brief articles on the status of
fisheries (page 46), the plight of monk seals (47), a listing
of marine stations around the sea (48), an explanation of
plankton patterns (50), a discussion of red tides and
slime in the Adriatic (52), and a look at how the Black Sea
is becoming more like the Med, a revelation revealed in
studies of zooplankton (53).
Deep Water Over Complex Tectonics
In/ KntJn/ S/»?;y> Frisbcc
An up-to-date assessment on the relatively
poor potential for oil and gas development in the Med,
along with a look at refineries springing up along various
coasts, particularly the African.
f ^t Jason's Med Adventure
w~\ by Mnrtin F. Boweu
Vy JL One of the pilots of the Argo-Jason craft gives a
first-hand account of explorer Robert Ballard's exciting
expedition to wrest history's secrets from deep areas of
the seabed off Italy.
Jason recovers artifact
H^ /^\ Ships of Tarshish to the Land of Ophir
/ /'i/ Slid lei/ Waclisinniiu
J Vx Seafaring in Biblical times, relating accounts of
treasure and terror in the Mediterranean. References in
the Bible are compared to marine artifacts.
Ancient anchors at Haifa
Child's Play: Bouillabaisse
In/ Snrn L. Ellis
An interview with Julia Child, one of the
world's leading authorities on Mediterranean cooking.
A great, exclusive recipe for fish stew is included. Enjoy!
LETTERS
BOOKS
COVER: Our cover is the work of Carolyn Sansone, a freelance
illustrator and designer living in Mashpee, Massachusetts. The
photograph in this mixed-media work was taken from the space
shuttle (see pp. 8-9). Other credits appear on page 12.
Introduction:
This 7 million-year-old rhinoeeros fossil on
the Greek island of Samos came from the dtii/s
when the Aegean was a rolling, wooded land.
The Med
For oceanographers,
a small, hospitable world ocean
f rocks could tell tales, the Rock of Gibraltar,
western gateway to the Mediterranean, the cradle
of civilizations, would be a master storyteller.
It could easily spin a yarn about how the dino-
saurs died and how the Alps were born. The remains of
t
by Maurice Julian and Paul R. Ryan
Poseidon, tlic Greek
god of the sen, was tlie
protector of all
waters.
Huge suit deposits lie
out of reac h beneath
the Med. Salt is
mined on islands
where deposits are
near the surface.
Neanderthals have been discovered in its recesses. Neolithic
inhabitants made fire and pottery and farmed and hunted on its
terraces. Indeed, much of western history has passed this rock on
ships through the narrow, 13-kilometer tongue of water known as
the Strait of Gibraltar.
And Islamic conquerors have used the strait as a bridge to
Europe.
For oceanographers, the Mediterranean is an excellent labora-
tory for geological and geophysical studies and for physical ocean-
ography, the study of currents and eddies and so forth. Indeed, the
Med is a miniature world ocean in many respects. Another benefit
of working in the region is that the weather is usually pretty good.
One would suppose that by this time pretty much all that there
is to know about the Mediterranean would be known. Not so, as
the articles in this issue attest. Earth scientists, as Smithsonian
scientist Daniel Stanley points out (see page 14), are still trying to
unravel the geological history of the two complex deep-sea basins
that comprise the Mediterranean proper.
Just 20 years before, geologists depicted the Mediterranean of
6 million years ago as a vast desert lying some 3,000 meters below
sea level. The floor of this desert was covered by evaporite salts.
And high ridges in the Gibraltar region served as a barrier to the
Atlantic Ocean. The region was a vast Death Valley, we were told.
Eventually, about 5 to 5.5 million years ago waters from the Atlan-
tic surged into the basin in the
form of a huge waterfall at
Gibraltar.
Today, the concept of such a
deep and dry Mediterranean is
not universally accepted. As a
noted marine geologist, Robert
Dietz, stated: "Remarkable
hypotheses require extraordinary
proof! That proof is lacking."
The latest thinking is that the
Mediterranean was different some
5.5 million years ago, but that it
almost assuredly was covered by
water with a high salt content, or a
briny consistency. Just how deep
this basin was — it is now thought
that water from the Atlantic was
restricted, but not cut off entirely — is still unclear. Theories range
from 100 to more than 1,000 meters. The floor of the basin thus was
considerably higher than it is today.
The circulation of Mediterranean waters provides oceanogra-
phers with a model of how the world ocean works (see page 26).
Basically, cool surface waters with low salt content enter from the
Atlantic through the Strait of Gibraltar, while
saltier deep water exits from the Med.
Demystifying the processes of heat and water
exchanges that occur as the water comes, circu-
lates, and goes is crucial to an understanding of
the mechanisms that drive global climate and the
"Greenhouse Effect," or gradual warming of the
Earth. Thus, the Mediterranean is a major focus
of modern oceanography.
The Med is a particularly good model for the
study of how deep-water currents form. Outside
the Med, nearly all deep water forms in polar
regions. Because ice conditions are unpredictable
from year to year, it is difficult for oceanogra-
phers to follow the process of how deep waters
form and move in polar regions. The Mediterra-
nean deep water exchange rates are as interesting
to marine scientists as the currency exchange
rates are to tourists and businessmen.
The length of the Mediterranean is about
4,000 kilometers. It has an elongated shape, its
width being very narrow in places — in one
instance only 140 kilometers across. The Med
covers an area of 3,000,000 square kilometers. It
is composed of a series of juxtaposed basins asso-
ciated with geologically young mountains. The tectonic activity in
some areas of the region is intense, engendering earthquakes and
nurturing volcanic activity.
Traveling from the Strait of Gibraltar eastward, there are
several complex basins of which the most important are
the Western, Tyrrhenian, Ionian, and Eastern. Depths in
these basins range from 2,000 to 3,000 meters with troughs nearly
5,000 meters deep. The Mediterranean also includes several more-
or-less enclosed seas with corresponding straits, such as the Pe-
lagic, Adriatic, Aegean (known for its multitude of islets), and
Black seas (see map, pp. 54-55).
Probably many Americans do not think of the Black Sea as
being part of the Mediterranean. But scientists, particularly Euro-
pean ones, generally do. The Black Sea is the largest of the en-
closed seas, covering an area of 452,000 square kilometers. It is
separated from the rest of the Mediterranean by the narrow
Bosporus Straits with a depth of only 92 meters. The presence of
these straits results in anoxia, or a lack of
oxygen, in the Black Sea at depths greater than
200 meters. It is thus a scientific El Dorado.
Two other major features are the lengthy
stretches of rocky coast and the numerous
islands, which cover 4.1 percent of the area of
A ti/picnl quiet day
at tlic bench. Yenrh/,
SO million tourists
slather on lotion and
souk up the Med' s
glorious rni/s.
the sea and support a total population of more than 9 million
people.
The Mediterranean is bordered by large continental drainage
basins whose area amounts to 67 percent of that of the sea itself (the
basins drained by the Black Sea and the tropical part of the Nile are
excluded). Rainfall and river discharge account for 36 and 16
percent, respectively, of the water balance in the Mediterranean.
The deficit is made up by inputs from the Atlantic and the Black
Sea. The largest rivers flowing into the Med are the Po, Rhone,
Ebro, and Nile.
The amount of pollutants entering the Mediterranean has de-
creased somewhat in recent years (see page 39). However,
the Mediterranean environment still needs special attention
as regards both sediment and pollution control. It still is an endan-
gered sea, although perhaps not a dying one.
The true Mediterranean climate is restricted to the coastal
margins and corresponds to areas of olive cultivation. The moun-
tains and the desert roughly constitute the boundaries of this
climatic zone. However, above 1,000 meters in the North and at
greater altitude in the Maghreb and Levantine mountains, marginal
climates occur, resulting in a wide variety of climates with adapted
vegetation and land-use belts.
A long and dry summer is a regular feature of the Mediterra-
nean climate; this season is one of high evaporation rates, resulting
in water deficit and stress for both plants and crops. Despite the
lack of real subtropical winter temperatures, the variety of plants,
many of which are exotic, is great.
Rain occurs in autumn or winter. Heavy snowfalls are essen-
tially limited to mountains, enhancing the aesthetic value and
s
beauty of these landscapes. The most eloquent examples are the
French Riviera, the Amalfi peninsula south of Naples, and
Mount Etna.
Rainfalls allow for the accumulation of precious water stocks
for summer irrigation. The very sunny weather (from 2,000 to 3,000
sunshine hours a year) makes the shores of the Mediterranean a
real Sun Belt, with coastal regions similar to California.
Unlike the Caribbean, the Mediterranean, which is squeezed
between the 30th to the 47th parallels, is not affected by tropical
hurricanes. The influence of continental winds, however, is strong.
These include cold northern winds like the mistral and the bora,
burning hot winds like the Saharan sirocco, and refreshing summer
winds. The worst climatic excesses are cloud bursts over moun-
tains in the cold season, resulting in floods and landslides.
Cradle of Western Civilization and source of many myths,
religions, and philosophies, the Mediterranean countries today
remain a major seat of culture. The Med is a link between the
Western World and the Orient, a natural route to and from the
Indian Ocean through the Suez Canal for trade and oil. It also is a
meeting point between the Third World countries of the South and
the developed world of the North.
It is as well a political "hot-spot." Despite the recent thaw in
relations between the Soviet Union and the United States, one
need only think of the Israeli- Arab conflict, Cyprus, Lebanon,
the Islamic Revolution, and the recent Iran-Iraq war. Recent events
in Eastern Europe will likely have a bearing on the Med in terms of
trade, tourism, and pollution monitoring.
The total population of the 18 nations bordering the Mediterra-
nean is about 376 million of which 260 million live along the coast.
On /i/ 15 I/ears
ngo, there were no
rules ngninst
dumping
industrial waste
into the Med.
Intenmtionnl
cooperation is
now curbing
pollution.
Marked contrasts exist between the countries in terms of social
welfare, health, education, employment, and per capita income.
Studies by the World Bank forecast a high urban growth rate in
the region — 435 million by the year 2000 and more than 500 million
by 2025, a large percentage of which will be in Algeria, Morocco,
Turkey, and Egypt.
Because of its rich history, the Med is a storehouse of artifacts
from ancient days. Marine archaeology continues to contribute to
our understanding of ancient cultures and mores. It also supplies
us with visual art beyond compare, not to mention a thrilling form
of recreation when supervised properly.
The Mediterranean is poor in marine resources. Fishing and
aquaculture have a production of less than two million tonnes. Salt
production for the chemical
industry, however, is impor-
tant. The bordering countries
produce various raw materials
for industry, such as phos-
phates, mercury, chromium,
bauxite, and cotton.
Oil and gas are the most
important products, however,
with an annual production of
about 160 million tonnes (see
page 56). This represents less
than 5 percent of world
production. Italy, Algeria,
Libya, and Egypt are the most
important producers in almost
equal amounts. Offshore oil
exploration and development
today is encouraged on the continental shelves.
The oil refining industry is twice as important as total local oil
production and accounts for about 10 percent of the world total.
Although oil production and reserves are high, the refining indus-
try is dependent on trade-shipping and transshipment of the oil
from the Near East (40 percent of world production).
Much oil comes through pipelines in war-torn countries: the
Suez Canal has become the major transit route since it was re-
opened in 1975 (83 million tonnes a year are carried on this seaway,
which links Near East oilfields to the developed countries north of
the Mediterranean). Oil shipping is an important component of
port activities and industries.
The 13 major Mediterranean ports (handling a combined total
of more than 15 million tonnes) have refineries and petrochemical
plants. Only a few ore-handling ports, such as Fos-sur-mer, near
Marseille in France, and Tarente in Italy were expressly built to
--.
10
supply the major ironworking plants.
There also are new agricultural landscapes. The change from a
traditional agriculture to a modern farming system with greater
productivity is gaining impetus.
In the old economy, much of the produce was destined for
subsistence, with little surplus sold on the local market. In contrast,
the new agricultural system is
founded on crop specialization
for the northern European mar-
kets: orchards of olive, orange,
and lemon trees, large vineyards,
rice fields, and liuertas that
produce various rare vegetables.
Greenhouse cultivation is also
gaining greater favor.
Mechanization, attended by
a drastic exodus of agricultural
workers, use of fertilizers, and
development of high-tech irriga-
tion in the plains following the
eradication of malaria, are the
common hallmarks of the
modern agriculture.
Seventy percent of the
world's tourists flock to the
Mediterranean, some 80 million
a year. Fifty-eight percent of
world tourism income is gener-
ated in the Med. They come
because of the sun, the fun, the
food, and the history. After all,
there are the remains of the
Greek and Roman empires to
feast on, not to mention devour-
ing the first-hand images of a
whole legion of authors that
range from de Maupassant to
Durrell, Fitzgerald, Camus, Churchill, and beyond.
The tourists also come for the color — that special Aegean
light that sparkles off a limpid sea covered by a Mediterranean
blue. Artists have long celebrated the special sun-blessed colors
of the region.
The earliest tourist centers are more than a hundred years old.
More recent centers have sprouted up in the last decades: for
example, the Costa Brava and Costa del Sol in Spain, the Costa
Smeralda in Sardinia, Languedoc-Rousillon in France, as well as
resorts on the Balearic Islands, Tunisia, Greece, and Turkey. Malta
is now a fully fledged tourist island.
TJic sen floor is
scattered with
ancient remnants
like these 12th- and
UtJi-ccntun/B.C.
sliipwrecks off
Turkey,
11
Fresli fisli is
extremely vnlunble.
Most fishermen
make main/ short
trips in small bonts.
The construction of long urban sea fronts, buildings, villas, and
many marinas have transformed radically the ancient landscapes of
the Mediterranean.
These changes, such as urban growth — several cities of more
than a million inhabitants now dot the Mediterranean coast — and
the oil trade with its associated oil spills have increased the danger
of pollution in marine ecosystems and damage to the coastline.
Water discharge from the rich Italian plains of the Po River
threaten an ecosystem, a city (Venice), and a coastline. The cata-
strophic growth of algae in the Adriatic last summer (see page 52)
may be one result of the high concentration of pollutants (nitrates
and phosphates). The prevention of further pollution along with
cleansing measures against existing pollution is a priority concern
in the Mediterranean.
Maurice Julian is a Professor and scientist with the Laboratoire de
Geoecologie Alpine et Mediterraneenne. Universite de Nice. Paul
R. Ryan is Editor o/Oceanus.
14-19 April 1 99 1 Athens, Greece
Major Themes:
Condition of Major Aquatic Habitats
Fisheries Resource Utilization & Policy
Protection of Biotic Diversity
International Development Projects
Assessment Methodologies & Fisheries Management
Role of Aquaculture in World Fisheries
Other Fisheries Science Topics
Call for Papers available from:
World Fisheries Congress
5410 Grosvenor Lane, Suite 1 10
Bethesda, Maryland 20814, U.S.A.
Tel: (301) 897-8616
Fax: 301 897 8096
Co-sponsored by 38 natural resource organizations worldwide
12
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If rocks could tell tales,
the Rock of Gibraltar
would be a master
storyteller.
An artist's impression of the
Mediterranean Basin Desert
Theory. It was thought that
about five million years ago, a
desert landscape some 3,000
meters below sea level was
broken by salt-encrusted pools
and areas of high relief.
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Recent thinking favors a shallow, briny.
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In search of
the origins of the
Mediterranean
Daniel Jean Stanley
is Smithsonian
Senior Ocean ogra-
pher and Director of
the Mediterranean
Basin Program at
the National
Museum of Natural
History in Washing-
ton, DC.
or the last two decades many earth scientists have
J
supported the notion that the Mediterranean was once a
huge dry desert, lying 3,000 meters below sea level. This
"death valley" was thought to have existed at the end of
Miocene time, about 6 to 5.5 million years ago. Geologi-
cal theories usually fall at a glacial pace into a sea of controversy,
and this one is no exception. Today — charging that proof for the
theory is lacking — many scientists believe that the Med always
contained saltwater, with only the depth of the seafloor and the
water being in question.
The desert theory surfaced in 1970 at the end of the first deep-
sea drilling cruise organized by the Joint Oceanographic Institu-
tions' Deep-Earth Sampling program aboard the Glomnr Challenger.
Upon arrival, the chief scientists, William Ryan and K. J. Hsu, pre-
sented their findings to the press, declaring that about 6 million
years ago the Mediterranean basin had dried and was partially
covered by thick evaporite salts.
High relief near what is now the Strait of Gibraltar served as a
barrier to the exchange of waters with the Atlantic. Exposed to a
hot and dry climate, water evaporated and the then-dry basin
elicited comparison with a gigantic Death Valley. At the beginning
of the Pliocene, about 5.5 million years ago, waters from the Atlan-
tic Ocean surged into the basin as a giant waterfall at Gibraltar.
This dramatic depiction lent itself to publicity and media attention.
This theory was reasserted during a second deep-sea drilling
cruise in the Mediterranean in 1975. It has generated considerable
discussion among earth scientists trying to unravel the geological
history of the complex ocean basin known as the Mediterranean.
Some of the tenets on which the theory was formulated are, if not
defective, very seriously in question. To interpret their findings, a
16
ATLANTIC/A WESTERN MEDITERRANEAN EASTERN MEDITERRANEAN LAC-MER
LATE MIOCENE, 10 MILLION YEARS AGO
EARLIEST PLIOCENE, 5.0 MILLION YEARS AGO
Strong Thermoho/ine Circulation^)
iu5
Weak Vertical Mixing
*>•
I2'C
LOWER PLIOCENE, 3.7 MILLION YEARS AGO
respectable number of geologists studying the surrounding
emerged borderland as well as subsea sections indicate that
alternative, more comprehensive, concepts must be envisioned.
What are we to make of this? The American oceanographer
Robert Dietz of Arizona State University may have hit the nail on
the head when he presided at a session devoted to the origin of the
huge Mediterranean salt deposits at the most recent annual meet-
ing of the Geological Society of America. He spoke for a growing
body of respected scientists when, referring to a deep, dry Mediter-
ranean, he asserted that "Remarkable hypotheses require extraordi-
nary proof! That proof is lacking."
These are strong words. It thus seems appropriate, in this
issue of Oceanns, to highlight some areas of contention in interpret-
ing the origins of the Mediterranean.
From a geological point of view, the Mediterranean is a
tectonically mobile land-enclosed depression — small (about
3,000,000 square kilometers) in comparison to the major
world oceans. Nearly isolated from the Atlantic Ocean and Black
Sea, it extends almost 4,000 kilometers from the Strait of Gibraltar
to the foot of the Lebanon mountains. One is never more than 370
kilometers from shore, and usually much less.
According to the
Desert TJieon/, the
Mediterranean dried
up almost completely
after being cut off
from the Atlantic
Ocean. Waters later
cascaded in at the
Strait of Gibraltar,
filling the sea back up
and allowing for deep
waters to exchange
beticeen the two
basins.
17
Immediately obvious on all charts is the highly variable topog-
raphy and relief of both the sea floor and adjacent borderland.
