Decadal variability of the Turner Angle in the Mediterranean Sea and its implications for double diffusion

Meccia, Virna; Simoncelli, Simona; Sparnocchia, Stefania

doi:10.1016/j.dsr.2016.04.001

Cited by 15 publications

(21 citation statements)

References 43 publications

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“…The main consequence of the described decadal variability of the Mediterranean circulation is a salinification of the Northern Ionian basin and the inflow of saltier waters into the Adriatic (Meccia et al 2016) at intermediate depths as shown in section A in Figure 38 (see also Section 1.3). After 2007 (period c) the salinity increases in the layer 200-400 m with maximum values at 300 m between 34°N and 36°N.…”

Section: Mediterranean Seamentioning

confidence: 92%

“…The present section aims to review the general surface circulation of the Mediterranean Sea using 27 years (1987-2014) of CMEMS regional reanalysis (see Section 1.2, endnote 8;Meccia et al 2016;Simoncelli et al 2016), considering as a reference the work of , whose synthesis is instead based on the 23-year reanalysis carried out by Adani et al (2011). Please refer to Figure 12 of for a schematic of the mean surface circulation structures and Table 2 of for the adopted nomenclature.…”

Section: Mediterranean Seamentioning

confidence: 99%

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The Copernicus Marine Environment Monitoring Service Ocean State Report

Schuckmann

Traon

Álvarez-Fanjul

et al. 2016

Journal of Operational Oceanography

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The Copernicus Marine Environment Monitoring Service (CMEMS) Ocean State Report (OSR) provides an annual report of the state of the global ocean and European regional seas for policy and decision-makers with the additional aim of increasing general public awareness about the status of, and changes in, the marine environment. The CMEMS OSR draws on expert analysis and provides a 3-D view (through reanalysis systems), a view from above (through remote-sensing data) and a direct view of the interior (through in situ measurements) of the global ocean and the European regional seas. The report is based on the unique CMEMS monitoring capabilities of the blue (hydrography, currents), white (sea ice) and green (e.g. Chlorophyll) marine environment. This first issue of the CMEMS OSR provides guidance on Essential Variables, large-scale changes and specific events related to the physical ocean state over the period 1993–2015. Principal findings of this first CMEMS OSR show a significant increase in global and regional sea levels, thermosteric expansion, ocean heat content, sea surface temperature and Antarctic sea ice extent and conversely a decrease in Arctic sea ice extent during the 1993–2015 period. During the year 2015 exceptionally strong large-scale changes were monitored such as, for example, a strong El Niño Southern Oscillation, a high frequency of extreme storms and sea level events in specific regions in addition to areas of high sea level and harmful algae blooms. At the same time, some areas in the Arctic Ocean experienced exceptionally low sea ice extent and temperatures below average were observed in the North Atlantic Ocean

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Section: Mediterranean Seamentioning

confidence: 92%

Section: Mediterranean Seamentioning

confidence: 99%

The Copernicus Marine Environment Monitoring Service Ocean State Report

Schuckmann

Traon

Álvarez-Fanjul

et al. 2016

Journal of Operational Oceanography

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“…(), who discard double‐diffusion in the deep layers, no constraint to the double‐diffusion activity is applied. Indeed, regions prone to both forms of double diffusion can be found in the deep waters of the Mediterranean (Meccia et al., ; Onken, ).…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Thermohaline Evolution of the Western Mediterranean Deep Waters Since 2005: Diffusive Stages and Interannual Renewal Injections

et al. 2019

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A large production of anomalous dense water in the northwestern Mediterranean Sea during winter 2005 led to a widespread abrupt shift in Western Mediterranean deep waters characteristics. This new configuration, the so‐called Western Mediterranean Transition (WMT), involved a complex thermohaline structure that was tracked over time through a deep hydrographic station located NE of Minorca Island, sampled 37 times between 2004 and 2017. In this study, the thermohaline evolution of the WMT signal is analyzed in detail. Using a 1‐D diffusion model sensitive to double‐diffusive mixing phenomena, the contribution to the heat and salt budgets of the deep Western Mediterranean in terms of ventilation and diffusive transference from the intermediate layers above is disentangled. Results show distinct stages in the evolution of the deep waters, driven by background diffusion and intermittent injections of new waters. The progression of a multilayered structure in the deep ocean is well represented through existing parameterizations of salt fingering and diffusive layering processes and makes it possible to infer an independent estimate of regional background diffusivity consistent with current knowledge. Overall, the deep layers of the Western Mediterranean underwent substantial warming (0.059 °C) and salt increase (0.021) between 2004 and 2017, mostly dominated by injections of dense waters in the 2005–2006 and 2011–2013 periods. Thus, within the WMT period, heat uptake rate in the deep Western Mediterranean was substantially higher than that of the intermediate levels in the global ocean.

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“…In the Mediterranean, the Tyrrhenian Sea is the most susceptible basin to salt finger occurrences (Meccia et al, 2016). Staircases observations in the central part of this basin have been reported since the 1970s (Johannessen & Lee, 1974;Molcard & Tait, 1977;Molcard & Williams, 1975) and have been studied more in detail by Zodiatis and Gasparini (1996) over the period 1991-1992and Falco et al (2016 over the period [2007][2008][2009].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Permanent Thermohaline Staircases in the Tyrrhenian Sea

Durante

Schröeder

Mazzei

et al. 2019

Geophysical Research Letters

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The longest historical time series (14 years, from 2003 to 2016) of temperature and salinity of thermohaline staircases with highly homogeneous and reliable data ever observed is here presented and studied. The thermohaline staircase system of the central Tyrrhenian Sea is due to double diffusion in salt finger regime, and our study reveals its conservative behavior, oscillating among slightly different shapes, passing through merging processes, with a systematic upward drift of the interfaces. Data also show enhanced salt finger processes after 2010, near the bottom, promoted by the ingression from the Western Mediterranean of a new denser water mass due to the Western Mediterranean Transition. Our results are relevant for studying the mixing in the intermediate and deep region and open the way for modeling and theoretical follow‐up studies aimed to reproduce and explain these observations.

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Decadal variability of the Turner Angle in the Mediterranean Sea and its implications for double diffusion

Cited by 15 publications

References 43 publications

The Copernicus Marine Environment Monitoring Service Ocean State Report

The Copernicus Marine Environment Monitoring Service Ocean State Report

Thermohaline Evolution of the Western Mediterranean Deep Waters Since 2005: Diffusive Stages and Interannual Renewal Injections

Permanent Thermohaline Staircases in the Tyrrhenian Sea

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