A Geographical Case Study of the Principality of Monaco - Research Paper Example

Within Monaco, there is only one body of water to speak of: the often mentioned Mediterranean or, more specifically, the Ligurian arm of the Mediterranean. The Ligurian is formed by the north of France’s west-Mediterranean island of Corsica, the aforementioned French Riviera, and the Northwestern Italian region of the Italian Riviera. The Ligurian Sea is fed by the Tyrrhenian current south from the Corsica Channel between the west coast of central Italy and Corsica (Allemand, Debernardi, & Seaman: 151).

Government and civic society began forging an initiative to preserve the Principality’s ‘coastal resources’ through ‘artificial reefs’ in 1976 (Allemand, et al.: 151). The project involved the creation of ‘two protected zones, or reserves’ along Monaco’s coastline under the supervision of Prince Rainer III (Allemand, et al.:151). The project continued under the supervision of the Association Monegasque pour la Protection de la Nature, and the reserves included reefs that were designed to restore and protect seagrass in Monaco’s Undersea Research and also for the protection and preservation of red coral in Monaco’s Coral Reserve (Allemand, et al.:151). Its location, between the foothills of the Alps and the Ligurian sea, lends Monaco a CSA (dry-summer subtropical or more appropriately “Mediterranean”) climate classification under the Köppen climate classification (Haggett: 1043).

Monaco does not see much precipitation, roughly 811mm of rain per year, most of which fall during the winter: July is the driest month, sees around 18mm of rain, while the wetter November sees much higher precipitation, 118mm. “Subtropical” comes into play while discussing temperatures in Monaco; winters are usually “mild”, with the lows dipping to around ~8 °C at their coldest in January, whereas throughout the summer, temperatures averaging ~25 °C between July and August (Climate Data).

In more descriptive terms, Monaco is an ‘enclave’ that ‘enjoys a Mediterranean climate’ with ‘hot, dry summer and mild winters and due to its ‘sheltered location on the lower slopes of the rugged, maquis-covered Maritime Alps’ it enjoys ‘protection against the cold northerly wind known as the mistral’.