The coastline is highly irregular; and continental shelves, though
generally narrow, are well developed off the major river deltas
(Nile, Rhone, Po, and Ebro).
Moreover, the deep-sea basins
In the late 1800s, European geologists put and trenches have distinctive
forth a series of intriguing theories on the relief, with basin plains
tectonic origin of the Med. Testing these rf ngT^'n depth from less 1
than 1,000 meters to more than
theories had to wait until deep-sea 4 000. !t is convenient to dis-
drilling technology became available in tinguish western, central, and
this century eastern Mediterranean prov-
inces, each of which is further
subdivided into distinct basins
by submarine ridges; tectonic blocks; and the Iberian, Apennine,
and Hellenic peninsulas.
Coastal and near-shore processes retained the attention of phi-
losophers, navigators, and naturalists from the time of Herodotus
to the Renaissance. Publication in 1725 of Histoirc PJn/sit]iic dc hi
Mcr, by Count Luigi Ferdinand Marsigli — or Marsili — signals the
beginning of modern oceanography, especially with regard to the
Mediterranean. Marsili's observation that rocks dredged offshore
are similar to those on land raised a fundamental concept — the key
to understanding Mediterranean history lies in the adjacent
emerged land masses, and vice-versa.
More than two centuries would pass before geologists, in a con-
certed effort, would make breakthroughs at sea in unraveling the
history of the Mediterranean. The prolific publications in the 1940s
and 1950s by French oceanographers were instrumental in calling
attention to the complexities of seafloor structures and associated
sediment transport processes in the Med. Also during this period,
French, Italian, American, and Russian surveys compiled ever-
more precise charts of seafloor contours and depths.
How did the different parts of the Mediterranean evolve? A
series of intriguing theories on the tectonic origin of this ocean
basin had been proposed by
land-based European geolo-
Antisubmarine warfare and energy needs gists late in the 1800s and early
drove modern scientific inquiry into the in this century. Testing these
11 . f ,T . 1 ., theories would have to wait
geological history of the region and its nearly half a century until
Complex tectonic motion. better at-sea technologies were
developed. Verification began
in earnest when geophysical
and deep-sea drilling methods made it possible to map subbottom
horizons and then actually recover specific sections.
A first view of what lay below was provided by gravity studies
IN
in the 1930s. The major impetus to study the nature of what is be-
neath the Mediterranean seafloor and its geological movement was
provided in the years following World War II as a result of intensi-
fied military considerations, especially antisubmarine warfare. In-
creased energy needs, which led to oil and gas exploration, also
contributed to greater interest. Data disclosed that the crust under-
lying Mediterranean basins is nearly as thin as that beneath the
major world oceans.
Notable milestones include discoveries made on seismic cruises
from 1958 to 1964 by the Lamont-Doherty Geological Observatory
at Columbia University and the Woods Hole Oceanographic
Institution — in particular, the pioneering work of Brackett Hersey
and David Fahlquist. These geophysicists mapped the boundaries
between abyssal plains and those forming continental margins.
They recognized, as work on land had previously suggested, that
the modern Mediterranean records the effects of widespread, geo-
logically recent tectonic motion.
Study of piston cores indicated that the upper sedimentary and
volcanic layers covering basins and lower slopes had accumulated
very rapidly, in some places a
a meter or more every 1,000
years, in 1969, Ryan, Hersey, Piston cores indicate sediment and volcanic
and I identified a group of layers accumulated at a very rapid rate —
distinct subbottom deposits, ' f() fl mefer QY mofe £ ^QQQ s
particularly in the western
Mediterranean, that were
estimated to be about 4.3 million years old. These early Pliocene
deposits were deformed and pierced by irregularly distributed salt
domes. Seismic profiles indicated that the salt was of variable
thickness, up to a kilometer or more.
At the time seismic studies were opening a window on the
subbottom configuration of the Mediterranean, the earth sciences
were experiencing a major revolution — that is, the concept of
seafloor spreading, or the idea that the seafloor moves away from
micl-ocean ridges, where new seafloor is formed from deep vol-
canic material. Previously, the Mediterranean had been considered
to be a simple remnant of a much larger and very long seaway, the
Tethys, which once existed between the northern and southern
continents. In just a few years, a growing number of geologists
began to reconstruct the Mediterranean in light of new global
geological concepts.
A series of carefully computed maps by Alan Smith of the
University of Cambridge, for example, showed just how the Medi-
terranean region evolved through time in a long-lived continental
collision zone. While this sea is largely related to the oceanic crust
between Europe and Africa, it would appear that the present Medi-
terranean does not really incorporate any of the older (Early
Jurassic, or more than 200-million-year-old) Tethys seafloor.
19
The sediment core below was
collected during the Deep-
Sen Drilling Project.
The upper light part is salt,
and the lower, dark section is
lai/ered silt.
L
The western Mediterranean is probably
floored by a crust only 20 million years old or
less. The eastern Mediterranean is floored by
older crust (but younger than Early Jurassic). As
Europe and Africa came together, this sector was
probably the last remnant of the Tethys.
The complexity of the region on land and at
sea, shown on the time-lapse maps (see opposite)
generated by Smith and other workers, could be
viewed as the result of the creation of continental
margins and then their subsequent destruction.
et us return to the question of whether the
Med basin at the end of the Miocene was
once deep and then became a desert. This
concept did not arise with the shipboard scientists
aboard the Gloinar Challenger in 1970. Published
interpretations on this topic had been made more
than 50 years earlier by geologists. These studies
called attention to the importance of two arms of
the western Mediterranean that had assured an
exchange of water with the Atlantic — that is, the
northern Betic Strait and the southern Rif Strait.
These early paleogeographic reconstructions
showed that the once-open communication with
the Atlantic deteriorated during the upper Mio-
cene. Water-mass exchange continued for a while
in the Rif Strait, but then ceased completely just
prior to the beginning of the Pliocene.
The story unfolds as we recall the publica-
tions of G. Ruggieri in Italy in the mid-1950s and
1960s, again well before deep-sea drilling cruises.
His contributions, in my view, have not received
the attention they truly deserve. Focusing on the
data from the Italian peninsula and Sicily, Ruggi-
eri set forth his Mediterranean desiccation theory
and what has since been called the Messinian
"salinity crisis."
In his "catastrophe" model, Ruggieri showed
that after the Atlantic became closed to the Med-
a period when conditions favoring evaporation
prevailed — evaporite salts and sulfur minerals
began to accumulate in the western Mediterra-
nean. Some of the deeper parts of the central and
eastern Mediterranean basin became lakes. These
lakes received waters from a large inland sea, the Paratethys, in
eastern Europe and the Middle East.
An unusual fauna, suggesting a shallow restricted environ-
ment, markedly distinct from underlying Middle to Upper Miocene
open marine faunas, began to accumulate. Lake levels were several
20
hundreds of meters below the
general oceanic level. As these
basins became increasingly
isolated, gypsum and salt
accumulated, probably
squeezing most of the remain-
ing Miocene faunas out of
existence.
Large areas of seafloor
subsided, but some sectors
may have been uplifted in
response to weight reduction
accompanying removal of
water. Within a short while,
the waters of the Atlantic
Ocean poured across a tectonic
dam in the region at or near
Gibraltar, re-establishing truly
marine conditions.
This opening was wider
and deeper than the present
passageway at Gibraltar. This
flooding event is recorded by
the Miocene/ Pliocene bound-
ary, a time when open marine
faunal assemblages were
suddenly reintrocluced from
the Atlantic.
This catastrophic scenario
thus was available for consid-
eration by the shipboard party
of the 1970 Gloumr Challenger
cruise. Also available to these
scientists were seismic reflec-
tion profiles showing the wide
distribution of salts underlying
many parts of the seafloor.
During the cruise, they ob-
tained more profiles of subbot-
tom erosional features and
actually recovered salts from a
number of bore holes. Corre-
Tlie Mcd has changed shape
drasticalli/ in the last 180 million
i/cars. The innjor influences have
been Africa's movement relative
to Europe, and seafloor spread ing
in the Atlantic.
60*1
SO'N
21
lations with some sections on land, particularly those in Italy, were
made by comparing microfossils and the chemical composition of
rocks. The stage was now set for the rediscovery of a deep, dry
Mediterranean.
Microfossil studies suggested that the depth of the Mediter-
ranean basin at these times had been "deep." Estimates
suggested a dry seafloor as far as 2,000 meters below
ocean level. This was 5.5 million years ago, in a drier and cooler
(not warmer) climate. As a response to suddenly lowered sea level,
rivers feeding the Mediterranean and canyons on the now-dry
seafloor began a geologically dramatic phase of erosion. Deep,
Grand Canyon-like gorges of the Nile and Rhone rivers, presently
buried on land, were apparently cut during a great drawdown of
water — when the Mediterranean floor lay exposed 1,000 meters or
more below its present level.
The sudden flooding through a gigantic waterfall at Gibraltar
drowned the exposed basin floor. These falls would have been
1,000 times bigger than Niagara Falls. One strong proponent of the
deep, dry Mediterranean theory, Hsii, has commented: "What a
spectacle it must have been for the African ape-men, if any were
lured by the thunderous roar."
j
Present research is not rigidly locked into the salinity crisis
framework. New observations and ideas are helping us to revise
concepts to more accurately understand the recent history of the
Mediterranean.
A minority view is the one held by W. D. Nesteroff of the
University of Paris, for example, who favors a desert playa and
thin-water-layer origin for the salts, but with deposition in a fairly
shallow setting isolated from the world ocean. As with the deep,
dry Mediterranean school, he postulates an intermittent communi-
cation with the Atlantic and more than a single epoch of evapora-
tion of the basin to explain the great thickness of Messinian salts.
Nesteroff, however, envisions this deposition of salt on a seafloor
surface lying at moderate depths — 200 to 500 meters below world
ocean level.
It has long been the consensus of Mediterranean geologists that
the shape of the seafloor and surrounding emerged land masses
continued to change markedly between 65 and 1.7 million years
ago in response to structural events. The idea that the configura-
tion of the region has recently changed is strongly supported by the
recent movement of young (less than 1.7 million-year-old) Quater-
nary deposits on land. Such motion is even now modifying the
seafloor, which is attested to by extensive earthquake belts and
zones of volcanic activity.
It should not be thought that the seafloor configuration at the
end of the Miocene, only 5.5 to 5 million years ago, resembled
closely that of the present sea. Surely it did not. An ever-growing
number of geological studies show a considerable offset and
22
deformation of seafloor in both eastern and western basins during
the Pliocene and Quaternary. A most spectacular example is that
of the Tyrrhenian.
The study of this basin has demonstrated that the Tyrrhenian
basin floor, presently about 3,500 meters in depth, was much shal-
lower in the Pliocene. This
basin experienced a very Jf /g wof reaUstic fo envision the
large amount of subsidence
during post-Messinian time. Mediterranean seafloor of about 5 mil-
in fact, this may be one of lion years ago as a desert, some 3,000
the world's youngest deep meters below ocean level
ocean basins.
Our Mediterranean
Basin Program team at the Smithsonian Institution, however, does
not — in the case of the large western basin during the salinity
crisis — confirm depths in excess of 2,500 meters as proposed by
Hsu and others, nor does it support a much shallower (200 to 500
meters) basin floor as indicated by Nesteroff. Rather, our measure-
ments of the western basin indicate moderate bathyal depths, from
at least 200 to as deep as 1,500 meters.
In many cases depth cannot be precisely determined by the
associated faunas, which tend to be reworked along the seafloor
after dying. Thus applying general terms like "deep" and "shal-
low" to these can be very misleading.
J o
My assessment is that the configuration of the Mediterranean
Sea at the end of the Miocene was considerably different than at
present. This seafloor was subdivided in a series of distinct basins
of variable topography, including some of intermediate depth, to
1,500 meters. These and other relief features have continued to
evolve as the Eurasian and African plates continue their bump and
grind.
The passageway or "portals" through which oceanic waters
from the Atlantic entered the western Mediterranean shifted with
time and did restrict flow.
The seafloor nevertheless
remained almost continu- I believe the seafloor remained almost
ously covered by very saline continually covered by very saline waters,
waters perhaps one perhaps one hundred to several hundred
hundred to several hundred
meters deep from which salt meters deep.
precipitated to the bottom.
It is not realistic to envision the Mediterranean seafloor of
about 5 million years ago as a desert at 3,000 meters below present
ocean level. Several years ago I compared the Mediterranean to a
complex picture-puzzle that comprises numerous intricate pieces,
many of which are already in place. A general image is emerging,
although gaps in some areas of the picture remain fuzzy and
indistinct.
23
From research to the effective application of research. . .
...the course charted by the Coastal Research
Center (CRC) at the Woods Hole Oceano-
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The CRC supports and encourages field and
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CRC fulfills its mandate by facilitating multi-
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For more information contact:
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Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution
Woods Hole, MA 02543 U.S.A.
Telephone (508) 548-1400, Ext. 2418 or 2853
Telex: 951679
The Marine Technology Society Presents
"Science and Technology for a New Oceans Decade'1
September 26-28, 1990 • Washington, DC Convention Center
Global change
Coastal issues
Advances in computing
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CALL FOR EXHIBITS
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25
A model of the world ocean
Water, Salt,
Heat, and
Wind in the
Med
by Henri Lacombe
Henri Lacombe
is Professor
of Physical
Oceanography at
the Museum
National d'Histoire
Naturelle in Paris.
He is a member of
the Academie des
Sciences in Paris.
26
rom the shores of the Mediterranean have
sprung great civilizations and models for
political, religious, and artistic developments
that have endured for thousands of years. But
only recently have oceanographers recognized that the
waters of the Mediterranean provide them with a model
of the world ocean itself.
In the relatively benign confines of the Medi-
terranean, we can study in detail such processes as
deep-water formation, air-sea interactions, and
sediment deposition — studies that would otherwise
require expensive cruises to remote and inhospitable
regions. The ancient idea of Oceanus — the great river
encircling the Earth that is linked to the center of the
world, the Mediterranean, at Gibraltar — thus takes on a
new significance.
WHO/ scientists
first studied
thcMcd in 1947
aboard
the research vessel
Atlantis.
5°W
10'
15'
20°
25'
30*
35°E
N
451
40"
35'
30°
• Surface .circulation in. summer
40°
35
30°
5'W
10°
15°
20°
25'
30*
35*E
Surface circulation
is influenced In/
winds and
incoming water
flow.
The Phoenician navigators of 3,500 years ago are said to have
had a fantastic store of empirical knowledge of Mediterranean
hydrodynamics. If the legends are true, they lowered their sails
several tens of meters into the sea and — taking advantage of the
dense, subsurface outflow of the Mediterranean — easily entered the
Atlantic despite the strong surface current flowing into the
Mediterranean at the Strait of Gibraltar.
It was some 1,100 vears after the days of the Phoenicians,
J J
however, that the dynamics of the sea were first studied
"scientifically." Aristotle (384-322 B.C.) puzzled over the strange
currents in the strait between the island of Euboea, or Evvoia, and
the Greek mainland north of Athens. A regular, twice-daily tide
streams back and forth for about four days before and after the new
and full moon, and highly irregular currents sweep the strait for
two or three days before and after the quarters. A (false) legend
says that, despairing of explaining this unusual pattern, Aristotle
finally threw himself into the strait. But 23 centuries were needed
J
to discover that "seiches," or sloshing oscillations in lakes or gulfs,
cause the irregular currents near Khalkis, the harbor on this strait
where Aristotle died, in fact, of natural causes.
Much of the Phoenicians' knowledge was lost, and it wasn't
until the end of the 17th century that the possibility of opposite,
over-and-uncier currents was again raised. Count Luigi
Ferdinando Marsili, in the course of his extraordinary careers as
politician, diplomat, geographer, physicist, hydraulicist, geologist,
and oceanographer of the Mediterranean, discovered the two
28
opposite flows in the Bosporus while on
a "discreet mission" for Venice. During
the mission, he became acquainted with
Turkish fishermen and proved the
existence of the countercurrents — a
brackish surface flow into the Sea of
Marmara and a deep, saltier flow into
the Black Sea. He did this by means of
drifting, neutrally buoyant floats that
were color-coded for different depths.
Marsili went on to build a tank
divided by a partition with holes near
the surface and bottom, one side
containing fresh water and the other
salted water, to simulate the opposite
flows of superposed fluids of different
density. Even so, a hundred years
passed before the possibility of such
hows was acknowledged by all
scientists, this only after the British
Porcupine and Shearwater cruises in the
Strait of Gibraltar in 1870.
After World War II, the Mediter-
ranean became the focus of an oceano-
graphic effort the pace of which is still accelerating.
Oceanographers from the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution
(WHOI) first came to the Mediterranean aboard the RV Atlantis in
1947 and '48, returned in 1961 and '62, and have had a more-or-less
constant presence ever since. Postwar French research was led by
Paul Tchernia, who directed studies aboard navy vessels such as
the Elic Monnier. During the International Geophysical Year (1957
to '58) we started working in the Strait of Gibraltar, where we
returned in 1960 and '61 with Captain Jacques-Yves Cousteau's
Calypso.
In 1961, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization's (NATO)
Sub-Committee for Oceanographic Research (SubCOR) sponsored
hydrography and current-measurement work in the Strait of
Gibraltar with seven vessels of NATO nations. I vividly remember
that cruise, with so many unexpected situations resulting from
most of the vessels being anchored to the bottom for weeks. We
were to focus our attention not only on currents — the purpose of
the cruise — but also on strong winds, fog, and even the drifting
swordfish-lines of Spanish fishermen that got entangled in our
anchor chain.
The fact that cool, relatively low-salt Atlantic near-surface
water enters the Mediterranean at the Strait of Gibraltar over an
opposite flow of colder, much saltier, Mediterranean water implies
that 1) both heat and water are lost to the atmosphere from the
Count Marsili
proved in the 17th
cen tun/ that layered
waters of different
densities flow in
opposite directions,
hut the
countercnrrents at
the Strait of
Gibraltar were only
discovered some 150
years later.
29
Mediterranean, and 2) Atlantic surface water is thereby
"transformed" into Mediterranean deep water during its sojourn in
this nearly enclosed sea. The processes of heat and water exchange
between the world ocean and the atmosphere, and the process of
deep-water formation are two great problems in modern
oceanography; they are crucial to understanding how the ocean
influences global climate. And since it is possible to study them in
greater detail in the Mediterranean, they have been the focus of a
large research effort during the
An understanding of heat and water last ?? years:
The strait and sill of
exchange and deep-water formation is Gibraltar is the last of a
essential to fathoming how the ocean sequence of straits and sills that
influences global climate. act as many stePs imposed
_ __ _ _ against the flow and exchange
of different water masses in the
Mediterranean (see map, pp. 54-55). From the Bosporus, the
sequence in the eastern basin proceeds from the Dardanelles to the
many straits and sills of the Aegean Sea, the arc of sills between
Anatolia and the Peloponnesus, the Strait of Otranto between Italy
and Albania, and through the straits of Sicily and Messina into the
western basin. In the western basin, the sequence proceeds from
the Strait of Sardinia and the Corsica channel out of the Tyrrhenian
to the sills and straits around the Balearic Islands, including the
Ibiza channel, and finally through Gibraltar.
