Terminology (our suggestions)


Eddies are phenomena generated either by processes that destabilise alongslope currents (such as the Algerian or the Libyo-Egyptian Currents), or by the wind stress curl locally induced by orographic effects (e.g. Ierapetra and Pelops). They are characterised as cyclonic / anticyclonic, not constrained by the bathymetry and can progagate. Eddies are mesoscale (some 10s to a few 100s km) features that will be characterised as small (up to ~50 km), medium (50-150 km) or large (150-250 km).

Gyres
are circulation features induced by wind and/or thermohaline forcing and/or topographic features (such as straits) that are clearly constrained by the bathymetry (at basin and subbasin scales), and thus they do not propagate. They are characterised as clockwise in the Alboran (mainly due to the orientation of the Strait of Gibraltar) and everywhere else as counterclockwise (due to the Coriolis effect). Parts of the gyres can be unstable.

Straits are narrow passages a few 10s of km wide: straits of Gibraltar, of Messina ...
Wider ones are all channels: channels of Sardinia, of Sicily, of Otranto...

There used to be the Mediterranean Sea, the Western Mediterranean Sea and the Eastern Mediterranean Sea, and other seas such as e.g. the Western and Eastern Mediteranean Seas, the Ligurian Sea, the Tyrrhenian Sea, the Aegean Sea...., co-existing with basins such as the western (resp. eastern) Mediterranean basin, the Liguro-Provencal basin, the Algerian basin or the Levantine basin, and passages such as the Cretan passage.

We propose :
The Mediterranean Sea geography 
(superimposed on the Sea Surface Temperature monthly composite image of January 1998, from DLR). The counter-clockwise circuit of the Atlantic Water entering through the Strait of Gibraltar is illustrated by the continuity of the warmer (red colors) temperature alongslope.
Mediterranean subbasins

The Mediterranean Sea is divided into the western and eastern basins.
Basins are divided into subbasins (following the AW circulation) :
Alb: Alboran; Alg: Algerian; Tyr: Tyrrhenian; Ion: Ionian; Cre: Cretan: Lev: Levantine; Sou-Aeg: South-Aegean; Nor-Aeg: Nor-Aegean; Sou-Adr: South-Adriatic; Nor-Adr: North-Adriatic; Lig: Ligurian; Pro: Provencal; Cat: Catalan.

SigmaAE, SigmaLW and SigmaLE are areas where eddies tend to accumulate and interact, up to merging and/or decaying, in the east Algerian, west and east Levantine subbasins, respectively.

Bal: Balearic Islands; Sar: Sardinia; Sic: Sicily; GoS: Gulf of Syrte; Cir: Cirenaica; Cre: Crete; Cyp: Cyprus; Rho: Rhodes; Pel: Peloponnese; Cor: Corsica; GoL: Gulf of Lions.

The main wind systems are indicated with wide grey arrows: Tr: Tramontane; Mi: Mistral; Bo: Bora; Me: Meltem.
Curved green arrows represent the main river outflows.


Schematic limits of the subbasins in the eastern basin:

see http://www.ifremer.fr/lobtln/EGYPT/Hamad_etal_PiO.pdf
Index of subbasins: 1: Channel of Sicily, 2a: southern Ionian, 2b: central Ionian, 2c: northern Ionian; 3: Adriatic; 4: southern Cretan; 5: western Levantine (deeper than 3000m: the Herodotus trough); 6: southeastern Levantine; 7: northern Levantine; 8: northern Cretan; 9: Aegean.


Mediterranean currents names
We see similarities between the eurafrican mediterranean sea and the asian mediterranean sea (East/Japan Sea). SST_Eurafrican_Mediterranean_Sea
SST_Asian_Med