Hydrographic situation during cruise M84/3 and P414 (spring 2011) in the Mediterranean Sea

Abstract

Abstract. Aspects of hydrography and large-scale circulation observed in the Mediterranean Sea during the M84/3 and P414 cruises (April and June 2011, respectively) are presented. In contrast to most of the recent expeditions, which were limited to special areas of the basin, these two cruises, especially the M84/3, offered the opportunity of delineating a quasi-synoptic picture of the distribution of the relevant physical parameters along a section extending through the whole Mediterranean, from the Lebanese coast up to the Strait of Gibraltar. The foci of our analysis are the observed water mass properties and velocity fields. The first are investigated through T -S diagrams and an optimum multiparameter (OMP) analysis and the results are discussed also in the context of recently identified modes of variability; the second are studied by comparing the velocity fields observed using a vessel-mounted Acoustic Doppler Current Profiler and those calculated from the observed density fields. Overall, a distribution of temperature, salinity and geostrophic velocities emerges, which is far from that observed before the beginning of the so-called "Eastern Mediterranean Transient", a major climatic shift in the hydrography and circulation of the Mediterranean Sea which began at the end of the 1980s. The picture which emerges helps to further address the complexity of long-term evolution of hydrography and large-scale circulation of the Mediterranean Sea.

Hydrography in the Mediterranean Sea during a cruise with RV <i>Poseidon</i> in April 2014

“…3) gives an overview of the TS characteristics in the whole Mediterranean Sea during April 2014. The results are comparable to those we found already in April and June 2011 on cruises with RV Meteor and RV Poseidon (Hainbucher et al, 2014), and they highlight the differences which exist between the EMed and WMed. The horizontal distance between CTD stations was too coarse to consider the transects reliable, yet, the high resolution of UCTD (Fig.…”

Untangling biogeochemical processes from the impact of ocean circulation: First insight on the Mediterranean dissolved barium dynamics

“…Note that Hainbucher et al [2013] previously performed an OMP analysis of this data set. Note that Hainbucher et al [2013] previously performed an OMP analysis of this data set.…”

Is coccolithophore distribution in the Mediterranean Sea related to seawater carbonate chemistry?

“…Once it reaches the Sicily Channel (close to stations 304/305), the salinity minimum was found at ∼ 100 m depth. (Hainbucher et al, 2014). In terms of carbonate chemistry, AW from the surface western Mediterranean was characterized by TA below 2560 µmol Kg −1 , DIC near 2250 µmol Kg −1 , and pH of 8 (Àlvarez et al, 2014).…”