These internal sills play varying roles in the hydrography, or
the variations in temperature and salinity, of the sea. For instance,
the Strait of Sicily, about 430 meters deep in a narrow valley, is
sufficiently deep to allow the passage only of eastern water of
intermediate depths into the western basin; the deep waters of the
two basins have no connection, and there are small, but clear,
differences between the deep waters. Since the eastern
intermediate water becomes a component of western deep water, a
"print" of the eastern Mediterranean is present on the whole sea.
Squeezed between dry southern Europe and the north African
desert, the Mediterranean is
strongly influenced by the
The transformation of Atlantic water climate of these lands. Rains
into Mediterranean water takes more come mainly in winter,
than a Century to Complete and is Strong- principally near the coastlines
T • £i j "/ 4.1 • 11- *. with high topography.
ly influenced by the regional climate. _ Summ £ a J^ each have
characteristic winds, but even
these are subject to very sudden and localized variations. The
effect of Mediterranean weather is to transform Atlantic water into
typical Mediterranean water. The transformation is most obvious
in the salinity of the waters, and takes more than a century to
complete.
30
In summer, low pressures over sunny western Asia and north
Africa bring hot and dry air to the Mediterranean, carried by the
etesian winds that blow from the north over the Aegean and
Adriatic, and from the northeast over the Mediterranean's
southwest shores. In the northern half of the western basin,
however, the Azores anticyclone generates north or northwest
winds off the coasts of Spain and France. The sea surface gives up
quite a bit of moisture to the air
under such conditions.
The same intense sunlight Wliile intense Mediterranean sun is
that generates all-over tans on aeneratblV SUntailS, it also IS changing
the Cote d'Azur each summer , ,
also generates a strong thermo- the temperature of the water column,
cline, or water layer of rapidly affecting rates of evaporation.
declining temperatures, at a
depth of about 30 meters. This
thermocline acts as a screen between the water masses above and
below it, and evaporation at the surface has no effect below the
screen.
In winter, fiercely cold, high-pressure air masses over Europe
and Asia generate strong, cold, and dry winds from the northeast
that sweep over the Aegean, Adriatic, and the northeastern
Levantine basin. Meanwhile, similarly cold-and-dry winds, such as
the mistral, sweep clown the Rhone and Ebro river valleys and over
the western basin. Throughout January, February, and March, these
winds soak up moisture and heat across the sea, resulting in the
build-up of dense surface-water layers.
In the western Mediterranean, water deeper than about 2,000
meters has remarkably constant values for temperature and salinity
(12.70 degrees Celsius and 38.40 parts per thousand). So constant,
in fact, that in 1970 a working group of United Nations
Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization's (UNESCO)
International Oceanographic Commission (IOC) raised the
possibility of using it as a standard salinity reference. But research
cruises in 1972 and '73 revealed a new phenomenon: an occasional
bottom layer below 2,000
meters that was somewhat r jT.,
no „„ Satellite imagery ewes important
warmer (12.73 degrees Celsius) J r
and saltier (38.42 parts per information on eddy formation and
thousand) than the duration, coastal llpivelling, and wind-
reference, induced currents.
The mysterious layer
disappeared in 1974 and 1975,
but recent cruises in the Gulf of Genoa and off the west coast of
Sardinia showed still warmer and saltier anomalies in very
localized areas. Scientists are now faced with the possibility that
these anomalies are linked to a trend toward warmer climate.
The various water masses interacting with each other and the
(continued on page 34)
31
Deep-Water Formation
• >m
• . £&^
North Atlantic Ocean
During the heal of
summer. Mediterra-
nean surface waters
lose much moisture to
the atmosphere,
resulting iu a relatively
dense and salt) surface
layer by autumn.
During the winter, dry
Arctic winds cool this
la)er. making it dense
enough to sink through
the water column. This
process results in three
identifiable water
masses: Riviera
\\ inter \\ ater. Vdriatic
Deep \\ ater. and Le-
vantine Winter Water.
32
in the Mediterranean
6
l,c\ antiiu
\\ inter
\\ at»>r
Eastern Basin Deep watei
The portion ot'Le-
•vantine Winter Water
that does not mix with
the Adriatic Deep
Water is known as Le-
vantine Intermediate
Water; it is the densest
water in the eastern
basin to find its way
into the western basin.
Adriatic Deep Water is
too dense to make it
over the Strait of Sicily
and into the western
basin.
In the western basin.
Riviera Winter Water
and Levantine Interme-
diate Water remain
identifiable until the)
pass side-by-side
through the Strait of
Gibraltar and into the
North Atlantic Ocean.
33
On one side
of a cape
in France,
the tourist
may find
the water
too cold
to enter,
while on
the other
it invites
a dip.
Mediterranean climate give rise to general circulation patterns
recognized by Marsili back in the early 18th century. The patterns
are of course far more complex than Marsili's description; and
because the Mediterranean is such a focus of modern
oceanography, currents can be related to bottom topography and
day-to-day weather changes with a precision undreamed of in
Marsili's time. Other oceanographers can then use this information
to explain the behavior of currents elsewhere.
Satellite images are especially appropriate for the
Mediterranean, where the skies are often clear, and depict such
surface phenomena as eddies and thermal fronts, which exist on a
scale of 10 to 100 kilometers. For instance, satellite images of the
anticyclonic eddy in the western Alboran Sea give indications
about its movement in time, which is probably linked to weather
conditions.
Satellites also have given us information about the Algerian
Current, which is very far from being a regular flow; eddies form
eastward of about 1 degree East, and grow to 250 kilometers across
and 1,000 meters deep. In the eastern basin, the surface circulation
flowing to the east-southeast in the Strait of Sicily is generally
cyclonic except for a large anticyclonic gyre in the Gulf of Sidra and
an anticyclonic eddy that a satellite detected in the "lee" of the
Cyrenaica peninsula. In summer, during the etesian winds,
Aegean surface water flows out over the sills between eastern Crete
and the islands of Karpathos and Kasos; this current sometimes
generates eddies in the lee of the islands, particularly south of
Crete.
S
atellite imagery also has pointed out an interesting coastal
phenomenon: extremely localized upwelling and
downwelling. When mistral or tramontane winds are
blowing nearly perpendicular to the coast of the Golfe du Lion,
patterns of upwelling and downwelling develop that are related to
coastal promontories. Theoretical studies explain the phenomenon,
which occurs about a day after the winds begin. Thus, some
tourists who wouldn't brave the 18-degree Celsius water on one
side of a small cape may not believe their friends, who, staying at a
resort on the other side, might have enjoyed long swims in 24-
deerree water on the verv same dav!
J -•
The intermediate and deep waters of both basins appear to
follow cyclonic paths, although small eddies of intermediate water
occasionally break off the main circulation in the northern Ionian.
A 1989 report from the Physical Oceanography in the Eastern
Mediterranean (POEM) project details deep-water circulation in the
eastern basin, where Adriatic Deep Water flows along the Italian
continental slope in the northwest Ionian.
The existence of the opposite, over-and-under currents of
different salinity at Gibraltar reveals the Mediterranean to be a
concentration basin — that is, the Mediterranean loses more water
34
From space it is easif to
sec Atlantic water
flowing in through the
Strait of Gibraltar
(upward from lower
left). TJie numbers
refer to changes in the
complex inflow and
outflow currents as
determined from
sunglint patterns.
to the atmosphere than can be compensated for by rainfall and
river input.
The total amount of salt and water in the sea has remained
constant since at least 1910. This is because the salt carried in by a
given volume of less-saline Atlantic Water (salinity about 36 parts
per thousand) is compensated by a smaller volume of more-saline
and dense Mediterranean water flowing out (salinity about 38
parts per thousand, or 5 percent higher than Atlantic water). The
relative increase in salinity implies that outflow volume is 5
percent less than the inflow of Atlantic water.
The problem then becomes doing the most adequate and
accurate flow measurements that are possible in a very difficult
section of the strait, and calculating the absolute volumes
exchanged per unit time — obtained only after subtracting out the
effects of tidal currents, weather, and so on. From these
measurements and calculations come estimates of the "residence
time" of a particle of water in the Mediterranean, or how long it
takes to transform Atlantic water into Mediterranean water.
The first such evaluation was done by Gerhard Schott in 1915:
he proposed values of about 1 .8 million cubic meters of water
entering the Mediterranean each second and about 1.7 million
cubic meters a second flowing out. This translates into a residence
time of about 70 years. Our measurements of 1960 and '61 gave us
an inflow estimate of 1.2 million cubic meters of water a second-
in addition to the roughly 50 meters of swordfishing net snagged
during September 1960. This comes out to a 100-year residence
35
time. Now, as a result of measurements taken during the
1985-1986 Gibraltar Experiment (GIBEX) project, we have an in-
flow value of 760 thousand cubic meters of water a second, or a
residence time of about 150 years.
Since about 1975, many Mediterranean nations, such as Italy,
Israel, Yugoslavia, Turkey, and France, have carried out
ambitious research programs in both basins. Action of
bodies such as NATO's SubCOR, UNESCO's International
Oceanographic Commission (IOC), and the International
Commission for the Scientific Exploration of the Mediterranean
(ICSEM) have promoted collaborative international efforts and
encouraged the involvement of nonbordering countries including
the United States, West Germany, and Belgium.
In the last six or seven years, however, U.S. oceanographers in
particular have really "turned to the Mediterranean," recalling their
"turn to the sea" of the 1960s. DON DE VA? (Spanish for "Where is
it going?") is a U.S.-Spanish program that studies circulation in the
Alboran Sea; it began in 1982. The Western Mediterranean Circula-
tion Experiment is an effort by American, Italian, French, and
Algerian oceanographers to study the currents off the Algerian
coast. The United States and Italy developed the POEM project
with the participation of Yugoslavian, Greek, Turkish, Israeli, and
Egyptian scientists aboard their own vessels and West Germany's
RV Meteor; the project looks at eastern basin hydrography through-
out the year and develops circulation models. Most of the sea-work
is now completed and several papers are being published.
The GIBEX program, however, is probably the most exemplary
of these projects. During 1985 and '86, it described in detail the
processes of water and energy flow occurring in the Strait of
Gibraltar — making this strait a reference for all other straits in the
world ocean. The measurements taken will improve our values of
the exchange coefficients for salt, water, and heat flow through the
strait. They also will help to determine more precisely the oceans'
role in absorbing and reflecting energy from the sun, and so
improve models of the Greenhouse Effect.
Acknowledgment
This article is dedicated to our late friend, Professeur Paul Tchernia,
in memory of 40 years of common interest and work in the Mediter-
ranean.
36
Opportunities in
Oceanography
at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution
Physical Oceanography
Marine Geophysics
Chemical Oceanography
Marine Geology
Applied Ocean Physics
and Engineering
Biological Oceanography
Marine Policy and
Ocean Management
Graduate Programs with the
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Postdoctoral Fellowships
Summer Student Fellowships
Minority Traineeships
Internships
For further information, write to:
Education Office
Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution
Woods Hole, MA
02543
(508) 548-1400
1930
37
i'f \
•;
TheM
It 's still
diseased,
but not
terminally
ill
by Peter M. Haas
and
Julie Zuckman
Peter M. Haas is
Assistant Professor
of Political Science
at the University of
Massachusetts,
Amherst. Julie
Zuckman is
a freelance writer.
he quality of Mediterranean seawater has in some
respects improved during the last few years. Sewage
treatment plants have been built or are under
construction in 12 port cities throughout the region.
Some beaches once considered unsafe for swimming
are now open, and toxic emissions from rivers running into the sea
have been reduced.
In general, pollution levels have stabilized and are now about
the same as those recorded in the early 1970s. This is a significant
accomplishment when one considers the rapid growth in coastal
population and industrialization during the last 20 years.
Thus, a sea once headed for extinction is still diseased, but not
terminally ill.
Despite more than 10 years of research, there is no overall
understanding of Mediterranean water quality. But the percentage
of beaches considered unsafe for swimming has dropped to 20
percent from 33 percent in 1976. And during the late 1970s, toxic
emissions into the Rhone river were reduced 44 percent.
The credit for this qualified success story is in large measure
due to the Mediterranean Action Plan, or Med Plan as it is more
popularly known, developed by the United Nations Environment
Programme (UNEP). In 1974 and 75, UNEP was invited by
Mediterranean countries to develop a plan that would build on
efforts of the United Nations' Food and Agriculture Organization
(FAO) to combat fishery problems caused by widespread pollution.
The Med Plan is a four-part program, consisting of legal,
assessment, management, and administrative components. In 1976,
the then- 12 participating nations, meeting in Barcelona, Spain,
adopted the Convention for the Protection of the Mediterranean
Sea Against Pollution, better known as the Barcelona Convention.
Later, four protocols were negotiated: 1) governing clumping
from ships and aircraft (1976); 2) enhancing cooperation in cases of
oil-spill emergencies (1976); 3) controlling pollution from land-
based sources (1980); and 4) establishing specially protected areas
(1982).
The Barcelona Convention and the four protocols were ratified
or acceded to by all Mediterranean coastal states, except Albania.
They are all presently in force.
Several monitoring and research studies have been carried out
since the first Barcelona conference. A study of land-based sources
of pollution, called Med X, compellingly demonstrated the need for
dealing with land-based pollutants and pollution transmitted by
rivers.
The Med X study determined that 85 percent of all pollutants in
the Mediterranean Sea originated on land — and that of these, 80 to
85 percent were transmitted to the sea by rivers. Med X also found
that 80 percent of the sewage reaching the Mediterranean was
untreated.
40
This was not news for the many tourists who came down with
typhoid, infectious hepatitis, and other diseases after swimming in
the Med. In some areas, swimmers had a one-in-seven chance of
getting a skin infection. The study also found that much of the oil
in the Mediterranean comes not from tankers, but from automobile
owners draining their used motor oil into municipal sewers.
The Med X findings led to the adoption, after contentious and
difficult negotiations, of the Land-Based Source Protocol's "Black
List" that bans the use of the nine most-toxic substance groups, and
its "Grey List" that designates 13 groups of less-toxic substances to
be controlled by discharge permit. These protocols required
nations to change their domestic practices according to common
pollution standards, because country A's pollution washes up on
country B's beaches.
In addition to the Med X study, there have been two other
assessments of Mediterranean pollution, collectively known as Med
Pol, which comprises phases I and II. Med Pol I was carried out
between 1976 and 1981, and Med Pol II between 1981 and the
present. At a cost of about $10 million annually, the agenda for
Med Pol II is to determine the overall effects of the Med Plan, and
to generate findings relevant to setting controls on land-based
sources of pollution.
While the Med Plan now bans or limits the emissions of many
hazardous substances, and requires states to develop specific
guidelines for controlling these substances, pollutants are still
entering the sea because few nations have yet introduced adequate
national guidelines. Also, nonlittoral states with rivers or
connecting seas, such as Bulgaria, Romania, Switzerland, Portugal,
and the Sudan — all of which contribute large amounts of pollution
to the Mediterranean — do not participate in the plan.
Tlic Med Finn was
developed to control
industrial wastes
like tliese toxic
chemicals off the
Italian coast, as well
as seivage and oil
pollution.
41
One of the early advocates of pollution control in the Med was
Jacques-Yves Cousteau. In 1972, he noted that life abundant some
30 years before had practically disappeared. In those early crisis
years, scientific data were scant. What did exist was often too
specialized to be generally applicable.
Early on in the political process, leaders of less-developed
countries, fearing that strict environmental controls would hinder
their critical development plans, were often hostile. Algerian
President Houari Boumedienne, for example, commented: "If
improving the environment means less bread for Algerians, then I
am against it."
In addition to initial opposition to joint negotiations on
pollution problems between neighboring countries, there were
disagreements about just how clean a Mediterranean was desirable,
how fast it should be cleaned, and how the sea should be used in
the future, not to mention the question of who should pay for
cleaner waters.*
Data showed that while different countries polluted
differently, all polluted. Under the auspices of the Med
Plan, developing countries gained scientific expertise and
were able to generate and share new, more-accurate marine
research data.
Many of the early problems were solved through dogged
negotiation. The Med Plan thus represents the foremost example of
how to collectively manage pollution in semi-enclosed seas.
As coastal population continues to increase, so too does the
need to maintain and upgrade pollution controls. In 1988, the Med
Plan began to put greater emphasis on sound coastal-zone planning
in the region. The World Bank and other lending institutions are
now starting to fund environmental projects.
Ballast reception facilities for oil tankers are planned or under
construction in ports of five Mediterranean countries. At present,
ballast tanks are cleaned at sea in specified areas of the Med.
The Mediterranean is not, and probably never will be, pristine.
The Med Plan can mitigate, but not eliminate, the toll of
urbanization and industrialization; without the plan, the sea was
headed for extinction.
* For a detailed description of the subtle and adroit politics by which these
international agreements were resolved, see Haas' book: Saving the
Mediterranean: The Politics of International Environmental Cooperation
(1990. New York: Columbia University Press).
Med
Biology
From beyond the pillars of Hercules
by Gaston Fredj
< .
.
.
1
'
Pm/
These 1915 drawings
depict tlic adult (top) and
larval (bottom) forms of
a deep, blind
mediterranean
pol\/clielid, an animal
related to crabs and
lobsters.
43
abundantly on the
muddi/ ^mrt'/s of f/
r continental
slope.
Gaston Fredj is
Professor of Biologi-
cal Oceanography at
the Universite de
Nice, in Nice,
France.
here are few places on Earth that have not been
touched by Mediterranean culture, but all the creatures
of that sea are themselves immigrants of a sort. At the
end of the Messinian Salinity Crisis (see page 14), the
Mediterranean was a nearly lifeless basin. As the
waters of the Atlantic filled the basin during the Pliocene period
about five million years ago, so, too, did plants and animals fill the
new sea's ecological niches.
While the Mediterranean is poor in terms of the total amount of
sea-life it sustains, it is rich in species diversity. Until 120 years
ago, virtually all of this life came by way of the North Atlantic; but
since the opening of the Suez Canal in 1869, Indo-Pacific fauna
have started colonizing some niches in the eastern part of the sea.
The relative scarcity of life in the Mediterranean, combined
with the long tradition of scientific study there, makes the fauna of
the region one of the best described on Earth. The Med's recently
discovered hydrothermal vents, however, may provide new
mysteries for biologists.
