Ionian Sea

Ionian Sea
Map of the Ionian Sea
Location	Europe
Type	Sea
Primary outflows	Mediterranean Sea
Basin countries	Greece, Italy, Albania
Islands	List of islands in the Ionian Sea
Settlements	Igoumenitsa, Parga, Preveza, Astakos, Patras, Kerkyra, Lefkada, Argostoli, Zakynthos, Kyparissia, Pylos, Kalamata, Himarë, Saranda, Syracuse, Catania, Taormina, Messina, Taranto

Boundaries of the Ionian Sea.

The Ionian Sea, view from the island Kefalonia, Greece

The Ionian Sea, as seen from Corfu Island, Greece, and with Saranda, Albania in the background

The Ionian Sea (Greek: Ιόνιο Πέλαγος, Greek pronunciation: , Italian: Mar Ionio, Italian pronunciation: , Albanian: Deti Jon), is an elongated embayment of the Mediterranean Sea, south of the Adriatic Sea. It is bounded by southern Italy including Calabria, Sicily, and the Salento peninsula to the west, southern Albania to the north, and west coast of Greece.

All major islands in the sea belong to Greece. They are collectively referred to as the Ionian Islands, the major ones being Corfu, Zakynthos, Kephalonia, Ithaca, and Lefkada. There are ferry routes between Patras and Igoumenitsa, Greece, and Brindisi and Ancona, Italy, that cross the east and north of the Ionian Sea, and from Piraeus westward. Calypso Deep, the deepest point in the Mediterranean at −5,267 m (−17,280 ft), is located in the Ionian Sea, at .^[1][2] The sea is one of the most seismically active areas in the world.

Name

The name Ionian comes from Greek language Ἰόνιον (πέλαγος). Its etymology is unknown.^[3] Ancient Greek writers, especially Aeschylus, linked it to the myth of Io. In Ancient Greek the adjective Ionios (Ἰόνιος) was used as an epithet for the sea because Io swam across it.^[4] There were also narratives about other eponymic legendary figures; according to one version, Ionius was a son of Adrias (eponymic for the Adriatic Sea); according to another, Ionius was a son of Dyrrhachus, eponymic for the ancient Illyrian city of Dyrrhachium (modern Durrës in Albania). When Dyrrhachus was attacked by his own brothers, Heracles, who was passing through the area, came to his aid, but in the fight the hero killed his ally's son by mistake. The corpse was cast into the sea, which thereafter was called the Ionian Sea.

Geography

Extent

The

Earth's oceans and seas Arctic Ocean Amundsen Gulf Barents Sea Beaufort Sea Bering Strait Chukchi Sea East Siberian Sea Fram Strait Greenland Sea Gulf of Boothia Kara Sea Kara Strait Laptev Sea Lincoln Sea Prince Gustav Adolf Sea Pechora Sea Wandel Sea White Sea Atlantic Ocean Adriatic Sea Aegean Sea Alboran Sea Archipelago Sea Argentine Sea Baffin Bay Balearic Sea Baltic Sea Bay of Biscay Bay of Bothnia Bay of Campeche Bay of Fundy Black Sea Bothnian Sea Caribbean Sea Celtic Sea Davis Strait Denmark Strait English Channel Foxe Basin Greenland Sea Gulf of Bothnia Gulf of Finland Gulf of Lion Gulf of Guinea Gulf of Maine Gulf of Mexico Gulf of Saint Lawrence Gulf of Sidra Gulf of Venezuela Hudson Bay Ionian Sea Irish Sea Irminger Sea James Bay Labrador Sea Levantine Sea Libyan Sea Ligurian Sea Marmara Sea Mediterranean Sea Myrtoan Sea North Sea Norwegian Sea Sargasso Sea Sea of Åland Sea of Azov Sea of Crete Sea of the Hebrides Thracian Sea Tyrrhenian Sea Wadden Sea Indian Ocean Andaman Sea Arabian Sea Bay of Bengal Gulf of Tadjoura Gulf of Aden Gulf of Aqaba Gulf of Khambhat Gulf of Kutch Gulf of Oman Gulf of Suez Laccadive Sea Mozambique Channel Persian Gulf Red Sea Strait of Malacca Timor Sea Pacific Ocean Arafura Sea Bali Sea Banda Sea Bering Sea Bismarck Sea Bohai Sea Bohol Sea Camotes Sea Celebes Sea Ceram Sea Chilean Sea Coral Sea East China Sea Flores Sea Gulf of Alaska Gulf of Anadyr Gulf of California Gulf of Carpentaria Gulf of Fonseca Gulf of Panama Gulf of Thailand Gulf of Tonkin Halmahera Sea Java Sea Koro Sea Mar de Grau Makassar Strait Molucca Sea Moro Gulf Philippine Sea Salish Sea Savu Sea Sea of Japan Sea of Okhotsk Seto Inland Sea Sibuyan Sea Solomon Sea South China Sea Sulu Sea Tasman Sea Visayan Sea Yellow Sea Southern Ocean Amundsen Sea Bellingshausen Sea Cooperation Sea Cosmonauts Sea Davis Sea D'Urville Sea Great Australian Bight King Haakon VII Sea Lazarev Sea Riiser-Larsen Sea Mawson Sea Ross Sea Scotia Sea Somov Sea Weddell Sea Landlocked seas Aral Sea Caspian Sea Dead Sea Book · Category

• Preveza Weather Station SV6GMQ - Live Weather Conditions (in English and Greek)

External links

References

• Calypso Deep

See also

• Strait of Messina, W
• Gulf of Catania, W
• Gulf of Taranto, NW
• Gulf of Squillace, NW
• Ambracian Gulf, E
• Gulf of Patras, connecting the Gulf of Corinth, ESE
• Gulf of Kyparissia, SE
• Messenian Gulf, SE
• Laconian Gulf, ESE

Gulfs and straits

• Syracuse, port, W
• Catania, port, W
• Messina, port, W
• Taranto, port N
• Himara, small port, NE
• Saranda, port and a beach, NE
• Kerkyra, port, E
• Igoumenitsa, port, E
• Parga, small port, E
• Preveza, port, E
• Astakos, port, E
• Argostoli, small port, E
• Patra, port, E
• Kyparissia, port, E
• Pylos, port, E
• Methoni, small port and a beach
• Ionian Islands

From south to north in the west, then north to south in the east:

Ionian Sea in Catanzaro Lido

Gjipe Canyon terminating at the Ionian sea, Albania

Places

On the West. The East coast of Sicily and the Southeast coast of Italy to Cape Santa Maria di Leuca.

On the South. A line from Cape Matapan to Cape Passero, the Southern point of Sicily.

On the East. From the mouth of the Butrinto River in Albania down the coast of the mainland to Cape Matapan.

On the North. A line running from the mouth of the Butrinto River (39°44'N) in Albania, to Cape Karagol in Corfu (39°45'N), along the North Coast of Corfu to Cape Kephali (39°45'N) and from thence to Cape Santa Maria di Leuca in Italy.

[5]