Abstract
The deep water of the Western Mediterranean Sea originates in the wintertime dense water formation processes occuring off the Gulf of Lions and the Ligurian Sea and feeds the deep Mediterranean outflow towards the Atlantic via the Gibraltar Strait. Results from Medatlante cruises (in 1988 and 1989) and from the analysis of historical data show that the newly-formed deep water propagates quickly over the whole AlgeroProvencal basin, at its equilibrium buoyancy depth. Its year-to-year variations of temperature and salinity (Lacombe et al, 1985) may be linked to the effects of climate integrated over fall and winter time. In the deep layer, these variabilities are progressively shaded off by the climatic warming trend (Bethoux et al., 1990) and by the earth heat flow through the sea floor, which facilitate the vertical homogeneity. In the Tyrrhenian Sea, heat flow may be mainly responsible for homogeneities in temperature and salinity and for oxygen ventilation of deep waters down to 3600m depth, these waters being perhaps poorly connected to those of the Algero-Provencal basin. These results are new constraints for the modelling of the Mediterranean dynamics and circulation.
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Bethoux, J.P., Tailliez, D. (1994). Deep-Water in the Western Mediterranean Sea, Yearly Climatic Signature and Enigmatic Spreading. In: Malanotte-Rizzoli, P., Robinson, A.R. (eds) Ocean Processes in Climate Dynamics: Global and Mediterranean Examples. NATO ASI Series, vol 419. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-011-0870-6_15
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-011-0870-6_15
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