Adriatic Sea
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A satellite image of the Adriatic Sea. |
The
Adriatic Sea is an arm of the
Mediterranean Sea separating the
Apennine peninsula from the
Balkan peninsula, and the system of the
Apennine Mountains from that of the
Dinaric Alps and adjacent ranges.
The western coast is
Italian, while the eastern coast runs along
Italy,
Slovenia,
Croatia,
Bosnia and Herzegovina,
Montenegro, and
Albania.
The name has existed since antiquity; in
Latin it was
Mare Hadriaticum or
Mare Adriaticum. The name, derived from the town of
Adria (or
Hadria), belonged originally only to the upper portion of the sea (Herodotus vi. 127, vii. 20, ix. 92; Euripides,
Hippolytus, 736), but was gradually extended as the
Syracusan colonies gained in importance.
But even then the Adriatic in the narrower sense only extended as far as the
Monte Gargano, the outer portion being called the
Ionian Sea:the name was sometimes, however, inaccurately used to include the Gulf of Tarentum (the modern-day
Gulf of Taranto), the
Sea of Sicily, the
Gulf of Corinth and even the sea between
Crete and
Malta (Acts xxvii. 27).
The Adriatic Sea is situated largely between the eastern coast of Italy and Croatia, both major tourist attractions. It was used by the ancient Romans to transport objects (including animals and
slaves) to
Ostia (the Roman port). These objects were used in various places in Rome.
The Adriatic extends northwest from 40° to 45° 45' N., with an extreme length of about 770 km (415
nm, 480
mi). It has a
mean breadth of about 160 km (85
nm, 100
mi), although the
Strait of Otranto, through which it connects at the south with the Ionian Sea, is only 45-55
nautical miles wide (85-100 km).
Moreover, the chain of islands which fringes the northern part of the eastern shore reduces the extreme breadth of open sea in this part to 145 km (78 nm, 90 mi). Its total surface area is about 60,000 square miles (
160,000 km²).
The northern part of the sea is very shallow, and between the southern promontories of
Istria and
Rimini the depth rarely exceeds 46 m (25
fathoms). Between
Šibenik and
Ortona a well-marked depression occurs, a considerable area of which exceeds 180 m (100 fathoms) in depth.
From a point between
Korčula and the north shore of the spur of
Monte Gargano there is a ridge giving shallower water, and a broken chain of a few islets extends across the sea.
The deepest part of the sea lies east of Monte Gargano, south of Dubrovnik, and west of
Durrës where a large basin gives depths of 900 m (500 fathoms) and upwards, and a small area in the south of this basin falls below 1,460 m (800 fathoms). The mean depth of the sea is estimated at 240 m (133 fathoms).
The west shore is generally low, merging, in the northwest, into the marshes and lagoons on either hand of the protruding delta of the river
Po, the
sediment of which has pushed forward the coastline for several miles within historic times " Adria is now some distance from the shore.
On islands within one of the lagoons opening from the
Gulf of Venice,
Venice has its unique situation. Other notable cities on the Italian coast are
Trieste,
Ravenna,
Rimini,
Ancona,
Pescara,
Bari and
Brindisi.
The east coast is generally bold and rocky, with many islands. South of the
Istrian Peninsula, which separates the Gulfs of Venice and
Gulf of Trieste from the
Bay of Kvarner, the island-fringe of the east coast extends as far south as
Dubrovnik.
The islands, which are long and narrow (the long axis lying parallel with the coast of the mainland), rise rather abruptly to elevations of a few hundred feet, with the exception of a few larger islands like
Brač (Vidova gora, 778 m) or the peninsula
Pelješac (St. Ilija, 961 m). There are over a thousand islands in the Adriatic, 66 of which are inhabited.
On the mainland, notably in the magnificent inlet of the
Gulf of Kotor (Boka Kotorska, Bocche di Cattaro; named after the town of
Kotor), lofty mountains often fall directly to the sea.
The prevalent colour of the rocks is a light, dead grey, contrasting harshly with the dark vegetation, which on some of the islands is luxuriant. In fact,
Montenegro (Black Mountain) was named after the
black pines that cover the coast there, and similarly the Greek name for the island of
Korčula is
Korkyra Melaina meaning "Black Corfu".
Major cities on the northeastern coast include
Trieste in Italy;
Izola,
Koper,
Piran and
Portorož in Slovenia;
Umag,
Poreč,
Rovinj,
Pula,
Rijeka,
Zadar,
Šibenik,
Trogir,
Split,
Makarska,
Ploče and
Dubrovnik in Croatia;
Neum in
Bosnia and Herzegovina;
Herceg Novi,
Bar,
Budva and
Ulcinj in Montenegro; and
Durrës in Albania.
The
bora (northeast wind), and the prevalence of sudden squalls from this quarter or the southeast, are dangers to navigation in winter. Also notable are
sirocco (southern wind) which brings rain in the winter and
maestral (western wind) which brings nice weather in the summer.
Tidal movement is slight. The
amphidromic point is just off the northwestern shore, near Ancona.
Both coasts are popular
tourist destinations.
*
List of rivers of Europe*
List of islands in the Adriatic*
Satellite images and maps of Adriatic Sea from
GeaBios GIS Public Service
*
Weather forecast for eastern coast from
GeaBios GIS Public Service
