Red Sea

Red Sea

Red sea is situated at the junction of Africa and Asia and is connected to the Indian Ocean through Gulf of Aden. The whole of the water in the Red Sea comes from the Indian Ocean. The regions around the sea are either arid or desert or semi desert due to which the sea water evaporates at a high rate and the salinity is very high. The average salinity of the Red Sea is 40% which is about 4 % more than the average of all salt water bodies of the earth since there are no rivers that drain freshwater into the sea. Red sea has formed due to the continental rift which is still active. The sea is 2250 km long in the Northwest of Indian Ocean, 355 km wide and 2211 m deep. Though the surface temperature of the sea is always higher than 20⁰C even in winters and has high evaporation rate and salinity, the sea supports a rich aquatic life with about 1000 invertebrates and about 200 soft and hard corals because of its depth.

There are various theories suggesting the name of the sea, one of which says that Red color signifies North direction and Red Sea is the Northern most tropical sea. Another theory says that it is called Red because of the seasonal blooms of Trichodesmium erythraeum which are red in color on the coasts of Red sea. A theory proposes that Gulf of Aden has been closed in the history by the volcanic activity causing the sea to evaporate completely and become a wide and hot canyon of salt. It is also said that the same phenomenon would have had happened at the time of Ice Age when most of the water of Earth was stored in the form of Ice and new glaciers were in the process of formation.

Red sea is one of the ‘Seven Wonders of the Underwater World’ and is major tourist attraction because of its rich aquatic life and corals.