Northern Adriatic Sea

Abstract

The northern Adriatic Sea is the northernmost region of the Mediterranean Sea, extending as far North as 45°47′N and bounded by the Italian peninsula to the West and the Balkans to the East (Figure 5–1). It is a shallow sub-basin of the Adriatic whose southern open boundary is arbitrarily taken as the 100-m isobath, approximately located North of 43°20′N. The northern and western coasts of the northern Adriatic are generally sandy, and the nearby land is flat (alluvial plains). In contrast, the eastern coast is rugged and mountainous, including numerous islands, inlets, bays and coves. Note that only the open northern Adriatic is considered in this chapter, excluding the waters enclosed by the northern Croatian islands (e.g., Rijeka Bay), which are discussed in section 6.3 of this book.