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The strait is one of 2 entrance/exit points of the Mediterrainean (the other being the Suez canal), so it is a very strategic location that empires have fought over. The British blockaded it during WW2 to trap the Italian navy in the Mediterrainean.

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Strait of Gibraltar, channel connecting the Mediterranean Sea with the Atlantic Ocean, lying between southernmost Spain and northwesternmost Africa. It is 36 miles (58 km) long and narrows to 8 miles (13 km) in width between Point Marroquí (Spain) and Point Cires (Morocco). The strait's western

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The strait is used for sea transport, trade, going from Spain to Morocco, whale watching, and food.

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The Strait of Gibraltar is the only natural link between the Atlantic Ocean and the Mediterranean Sea and is one of the busiest waterways in the world. At the same time, the Strait is also a meeting point for nature lovers - here you can observe whales and dolphins as well as migratory birds.

The Strait between Atlantic Ocean and Mediterranean Sea

The Strait of Gibraltar connects the Atlantic Ocean and the Mediterranean Sea, is about 60 kilometres long and between 14 and 44 kilometres broad. The Strait of Gibraltar is the only natural link between the Atlantic Ocean and the Mediterranean Sea and is one of the busiest waterways in the world. Approximately 300 ships cross the Strait every day, about one ship every 5 minutes. Due to the special currents there is also a good supply of food here, which even attracts whales and dolphins. During whale-watching tours with firmm you can observe these fascinating marine mammals.

The narrowest point of the Strait is just off Tarifa: from the southernmost city of mainland Europe it is only 14 kilometres to Mount Jbel Musa in Morocco/Africa. This is why many migratory birds cross the Strait here on their routes between Europe and Africa.

A look back to primeval times

Today's Mediterranean basin is a remnant of the Tethys Sea, which existed around the time of the dinosaurs. When the African and Indian plate collided with the Eurasian plate, the Tethys Sea gradually disappeared. A land bridge was built, which completely separated the Mediterranean Sea from the ocean about 6 million years ago. Without this connection, the Mediterranean Sea dried out into a huge salt desert.

About 6 million years ago, the Mediterranean Sea dried up.

The land bridge sank slightly about 5.3 million years ago, allowing water to flow back into the Mediterranean basin. For several millennia this was only a small amount. But the water dug deeper and deeper into the land bridge and with time ever larger water masses flowed in, until the water level in the Mediterranean rose at the end probably up to 10 meters per day.

The Strait of Gibraltar today

Because more water still evaporates than is brought in by rivers and precipitation, the Mediterranean would today dry out again without the connection to the Atlantic. The water level of the Atlantic Ocean is about 1.5 meters higher, so that about 1 million cubic meters of water per second flow into the Mediterranean Sea at the surface.

Due to its high salt concentration, the Mediterranean water is considerably heavier and therefore sinks down over the deeper Mediterranean basin, pushing deep water back into the Atlantic. In the elevations and depressions of the Gibraltar sill in the area of the Strait, turbulences occur, which bring many nutrients from the depths to the surface.

Nutrient-rich water together with light supports the formation of plant plankton (phytoplankton) - a prerequisite for the large food supply. Whales and dolphins also benefit from this. So it is not surprising that we can regularly observe seven species of whales and dolphins in the Srait, despite the heavy traffic.

Speed limit for the Strait of Gibraltar

To protect whales, the Spanish Ministry of Environment set a speed limit of 13 knots (24 km/h) for the Strait in February 2007. firmm was not insignificantly involved in the decision: Our years of research and efforts had contributed to the fact that this topic was discussed at all.

The Strait in Mythology

The Rock of Gibraltar and Mount Jbel Musa in Morocco are also known as the Pillars of Hercules. According to Greek mythology, Hercules was supposed to cross Mount Atlas to rob the herd of cattle from the giant Geryon. But with his superhuman strength he smashed through the middle of the mountain and thus created the Strait of Gibraltar. At the end of the Mediterranean, he marked the end of the world with the inscription "non plus ultra" (not beyond).

