A foreigner living in Turkey showed a visual illustration of how much water went into the sea off the coast of Antalya in a video on her blog. Near the shore of Mahmutlar beach, the water line seriously moved away from the former coastline in just three days, the blogger notes. Tourists are frightened by how shallow the sea is, but residents are calmer because they have already encountered this phenomenon more than once. However, they also require “readers’ versions”, which may be related to this.
We will remind you that such phenomena are observed not only in Antalya. In the neighboring resort province of Mugla, the Aegean Sea receded by 50 meters the other day. The Akyak hill between two large resorts of the Aegean Sea – Bodrum and Marmaris – was at the center of attention. At the same time, residents assure that such a retreat of the sea is happening for the second time in a week. And although this time is characterized by strong tides, the people are frightened – is this not a sign of a quick earthquake?
The experts are reassuring so far: Associate Professor of the Department of Basic Sciences in Aquaculture at Mugla Sitka Koçman University (MSKÜ) Dr. Mustafa Bahadir Oonsoy made a corresponding statement, in which he indicated that sea level fluctuations are the result of the influence of tidal forces of the Moon and the Sun, that is, the retreat of coastal seawater was caused by the tide.
At the same time, he separately emphasized the connection of low tide with a possible earthquake. According to him, it is indeed possible to observe a change in the level of water in the seas after a natural disaster, but “according to scientific knowledge, the interpretation of water withdrawal and its rise as a harbinger of an earthquake would be incorrect and would make people worry in vain.”
It should be noted that such a phenomenon was recorded in Turkey even without a connection with a natural disaster – in March 2022, in Antalya, tourists and residents also “lost” the Mediterranean Sea. The water receded significantly from the shores — as much as 20 meters in Manavgavta. At that time, the lecturer of the same Aquaculture Faculty of Akdeniz University, Professor Mehmet Gekoglu assured that the reason for this was the strong northern wind in the Bosphorus, the so-called payraz, which blew in the Turkish region for several days. He removed the water from the territory of Turkey in the direction of Africa. “In real life, the planet is not covered with an even layer of water. There is land that prevents the water from following the moon exactly. This is why in some places the difference between high and low tide is not very great, and in other places it is significant.
In Turkey, this time the water in the Mediterranean Sea dropped by 20 meters from the initial level in just a few hours. However, this natural phenomenon is temporary: the water will return to the beaches of the resort when the wind changes,” the expert assured.