Deep-sea fauna were first discovered in the Mediterranean by
the Nigoise apothecary and lecturer Antoine Risso. He obtained his
specimens from fishermen, and published a series of papers
between 1810 and 1827 on fish and crustaceans living in the Gulf of
Genoa at depths of 600 to 1,000 meters. Risso's papers were
ignored for several decades, during the heyday of Edward Forbes'
theory of an "azoic [lifeless! zone" in the deep ocean below 550
meters. Alphonse Milne-Edwards, however, confirmed Risso's
44
results in 1861 when he identified
molluscs and corals attached to a
broken piece of telegraph cable
brought up from 1,800 meters depth
between Cagliari in Sardinia and
'Annaba in Algeria.
There are about 12,000 species in
the Mediterranean, and about 30
percent of these species, and 1 or 2
percent of their genera, are endemic.
The ratio of endemic genera to species
indicates that the sea has been
colonized only quite recently. The
Universite de Nice maintains a
database known as MEDIFAUNE that
makes taxonomic information
available on, among other things, the
east-west and depth distribution of
endemic, North Atlantic, and Indo-
Pacific species in the Mediterranean.
Species diversity generally
declines in a west-to-east trend, a trend
that is even more sharply drawn for
endemic species. From the surface to
the depths, species diversity also
generally declines, and virtually all the
endemic genera live near the surface.
There are almost no deep-sea genera
endemic to the sea; and the deeper a
species is found in the Med, the wider
its extra-Mediterranean distribution is
likely to be. While 5 percent of the
species found in the sea today have
entered by way of Suez, this migration
has yet to contribute to the deep-sea
fauna.
Rocky littoral areas in the western
Mediterranean provide a substrate for encrustations of Lithophyllum
tortiiosnin, known as "corniche." Meadows of endemic seagrass,
found between 60 and 200 meters, are sensitive to pollution and
have been seriously damaged during the last 30 years. The deep
gorgonian Isidella elongata, which today occurs primarily in dense
meadows in the western basin between 400 and 650 meters, has
been found as fossils in the oldest Pliocene layers, which represent
the end of the Messinian Salinity Crisis. The fossils argue against
the theory of Messinian salt deposition in a very deep basin. The
deepest-living animals in the Mediterranean are sedentary
polychaete worms that have been collected from as deep as 4,690
meters in the Matapan trench.
One of the oldest
records of kelp in the
Straits of Messiim is
Ferrnnte Iinpemto's
book, Historia
naturalis, where this
drawing appeared in
45
The Richness of Scarcity
The various Mediterranean fisheries are among the
most valuable in the world. Tliis comes, oddly enough, not
from a great abundanee of fish, but rather a seareiti/. Fish
populations liave always been low because the Med is poor in
nutrients. Since fresh fisJi are considered a real luxury, low
numbers make for high prices, which in turn encourage
overfishing.
The fisheries are generalh/ small-scale and local. The
largest populations of fish tend to live near shore, where
nutrients are most abundant thanks to upwelling and coastal
runoff. Fishermen usually make mam/ short trips for small
catches. Since independent fishermen are never the best record
keepers (especially when taxes are based on landings in main/
of these countries), catch statistics for the region are
unreliable.
Nonetheless, it is clear that certain stocks are in bad
shape. Coastal demersal fisheries of hake, sole, and red mullet
have been depleted seriously along the southern coast of
Europe. Bluefin tuna migrate from the Atlantic to the Black
Sea, but in the last few decades increased fishing in the
Atlantic has drasticalh/ reduced their migration numbers. The
Aswan Dam lias reduced nutrients flowing in from the Nile,
causing a collapse in the local sardine fishen/ and reducing
shrimp catches.
The General Fisheries Council for the Mediterranean,
part of the United Nations' Food and Agriculture
Organization, has been encouraging careful international
management to bring back depleted species. One step to
improve demersal fisheries in the eastern Mediterranean is to
increase the mesh size of nets, but a wide varieti/ of gear is
used, making regulation difficult. Many vessels deploy
trawls, traps, or long-lines, depending on the season or
market. In the last few years, Italy and Spain have started
using driftnets — giant walls of nylon mesh, up to 24
kilometers long and 12 meters deep — despite cries from
environmentalists that the nets accidentally kill whales,
dolphins, and turtles.
In the face of unproductive and endangered fisheries,
aquaculture is becoming popular in the eastern
Mediterranean, according to Adam Ben-Tuvia of the Hebrew
University of Jerusalem. Freshwater pond culture-
part icularh/ poh/culture, in which several species are raised
together — is well established in Israel. Aquaculturists there,
as well as hi Greece and Cyprus are raising rainbow trout.
In Egypt, fishermen turn parts of coastal lagoons into earth-
ponds called hosha, where they keep an eye on the fish but
don't add any food. These are very productive and the
fishermen can harvest them several times a year. — SLE
46
A Prayer for the Monk Seals?
J J A- r-1
1 ' ' i i'
people realize that seals live in the Mediterranean,
perhaps because there are only about 500 of them scattered
about iu small groups. The largest concentrations of these
monk seals are on remote parts of the Greek coast.
Until the end of the 1800s, excessive hunting ravaged
their populations. Since then, their habitats (deserted sandi/
beaches) have been taken over In/ humans. The latest threat is
that fishermen have been killing them, either accidentally in
nets, or deliberately, because of their mutual interest in fish.
Fortunately, the Greek authorities set up a marine reserve
in 1988 in the Northern Sporades, and have made
arrangements with local fishermen to help maintain the local
seal population. There are well-developed plans for other
reserves in Greece, Spain, Italy, and the island of Madeira in
the Atlantic. There also is a rescue network throughout the
Med to treat abandoned or storm-washed pups, and to gather
and disseminate information. —SLE
ceanography is a relatively young discipline. It synthesizes
global results from Hie various sciences to understand the
major lairs govern ing the pulse of water masses and the
complex canvas of links in the food cliain. It is not a single
science, hut rather a combination of all the sciences as applied
to the sen: biology, geology, physics, chemistry, and meteorology.
The nature of oceanography makes it extremely expensive, and even in
developed countries data are gatJiered by a central structure tliat — //; prin-
ciple— places vessels at the disposal of different laboratories. Working to-
gether, these labs undertake large projects that they simply could not do with
their own finances or manpower.
Today there are more than 40 marine stations around the Med that
Marine
Around
Country
Spain
France
Institution
Monaco
Italy
Yugoslavia
Greece
Turkey
Cyprus
Syria
Lebanon
Israel
Egypt
Libya
Tunisia
Malta
Algeria
Institute Espanol de Oceanografia, Fuengirola
Institute Espanol de Oceanografia, Palma de Mallorca
Institute de Investigaciones Pesqueras, Barcelona
Institut Franqais de Recherche pour 1'Exploitation de la Mer
Laboratoire Arago, Banyuls-sur-Mer
Centre d'Oceanologie, Marseille
Station Zoologique, \ illefranche-sur-Mer
Laboratoire de Physique et Chimie Marines, Villefranche-sur-Mer
Centre d'Etudes et de Recherch de Biologie et d'Oceanographie Medicale, Nice
Laboratoire d'Oceanographie Physique, Paris
Centre Scientifique cle Monaco
Musee Oceanographique
International Atomic Energy Agency
Stazione Zoologica, Naples
Gruppo Richercha Oceanologica, Genoa
Istituto per la Geologia marina, Bologna
Istituto di Biologia del Mare, Venice
Dipartimento di Biologia animale ed Ecologia marina, Messina
Istituto de Scienze della Terra, Catania
Istituto di Geologia e Paleontologia, Trieste
Dipartimento di Biologia, TrkMi-
Institute of Oceanography and Fisheries, Split
Institute of Oceanographic and Fisheries Research, Athens
Laboratory of Hydraulics, Thessaloniki
Zoological Laboratory and Museum, Athens
Institute of Marine Science, Erdemli
Institute of Marine Science and Technology, Izmir
Department of Fisheries, Nicosia
Marine Research Center, Latakia
Marine Research Center, Jounie
Institute of Oceanographic and Limnological Research, Haifa
Department of Oceanography, University of Alexandria
Marine Research Center, Tripoli
Institut National Scientifiques et Techniques d'Oceanographie et de Peches, Salambo
Department of Mathematics and Science, Msida
Institut des Sciences de la Mer et de 1'Amenagement du littoral
For locations, see map, pages 54-55.
* Two manned submersibles and two remotely operated vehicles
Major Research
cooperate nationally nnd internationally (the major stations are listed be-
low). The oldest is the Stazione Zoologica in Naples, founded in 1872 In/
Anton Dohrn (1840-1909). In France, zoologist Anfoine Marion
(1846-1900) created the Station Marine d'Endounie in 1879, and zoolo-
gist Henri de Lacaze-Duthiers (1821-1901) founded the Laboratoire Arago
in Bani/iils-sur-Mer in 1881. Prince Albert I of Monaco (1848-1922) was
onc °f ^lc pi°nccrs °f far-readiing scientific expeditions. He founded
Monaco's Musee Oceanographique in 1910 and equipped it with his own
research vessels.
—Guy Leger
Associate Professor
Universite de Nice
Scientific Staff Research Vessels (length in meters)
12-25 25-50
50
hydrology, fisheries, and plankton in Alboran Sea
13
1
1
pelagic fisheries
11
1
plankton on continental shelf
29
1
living resources, technology, and aquaculture
N.A.
4* 1
2
benthic and pelagic ecosystems
35
2
ecology, pollution, and aquaculture
62
2
plankton, cell biology
30
1
biochemistry, physics, remote sensing
12
1
toxicology, microbiology
11
1
physical oceanography, modeling, remote sensing
23
chemistry, biology, microbiology
12
1
host to foreign investigators, public education
5
1
radioactivity, pollution
21
plankton, cell biology, biochemistry
25
1
biology, chemistry, geology, physics
48
geology, mineral resources, palaeomagnetism
20
1
1
biological oceanography in Adriatic Sra
18
!
biology, aquaculture, fisheries, chemistry
35
1
geology, volcanism, hydrology, biologx
39
1
geology, sedimentation
18
1
zoology, comparative anatomy, biological oceanography
N.A.
pollution and chemistry in Adriatic Sea 36
oceanic surveys, pollution, aquaculture, tisheries
environmental engineering, coastal pollution 18
pollution, aquaculture 15
marine resources, coastal protection 9
open sea oceanography, thermal and metal pollution
fisheries, pollution, local physical and chemical oceanography 12
local coastal studies 26
pollution, aquaculture 10
physical, chemical, and biological oceanography, pollution 47
plankton, fisheries, hydrography, chemistry 34
coastal resources, aquaculture 15
fisheries, aquaculture, pollution 20
pollution 15
tisheries, plankton, coastal monitoring 13
N.A.= not available
Plankton Patterns in the Med
r
The warm colors in this satellite image show the distribution of
pln/toplankton, the ocean's microscopic plants that form the base of the
food chain. They are eaten mainly by tiny animals called zooplaukton,
which are in turn eaten In/ fish, so all three groups congregate in Hie same
general areas. Offshore, the Mediterranean contains much less plankton
than the Atlantic waters off northwest Spain (upper left). Tlie $\/rc in the
Alborau Sea, near the Strait of Gibraltar (mid left), comes from the
complex circulation caused In/ water exchange between the Mediterranean
and the Atlantic. Some of the other localized high production is due to
pollution In/ human activities.
51
Red Tides and Slime
Recently, the inciHn have described the Adriatic Sen as
dead or dying. Thousands of tourists who normally summer
on the Adriatic's sweeping beaches are now staying away.
Two phenomena liave scared them off- — red tides and "slimy
waters." These are highly sporadic, last only a few weeks, and
neither is at all new, so the media hype really seems to be an
exaggeration.
Red tides are population explosions of several species of
microscopic organisms called dinoflagellates, normally in the
pliytoplankton in low concentrations. Wlien their populations
burst, the water takes on their red or yellow hue.
Red tides have been occurring in the Mediterranean for
niillennia. The Bible's book of Exodus, in which Moses was
instructed by God to set a plague on the Egyptians, may be the
first record: "He raised his staff. . . and all of the water in the
river changed to blood. The fish in the river died and the river
smelted so foul. . ."
These "plagues" have become quite frequent in the
Adriatic, especially along north and central Italy. They
deplete oxygen from the bottom waters, suffocate benthic
organisms and fish, and cause a build up of hydrogen
sulphide. The awful color and stench are enough to drive
away even the most dedicated sun worshiper.
The exact causes of red tides are difficult to pinpoint. The
blooms are usually blamed on excessive nutrients, especially
phosphorus, in rivers and streams draining into the northern
Adriatic. Several factors probably work together to trigger
and maintain these tides.
"Slimy waters" have occurred in the Adriatic for the last
two summers. They are unsightly masses of yellowish-grey
mucus on the sea surface, made up of billions upon billions of
planktonic diatoms. In 1989, slime covered the entire
northern Adriatic Sea. At dawn, before tourists arrived on
Italian beaches, workers tried to scoop up the gooey mess.
Usually, slimy waters do not kill animals. But the mucus
is disastrous to fishermen since it jams up motors and nets,
and its sheer weight can tear the nets.
Slimy waters were first recorded in 1726, and have since
been reported at least 16 times, but their cause remains a
mystery. Two opposing views are emerging. Some scientists
blame increased pollution, while others suggest unknown
biological or environmental factors. As with red tides, the
causes are probably multiple. We hope that all scientific and
political efforts will be made to understand these complex
biological events.
— Elvezio Ghirardclli and Adrimma lanora
52
Zooplankton — Indicators of
Change
Zooplankton, the ocean's tiniest nniinnls, give
oceanographers n wai/ to monitor the environment, not only
from place to place, but also through time. One of the tilings
that the\i are indicating is that the Black Sea is becoming more
like the MY/.
Oceanographers have a good understanding of
Mediterranean zooplankton commiiniti/ structures in different
parts of the sea. The western Mediterranean is richer in
zooplankton than the eastern, stocks are higher near the coast
than offshore, and areas of coastal upwelling — like the
northern Alboran Sea, not far from the Strait of Gibraltar-
are richest.
Certain species live offshore, while others live near the
coast. There is, of course, some overlap, since the sea is so
narrow in main/ places. Communities usually have low
populations of main/ species. Below 100 meters, waters are
notabli/ plankton-poor compared with other oceans.
Changes in these general patterns indicate outside
influences, such i/> maior construction projects. For example,
the Aswan Dam built on the Nile in 1966 reduced the river's
flow of nutrients into the sea. Near the Nile delta and bei/ond,
Zooplankton populations Buttered and the local sardine fishen/
collapsed. Another big project in this area was the Suez
Canal; new species of Zooplankton have been immigrating
through it from the Red Sea.
With its anoxic lower lai/er, the Black Sea lias alwai/s been
an oceanograpliic anomah/. Entire marine groups are missing
from this sea. But recently a series of dams across major
rivers empti/ing into the Black Sea lias decreased its outflow to
the Med. The subsurface current from the Aegean has
increased, bringing along Mediterranean water and
planktonic hitchhikers. So while people are beginning to
stream out of eastern bloc countries, an unseen undercurrent
of tini/ immigrants is making its wa\/ from the Med toward the
waters of Bulgaria and Romania!
- Elvezio Ghirardelli
Professor of Zoology, University of Trieste
- Adriannci Innora
Research Scientist, Zoological Station of Naples
Copepods are the
most common
Zooplankton in the
Mediterranean.
Most zooplankton
are microscopic
their whole lives,
but others, like this
decapod larva,
grow into large
adults that settle
onto the bottom.
-NX i
53
^>/^^
••aph.v
L.
.x*
V
f
C-T
Rhone
1J
--\
Venice
-X
T
V
Trieste
\
MONACO Genoa Po
Villefranche-su'r-Mer^OTs^
Marseille N\c^& tffe
X
^ Corsica
(Fra
r^^^:4^^v':--;;>
MOROCCO
LIBYA
Soundings are in meters.
Darker shading shows the extent
of the "Mediterranean" climate
as indicated by the limit of olive
cultivation.
The cities shown are home to the
sea's major marine research
centers.
54
\
the Mediterranean Sea
SOVIET UNION
£
miles
0 100 200 300
J.
0 100 200 300
kilometers
55
Deep Water Over
Complex Tectonics
Gas & oil exploration and production
are hindered by subsurface factors
by Kathy Sharp Frisbee
n the last 10 years, oil and gas exploration and
production have increased with cautious
enthusiasm in the Mediterranean Sea, becoming
more intensive in the last two. On a global scale,
however, these efforts continue to represent no more
than a drop in the proverbial barrel.
56
The Glomar
High Island VIII
drilling rig nt
work in the
Mediterranean.
\
v^_ ! JJ i-j . .
^^.. -6.-1 ^**m
Oceanic crusts, a thin sediment
layer, and deep water combine to
reduce the potential of offshore oil
and gas finds.
The latest worldwide statistics for offshore oil and gas
production indicate that gas from the Mediterranean Sea totaled
more than 5.51 million cubic meters a day in 1988, while world per-
day production amounted to more than 849 million cubic meters.
Oil production in the Mediterranean was more than 165 thousand
barrels a day, compared to a world per-day production of nearly
15 million barrels. In each instance, Mediterranean production
represented less than 1 percent of world offshore output.
Only 20 percent of the Mediterranean's nearly 3,000,000 square
kilometers is shallower than 200 meters. The remaining 80 percent
is mostly covered by very deep water, as deep as 4,900 meters, and
thus is still considered a distant target for petroleum and gas
exploration.
"I think it's a spotty resource area, part of which is known, part
of which is unknown," says Donald C. Rusk — a private consultant
who was a senior geological associate with AMOCO overseas for 31
years and with Exxon in South America for 4 years. "I think a
large part of the Medi-
terranean isn't prospective
mainly because it's floored by
oceanic crusts and has a verv
j
thin layer of young sediment,
which offers reduced poten-
tial— that combined with verv
deep water," added Rusk.
It's really difficult to compare the Mediterranean with such
major-league sites as the North Sea and Gulf of Mexico, according
to Rusk. "In terms of tectonics, the Mediterranean has been
subjected to some pretty extreme plate tectonic episodes which
have destroyed some areas that may have been potential
[producers]. As a result, mountains and oceanic crusts have
developed that do not have potential; and then there's the deep
water factor," said Rusk.
"Take the Gulf of Mexico, for example. Although they're
exploring in 1,800 to 2,100 meters of water now, you've got an
enormous thickness of sediment on the bottom. In much of the
Mediterranean where you have the deep water, there is a thin
veneer of sediment over oceanic crust, and, in other places,
nonprospective sediments that have suffered too much alteration
through tectonic collision."
Therein lies one of the biggest differences between the
Mediterranean and other major offshore oil and gas resource sites.
Neither the Gulf of Mexico nor the North Sea, for example, have
undergone the kind of tectonic history the Mediterranean has
experienced. And so, along with other scientists in the industry,
Rusk confirms that the prospective resource zones of the
Mediterranean lie in "the periphery of the stable or more-or-less
stable European and African continents."
Kathy Sharp
Frisbee is a
freelance writer
living in Falmouth,
Massachusetts.
