scholarly journals The clandestine cemetery

2019 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
pp. 18-37 ◽  
Author(s):  
Valentina Zagaria
Keyword(s):  
Mediterranean Sea ◽  
Waste Dump ◽  
North African ◽  
The Mediterranean ◽  
The Dead

The Mediterranean Sea has recently become the deadliest of borders for illegalised travellers. The victims of the European Union’s liquid border are also found near North African shores. The question of how and where to bury these unknown persons has recently come to the fore in Zarzis, a coastal town in south-east Tunisia. Everyone involved in these burials – the coastguards, doctors, Red Crescent volunteers, municipality employees – agree that what they are doing is ‘wrong’. It is neither dignified nor respectful to the dead, as the land used as a cemetery is an old waste dump, and customary attitudes towards the dead are difficult to realise. This article will first trace how this situation developed, despite the psychological discomfort of all those affected. It will then explore how the work of care and dignity emerges within this institutional chain, and what this may tell us about what constitutes the concept of the human.

Globalization, the Media, and Challenges of Illegal Migration for Africa

2020 ◽  
pp. 194-215
Author(s):  
Benjamin Enahoro Assay
Keyword(s):  
Mediterranean Sea ◽  
North African ◽  
Illegal Migration ◽  
Cable News ◽  
African Migrants ◽  
Illegal Migrants ◽  
The Media ◽  
The Mediterranean ◽  
Media Narratives ◽  
Cable News Network

There is a growing concern about African migrants who risk their lives to embark on hazardous journeys across dozens of borders and the treacherous waves of the Mediterranean Sea in search of a better life in Europe. Cable News Network footage of a live auction in Libya, where black youths were presented to north African buyers as potential farmhands and sold for as little as $400 confirm the fears and brought to the fore the ugly reality of the plight of illegal migrants. Aside, the narratives in the media about migration also give cause for concern. In the midst of the general invisibility of illegal migrants in the media, most portrayals refer to migrants in connection with themes of ‘trafficking', ‘prostitution', ‘slavery', and ‘death' because cases of enslavement, drowning, and killings of trafficked Africans in search of utopia greener pastures flood newspapers, magazines, and broadcast space. It is against this backdrop that this chapter proffers solutions and recommends ways to halt illegal migration and change media narratives about migration in Africa.

Investigation of sea breeze and foehn in the Dead Sea valley with remote sensing observations and WRF model simulations

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dorita Rostkier-Edelstein ◽  
Pavel Kunin ◽  
Pinhas Alpert
Keyword(s):  
Remote Sensing ◽  
High Resolution ◽  
Mediterranean Sea ◽  
Sea Breeze ◽  
Dead Sea ◽  
Modeling Tools ◽  
Model Simulations ◽  
Single Location ◽  
The Mediterranean ◽  
The Dead

<p>The atmospheric dynamics in the Dead Sea Valley has been studied for decades. However, the studies relied mostly on surface observations and simple coarse-model simulations, insufficient to elucidate the complex flow in the area. In this seminar I will present a first study using high resolution (temporal and spatial) and sophisticate both, measurements and modeling tools. We focused on afternoon hours during summer time, when the Mediterranean Sea breeze penetrates into the Dead Sea Valley and sudden changes of wind, temperature and humidity occur in the valley.</p><p>An intense observations period in the area, including ground-based remote sensing and in-situ observations, took place during August and November 2014. The measurements were conducted as part of the Virtual Institute DEad SEa Research Venue (DESERVE) project using the KITcube profiling instruments (wind lidars, radiometer and soundings) along with surface Energy Balance Station. These observations enabled analysis of the vertical profile of the atmosphere at one single location at the foothills of Masada, about 1 km west of the Dead Sea shore.</p><p>High resolution (1.1 km grid size) model simulations were conducted using the Advanced Research Weather version of the Weather Forecast and Research mesoscale model (WRF). The simulations enabled analysis of the 3D flow at the Dead Sea Valley, information not provided by the observations at a single location. Sensitivity tests were run to determine the best model configuration for this study.</p><p>Our study shows that foehn develops in the lee side of the Judean Mountains and Dead Sea Valley in the afternoon hours when the Mediterranean Sea breeze reaches the area. The characteristics of the Mediterranean Sea breeze penetration into the valley and of the foehn (e.g. their depth) and the impact they have on the boundary layer flow in the Dead Sea Valley (e.g. sudden changes in temperature, humidity and wind) are conditioned to the daily synoptic and mesosocale conditions. In the synoptic scale, the depth of the seasonal pressure trough at sea level and the height of inversion layers play a significant role in determining the breeze and foehn characteristics. In the mesoscale, the intensity of the Dead Sea breeze and the humidity brought by it determines the outcomes at the time of Mediterranean Sea breeze penetration and foehn development. Dynamically, the foehn is associated with a hydraulic jump.</p><p>Hypothetical model simulations with modified terrain and with warmer Mediterranean Sea surface temperature were conducted to reveal the relative contribution of each of these factors and of their synergism on the observed phenomena. The information provided by the factor separation study can be useful in future climate projections, when a warmer Mediterranean Sea is expected.</p><p>The forecasting feasibility of foehn and the sudden changes in the Dead Sea valley 24 hours in advance using WRF is suggested following the present study. These forecasts can be most valuable for the region affected by pollution penetration from the metropolitan coastal zone.</p>

scholarly journals Nutrients, trace metals and B-vitamin composition of the Moulouya River: A major North African river discharging into the Mediterranean Sea

