Water (LSW) mass increased from ~38.95 pre damming to ~39.1 less than 10 years post damming after which it started approaching steady state. These results suggest the majority of a 0.15 increase in salinity of Levantine surface water occurred within the period 1965-1975. However, this model did not consider the effects of global warming on the evaporation rates in the Levantine Sea (LS). In addition, it should be noted that the expansion of the Suez Canal in 1980, by a factor of 3 relative to its previous average cross-section, together with global warming caused an increase of Red Sea water discharge into the Mediterranean Sea to as much as 65 km 3 •yr -1 [7]. This volume of discharged water, which has a salinity of ca 42 PSU and total alkalinity of 2618 µmol•kg -1 , may likely have an effect on the salinity and alkalinity budget of the Easter Mediterranean Sea, however to the best of our knowledge this has not been considered in any study so far. Seasonal measurements in the open waters of the eastern LS during the period 1979-2014 have shown that the salinity of the LSW increased from ~39.2 to 39.5, while the temperature increased from ~24 to 28°C [8]. Thus, since the damming of the Nile in 1964, the overall increase in the salinity of the LSW was at least 0.4 PSU. Bialik