Request for Question Clarification by
pafalafa-ga
on
08 Apr 2006 19:14 PDT
The currents in the present-day Mediterranean are pretty herky-jerky,
and it's easy to imagine almost anything happening, in terms of a raft
drifting from point A to point B.
Basically, the strong inflow from the Atlantic and the rapid
evaporation of water sets up a pattern of two large counter-clockwise
gyres, with the boot of Italy serving as a rough dividing line.
A raft set adrift at the mouth of the Nile could well follow the
eastern gyre, and drift a bit east and then north and then double back
to the west along the coast of Turkey, and south along the (east)
coast of Italy.
If it then got taken up by the western gyre, which could easily be the
case, then the raft would be carried by that counterclockwise
circulation north and west directly along the south coast of France.
Would this have occured a thousand years ago? Who knows...I haven't
seen anything that address the historical patter of currents?
But the basic geography of the basin certainly hasn't changed, and
even big changes to inflow like building the Aswan dam would probably
not be significant enough to alter the overall circulation of the
Mediterranean.
And lastly, there's so much variation in the currents, both
seasonally, and simply from one weather episode to the next, that --
like I said -- it's easy to make the case that almost any route would
have been possible.
The Egypt to southern France route, strikes me as not only possible,
but fairly likely.
Does that help at all? What sort of hard and fast evidence are you seeking?
pafalafa-ga
P.S. Did I mention I'm an oceanographer by training?