2016 ◽  
Vol 176 ◽  
pp. 47-57 ◽  
Author(s):  
Antonio Tovar-Sánchez ◽  
Gotzon Basterretxea ◽  
Mostapha Ben Omar ◽  
Antoni Jordi ◽  
David Sánchez-Quiles ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Trace Metals ◽  
Mediterranean Sea ◽  
North African ◽  
The Mediterranean ◽  
B Vitamin

scholarly journals Subsurface Seawater Intrusion, an Additional Factor Influencing the Limnological History of the Dead Sea Basin

2016 ◽  
Vol 5 (2) ◽  
pp. 244
Author(s):  
Uri Kafri
Keyword(s):  
Sodium Chloride ◽  
Mediterranean Sea ◽  
Seawater Intrusion ◽  
Lake Level ◽  
Dead Sea ◽  
Core Hole ◽  
Dead Sea Basin ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Mediterranean ◽  
The Dead

<p class="emsd-body"><span lang="EN-GB">A deep core hole, drilled in the middle of the Dead Sea penetrated the Pleistocene- Holocene section, revealed an alternating sequence of fresh water and evaporitic (gypsum, halite) deposits. The vertical facies variations were interpreted as related mainly to lake level changes during this period. The present study, however, proposes an additional factor that influenced these changes, namely subsurface seawater intrusion from the Mediterranean Sea to the endorheic Dead Sea Basin. This proposed process is controlled by the elevation and head difference between both base levels at a given time, because the Mediterranean Sea level also fluctuated during the discussed period. We find that in times of smaller head differences, and assumed lower seawater intrusion, a gypsum facies prevailed in the Dead Sea Basin. In times of greater head differences and assumed more abundant seawater intrusion a halite facies prevailed because of greater sodium chloride input into the Dead Sea.</span></p>

scholarly journals Contribution of Nutrients and some Trace Metals from a Huge Egyptian Drain to the SE-Mediterranean Sea, west of Alexandria

2006 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
pp. 79 ◽  
Author(s):  
O.A. EL-RAYIS ◽  
M.A.M. ABDALLAH
Keyword(s):  
Mediterranean Sea ◽  
North African ◽  
Inorganic N ◽  
Total Load ◽  
Technical Report Series ◽  
Technical Report ◽  
The Mediterranean ◽  
Aswan High Dam ◽  
Reactive Phosphorus ◽  
Polluted Lake

In 2003 the MAP Technical Report Series 141, mentioned the lack of data concerning the flux of water, sediments and pollutants from North-African rivers and from the land-based sources to the Mediterranean Sea.In Egypt, the Omoum drain, after the construction of the Aswan High Dam and the controlling of the Nile River water fl ow, has become one of the main land-based sources regularly discharging its waters (fl ow rate 2547.7 x 106 m3/year) directly into the Mediterranean Sea at EL-Mex Bay, west of Alexandria. Downstream, before it reaches the sea, its water mixes with water effl uent (surplus water) from a neighboring sewage-polluted lake called Lake Maryout, rate 262.8 x 106 m3/year.The present work is a monthly study over a year of levels of concentration of some mainly trace elements (nutrients and some heavy metals) in the proper water of the drain before mixing and in the effl uent from the lake, and calculations of both the concentrations and the corresponding expected loads of these elements contributed by the drain to the sea. The results revealed that the respective loads to the sea are 77380 ton/year for total suspended matter, 823 tons/year for dissolved PO4 -P, 4745 tons/year for inorganic N, 23.7 tons/year for Fe, 3.28 tons/year for Mn, 5.84 tons/year for Cu, 2.9 ton/year for Cd, and 24 tons/year for Zn. The elements loaded by the lake effl uent represent values ranging between 8 and 57.5% of the total load contributed by the drain to the sea. The plant nutrients (ammonia and reactive phosphorus) are of values exceeding 44%.

scholarly journals Phylogeography of Aphanius fasciatus (Osteichthyes: Aphaniidae) in the Mediterranean Sea, with a focus on its conservation in Cyprus

Hydrobiologia ◽  
2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Joachim Langeneck ◽  
Chris Englezou ◽  
Matteo Di Maggio ◽  
Alberto Castelli ◽  
Ferruccio Maltagliati
Keyword(s):  
Genetic Diversity ◽  
Mediterranean Sea ◽  
Management Practices ◽  
National Level ◽  
The Other ◽  
Glacial Refugium ◽  
Small Fish ◽  
North African ◽  
Aphanius Fasciatus ◽  
The Mediterranean

AbstractAphanius fasciatus is a small fish occurring in Mediterranean brackish environments. In Cyprus it is known from three localities separated by long stretches of coast. The genetic diversity of these populations was evaluated using fragments of two mitochondrial genes. A comparison with the other available data showed that Cyprus populations represent a distinct lineage. The other lineages are concentrated in a relatively small area between the Strait of Sicily and the Western Ionian Sea, while all other areas include a subset of these lineages, suggesting that the aforementioned area might have acted as a glacial refugium. Landlocked North-African populations diverge from all other populations, suggesting that they might have originated in the Late Pleistocene, during transgression events of the Mediterranean Sea in North-African inland water bodies. The genetic diversity of A. fasciatus varied across different Cyprus populations, with a pattern mirroring the degree of environmental degradation, which likely affected population genetic variability through demographic reductions. The three Cyprus populations showed genetic uniqueness, suggesting the need of population-based management practices; the low genetic diversity of two populations, and the number of threats affecting them, suggest that the species should be considered endangered at national level and deserves protection measures.

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