[5] At the surface and in the upper 200 m the strait consists of an eastward flow provided by the Modified Atlantic Water (MAW).

In the Ionian Sea it fills the transitional layer between the Eastern Mediterranean Deep Water and the LIW.

This dense water exits the strait at a depth of 300 m at the sill and sinks down, because of its higher density than the LIW, till 1800 m when reaching the Tyrrhenian Sea flowing along the Sicilian slope.

A second topic of interest regarding this little tEMDW flow is that it crosses the midline of the strait, more precisely the Malta sill.

Further downstream, the LIW has lower velocities and the dense water flow returns to the geostrophic position located naturally along the Sicilian coast.

Boundary currents and jets can be created by these processes which can evolve into vortices and filament patterns that can interact with large scale flows.

The AIS flows mainly eastward which can create upwelling on the Adventure Bank (AB) and the southern Sicilian coast.

[13] Also the westward LIW in the intermediate layer and less saltier eastward Atlantic water on top are considered in this scale.

[17][18] The EMT is the major perturbation of the circulation and water mass aspects in this area since systematic observational data is available (1950s).

BiOS is one of the dominant mechanisms influencing biochemical processes in the Adriatic and therefore has great impact on the organisms within this sea[21] and in the strait.

The LIW is a westward flowing water mass in the intermediate layers (from 200 m till 400 m) formed in the Levantine basin, the most eastern part of the Mediterranean sea and ending in the strait of Gibraltar and the Atlantic Ocean.

This high salinity concentrations is one of the important factors for the formation of the deep water in the Southern Adriatic and the Gulf of Lions.

[22] During the past years (measured from 1993 till 1998) the potential temperature and salinity of the LIW have decreased significantly.

Also its geographical  position between the Eastern and Western Mediterranean contributes to the high ecological importance of the strait.

[26][27] Although extinction of these corals is not the case yet because of high productivity in this ecosystem, a decline has been observed in the shallow waters.

During the Conference of the Parties of CITES number 14 (CoP14) two workshops were decided to be organized about the corals in the Pacific and Mediterranean.

Due to high biodiversity, productivity rates and importance of the different species for the ecosystem, the Mediterranean Sea and the Strait of Sicily are becoming of more interest for researchers during the recent years.