57
The Mediterranean has been described by scientists as
"geologically complex." Claudio Villa, of AGIP, Milan, Italy — one
of the largest and most active resource exploration and production
companies operating in the Mediterranean today, and the first
company to initiate deep-water exploration strategy there in 1972—
explained during a presentation at the Mediterranean Basins
Conference in Nice, France, in September 1988, that "Most
prospects are subtle traps, and
many will be found only with the
. application of up-to-date
Fewer than 10 ngs are producing, technology. These Piays will be
while about 75 are exploring. located in the overthrusts, in the
The main players are Libya, Italy, deeP floundered platforms, and in
Spain, Tunisia, and Greece. the ^P-sea basins."
The Mediterranean s 18-year
history of offshore oil and gas
exploration and production has
pretty much paralleled the almost tideless characteristic of the sea
itself, rising and falling nearly imperceptibly in most places. Its
importance, today as in the past, is not so much the amount of oil
produced, but rather its proximity to western Europe, a large (350
million people) and growing consumer of tremendous supplies of
oil and gas.
Well activity in the Mediterranean is presently in an ebb of its
usual ebb-and-flow pattern. Fewer than 10 mobile and floating
well-rigs are producing, with as many as 75 others under
exploration or appraisal. The main players are Libya, Italy, Spain,
Tunisia, and Greece. Important companies other than AGIP
include Elf, Eniepsa, Shell, Chevron, Texaco, Total, and Getty.
Italy's once-lucrative VEGA field off the shores of Sicily has
slackened to three operating wells due to water production
problems, though there are about seven other developing fields
around VEGA, which predominantly produces gas, but also
produces some crude. There's
some development off
A£ tf">r i j • Yugoslavia, but not much.
return of $25 a barrel is Sp*n,s best prospects are in deep
necessary to make deep-water water and, though state-of-the-art
exploration economically Viable. equipment has arrived to tackle
Today's prices are about $20. these zones' today's economics
aren't helping matters, according
to spokesmen from Offshore
Magazine.
Chevron, for example, recently drilled to 670 meters offshore
Greece, but recovered very little, and so tapped the well. The
present industry viewpoint on moving ahead with deep-water
explorations is that a return of about $25 a barrel would be
necessary to make the efforts viable. Per-barrel prices presently
stand at about $20.
58
As of May 1988, proven reserves in the Mediterranean have
been calculated at 2.4 billion barrels of oil and 350 billion cubic
meters of gas. As-yet-undiscovered reserves are estimated at
3 billion barrels of oil and 360 billion cubic meters of gas.
The biggest story in the Mediterranean in the last two years has
been Bouri, Libya's first offshore oil field. At 5 kilometers wide by
32 kilometers long, it's also the Mediterranean's biggest, and one of
the largest offshore fields in
the world. Bouri started
production in August 1988, 11 ,.T /r> -/v-i /-• i j • ,1
years after it was first discov- Llbl/a s Boun Offshore field IS the
ered by AGIP through a lease Med's largest. It IS the first of its
granted to the Italian firm in size developed without an American
1974. Bouri and related areas contractor plai/in? a major role.
have an estimated reserve of 5
billion barrels of oil and 70
billion cubic meters of gas.
Initial production called for 30,000 to 50,000 barrels a day, rising to
about 150,000 barrels a day in the 1990s. Bouri cost more than $2
billion to develop.
One of Bouri's many distinctions is that it is the first large field
developed without an American contractor in a major role, though
limited U.S. equipment and supplies were used, according to
Offshore Mngnzhic. The project used Italian companies almost
exclusively for product design and engineering, with some
assistance from French and British engineers, and Koreans for
exterior construction.
Located 120 kilometers north of Tripoli, Bouri's DP-4 mother
platform was constructed of 61,000 tonnes of steel and is anchored
in 53 meters of water. A satellite platform, DP-3, anchored a short
distance away, weighs 32,000 tonnes. The structures are operated
by Libya's National Oil Company and AGIP, though it is reported
that Italy remains cautious in its role due to world political
sensitivity to Libya.
Reports indicate that the
Bouri hydrocarbons are within
the Metiaoui formation, which The mdiistrij rates Mediterranean
is believed to be part of the Oil and gas explorations as high-
Upper Paieocene and Lower fo medhim-risk endeavors. The
Eocene zones. The Metiaoui outlook IS for Calm activity.
formation has been deter- J
mined to be a carbonate
sequence of sediments with a
thickness of 274 meters. The net pay at Bouri is approximated at
107 meters, noted by Offshore Magazine as sizeable by any standard
except the best of Middle East fields.
While Bouri's DP-4 platform has 66 well slots, with 30
operating initially, the DP-3 platform has 20, and three additional
59
satellite platforms are planned for the future. In addition to
complete drilling capabilities, DP-4 can process and treat the crude
before shipment. A 225,000-tonne storage tanker will be
permanently moored alongside
DP-4's tower, and other tankers
Refinery production in the Med accounts wil1 take crude from there to
m irket
for about 12 percent of the world's total Bouri,s electronics are state.
of 72.9 million barrels a day. of-the-art, with duplicate
control room capability onshore
at Tripoli, as well as the
potential for unmanned operations throughout the processing
chain. DP-4 is also equipped with telemetry and satellite
communications. Complex process control and alarm systems are
likewise built-in in case of an accident.
Environmental concerns relative to oil and gas exploration and
development in the Mediterranean Sea are minimal at this time for
two reasons.
One, refinery production in the overall Mediterranean region
accounts for about 12 percent of the world's total production of 72.9
million barrels a day. Refineries operating at varying points nearer
the perimeter of the sea itself number less than 30.
Two, the marginal subsea work being done is strictly regulated
for air and biological pollution by the individual host countries
which contract with drilling companies, and by the big European
oil companies themselves, such as AGIP of Italy, and Total and Elf
of France. Countries and companies both are cautious because they
recognize the Mediterranean Sea is essentially a closed body of
O J J
water with little ebb-ancl-flow filtration capability.
On the whole, the Mediterranean is still viewed by industry
professionals as a high-risk find, with the exception of such areas as
offshore Sicily, Malta, Libya, and Tunisia, which have proved to be
medium-risk finds. Until state-of-the-art technology meets the
industry's determined economic need, it appears that oil and gas
exploration and development in the Mediterranean will remain
relatively calm.
60
Adventure
Unexpected
events at sea
challenge
W HOI's
deep-sea
explorers
by Martin F. Bowen
tanding three decks above
the fantail of the Star
Hercules, facing aft, I took a
"before" photograph of the
vacant 50-meter deck. In less than a
week, that deck would be home to the
Jason Project's mobile operations complex.
Here in Hull, England, shipyard welders
The .
collected several
objects from Isis, a
4th-centun/ A.D.
Roman shipwreck,
including this
small grain-worn
grinding stone (36
centimeters wide).
On the last dm/ at
the archaeological
site, the niitJior
experimented with
a small collection
device on Jason
and retrieved this
fragile, 12-
centinieter-!ong
ceramic oil-lamp
(viewed from top,
side, and bottom).
were gearing up for five days and nights of man-made smoke and
lightning to create a miniature city of shipping containers weighing
more than 80 tonnes.
Our shipboard "Jason-town" was founded on April 9th, 1989,
after eight years of development by Robert D. Ballarcl and the
Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution's Deep Submergence
Laboratory (DSL). Joining us were the Turner Broadcasting
Corporation, the Electronic Data Systems Corporation (EDS), the
62
National Geographic Society, the U.S. Navy's Submarine
Development Group One, the Marquest Group, marine
archaeologists, and six U.S. high school students.
DSL's operations team was aboard the Hercules on an
educational mission: to use "telepresence" as a means of rekindling
interest in the sciences among U.S. students (Oceanns, Vol. 32, No. 2,
pp. 84-87). Our tasks and discoveries were broadcast live via
satellite to thousands of students throughout North America.
In place of a standard expedition schedule, adaptable to
weather, accidents, or equipment problems, we had to stick to a
strict broadcast agenda: 84 programs, six a day for two weeks. In
place of our usual shipboard isolation, we would have thousands of
students watching us work.
We met the schedule — despite two devastating incidents at
sea — but not without a new educational experience of our own. This
is the back-stage story of how we did it.
The main technological event in Jason-town was the debut of
our fiber-optic cable (f/o) Argo-Jason system: two deep-ocean,
search-survey-and-sampling robots controlled from the surface. The
The deep-water
archaeological site
was strewn witJi
Roman mnphoms
and jugs made in
North Africa that
once carried wine,
grains, spices, and
olive oil. Here are
several that Jason
collected, as well as
a grinding stone
and a ceramic oil-
lamp (middle;
detailed sketches on
opposite page).
63
During 60-
knot ivinds
and Force-11
seas, the oilers
heard a
"metallic
snap" on deck.
The 2,200-
kilogram
co -ax Argo
had broken
loose from
four heavy
chains and
washed aft.
1,270-kilogram Jason rode inside f/o Argo, which is a bit larger and
longer than a minivan. Argo-Jason was chained to the deck beside
the original coaxial-cable Argo, the discoverer of the Titanic and the
soon to be discovered Bismarck (Ocennus, Vol. 32, No. 3, pp. 27-35).
Fiber-optic Argo could out-perform "co-ax" Argo by transmitting
four color-video images rather than a single black-and-white view.
Mini-Angus and two Jason Jr. vehicles were stowed inside a van.
The ship carried its full company and a partial science crew on
the 13th as it left Hull for Gibraltar, where the rest of the personnel
would be picked up. Rising seas and gale-force winds were
predicted for the next day. With millions of dollars in hand-
crafted, one-of-a-kind electronics on welded risers onlv half a meter
j
above the decking (itself only two meters over the waterline), the
Hercules was facing heavy weather with a cargo considerably more
valuable than its usual 1,800 tonnes of drilling pipe.
By the 15th, the Hercules plodded southwest through a storm
of sustained 60-knot winds and Force-11 seas in the Bay of
Biscay. Neither the recent gales nor the storm gave us
trouble, but a distress call from a 10-meter sailboat did. When the
Hercules' captain ordered search-pattern maneuvers requiring 180-
degree turns, one of the turns — coupled with impressive wave
heights and unlucky timing — brought a monstrous wave across
her starboard side.
A frightened call came from the engine room to the bridge
where we were watching for the sailboat: the oilers had heard a
"metallic snap" on deck. The 2,200-kilogram co-ax Argo had
broken loose from four heavy chains and washed aft toward f/o
Argo. Obstacles in co-ax Argo's path slowed and finally stopped
the unbridled slide. When we got to the deck, we looked up at
12-meter wave crests.
During our emergency, news came that the sailboat crew had
abandoned ship for their inflatable life raft, where one was to die of
exposure. A few hours later, a German freighter rescued the
survivors from the raft. Their sailboat hadn't sunk. As seasoned
mariners, we knew that the man who perished from exposure may
have lived had the crew stayed with the vessel. We felt their loss:
the severe consequence of lonely decisions born of panic.
The now-infamous "rogue wave" crushed two vehicle-retrieval
winches, or "tuggers," misaligning their steel pedestals; damaged
the frame of co-ax Argo; tore the ventilation assemblies on the EDS
satellite van; drove the remains of an air-conditioner through the
wall of the DSL tool van; made mincemeat of expensive fiber-optics
testing equipment; flooded an electro-optical slip-ring; soaked
toolboxes; and filled a winch-electronics junction-box that now
would have made a dandy aquarium.
During the rest of the transit to Gibraltar, all able-bodies rebuilt
salvageable equipment. Ocean Engineer Bob Elder bandaged
64
together our portable fiber-optic laser from a few components not
consumed by frothing, saltwater-soaked nickel-cadmium batteries.
Project manager Andy Bowen assessed the saltwater damage to the
electro-optical slip-ring, another space-age machine sold without
"user-serviceable parts." Electrical wizards Bill Hersey of DSL and
Bob Buhro of EDS, with no prior knowledge of its design, revived
the winch junction-box. Diesel specialist Frank Smith rebuilt the
tugger pedestals. Curt Murphy and navy volunteers did body
work on co-ax Argo. Skip Gleason tried to save the traumatized
tuggers, but finally had to give them their last rites, and called ship-
to-shore for two new units from France. I gutted, dried, and
reopened the fractured tool van — our sea-going hardware store.
All repairs were completed in time to deploy f/o Argo-Jason in
about 700 meters of Mediterranean water on a "full-up," high-
voltage test. Once at depth, the free-swimming Jason remotely
operated vehicle (ROV) left the towed Argo garage and "flew" via
joystick commands sent to its seven thrusters.
The Hercules feathered her thrusters to hover in a computer-
generated, or dynamically positioned, stance over Skerki
Bank, near the Sicilian Channel. Dana Yoerger, graduate
student Franz Hover, and veteran DSL deep-water guide Tom
Crook navigated with data from global-positioning satellites,
Loran-C stations, and long-baseline transponders. Although they
had worked with the ship's system for only a week, they kept her
in a tight holding pattern, never more than three meters off target.
A high, rolling sea pestered the Hercules — approximate sea-
state 4, long swells with a six-second period, light chop on top. On
the third test-lowering, one week before live TV transmissions were
to start, we lost Argo and Jason.
Just below the surface, with Jason still inside f/o Argo's garage,
the vehicles' armored tow-cable snapped with a toneless "thump."
The ship's deck shook for an instant. TV displays from subsea
cameras went black. The cable pulley at the A-frame peak wagged
briefly, no longer supporting the 3,300-kilogram vehicle cluster that
was now free-falling at 24 kilometers an hour to the muddy bottom
725 meters below. Gone, just like that. The silence was deafening.
Was Jason still inside Argo? If not, would Jason's reinforced
tether remain attached to Argo, preventing the neutrally buoyant
ROV from wandering for decades in deep currents? Were the
vehicles upright or toppled? A survival instinct — calm though
troubled — lessened our sense of tragedy. Over the satellite link, we
heard disturbing news that younger students thought Jason had
"died." "Let's get them back," Ballard said.
The missing Argo was nicknamed "Hugo," short for huge
Argo. That brought a few smiles. For the DSL operations team,
there would be strength in humor, but little rest until both vehicles
were recovered.
The largest amphora
collected from Isis
was this 36-
centimeter-wide
specimen.
This two-handled jug
was intact, which
made it a rare and
exciting find for
archaeologists.
Medea
is
dispatched
to find
the
missing
Argo
and its
companion
Jason.
Almost immediately after the accident, we rolled a third vehicle
out of a storage van and onto the aft deck. Originally called Mini-
Angus, this was to be our replacement camera sled and, potentially,
Jason's rescuer. Since the Medea of Greek myths was Jason's wife
and life-saver, Ballarcl renamed the sled accordingly.
Our one-ton robotic Medea would have to search for the fallen
vehicles in the depths below. Bill Hersey scribbled a hook-up
schematic on the back of an envelope to update Medea's wiring. In
only a few hours she was water-proofed, tested, and attached to a
repaired cable. Navigators Yoerger and Crook continuously
monitored position information from emergency acoustic beacons
on the lost vehicles. The signals suggested that they were still
mated — a good sign.
Medea was lowered. As she approached the bottom, a small
silver rectangle appeared in the gloom of the video monitors. We
could see Hugo with Jason still inside. The pair were upright on
the clay bottom with no obvious damage, their metallic surfaces
reflecting the light from Medea's lamps. Yoerger and Crook placed
the Hercules directly above the stricken robots on their first
attempt.
On the second lowering, Medea would have to guide a
grappling hook onto Hugo. In preparation, we modified the hook
by welding curved steel barbs to each of its four stabbing tines.
Once set, it should not release until Hugo was on deck and secured.
Medea's camera would act as a video viewfinder for the winch
operator who, in cooperation with the navigators, would try to
maneuver the hook into Hugo's frame.
Back to the bottom went Medea. As the Hercules acted on
dynamic-positioning commands, I watched the subsea view from
Medea's camera and maneuvered the winch's joystick for swipes at
the sunken Hugo. The time delay between ship maneuvers and
sled reaction caused long, tense pauses after each attempt. Hugo's
silver frame and the dangling grapple filled the television screens.
On what was to be the last approach, I managed to bounce the 100-
kilogram lure over Hugo's frame. In a violent lurch from a swell, it
grabbed the frame near the worst possible place, the main electrical
junction-box.
I hauled the vehicle cluster off the bottom as fast as the winch's
screaming diesel engine would allow. Luckily, it didn't stall. I
had to be careful and relax the haul-in speed just prior to the
passing of every new swell; otherwise, the cable might snap again.
While I played the hooked fish for half an hour, Bill Lange read off
cable-tension numbers — now 1,500 kilograms, then up to 12,000,
back down to 4,000, then up again to 12,000. When Medea rose out
of the water, I stopped hauling and joined ranks at the A-frame.
Every available line was made fast around the two stray vehicles as
they bumped against the Hercules' transom.
Then, what we had been fearing all along happened at the
66
surface. Welds holding Hugo's garage door split apart. Jason
broke free of Hugo and floated away on its tether; but Ballard and
two crewmen were standing by in a small boat, and hastily
attached more lines to the robot and saved it.
After 23 anxious hours, both vehicles were rescued. Hugo
was replaced by Medea as Jason's support vehicle, and
after a baroque process of hardware shuffling and software
sleight-of-hand, the robots were ready to perform. Deck operations
were going to be more comnlex for Medea-Jason than for Argo-
Jason. Since Medea was not designed to hold Jason, the pair had to
be launched and recovered as a two-body system rather than a
single, mated unit.
The first live broadcasts of the Jason Project began on cue from
above the Marsili Seamount, an underwater volcano south of
Naples, suspected by Ballard to be active. From 9,000 miles away
students witnessed, along with us, Jason's close-up discovery of
undocumented hydrothermal vents. Flying Jason around the
eruption-tortured slopes of Marsili, 1 had the fortune to reveal
panoramas of newly formed subsea regions only a few hundred
years old to this audience.
It was a bi/arre place. At the top of the volcano 500 meters
beneath the surface, blue-green groupers swam among mineral
chimneys as tall as a person and twisted like trees such as Dr. Seuss
might draw. Everything was dusted with yellow sulfide. Hot,
shimmering water waved like a mirage and dissipated in seconds.
Jason's motors, cameras, sensors and manipulating arm seemed
to improve in performance as they acclimated to the dark, pressure,
and cold. Occasionally, the 25 meters of yellow tether between
Jason and Medea drifted into view. Power, data, and optics
immediately combined in that tether to produce sharp images of
Marsili. If the students felt they were "touching" the volcano
through our nonintrusive technology, then we had achieved a step
toward telepresence in exploration.
Jason took random samples of Marsili's fauna and geology
with its mechanical arm and claw, and deposited them into
baskets mounted on either robot. Though an organized
sampling program was not part of the Jason Project, deep-sea coral
polyps, platelet-cloaked starfish, a PJioloc scaleworm, unidentified
fish larvae, and various small arthropods were all collected and
then preserved on board, later identified at WHOI, and archived at
DSL. None of the animals were found to be specific to
hydrothermal vents and none of the weathered sulfide samples of
Marsili were new to scientific records, but together they
represented Jason's ability to collect benthic denizens and a slice of
their substrate.
