The African Seas include marginal basins of two major oceans, the Atlantic and the Indian, a miniature ocean, the Mediterranean Sea, and an infant ocean, the Red Sea. The main geographical traits of all near-coastal regions surrounding the African continent are reviewed, focusing in particular on the surface current systems of the Atlantic and Indian Oceans, which influence physical as well as ecological processes of local areas. These are the Canary, Guinea, Angola and Benguela Currents, in the Atlantic African waters; the Monsoon Currents, the Somali, South Equatorial and East African Currents, the Mozambique Current and/or Channel Eddies, the East Madagascar Current and the Agulhas Current system, including the Agulhas Return Current and the Agulhas Leakine, in the Indian Ocean African waters. Further, the Mediterranean Sea and Red Sea (and the main African Great Lakes) are also reviewed, in order to introduce their environmental peculiarities and special challenges. While some of these basins have been sailed since ancient times, others remain surprisingly uncharted, in particular from the scientific point of view. Systematic and synoptic application of remote sensing techniques can provide clues to help compose the unique mosaic of dynamical and bio-geo-chemical features of the African Seas.
BARALE Vittorio;
2014-10-14
Springer Science+Business Media
JRC91274
978-94-017-8007-0,
978-94-017-8008-7,
http://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007%2F978-94-017-8008-7_1,
https://publications.jrc.ec.europa.eu/repository/handle/JRC91274,
10.1007/978-94-017-8008-7_1,