The Pillars of Hercules including inscription found their way into the Spanish coat of arms under Carlos I (also German Emperor Charles V). However, since America had already been discovered, the motto was changed to PLUS ULTRA (beyond that). Columns and inscription also decorate by the way today's national coat of arms of Spain.

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The Strait of Gibraltar is the only natural link between the Atlantic Ocean and the Mediterranean Sea and is one of the busiest waterways in the world. At the same time, the Strait is also a meeting point for nature lovers - here you can observe whales and dolphins as well as migratory birds.

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The strait is about 8 miles (13 km.) wide.

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This page contains archived content and is no longer being updated. At the time of publication, it represented the best available science.

This perspective view shows the Strait of Gibraltar, which is the entrance to the Mediterranean Sea from the Atlantic Ocean. Europe (Spain) is on the left. Africa (Morocco) is on the right. The Rock of Gibraltar, administered by Great Britain, is the peninsula in the back left.

The Strait of Gibraltar is the only natural gap in the topographic barriers that separate the Mediterranean Sea from the world's oceans. The sea is about 3,700 kilometers (2,300 miles) long and covers about 2.5 million square kilometers (1 million square miles), while the Strait is only about 13 kilometers (8 miles) wide. Sediment samples from the bottom of the Mediterranean Sea that include evaporite minerals, soils, and fossil plants show that about 5 million years ago the strait was topographically blocked and the Sea had evaporated into a deep basin far lower in elevation than the oceans. Subsequent changes in the world's hydrologic cycle, including effects upon ocean salinity, likely led to more ice formation in polar regions and more reflection of sunlight back to space, resulting in a cooler global climate at that time. Today, topography plays a key role in our regional climate patterns. But through the Earth's history, topographic change, even perhaps over areas as small as 13 kilometers across, has also affected the global climate.

This image was generated from a Landsat satellite image draped over an elevation model produced by the Shuttle Radar Topography Mission (SRTM). The view looks eastward with a 3-times vertical exaggeration to enhance topographic expression. Natural colors of the scene (green vegetation, blue water, brown soil, white beaches) are enhanced by image processing. The scene includes some infrared reflectance (as green) to highlight the vegetation pattern as well as shading of the elevation model to further highlight the topographic features.

Landsat has been providing visible and infrared views of the Earth since 1972. SRTM elevation data matches the 30-meter (99-feet) resolution of most Landsat images and will substantially help in analyses of the large Landsat image archive.

Elevation data used in this image were acquired by the Shuttle Radar Topography Mission (SRTM) aboard the Space Shuttle Endeavour, launched on February 11, 2000. SRTM used the same radar instrument that comprised the Spaceborne Imaging Radar-C/X-Band Synthetic Aperture Radar (SIR-C/X-SAR) that flew twice on the Space Shuttle Endeavour in 1994. SRTM was designed to collect three-dimensional measurements of the Earth's surface. To collect the 3-D data, engineers added a 60-meter-long (200-foot) mast, installed additional C-band and X-band antennas, and improved tracking and navigation devices. The mission is a cooperative project between the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), the National Imagery and Mapping Agency (NIMA) of the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD), and the German and Italian space agencies. It is managed by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, CA, for NASA's Earth Science Enterprise.

View Size: 46 kilometers (28 miles) wide, 106 kilometers (66 miles) distance

Location: 36 degrees North latitude, 5.5 degrees West longitude

Orientation: Looking East, 15 degrees down from horizontal, 3X vertical exaggeration

Image Data: Landsat bands 1, 2+4, 3 as blue, green, and red, respectively

Original Data Resolution: 30 meters (99 feet)

Date Acquired: February 2000 (SRTM), July 6, 1987 (Landsat)

Image courtesy SRTM Team, NASA JPL

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This page contains archived content and is no longer being updated. At the time of publication, it represented the best available science. This perspective view shows the Strait of Gibraltar, which is the entrance to the Mediterranean Sea from the Atlantic Ocean. Europe (Spain) is on the left.

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The strait is between Spain and Morocco, with a rock owned by the UK called Gibraltar. Some cities along the strait include the Moroccan city of Tangier, and the Spanish city of Algeciras.