The Hercules returned to Skerki Bank for the second week of
live broadcasting. Here lay more than 50 square kilometers of level
Jason
breaks
aivay from
Hugo and
floats
away on
its tether,
but Ballard
and two
crewmen
rescue it.
67
Hydraulically
driven
"Knuckles"
cradled
artifacts
from the
Isis site
in its
soft,
synthetic
fish-netting.
topography/ the resting place for hundreds of ancient amphoras
and a shipwreck discovered and mapped in 1988 by co-ax Argo.
Marine archaeologist Anna M. McCann named the 4th-century site
"Isis" after the goddess that ancient sailors prayed to for a life after
death. McCann directed Jason's mapping of artifacts and their
retrieval from this site, 750 meters beneath a trade route used
between 300 B.C. and A.D. 400.
Never before had a deep-water antiquarian site been
approached and probed by a robot's mechanical arm,
and the DSL team felt the responsibility. Previously,
submerged sites as deep as 40 meters had been excavated by
SCUBA divers. Jason had to display a diver's coordination in
safely recovering the artifacts while disrupting the site as little as
possible.
Before the expedition, John Salzig, Hagen Schempf, and Betsy
Robinson studied illustrations of amphoras from the Isis era and
fabricated a retrieval device. It could accommodate the largest—
40 centimeters wide — North African jars photographed a year
earlier. The invention was named "Knuckles," and Jason's wrist
assembly was easily modified to support it. Opening and closing
like a large bivalve, hydraulically driven Knuckles cradled artifacts
in soft, synthetic fish-netting.
Knuckles worked in concert with an elevator that we named
"Otis." An aluminum and glass-float device, Otis would descend
to the bottom near the shipwreck. After Jason loaded artifacts into
the elevator's four netted compartments, Otis was acoustically
instructed to rise to the surface by releasing an anchor. A small
boat waited at the surface to tow Otis to the Hercules. In this way,
we gently transported more than two dozen ancient jars that once
contained wine, grains, fish-sauce, spices, and olive oil.
Household utensils, jewelry, and coins were too small for
Knuckles, so Gleason and Smith devised a dwarf version that
consisted of a frame-and-netting assembly bolted onto the wrist's
standard pair of gripping jaws. I tried it on Jason's final dive of the
expedition.
A few terra cotta bits had been charted in a muddy de-
pression north of the main wreck-site. The elevator was
full and on its last transit back to the surface. The only
remaining receptacle for artifacts was an empty basket strapped to
the side of Medea's frame. I dipped Jason's tiny new hand into the
depression and raised a billowing cloud of mud. Jason rose,
pivoted, and faced Medea. The drop had to be timed with Medea's
up-and-down movements or we would lose the sample. I opened
the webbed jaws, watched the silty cloud tumble into the basket,
and drove Jason away toward the surface for recovery.
Inside the basket was a delicate ceramic oil-lamp that Aladdin
might have recognized. Studies of it would fix the age of the
68
Isis Shipwreck1
Tyrrhenian Sea
Marsili Seamount
s outfitted
n S/VC/H//I/
designed
contraption culled
"Knuckles" to lift
artifact* delicately
off the seafloor.
wreck. The enthusiasm of the archaeologists confirmed the worth
of all our efforts. My reward was the /s/s lamp. At the very last,
after weeks of technical acrobatics, our Jason-town team was adept
enough to extract that one fragile prize front history. ~"\
Martin F. Bowen is a Research Associate and senior Remotely
Operated Vehicle pilot at the Deep Submergence Laboratory of the
Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution. He has documented six
shipwrecks, including the RMS Titanic and the battleship Bismarck.
69
Ships of Tarshish
to the
Land of Ophir
Seafaring in Biblical times
by Shelley Wachsmann
Others, taking ship and going to sea,
were plying their business across the ocean;
they too saw what the Lord could do,
what marvels on the deep!
He spoke and raised a gale,
lashing up towering waves.
Flung to the sky, then plunged to the depths,
they lost their nerve in the ordeal,
staggering and reeling like drunkards
with all their seamanship adrift.
They called to the Lord in their trouble
and he rescued them from their sufferings,
reducing the storm to a whisper
until the waves grew quiet,
bringing them, glad at the calm,
safe to the port they were bound for.
Psalm 107:23-30
Shelley Wachsmann
is Inspector of
Underwater
Antiquities for the
Israel Antiquities
Authority.
70
rom the story of Noah's Ark to the various
shipwrecks of Saint Paul, the Bible is full of
references to seafaring. The sea — deep, wide,
and unpredictable — is a powerful symbol for
One of Jesus' most
well-known miracles
was calming Hie
storm on the Sen of
Galilee, depicted in
tins painting by
Rembrandt.
/// tli is mill
painting from a
I4tli-centnn/
B.C. tomb in
TJiebes, Late
Bronze Age
incrclinnt ships
are arriving at
an Egyptian
port.
divinity or the subconscious. The Mediterranean was also, on a
more physical level, the ancient Israelites' front door through
which came both treasure and terror, and on which sailed perhaps
the most intrepid mariners the world has ever seen.
Marine archaeologists of the Israel Antiquities Authority are
working with historians to piece together a coherent picture of
seafaring on the ancient Mediterranean. Israel's coast abounds
with the remains of ancient ships and their cargoes. On the average,
there is probably a shipwreck, or the remains of a wrecked ship's
cargo every 100 meters along the Israeli Mediterranean coast. The
study of these remains — whether they are a Bronze Age ship's
cargo, an inscribed anchor, or the hull of a ship that sailed during
Biblical times — considerably enrich our understanding of ancient
seafaring and Biblical descriptions.
Even the word "Bible" has seafaring connections. In the third
millennium B.C., the town of Byblos, about 35 kilometers
north of Beirut, was the heart of the trading empire of the
Canaanites, whom the Greeks later called "Phoenicians." During
its centuries of power, Byblos called itself the oldest city on Earth.
Records of the seaborne trade in copper from Cyprus, gold
from Nubia, and cedar from the mountains of Lebanon were kept
on papyrus scrolls by the scribes of Byblos. So much papyrus was
used and traded at Byblos that the name of the city eventually
became synonymous with the records of these transactions, and
was translated into Greek and medieval Latin as "biblos" and
72
"biblia" both of which meant "(the) book."
In the Late Bronze Age (1550-1200 B.C.) the city-kingdom of
Ugarit, on the coast of what is now northern Syria, was a major
maritime power. The people of Ugarit, although they did not
consider themselves Canaanite, belonged to the same cultural and
religious entity. Clay tablets unearthed at Ugarit indicate that the
city-kingdom then had a fleet of more than 150 ships. The tablets
were unearthed between 1929 and 1966 by the archaeologist Claude
F. A. Schaeffer, and date from the reign of King Hammurapi, the
last king of Ugarit. Tablets such as these are invaluable sources on
Late Bronze Age maritime practices, as we know of only two
coherent shipwrecks from this era — the oldest shipwrecks ever
found.
According to the tablets, Ugarit's ships were large enough to
carry up to 450 tonnes of grain, overthrowing the notion
that the Late Bronze Age people of the northeastern
Mediterranean had only small boats of the type that could be
pulled up on shore each night. An Egyptian tomb painting, dating
to the 14th century B.C. shows these craft arriving at an Egyptian
port. In the center are ships that have docked, and to the right is a
fascinating depiction of the hustle and bustle of a port — the
merchants hawking their wares in stalls as the ships are off-loaded
by porters.
Eastern Mediterranean civilizations, including Ugarit, the
ancient Israelite, and the Canaanite, were besieged and terrorized
A tiin/, but detniled
Hebrew seal shoius n
$en$oin$ inerclmiit
s////> from the eighth or
seventli centun/ B.C.
73
during the 13th and 12th centuries B.C. by a loose coalition of
audacious sea raiders known to the Egyptians as the "Sea Peoples."
Their ships had bird-head devices at stem and stern, an Aegean
motif that supports the idea that their ships were derived from
Aegean prototypes. One of the tablets is a copy of a letter sent by
King Hamrnurapi to the king of Alashia — which is usually
identified as part or all of Cyprus. It describes the fury of the
Sea Peoples:
Egyptian plmmoli
Rnmeses III cntslied flic
fierce Sea Peoples in
two battles thnt lie
commemorated on Iris
mortuary temple.
My father, behold the ships of the enemy came; my cities by fire he
burned and an evil thing in the country, they did . . . and the country
is abandoned to itself. My father, this matter may you know. Now
the seven ships of the enemy that came here and damage they did to
us.
(continued on page 76)
74
Rediscovering Royal Purple
and Biblical Blue
The textile dyeing industry was one of the
economic mainstays of eastern Mediterranean
civilizations between the seventh centuries B.C. and
A.D. Centuries after the loss of the recipe for two of
these dyes — the Royal (or Tyrian) Purple
(Argaman in Hebrew) and the Biblical Blue
(Tekhelet in Hebrew), we now know that they were
produced from marine snails.
In ancient Rome, togas dyed purple were
imperial symbols; and in ancient lewry, these
colors had religious and social significance. The
purple dye was worth 10 to 20 times its weight in gold.
The first step toward the rediscover]/ of the purple di/e was
taken by the French zoologist Henri Lacaze-Dutluers in 1858
during an expedition to the island of Minorca. He noticed a poor
fisherman dyeing his shirt with crushed rock-shell, Thais
haemastoma. The dye gave a i/ellowisli line at first, that changed
in the sunliglit to light purple while emitting an unpleasant odor.
The ancients knew that they must use fresh snails for their dye
industry. In addition, since the amount of dye stuff that could be
obtained from one snail is minute, they needed thousands of live
snails in order to d\/e a small area of yarn. In order to collect such a
multitude, they probably first lured flic snails with wicker baskets
baited witJi smaslied limpets and winkles. After the snails adhered
to the basket by inserting their snouts through the tini/ spaces
between the wickers they would stay attaclied even when the baskets
were taken out of the water.
Despite some earlier controversy surrounding the secret of the
Biblical Blue, we have recently discovered that the blue dye, in
addition to the Royal Purple, can be produced from T. trunculus.
Careful, indirect heating, removal of the protein residues,
addition of fresh glands (with active enzi/mes), and proper exposure
to air and light can yield the genuine dyes. Glands of female rock
murex give mainly dibromoindigo, or Royal Purple, whereas male
glands largely produce Biblical Blue. The latter compound is
identical to animal-derived indigo.
Dyed purple textile from a 1,700-year-old archaeological
site in the Syrian Desert near Palmyra was identified as
containing the molecule 6,6' dibromoindigo. Traces of
purple dye also were found on shards of a ceramic vessel
from Tel Shiqmonn, near Haifa and were identified as
this genuine Royal Purple.
—Ehud Spanier
The Recanti Center for Maritime Studies
University of Haifa, Israel
&f>
A detail from
Rameses Ill's
tomb shows one
of the Sea
Peoples' ships
capsized in the
melee of buttle.
The manner in
wliicli warriors
are intertwined
in tlie ship
informs seJiolars
about the ship's
structure.
The Mycenaeans (Bronze Age Greeks), the Hittites, and many
of the Canaanite city-kingdoms all fell before the onslaught
of the Sea Peoples, who were the Biblical equivalent of the
Huns and the Vikings all rolled up in one. In fact, the tactics of the
Sea Peoples were not unlike the later Vikings. They would arrive at
a seaside settlement, ravage it, and disappear before the local
military could come to grips with them. However, again like the
later Vikings, when they met an organized army they were likely to
lose.
Rameses III, the last great pharaoh of Egypt, managed to stop
the Sea Peoples in two battles that took place in the Nile delta about
1 174 B.C., one on land the other on water. Rameses commemorated
these battles graphically on his mortuary temple at Medinet Habu,
near modern-day Luxor. The depiction of the ships with sails
furled, and the accompanying text, suggest that the Egyptians
mounted a surprise attack:
The countries which came from their isles in the midst of the sea,
they advanced to Egypt, their hearts relying upon their arms. The net
was made ready tor them to ensnare them.
The nautical battle scene shows that the ships of the Sea
Peoples were undecked, and traveled under both sail and oar. One
of the Sea Peoples' ships is shown below, capsized in the melee of
battle. By studying the manner in which the bodies of the warriors
are intertwined in the ship, it is possible to understand the
structure of the ships themselves. In particular, there is a figure
sitting on the center of the upturned ship. His left leg disappears
behind the hull but reappears in an open space between the hull
and a raised screen. To his left, two other bodies are placed in
76
positions that support the conclusion that an open area, which can
only be a rowers' gallery, existed on these ships.
Another fascinating text found at Ugarit — a letter from the
Hittite king to the chief ministers of the Ugaritic king — relates to
how a group of Sikila, one of the Sea Peoples who later settled in
the area of Dor (near modern-day Zichron Yaakov in Israel), were
captured by a Ugarit man named Lunadushu. In the text, the
Hittite king orders the man responsible for
the capture of "the Sikila who on ships
live," to be brought to him.
During the height of ancient Israel's
power, under King Solomon in the 10th
century B.C., the king entered into a joint
venture with Hiram, the Phoenician king of
Tyre, for shipborne trade to the mysterious
land of Ophir.
King Solomon equipped a fleet at Ezion-
Geber, which is near Elath on the shores of
the Red Sea, in the land of Edom. For this
fleet Hiram sent men of his, sailors who
knew the sea, to serve with Solomon's men.
They went to Ophir and from there brought
back tour hundred and twenty talents of
gold, which they delivered to King
Solomon.
I Kings 9:26-28
No one yet can say where Ophir was
located: some suggest along the Arabian or African shores of the
Red Sea; others think it was further south, along the Somalian or
Kenyan coast of the Indian Ocean; still others hazard a guess that it
mav have been a city on the west coast of India. But while the site
J J
of Ophir remains unknown, its reality is indicated by an ostracon,
or inscribed pottery sherd, from Tel Qasile, near Tel Aviv. The
ostracon carries the words: "gold of Ophir to Beth Horon 30
shekels."
While Hiram's daring Phoenician seafarers carried out
impressive feats of navigation, their descendants did them proud.
In addition to the legends claiming they entered the Atlantic by
means of the cold, salty, undercurrent at Gibraltar (see page 28),
later Phoenician sailors are credited with the first recorded
circumnavigation of Africa. The fifth-century B.C. Greek historian
Herodotus tells us that about 200 years before his time, Phoenician
mariners under the orders of the Egyptian Pharaoh Necho II, sailed
down the Red Sea and into the Indian Ocean, only to return
through the "Pillars of Hercules" after three years. During their
voyage, they stopped each autumn to plant and reap crops, and so
keep themselves supplied.
Interestingly, even as Herodotus tells this story, he refuses to
li
1
1
1
\\
^~~1
Wliilc the locution
of Ophir is still a
nn/sten/, the
inscription on this
potsherd proves it
did exist: "gold of
Ophir to Beth
Horon 30 shekels."
77
Is it
possible
that the
Tarshish
ships were
regularly
circum-
navigating
Africa
3,000
y ears ago?
accept one statement made by the sea rovers: they claimed that
while they were traveling around the southern half of Africa, or
"Libya" as they called it, the sun had been on their right, or to the
north. However, it is precisely this statement that proves the
authenticity of the story. For while voyaging in a generally
westward course in the southern hemisphere, the Phoenicians
would have indeed had the sun on their right; and after rounding
the Cape of Good Hope, they would have been heading north and
the sun would be rising on their right.
The Bible refers twice to a regular trade carried out by Solomon
in partnership with Hiram of Tyre. A fleet of "ships of Tarshish"
would bring gold, silver, ivory, apes, and peacocks once every
three years. Now a trip to Tarshish, located in the Mediterranean,
would not normally have taken three years to complete if the ships
were sailing to and from a Mediterranean Levantine port.
However, these Biblical passages, combined with Herodotus'
comments, raises a fascinating possibility. Is it possible that the
Tarshish ships of Solomon and Hiram were regularly
circumnavigating Africa 3,000 years ago?
This hypothesis may be supported by considering one
description of the attempt made by the Hebrew kings Jehoshaphat
and Ahaziah to later renew this trade. They built:
. . . ships to go to Tarshish, and they built the ships in Ezion Geber
[near the site of modern-day Eilat on the Red Sea]. And the ships were
wrecked and were not able to go to Tarshish.
2 Chronicles 20:35-37.
Tarshish was apparently the name for Tartessos in Spain, near
modern-clay Cadiz; so the only way to reach Tarshish from Ezion
Geber would be to circumnavigate Africa. However, the parallel
description of this event in 1 Kings 22:47 has Jehoshaphat building
"ships of Tarshish to go to Ophir for gold," which significantly
changes the purpose of the trip. But why are the vessels called
"Tarshish ships?"
The Bible often speaks of seagoing Tarshish ships or of ships
that are going to Tarshish. While several interpretations have been
advanced by scholars, the most likely one is this: normally, a
specific class of craft receives a geographical name because it was
used on a specific route. This concept is paralleled by the "East
Indiamen" or "Boston packets" of the recent past. It seems likely,
therefore, that Tarshish ships were the type of craft normally used
on the run to Tarshish.
In general, then, Tarshish ships were seagoing ships, and when
the prophet Jonah fled to Tarshish — the voyage on which he was
thrown into the sea — he was figuratively running away to the ends
of the Earth.
When the Phoenicians organized trips to Ophir it was only
natural to use Tarshish ships, the class of merchant ship capable of
78
^£5*,
••
sB35 ^
Pfr;^*i
i
OffUlu Bnriin,
Turkey, the
oldest complete
shipwreck ever
foiind(14th
century B.C.) lias
taught
archaeologists
about undent
trade and
seafaring.
Wlien Jonah
fled to
Tarshish, he
was figur-
atively
running
away to the
ends of the
Earth.
long sea voyages. So this may have been the case with the Tarshish
ships of Solomon and Hiram, but there is as yet no archaeological
evidence for it. Until such evidence is forthcoming, this idea must
remain no more than a hypothesis attractive to the author.
The most detailed description of seafaring in the Bible is given
us by the sixth-century B.C. prophet Ezekiel. In lamenting the fall of
Tyre, he compares that great Phoenician city to the sinking of a
great seagoing merchant ship. In raising his dirge, Ezekiel gives
wonderful details of the ships' construction and rigging, and the
merchandise bartered bv the Phoenician mariners.
J
Tyre, you used to say: I am a ship
perfect in beauty.
Your frontiers stretched far out to sea;
those who built you made you
perfect in your beauty.
Cyprus from Senir they used
for all your planking.
They took a cedar from Lebanon
to make you a mast.
From the tallest oaks of Bashan
they made your oars.
They built you a deck of cedar inlaid with ivory
from the Kittim isles.
Embroidered linen of Egypt was used for your sail
and your flag.
Purple and scarlet from the Elishah islands
formed your deck tent.
j
Men from Sidon and from Arvad
were your oarsmen.
