The AlborEX dataset: sampling of sub-mesoscale features in the Alboran Sea

Abstract

Abstract. The AlborEX (Alboran Sea Experiment) consisted of a multi-platform, multi-disciplinary experiment carried out in the Alboran Sea (western Mediterranean Sea) between 25 and 31 May 2014. The observational component of AlborEx aimed to sample the physical and biogeochemical properties of oceanographic features present along an intense frontal zone, with a particular interest in the vertical motions in its vicinity. To this end, the mission included 1 research vessel (66 profiles), 2 underwater gliders (adding up 552 profiles), 3 profiling floats, and 25 surface drifters.Near real-time ADCP velocities were collected nightly and during the CTD sections. All of the profiling floats acquired temperature and conductivity profiles, while the Provor-bio float also measured oxygen and chlorophyll a concentrations, coloured dissolved organic matter, backscattering at 700 nm, downwelling irradiance at 380, 410, and 490 nm, as well as photo-synthetically active radiation (PAR).In the context of mesoscale and sub-mesoscale interactions, the AlborEX dataset constitutes a particularly valuable source of information to infer mechanisms, evaluate vertical transport, and establish relationships between the thermal and haline structures and the biogeochemical variable evolution, in a region characterised by strong horizontal gradients provoked by the confluence of Atlantic and Mediterranean waters, thanks to its multi-platform, multi-disciplinary nature.The dataset presented in this paper can be used for the validation of high-resolution numerical models or for data assimilation experiment, thanks to the various scales of processes sampled during the cruise. All the data files that make up the dataset are available in the SOCIB data catalog at https://doi.org/10.25704/z5y2-qpye (Pascual et al., 2018). The nutrient concentrations are available at https://repository.socib.es:8643/repository/entry/show?entryid=07ebf505-bd27-4ae5-aa43-c4d1c85dd500 (last access: 24 December 2018).

Effects of Oceanic Mesoscale and Submesoscale Frontal Processes on the Vertical Transport of Phytoplankton

“…In the late spring of 2014, a multiplatform and multidisciplinary research experiment, AlborEx, was conducted in the Eastern Alboran Sea during a period when a third gyre had formed to the east of the western Alboran gyre and eastern Alboran gyre (Figure b). The field campaign, carried out over 8 days, consisted of the deployment of 25 drifters, 2 gliders, and 3 Argo floats from the Research Vessel SOCIB, which procured 66 Conductivity‐Temperature‐Depth (CTD) casts and 500 biochemical samples (Ruiz et al, ; Troupin et al, ). Sea Surface Temperature at 1‐km resolution (Level 2 product, available from NASA Ocean Color web, https://oceancolor.gsfc.nasa.gov/) and Sea Surface Height (SSH) at 1/8° resolution from remote sensing (Level 4 product from Copernicus Marine Environment and Monitoring Service web, http://marine.copernicus.eu/services-portfolio/access-to-products/) provided an oceanographic context of the mesoscale and submesoscale scale features in the study area.…”

On the Variability of the Circulation and Water Mass Properties in the Eastern Levantine Sea between September 2016–August 2017

“…The use of satellite images in past studies to track mesoscale and sub-mesoscale features has been widely used. In the Mediterranean Sea, SST, chlorophyll and altimetry imagery were utilized in different studies [4,16,[31][32][33][34], some of them the eddies were sampled by gliders [35][36][37][38].…”

PROTEVS-MED field experiments: very high resolution hydrographic surveys in the Western Mediterranean Sea

“…Testor et al (2018) summarized the observations of convection during the dedicated experiment HYMEX. Multi-platform strategies, including gliders, mooring, combined cruises (Ruiz et al, 2009;Pascual et al, 2017;Petrenko et al, 2017;Knoll et al, 2017;Onken et al, 2018;Troupin et al, 2019) or colocation with altimetric tracks (Borrione et al, 2016;Heslop et al, 2017;Aulicino et al, 2018Aulicino et al, , 2019Carret et al, 2019), can provide part of the missing synoptic view.…”