I-MAG STS
Technically, a mediterranean sea, as distinguished
from an inland sea or a marginal sea, is a mostly enclosed sea that
has limited exchange of deep water with oceans, and where the water circulation is dominated by salt and
temperature differences rather than by winds. The Atlantic Ocean has several mediterranean seas: the AfroEuropean
Sea, the Black Sea, the Sea of Azov, the Aegean Sea and the Sea of Marmara, Baffin Bay and the Baltic Sea. The
American Mediterranean Sea is the combination of the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean Sea. Scholars are not in
agreement whether the proper name for northern polar waters is the Arctic Ocean or the Arctic Mediterranean Sea.
The Indian Ocean has two mediterranean seas: the Persian Gulf and the Red Sea. We will not further inflame
militant geographers by taking a position on the various seas (Java, Sulawesi, Sulu,Banda ...) between Australia and
the Philippines. Of concern is whether a sea is a concentration basin (has higher salinity than connected oceans) like
the Red Sea and the Persian Gulf or is a dilution basin (has lower salinity) like the Black Sea or the Adriatic Sea.
Besides the Homeric meaning of a land of perpetual gloom and darkness, one meaning for Cimmeria is the ancient
micro-continent made up of present-day Turkey, Iran, Afghanistan, Tibet, Indonesia and Malaysia. A chimera is
mythical fire-breathing beast of the female persuasion with qualities of goat, lion and snake. It also refers to a
synthetic organism created by bio-technology as well as a foolish or even impossible fantasy. We use MediChimeria
to refer to the collection of contemporary countries stretching from Morocco to Pakistan.