Your sages, Tyre, were aboard
serving as sailors.
The elders and craftsmen of Gebal were there
to calk your seams.
Ezekiel 27:3-9.
A Hebrew seal bearing the depiction of a ship elating to the
eighth or seventh centuries B.C. may indicate what these ships
looked like (see seal, page 73). The seal belonged to a certain
"Oniyahu Ben Merab." Despite the seals' minute size — the image
of the ship is only eight millimeters long — the ship is excellently
detailed. This type of ship is also depicted in numerous other seals,
graffiti, and pottery of antiquity.
During his ministry, Jesus lived and worked primarily in the
area around the Sea of Galilee. As some of his Apostles
were fishermen, it is not surprising that many of the
Gospel stories are connected with boats and seafaring on this small
(21 by 12 kilometers) freshwater lake. The stories often refer to
Jesus crossing by boat from one side of the lake to the other and his
practice of sometimes retreating from large crowds by taking a boat
to a "lonely place." Two of his most well-known miracles are the
80
calming of the storm on the
Sea of Galilee and his
walking on its waters.
Because of this, the
discovery in 1986 of an
ancient workboat buried in
the seabed of the lake is of
particular interest. The boat
was found by two brothers,
Yuval and Moshe Lufan,
from Kibbutz Ginosar, during
a period of drought when the
lake had receded revealing
vast expanses of dry seabed.
Almost immediately, the
discovery of "a boat from
the time of Jesus" was
transformed in the popular
imagination into the
discovery of "the boat
of Jesus/
Rumors of a "treasure
wreck" had scavengers
scurrying to salvage what
they could of it. To prevent
damage to the boat, a rescue
excavation was begun at once
that continued 'round the
clock for 11 days.
At the conclusion of the
excavation the boat was
successfully moved in one piece to a specially built conservation The Kinneret boat,
pool where it is currently undergoing conservation treatment. imagined by some as
Following several years of research by a variety of experts and ^ie ^°11^ of Jesus, is
scholars, the "Kinneret" boat (Kinneret is' the Hebrew name for the hci"X conserved in a
Sea of Galilee) has allowed us an intimate look at a time and place special pc
that literally changed world history. The boat elates to between
100 B.C. and A.D. 70. It represents the largest class of boat commonly
used on the lake during antiquity and the class of boat used by
Jesus and his apostles in the Gospel stories.
Virtually all the historical and iconographical sources
concerning seafaring on the Kinneret in the first century A.D. refer
to a large class of boat that normally had a crew of 5 — the same
number of crew postulated for the Kinneret Boat — and could
accommodate as many as 15 men, inclusive of crew. Relatively
expensive, boats of this size were normally owned and operated by
a family. When family members were insufficient to crew the boat,
additional workers were hired. The first four Apostles comprised
81
two such family crews; Peter and Andrew were brothers, as were
James and John.
Boats of this class were primarily used for fishing, adapted
specifically for use with the seine net — the type described by Jesus
in his "Parable of the Net" (Matthew 13:47-50). It was apparently
this factor that defined the size of the class; the boats had to be
large enough to employ this net and to transport the large crew
required to work the net. The boats had large stern decks on which
the net was carried and from which it was spread. To judge from
recent ethnological parallels on the Kinneret, they probably had a
smaller deck at the bow, but were open amidship.
The boats also were used to transport men and supplies. In
times of war, they could be pressed into service for battle,
mainly as rapid transports; with their shallow draft they
were ideally suited for swift commando attacks on the shelving
coasts that predominate in the Kinneret. They were apparently not
unlike boats used for coastal piracy in the Mediterranean at that
time. The Kinneret boat suggests that boats of this size moved
under both square sail and oars.
Continued research on ancient Mediterranean shipwrecks,
together with textual and iconographic study, will continue to
enrich our knowledge of ancient seafaring techniques. Most
recently, the Texas-based Institute of Nautical Archaeology's
excavation of the Late Bronze Age wreck at Ulu Burun in Turkey
has already contributed immeasurably to our understanding of
seafaring and trade. The University of Haifa's new excavation of a
fifth-century B.C. shipwreck off the Israeli coast near Maagan
Michael also will deliver a cargo of knowledge.
Picture Credits
p. I: WHOI; /'. 2: WHOI Archives (top and middle); Ulrich K. Tutsch (bottom); p. 3: Kevin Fleming (top);
Joseph H. Bailey/© National Geographic Society (middle); Lorraine Schultz (bottom); p. 4: Kevin Fleming
(bottom); pp. 4 & 5: Kevin Fleming; p. 6: The Bettmann Archive (top); Dennis Mansell (bottom); p. 7:
Jonathan Blair/Woodfin Camp (top); Aaron Levin (bottom); pp. 8 & 9: EROS Data Center, U.S. Geological
Survey; p- 10: Greenpeace /Dorreboom; p. 11: Donald A. Frey/Institute of Nautical Archaeology; p. 12:
Jonathan Blair/Woodfin Camp; p. 13: Kevin Fleming; /;/'. 14 & 15: E. Paul Oberlander; p. 16: Scripps
Institution of Oceanography; p. 17: after M.B. Cita and W.B.F. Ryan; p. 20: National Science Foundation; p.
21: after A.G. Smith and N.H. Woodcock; p. 27: WHOI Archives; p. 28: E. Paul Oberlander; p. 29: Jean Loup
Charmet (painter unknown); pp. 32 & 33: E. Paul Oberlander; p. 35: NASA; pp. 38 & 39: Ulrich K. Tutsch; p.
39: Greenpeace/ Midgley (left); Greenpeace/Gremo (right); p. 41: Greenpeace/Gremo; p. 43: Millot; p. 44:
Gaston Fredj; p. 45: Ferrante Imperato; /' 47: United Nations Environment Programme; pp. 50 & 51: courtesy
NASA; p. 53: Adrianna lanora; pp. 54 6- 55: E. Paul Oberlander; p. 56: Jim Pickerell/TSW; p. 61: Martin F.
Bowen/© The Quest Group; p. 62: E. Paul Oberlander, courtesy Anna M. McCann; p. 63: Tom Kleindinst &
John Porteous, courtesy McCann; p. 65: E. Paul Oberlander, courtesy McCann; p. 69: Martin F. Bowen/©
The Quest Group; E. Paul Oberlander (map); p. 71: courtesy Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, Boston; pp.
72 & 73: after N.G. Davies and R.O. Faulkner; p. 73: N. Avigad; p. 74: B. Brandle; p. 75: Ehud Spanier; p. 76:
after H.H. Nelson; p. 77: after B. Maisler; p. 79: Donald A. Frey/Institute of Nautical Archaeology; p. 81:
Danny Syon; p. S3: Catherine Kamow/Woodfin Camp (left); Ulrich K. Tutsch (top right); Brian Leatart
(bottom).
82
Child's Play:
Bouillabaisse
by Sara L. Ellis
here's always such
a lovely aroma of
garlic and olive oil.
You can just smell
them everywhere down there/
says Julia Child, reminiscing
about culinary delights
of the French Mediterranean.
"And of course, lots of fish."
Sara L. Ellis
is Editorial
Assistant at
Oceanus.
Child,
worn/ ing
about
Mediter-
ranean pollu-
tion, fights for
clean and fresh
seafood in
the United
States.
Child has brought French cooking into the homes of millions of
North Americans since the 1960s. After four PBS television series,
beginning with The French Chef, as well as numerous cookbooks
and how-to videos, she just finished her beautifully illustrated
magnum opus, The Wm/ to Cook, last fall at the age of 77.
Julia is fond of the distinctive food and informal atmosphere in
the south of France. I had the pleasure of hearing her thoughts
on this regional cuisine, over lunch at her home in Cambridge,
Massachusetts.
A great fan of seafood, Child worries about the effects of ocean
pollution on Mediterranean fish: "I don't know how polluted the
Mediterranean has gotten. That's one of the big problems there — as
well as here. I know there used to be lots of wonderful, colorful,
little fishes around that you made your fish soup out of, but how
much of that is left?"
These are legitimate concerns. Compared with other seas and
oceans, the Mediterranean is infertile. The scarcity of fish and the
related high prices encourage overfishing. The southern coast of
Europe has been hit the hardest, with stocks of coastal fish like
hake, sole, and red mullet seriously depleted.
Pollution has lengthened the odds on recovery. Raw sewage,
oil tanker waste, and industrial sludge were all dumped freely into
the Mediterranean. In the 1970s, their effects began to be noticed in
a big way — swimmers were coming clown with nasty diseases, and
tar balls were everywhere.
Fortunately, environmental degradation has slowed down, and
in some cases even reversed. Thanks go mainly to the Mecl Plan
(see article, page 38), an international agreement to monitor and cut
back sources of pollution. Whether this will give fish stocks a
second chance remains to be seen.
Child has been a champion for clean seafood in the United
States. Last fall she criticized the shellfish industry for its
inattention to the increasing bacterial contamination in oysters,
clams, and mussels. She stopped eating shellfish for a while, even
though oysters are one of her favorite foods.
As she pleads in The Win/ to Cook, "Serious and continual
bacteriological inspection seems. . . to be our only
safeguard. It is up to us as the consumers and voters to
insist that all regulations and inspections be enforced — and we
have to be willing to pay for them." She has started to eat shellfish
again, but only when it comes from a thoroughly reliable source.
Julia also stresses that the key to any good seafood dish is
freshness. I asked her how she thought freshness compared
between fish markets in southern France and Boston. "The fish
market in Cannes was wonderful — one of those big covered sheds,
with people screaming and yelling, and selling. But you have to
watch out because toward the end of the day they try to sell their
old stuff if you're not wary. . . . Still, I think that generally fish is
S4
fresher over there. Here in Boston, a lot of boats go way out to the
Grand Banks and you just don't know how long the fish has been
sitting in the bottom of the hold."
In her book From Julia Child's Kitchen, she gives a few pointers:
"Fresh whole fish have bright bulging eyes, bright red gills, and
moist glossy skin. Fresh fillets and steaks have a glossy look too:
the meat holds closely together and is springy to the touch."
Ultimately though, she contends that your nose is your best judge.
"You can certainly tell a fresh fish by smelling it can't you?"
Julia has had plenty of experience sampling Mediterranean
cuisine. Her husband Paul (whom she met in Ceylon while
doing "lowly" file work for the Office of Strategic Services
during World War II) entered the diplomatic service after the war.
They were sent to Paris in 1948, and from there to Marseille.
Subsequently they built a house slightly inland of Cannes and Nice,
on the property of Julia's colleague Simone Beck (a coauthor of
Mastering the Art of French Cooking). They lived there on and off
over the years.
"In Marseille, we were right on the Old Port, next to the
wholesale fish market called the Criee aux Poissons, or fish auction.
It was a very jolly place — you know, lots of noise and shouting and
so forth. There were these wonderful fishwives who sounded
terribly fierce, all screaming and yelling and having fake fights
with each other." On a more recent television assignment in
France, Julia was pleasantly surprised to see that the fish markets
have remained relatively unchanged. "You might think these
unique wonderful old gals would all die off, but there always
seems to be somebody who comes in to replace them. I think they
just enjoy it very much."
Undoubtedly, the most famous seafood dish from the French
Med is bouillabaisse, a hearty stew flavored with tomatoes, garlic,
olive oil, onions, saffron, herbs, and fish. Although bouillabaisse is
popular on restaurant menus, it is quite an elaborate production,
with the whole fish served on a platter, and the soup in a tureen.
A less complicated version, soupe de poisson, has the same flavorful
base but the fish is pureed and the soup is served with grated
cheese, toasted croutons, and a red garlic sauce called rouille.
There are many variations on the bouillabaisse theme,
particularly in countries where you can't get the typical fish
such as rockfish, sea eels, gurnards, red mullets, and
wrasses. Dogmatic French experts don't believe in substitutions.
Julia's attitude is that anything goes, as long as you use the
traditional flavoring and have a good strong base made from fresh,
non-oily fish.
Last October she was one of the judges of an unusual
bouillabaisse contest in Santa Barbara, California. "About 20
restaurants entered, and each chef made his or her own version.
They were all very interesting — one was flavored with fennel,
Those
wonderful
old French
fishwives,
terribly fierce
while
screaming
and yelling
in their fake
fights, are not
a dying
breed.
85
The Italian
connection
in French
food extends
to pizza
with
anchovies
and black
olives.
another had Mexican seasonings. It was rather difficult for me as a
judge, since I was used to regular bouillabaisse and these were so
different, but it was certainly a lot of fun. With such nontraditional
flavors perhaps 'Santa Barbara fish stew' or some such name might
have been more appropriate."
The mainstay of most Mediterranean cuisines is olives, which
thrive in the hot, dry climate. They set French
Mediterranean cooking apart from the classic French style.
"In the South of France, they use olive oil instead of butter. Some
people think it's healthier since there's no cholesterol in olive oil.
And they don't use all that cream" (see box, opposite). Other
typical ingredients are capers, anchovies, saffron, and many herbs
and spices.
Markets abound with different preparations of both black and
green olives. One kind that Julia remembers well is olives cassees
which are whole, green olives, cracked and floating in an onion-
garlic-herb marinade. But she has a special fondness for the small
black olives — a craving she can satisfy on both coasts of the United
States. They grow near her third home in Santa Barbara, and a
local company is processing them and making olive oil. Back in
Cambridge, it's only a quick trip to the North End of Boston, a
predominantly Italian part of town. There the markets carry plenty
of Mediterranean olives and capers.
It's no coincidence that Italian markets carry some of the
ingredients used in the French Med. As Julia pointed out to me,
there are many similarities between the two cuisines, especially
near the border:
"In that part of the Mediterranean, the French use lots of pasta.
But the French cuisine is always a little more elaborate. When we
went over to Italy to teach a one-week cooking course in Venice in
the 1960s, they didn't have much of the equipment that they had in
France. They don't make many of the classic dishes, so we couldn't
find a lot of utensils that we wanted. The Italian cuisine is more
simple. Quite frankly I think the French cuisine more fun — but
you'd anger the Italians if you said that!"
In the south of France they also make a great deal of pizza. •
They have a wonderful one called pissnlndiere, which is an
onion tart with anchovies and black olives. As I was secretly
salivating over the lunch that Julia was preparing for me before my
very eyes — smoked salmon from the Pacific Northwest, cheese,
homemade bread, and salad with a garlicky olive oil vinaigrette-
she lovingly described this French tart:
"You cook the sliced onions in olive oil with herbs and garlic
until very tender. You have your dough all rolled out, and then
you spread it with a little anchovy paste and olive oil. Then you
put the onions on top and decorate it with black olives and
anchovy filets. That's a really great combination!"
Another famous Mediterranean dish that uses olives is Snhidc
(continued on page 88)
86
. . . and it's good for you, too!
There is an inverse relationship between fish consumption
and mortality from cardiovascular disease. Diets rich in fish,
unlike those rich in meat, appear to be related to better
cardiovascular health. This is presumably due to the type of
oil found in some fish.
The "Mediterranean diet" meets many of the criteria
of a prudent and healthy diet, for reasons of climate, soil,
geography, and culture, the diet has a relatively low
percentage of calories from saturated and polyunsaturated
fats, and a high content mono-imsaturated fats — mostly from
olive oil — and fiber. Mono-unsaturated fats have been
considered to have a neutral effect on blood lipids, which are
linked to cardiovascular disease. Mediterranean populations
experience lower incidence of heart disease, strokes, obesity,
diabetes, and cancer than do people from other developed parts
of the world.
The type and amount of fat in the Mediterranean diet
have the effect of lowering blood cholesterol. This is a
particular concern given the relationship between elevated
blood cholesterol and the incidence of death from cardio-
vascular disease. The use of margarine is unheard of, and only
small amounts of butter enter the diet.
The Mediterranean diet contains about two-thirds the fat
of the typical U.S. diet. Epidemilogic data suggest an inverse
relationship between total fat intake and death from cancer.
Their foods are often flavored with garlic, which lowers blood
cholesterol.
The Mediterranean diet is lugli in fruits, vegetables, and
cereals. Eating foods high in fiber decreases the symptoms of
chronic constipation and colon diseases. It also has been
suggested that diets low in fiber may increase the risk of colon
cancer. Eating plenty of fruits and vegetables ensures not
only sufficient amounts of fiber but also of vitamins A, C, and
E. These nutrients are thought to inhibit and protect against
cancer, which may help to explain the health-promoting
qualities associated with the Mediterranean way of eating.
No diet can guarantee good health. Health also depends
on exercise, lifestyle, heredity, and environment. But good
eating practices, such as those of the Mediterranean diet, based
on moderation and variety, can definitely improve the odds
against certain diseases. Besides, the Mediterranean diet lends
to an attractive, palatable, and inexpensive way of eating!
— Elizabeth J. Johnson
Human Nutrition Research Center
Tufts University, Boston, Massachusetts
87
Shopping for
food every
day in the
French
tradition
makes all the
difference in
flavor and
freshness.
Niqoise, which is made with green beans, sliced potatoes, tomatoes,
black olives, hard-boiled eggs, tuna, and anchovies, surrounded by
leaves of green lettuce. As with bouillabaisse, epicureans debate
the proper ingredients of this dish. Believe it or not, in this case the
controversial point is potatoes. "Some say it should never have
potatoes," explains Child, "but I happen to like potatoes, so I
belong to the 'potato school.' And besides, Escoffier [one of the
most famous French chefs] has potatoes in his and he came from
Nice. That's good enough for me!"
I asked Julia whether she had noticed any changing trends in
French Mediterranean food over the last few decades. She
thought that the cuisine itself has stayed pretty much the same,
but in some cases the quality of the produce has deteriorated.
"When I first went over there, life was simpler at that point. They
didn't have electric beaters or food processors or anything like
that — not even refrigerators. So everyone had to shop for food each
day. Then, of course, you only had things that were in season,
which makes all the difference in freshness and flavor.
"Now the area is much more modernized. There's more traffic
and loads of tourists, but it still remains very French in atmosphere,
thank heaven. These days there are lots of supermarkets. Of
course this makes for more variety; however, very often I can be
there in one of those markets and find myself saying I'd just as soon
be back in Cambridge at the Star Market where things are a little
fresher.
"In the French supermarkets often the produce isn't as fresh
because they don't tend to have our facilities. They do pretty well
on their displays of fish, though it depends on where you are. I
think we're always inclined to romanticize France, whereas we do
pretty well here."
But wait! Romantic it seems and, surely, romantic it should
remain. Or else, where would we armchair travelers head for next?
On the facing page is one of Julia Child's recipes for Mediterranean
fish stew, specially adapted for Oceanus.
As you go out and buy the ingredients, imagine yourself at the
Criee aux Poissons, haggling with a fishwife. Once you've finally
made your way back to your little villa, through the crowds and the
swerving bicyclistes, once you've prepared this wonderful
concoction, be sure to take it out onto your tiled patio with a lovely
bottle of Cotes de Provence. And with each whiff of the aroma of
your stew, be certain not to miss the subtle smell of the sea air as it
wafts gently past you. ...
