The Eastern Mediterranean Sea and the arid climate seas, like the Dead Sea and the Red Sea, are special areas of the world ocean where salinity plays a major role in the dynamics, the structure of the marine ecosystem and poses new challenges to the monitoring and modelling of the circulation and associated ecosystems. Unique vertical mixing scheme implementation (including double diffusion processes) and correction of equation-of-state are crucial in such marine areas. This symposium is dedicated to the understanding of high salinity ocean water thermodynamics and dynamics and in general those oceanic areas where the salinity gradient plays a major role in driving the overturning circulation, short term and climate variability aspects of the circulation and the review of the contribution of A.Hecht to such topics.