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abstract

Temperature and salinity of Mediterranean deep water have been increasing, based on observations extending back to 1959. Over the 1940-1995 period, the corresponding changes in heat and water budgets across the sea surface have been estimated to be 1.74 tex2html_wrap_inline597 for the greenhouse effect change, 0.5tex2html_wrap_inline599 and 0.4tex2html_wrap_inline599 for mean air and sea-surface temperature increases, respectively, and an increase of 0.1 m (or 11%) in the freshwater deficit, which is due partly to human activities and partly to climatic changes.