The Mediterranean Sea is one of the most thoroughly studied water bodies in the world Its location and geopolitical importance since before the rise of the Roman Empire has stimulated study since the early eras of human civilisation. More recently, the Sea, like many of the world’s oceans, has attracted the attention of engineers considering the extraction of renewable energy.This paper outlines the complexity of the domains which underpinning modelling must consider. The Mediterranean Sea is a semi-closed water body connected to the Atlantic Ocean through the Strait of Gibraltar in its far western extremity.The main basin is divided into two principal sub-basins, which together cover a surface area of 2.5 × 10⁶ km², with a maximum measured depth of 5.1km. The Sea is characterised by its three distinct water masses: surface, intermediate and deep.These cover the whole Mediterranean basin and circulate independently.The general circulation pattern of the Sea has its own features and characteristics, which are described in this paper, drawing upon published research results.

A one decade (1996–2005) of daily sea level records at Alexandria has been used to calculate both astronomical tide and surge elevations. The tidal harmonic constituents have been constructed using the T_TIDE program. Surge elevations have been calculated by subtracting the astronomical height from the observed sea level. The type factor of the tidal cycle at Alexandria has been calculated and specified the mixed mainly semidiurnal tide. The minimum annual Mean Sea Level (MSL) was 48.62cm, while the maximum was 52.96cm. The MSL over the study period is 50.67cm. Thirty-five tidal constituents have been produced based on the present data. Both the Mm (Lunar monthly) and the Msf (Lunisolar synodic fortnightly) constituents in the present study have the largest constituent amplitudes, being 2.03 for the former and 7.06 for the later. The surge height over the study period varied between 14.64 and 87.15cm, with an average of 50.66cm. The results of the present research show that astronomical tide contributes with 0.005–37.63% while, surge contributes with 62.37–99.995% in the observed sea level

Wind is an important factor affecting the observed sea level. This effect varies from one location to another, and depends largely on the morphometry and the position of the location itself. This paper investigates the relationship between the variations in the observed sea level at Alexandria Western Harbour and Abu-Qir Bay, of different morphometry, along Alexandria coast, and the wind pattern over the city. Simultaneous data sets of hourly sea level records at the two locations and of hourly measured wind over Alexandria from 01.01.2005 to 31.12.2006 are used. The WORLD TIDES package is used for a full sea level analysis. The wind pattern is described, and both wind rose and frequencies are also produced. Results reveal that tides in Abu Qir Bay can be classified as steric meteorological tides; greatly affected by the wind pattern than the astronomical impact. This is mainly attributed to the morphometry and open location of the Bay. In Alexandria Western Harbour, on the other hand, tides can be classified as astronomical tides mainly affected by the sheltered location and the constructions of the Harbour, which diminish the effect of the wind and, meanwhile, increase the impact of the celestial bodies on the recorded sea level

Using 33 years (1974–2006) of hourly sea-level data, this paper plots the trend of long-term variation in the sea-level off Alexandria, representing the south-eastern Mediterranean Sea. Both linear and quadratic model equations describing the rate of variation in the mean monthly sea-level (0.212cm/year) and in the mean monthly sea-level anomaly (0.209cm/year) are produced. The long-term variations in the mean monthly and mean monthly sea-level anomaly reflect very weak cyclic trends. The rate of sea-level variation is controlled not only by the cyclic oceanographic factors but also by the land subsidence process. The latter has much more impact (⅔) than the former (⅓). The total land subsidence, starting from the last year in Cleopatra VII’s life and for 2040 years, is 4.325m. This coincides with the given depth of the present submerged monuments within Alexandria Eastern Harbour. The sea-level rise within the South-eastern Mediterranean basin, associated with climate change, is not as severe as considered by many.