MEDITERRANEAN FISH STEW
(makes about 2 '/., quarts, enough for 6 to 8 people)
Ingredients
SOUP BASE
'/., cup fruity olive oil.
1 cup sliced onions and 1 cup sliced white of leek (or 2 cups onions).
6 to 8 tomatoes, cored but unpeeled, roughly chopped.
8 large cloves unpeeled garlic , chopped.
'/,tsp. thyme, '/, tsp. fennel seeds, 3 big pinches saffron threads,
and a 3- by 1-inch piece of dried orange peel.
Either: 2 quarts of trimmings from fresh , non-oily fish or shellfish,
2 '/., quarts water and 1 Tbsp. salt — or: 7 quart clam juice or
chicken broth, 1 ' I, quarts water, and salt to taste.
FISH
2 pounds lean fish fillets (cod, hake, monkjish, sea bass, catfish,
snapper, or halibut). It can all be of one kind, but a variety is
preferable.
Equipment
A heavy 8-quart kettle or casserole and a large sieve or colander.
Instructions
Stir into the kettle or casserole the onions, leeks, and olive oil;
simmer 5 minutes until tender hut not brown. Stir in the toma-
toes and garlic, and cook 5 minutes more. Then add the rest of
the ingredients for the soup base and bring to the boil. Skim,
and boil slowly, uncovered, for about 40 minutes. Strain,
pressing the juices out of the ingredients, correct the seasoning,
and set it aside uncovered.
Bring the soup base to the simmer. Meanwhile, cut the fish fillets
into medium-size serving chunks. Add to the broth, and simmer
about 5 minutes until the fish is cooked through.
Serving suggestion: Serve the soup just as it is, accompanied by
rounds of hard-toasted French bread (croiites), and a bowl of
freshly grated Parmesan cheese, perhaps with the Mediterra-
nean red garlic sauce called rouille (see page 25, The Way to
Cook).
Then, as Julia Child would say in her unmistakable staccato voice,
"Bon appetit!"
89
Oceanus magazine is proud to offer this collector's edition,
signed, limited reproduction of Sig Purwin's recent work,
"(The iUtsHiarh." This rendition of the iUtsmarch, resting on
the bottom of the Atlantic as it was discovered in 1989 by
WHOI Senior Scientist and explorer, Robert Ballard, origi-
nally appeared on the cover of our Fall 1989 issue.
It is now available to you as a signed, framed (19" x 22"),
expertly crafted work. There were only 250 of these beauti-
ful reproductions produced, and they are going quickly. Act
now by sending your check or money order for $200.00
(U.S.), payable to the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institu-
tion, today.
Bismarck Art
c/o Oceanus magazine
Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution
Woods Hole, MA 02543
LETTERS
To the Editor:
I have been intending to write to you for some
time to express my admiration for your
splendid work, Occanus. The recent issue with
the theme, "Pacific Century, Dead Ahead!"
(Vol. 32, No. 4) forced my hand. It's hard to
imagine, but each edition is better than the
preceding one. I read it cover-to-cover and
always come away better educated.
One small point: to my knowledge, there
are no Typhoon-class SSBNs operating out of
the Soviet Far East, as was suggested in the
caption on page 18.
I was particularly fascinated by the issue
because I also had the opportunity to travel to
Vladivostok last November and was on hand
to watch the traditional naval parade on
November 7th. I was told this was the first
year that no naval hardware was displayed,
except for the usual ceremonial ships at anchor
in Vladivostok harbor. My hosts said it was
Gorby's way of de-emphasizing military
power.
As a fellow editor, I know the hard work
and long time that is necessary to put out a
quality publication and that is quite evident
with Oceanus. I applaud you for your fine
efforts and salute your contribution to
educating your readers about the importance
of the seas.
Deam Given
Editor/Publisher Subnotes
To the Editor:
While it's true that the International Whaling
Commission (IWC) moratorium on whaling is
unlikely to end in 1991 ("Oops!," Vol. 32, No. 4,
page 85), this doesn't necessarily mean that
whaling won't start up again. On the contrary,
as nations opposed to the ban have made clear,
unless some exceptions are made that would
allow hunting of certain "recovered" stocks of
whales, these countries may well quit the IWC
and resume whaling under a new regulatory
body of their own creation. Indeed, the Ice-
landic scientist Johann Sigurjonsson expressly
warned of such a possibility in his article in
your whale issue (Vol. 32, No. 1, pp. 29-36).
Frederic Golden
San Francisco, CA
To the Editor:
The issue of Ocecinus on the Pacific Century
(Vol. 32, No. 4) is an extremely interesting one
that will be very useful in my teaching.
Associate Professor Theodore C. Bestor
Anthropology and East Asian Studies
Columbia University, New York, NY
To the Editor:
My compliments on your fine job of research-
ing the Bismarck (Vol. 32, No. 3) — a job well
clone. There were several pictures, apart from
the recent underwater shots, that I had not yet
seen.
The story was captivating. The Bismarck
was an extraordinary ship, literally unsinkable
in the sense that dinosaurs were forever. The
last ship of her class, the epitome of a tech-
nique— and to fight a battle — which was
obsolete. Brought down by a miserly Sword-
fish and a torpedo, and then, at the end, had to
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91
sink herself because the enemy's weapon could
only ravage but not sink her.
I found your article more interesting and
informative than the one in National Geographic,
and was under the impression that their article
had been scaled down significantly.
Klaus Lindemann
Jakarta, Indonesia
EDITOR'S NOTE: Klaus Lindemann is a
relative of the Bismarck's Captain Ernst Linde-
mann, whose picture appeared on page 10 of
that issue.
To the Editor:
I recently saw the special issue of Oceanus
dedicated to the matter of ports and harbors
(Vol. 32, No. 3). Since I have been working on
a United Nations Environmental Programme
(UNEP) report concerned with the state of the
world's oceans, I found the various articles
most informative. Your recent Oceanus has
added significantly to my understanding of
world harbors.
However, I was struck by the fact that
despite the several articles dedicated to the
many aspects of ports and harbors, none added
Attention Students & Teachers...
Oceanus offers special rates to you! A
student subscription is only $20 a year, a
savings of $5.
And to you teachers, remember, we offer
a 25 percent discount on bulk orders of
five or more copies. A discount also
applies to a one-year subscription for
class adoption ($20 a subscription).
Interested in an internship?
Oceanus would like to hear from anyone
interested in being an intern with us. If
you have excellent English skills and a
strong background in science, we have a
place reserved for you. For more infor-
mation, contact the Assistant Editor,
T.M. Hawley, at (508) 548-1400, ext, 2393.
substantively to the argument that in the
future, water transport must be greatly en-
hanced in this country. This would include
transportation between coastal maritime ports
and ports along the various inland waterways
leading to our principal midwestern and south-
western cities. There are many compelling ar-
guments today about increasing the tonnage of
materials moved by waterborne vessels. The
fact is that very few people seem familiar with
the possibilities inherent in maritime transpor-
tation.
Moving materials by water, today, can be
done very rapidly (well over 30 miles an hour),
with far less expenditure of energy than con-
ventional surface or air transportation, and can
be implemented and conducted without any
pollution whatsoever.
I therefore question, why wasn't a signifi-
cant article put in the issue that dealt with: 1)
the various forms of economical, nonpolluting,
and energy-saving marine transportation, and
2) what has to be done to upgrade the port/
harbor infrastructure to service expanded
maritime commerce — especially where the
lines of commerce might extend into the
"heartlands?"
John R. Pearce
Deputy Center Director
DOC/NOAA/NMFS/NEFC
Washington, DC
EDITOR'S REPLY: Because of space con-
straints, we limited our coverage to marine
coastal areas. We did cover inland waterways
briefly on pages 42 and 43.
To the Editor:
In order to relieve Captain John Bean's
puzzlement over the pronunciation of the
word "quay" (Letters, Vol. 32, No. 4), I
offer the following limerick, one of my
originals:
There was a young man on a quay
Who was sipping a glass of iced tuay.
On a peel his heel slipped,
His whole body flipped,
Over the edge and into the suay.
My first visit to Woods Hole was as a nine-year
old in 1910. I consider your well-edited maga-
zine the most deeply interesting of all that I
read.
Richard Edes Harrison
New York, NY
92
BOOK REVIEWS
Book ofQues
and Answers
Don Groves
TJie Oceans: A Book of Questions and
Ansivers by Don Groves. 1989. John Wiley &
Sons, New York, New York. 205 pp. + xviii.
$12.95.
Seas and Oceans: A Reference Dictionary* by
Barbara Charton and John Tietjen (Science
Advisor). 1989. Collins, Glasgow, Scotland.
458pp. £5.95.
Here are two books that will be of interest to
some Occanus readers. Not only are they
informative, but they are small pocketbooks,
and relatively inexpensive.
The question-and-answer book by Groves
is actually more appealing than it might appear
from its title. I first thought it was going to be
a collection of short questions and quick
answers, but it's better than that. The
questions are presented in a coherent series of
seven categories: the physical ocean, the
chemical ocean, the biological ocean, the
geological ocean, the meteorological ocean, the
engineer's ocean, and the global ocean — past,
present, and future. There are also five tables
detailing various characteristics and
dimensions of the ocean, an 18-page glossary, a
bibliography, and a good index.
The questions range from the general, such
as "What is a physical oceanographer and
what do they do?," to some more specific ones
such as "What kinds of currents are there and
what causes them?" Others delve into the
* Available in hardcover in the United States as
The Facts on File Dictionary of Marine Science.
1988. Facts on File, 460 Park Ave. S., New York,
New York 1001 6. 326pp. $24.95.
93
unimportant, such as "What are the seven
seas?" or "How many kinds of tides are there?"
The answer to the last question is three types:
semidiurnal, diurnal, and mixed. This is
probably not the answer most physical
oceanographers might have given, but the one
most understandable by a general reader (the
types are described).
In a way, the questions are a general
introduction to the various fields of marine
science. The answers sometimes go on for a few
paragraphs or even pages. Some questions are
very insightful, but a few are meant to titillate
and would have been better left out. For
example, there are two questions concerning
Atlantis (the lost civilization, not the ship). Mr.
Groves leaves us with the opinion that perhaps
Atlantis is really not a myth, reminding us that
for thousands of years the cities of Troy,
Pompeii, and Herculaneum were also
considered to be mythical places. He further
pursues the subject of evidence of Atlantis and
implies that the odd 5,000- to 7,000-mile
breeding migration of eels may have something
to do with avoiding an ancient land mass.
These little things aside, the book does
make for interesting reading and could be a nice
present for somebody who has a passing
interest in the ocean. The author makes it very
clear in his preface that the book is not intended
for professional practitioners of oceanography
and ocean engineering. Indeed, we already
have enough books.
Sens and Oceans is clearly a reference
dictionary of various and numerous terms
related to all aspects of oceanography. It is
apparently one of a series of reference
dictionaries ranging from biology to music.
Unfortunately, the book does not explain its
rationale. It just starts with "Abalone" and
continues 436 pages later to "Zostera" (eel
grass).
Along the way it defines many oceano-
graphic and geographic terms. It also gives
brief biographies of some early explorers and
individuals who were directly, or indirectly (for
example, German meteorologist Gabriel Daniel
Fahrenheit, who devised the well-known
temperature scale), related to oceanography.
This book seems more appropriate for
oceanographers than the general public. It also
has a series of appendices, one on the geologic
time scale, another listing important events in
marine history, including many I never knew
about before. There is also an appendix on the
taxonomic classification of plants and animals
and a small one on the Law of the Sea Treaty.
J
94
My one peeve is that entries in the book are
considerably skewed toward biological subjects.
The sea anemone gets almost a page, as does the
sea cucumber. The entry for the complicated
geological process of seafloor spreading says
"see ocean," and there it gets only a paragraph.
Oh well, many of my biology friends have told
me that seafloor spreading was not that
important anyway. Their entry for "eel" is
about twice the size as that for seafloor
spreading, but at least there's no reference to
Atlantis.
There is considerable cross-referencing
between individual entries, which is helpful in
gathering information. This book will also be
useful to science writers — in fact they might be
the ones who would benefit most from this type
of volume.
David A. Ross
Chairman, Geology and Geophysics
Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution
Tmditlom and Memories of
AMERICAN
YACHTING
The 50th Anniversary Edition
William P Stephens
Traditions and Memories of American Yachting,
the 50th Anniversary Edition by William P.
Stephens. 1989. WoodenBoat Publications,
Brooklin, Maine. 467 pp. + xii. $49.95.
William P. Stephens is rightfully known as the
dean of American yachting. His memories and
commentary on American yachting are the most
important source of information on the develop-
For high-quality research on all aspects of the global climate
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ment of the sport in this country. Jonathan
Wilson, the creator and editor of WoodenBoat
magazine, has done the yachting world a huge
favor by repackaging and printing Stephens'
writing in what is its first truly accessible form.
Wilson's book, beautifully designed and
printed, is the fifth edition of a collection of
articles by Stephens that originally appeared in
Motor Boating Magazine between 1939 and 1946.
In the new WoodenBoat edition, the articles
have been retypeset, the original art located
whenever possible and carefully reproduced,
and some 45 additional pieces of art have been
added. The most important part of this lovely
book, however, is its index. Since the book is a
series of articles, there is no particular order to
the information. Mary Jo Davies' index will
prove a veritable Rosetta stone to anyone using
this work for research.
All yachtsmen should be familiar with at
least some of the writings of Stephens. His life
spanned a significant and, I think, the best era of
American yachting — 1854 to 1946. Stephens was
a talented and salty writer with an engineer's
ability to see to the heart of things. His yachting
career included (incredibly): organizing the
Society of Naval Architects and Marine Engi-
neers in 1893; editing Lloyd's register of Ameri-
can yachts for 29 years; originating the Seawan-
haka Cup; designing a number of good and
great race-boats; designing, building, sailing,
and winning races in many sailing canoes;
acting as historian of the Cruising Club of
America; rewriting all the yachting definitions
for Johnson's Enci/clouedia; and — most lucky for
us — researching, sailing, and commenting upon
every yacht and workboat-cum-vacht of the era.
j j j
Stephens' book is a must-read for anyone
even remotely interested in yachting. From the
first chapter, "The Genesis of American Yacht-
ing," in which we read about a racing catamaran
built in 1820, through the chapter on Sand-
baggers, which were equipped with hiking racks
for movable ballast and had hand-rubbed
graphite bottoms, Stephens' book is riveting.
Here is a carefully written commentary on the
history of the America's Cup by a man who was
on the committee boat for most of the matches
he describes.
Nor will the reader languish through dry
writing. He describes a test match between two
dissimilar boats as "a pig and eagle race. . .
sailed at the end of the season. . . in a fruitless
attempt to obtain reliable data in the very heated
controversy over a proposed change in the
classification." He also comments: "Though the
centerboard or 'shifting keel' is believed to be an
English invention, it was long regarded by
Englishmen with the same aversion with which
Americans looked upon the lead keel." I
particularly enjoyed Stephen's assessment of
Lord Dunraven: "Having broken into yachting
with the enthusiasm and finesse of a bull in a
china shop, Lord Dunraven, undeterred by the
failure of Petronilla, aimed at no less a mark than
the America's Cup."
In short, this fantastic collection of impor-
tant history, juicy writing, and lovely evocation
of times past is now available in a wonderfully
readable format for yachtsman and landlubber
alike.
Elizabeth Meyer
Yachting Historian and Yacht Restorer
The Museum of Yachting
Newport, Rhode Island
HERRESHOFF
of Bristol
A Photographic History of America's
Greatest \frcht and Boat Builders
Maynaid Bray and Carton Pinheiro
Herreshoff of Bristol: A Photographic History
of America's Greatest Yacht and Boat Builders
by Maynard Bray and Carlton Pinheiro. 1989.
WoodenBoat Publications, Brooklin, Maine.
241 pp. + vi. $45.00.
I was one of those sailboat lovers who assumed
they could spot a Herreshoff design anywhere—
distinctively feminine, lean, alive with motion,
clean, simple — a look that is both durable and
fragile at the same time. Perhaps I wasn't able
to identify each Herreshoff by its name, as can a
friend of mine, and sometimes I confused the
work of the master, Captain Nat, with that of his
son, L. Francis. But I could recognize that
Herreshoff look in any harbor. Or so I thought
until I read this book and learned how limited
was my Herreshoff knowledge.
John Brown Herreshoff, blind from boy-
hood, was the businessman, builder, and
manager of The Herreshoff Manufacturing
Company. Nathanael Greene Herreshoff was
his perfect partner, the consummate engineer
and designer. In this age of mass-produced
images, engineering specialists, and team
design, the scope and capacity of these two
brothers is simply incredible.
Together, over a 35-year span in their
Bristol, Rhode Island, shops they created an
awesome array of marine innovation and
beauty. They designed and built the world's
fastest steam yachts and torpedo boats, includ-
ing the engines. From their shops came the
largest and most powerful racing sloops that
ever sailed — five of which successfully defended
the America's Cup — and a score of yachting's
most successful designs, from the famous
"twelve-and-a-half" to the New York 50. They
custom-made hundreds of boats, many for the
rich and outrageously demanding robber barons
of the 19th century. In 1875, they patented a
catamaran design. They conceived the first fin
keeler, the first duralumin mast, both cross-cut
and full-battened sails, and the longitudinal
construction method for hulls — enough engi-
neering and boat-building ingenuity to fill the
lives of at least a dozen normal men.
This book is billed as a "photographic
history," and with more than 250 photos it
certainly qualifies as such. But the authors have
given us much, much more. The photos are
very crisply reproduced and many are pub-
lished here for the first time. More importantly,
they illuminate and direct us through the entire
compelling story.
It is a story of what may arguably be the
finest engineering art America has ever pro-
duced in sailing craft and steamboats. It is also a
story of the professional lives and values of two
men who, in so many ways, exemplify this
country during its golden age of industry. This
significant book is carefully researched, well
written, and skillfully printed.
Dodge Morgan
Portland, Maine
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The Legacy of the Tethys: An
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Kluwer Academic Publishers,
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214 pp. + xii. $82.00.
Orcas of the Gulf: A Natural
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1990. Sierra Club Books, San
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Return of the Whooping Crane
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ENVIRONMENT
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1989. Harper & Row, New York,
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Global Climate Change:
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424pp. $34.95.
Our Seabed Frontier:
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National Academy Press,
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Turning up The Heat by Fred
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FIELD GUIDES
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GENERAL READING
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The Day That Lightning
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edited by Julia Leigh & David
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Latin American Politics: A
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University of Texas Press,
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Lucy's Child: The Discovery of
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Johanson and James Shreeve.
1989. William Morrow &
Company, New York, NY. 318
pp. $22.95.
Six Days In Havana by James A.
Michener and John Kings. 1989.
University of Texas Press,
Austin, TX. 144 pp. $24.95.
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