Climatic conditions

Northern Adriatic climatic conditions

The sea region of the Mediterranean covers only one percent of Slovenia. This is the submarine, marine and coastal area of Slovenian Istria, which is a very important natural resource.

The northernmost Mediterranean gulf ends in the Northern Adriatic with the Gulf of Trieste. There is a juncture of three dominating European regions here, namely of the Mediterranean, Dinaric Alps and Alps. The characteristics of all three of them greatly influence the natural features of the Gulf of Trieste, and for that its biotic diversity is exceptional.

The climate in this area is mild with fast and cold north wind erruptions (sub-Mediterranean climate). 
In this part of the Adriatic, the prevalent sea current mainly travels along the Istrian coast towards the north and further on towards Trieste, where it turns and returns south. The average velocity of this current is 0.8 knots. If the conditions are normal, two occurrences of high tide and two occurrences of low tide (usually not greater than 60 cm) take place every 24 hours and 50 minutes. 

The average annual seawater temperature is 15.8° C and is higher than the average annual air temperature by 2.8°.

The port is well protected against the winds, the tide level is minimum, and there are no currents to disturb the ship navigation. Port entry points are in the less windy direction.   

Favourable climatic conditions thus enable continuous port service operation 24 hours a day and 365 days a year.