Transient Eastern Mediterranean deep waters in response to the massive dense-water output of the Aegean Sea in the 1990s

Roether, Wolfgang; Klein, Birgit; Manca, Beniamino B.; Theocharis, Alexander; Kioroglou, Sotiris

doi:10.1016/j.pocean.2007.03.001

Cited by 255 publications

(279 citation statements)

References 48 publications

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“…1c). The presence of such a background abyssal current in the region is consistent with previous studies 5,6,13,14,20 suggesting that, as a part of the EMT, waters of Aegean origin replaced waters of Adriatic origin in the abyssal plain of the Ionian basin (see Fig. 1b).…”

Section: Resultssupporting

confidence: 91%

“…However, these authors also pointed out that during 1999 the region was still occupied by waters of Aegean origin, as confirmed by other studies 14,30 . Figure 1b, on the other hand, does not show significant changes in the thermohaline properties of the bottom layer between 1999 and 2003.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 71%

“…1b). Note that, in addition to this shift, which could belong to a part of a larger mode of variability of the EM 21 , a substantial mesoscale, interseasonal and interannual variability exists in EM water masses formation and circulation 5,6,13,14,20,22 .…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 93%

“…Also as a consequence of such a complexity, in the Ionian basin, deep waters can differ considerably in their characteristics, dynamics and routes, which are partly determined by the underlying bathymetry 5 . Note also that the beginning of the new millennium can be considered as a period of large variability for water mass formation and stratification in the EM 5,6,[12][13][14][15][16] .…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

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Abyssal undular vortices in the Eastern Mediterranean basin

et al. 2012

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Abyssal temperature and velocity observations performed within the framework of the neutrino mediterranean observatory, a project devoted to constructing a km 3 -scale underwater telescope for the detection of high-energy cosmic neutrinos, demonstrate cross-fertilization between subnuclear physics and experimental oceanography. Here we use data collected south of sicily in the Ionian abyssal plain of the Eastern mediterranean (Em) basin to show for the first time that abyssal vortices exist in the Em, at depths exceeding 2,500 m. The eddies consist of chains of near-inertially pulsating mesoscale cyclones/anticyclones. They are embedded in an abyssal current flowing towards north-northwest. The paucity of existing data does not allow for an unambiguous determination of the vortex origin. A local generation mechanism seems probable, but a remote genesis cannot be excluded a priori. The presence of such eddies adds further complexity to the discussion of structure and evolution of water masses in the Em.

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Section: Resultssupporting

confidence: 91%

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 71%

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 93%

mentioning

confidence: 99%

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Abyssal undular vortices in the Eastern Mediterranean basin

et al. 2012

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“…The above event and the consequent thermohaline changes in the EMed were named Eastern Mediterranean Transient (EMT) [Roether et al, 1996;Klein et al, 1999;Theocharis et al, 1999b]. Almost 75% of the total volume of Aegean Sea dense waters that entered the EMed was delivered between 1992 and 1994 to an average rate of 3 Sv for that period [Roether et al, 2007].…”

Section: Deep Water In the Cretan Sea And The Eastern Mediterranean Tmentioning

confidence: 99%

Dense intermediate water outflow from the Cretan Sea: A salinity driven, recurrent phenomenon, connected to thermohaline circulation changes

et al. 2014

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Data collected from different platforms in the Cretan Sea during the 2000s decade present evidence of gradually increasing salinity in the intermediate and deep intermediate layers after the middle of the decade. The observed gradual salt transport toward the deeper layers indicates contributions of dense water masses formed in various Aegean Sea subbasins. The accumulation of these saline and dense water masses in the Cretan Sea finally led to outflow from both Cretan Straits, with density greater than typical Levantine/Cretan Intermediate water but not dense enough to penetrate into the deep layers of the Eastern Mediterranean. We name this outflowing water mass as dense Cretan Intermediate Water (dCIW). A retrospective analysis of in situ data and literature references during the last four decades shows that similar events have occurred in the past in two occasions: (a) in the 1970s and (b) during the Eastern Mediterranean Transient (EMT) onset (1987)(1988)(1989)(1990)(1991). We argue that these salinity-driven Aegean outflows are mostly attributed to recurrent changes of the Eastern Mediterranean upper thermohaline circulation that create favorable dense water formation conditions in the Aegean Sea through salinity preconditioning. We identify these phenomena as ''EMT-like'' events and argue that in these cases internal thermohaline mechanisms dominate over atmospheric forcing in dense water production. However, intense atmospheric forcing over an already salinity preconditioned basin is indispensable for creating massive deep water outflow from the Cretan Sea, such as the EMT event.

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Mapping of decadal middle Adriatic oceanographic variability and its relation to the BiOS regime

et al. 2015

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We analyzed long‐term time series of temperature, salinity, and dissolved oxygen (DO) concentrations collected along the Palagruža Sill transect (middle Adriatic) between 1952 and 2010. The data have been mostly collected on seasonal basis, allowing for extraction of seasonal signal from the series. By applying Self‐Organizing Maps (SOM) method, a kind of unsupervised neural network method, the processes on a decadal time scale emerged as the most relevant for changes of oceanographic properties in the middle Adriatic area. Sensitivity studies revealed that oceanographic patterns obtained by SOM were not sensitive to shortening of time series, to removal of data from one station or to removal of DO from the analysis. Simultaneous SOM‐based mapping of sea surface heights in the northern Ionian Sea, with these heights serving as a proxy for the Adriatic‐Ionian Bimodal Oscillating System (BiOS), revealed asymmetry between anticyclonic and cyclonic BiOS patterns and correlated the decadal oscillations in the middle Adriatic with the reversals in the BiOS circulation regimes. These reversals are found to either rapidly change oceanographic properties in the middle Adriatic (e.g., during the Eastern Mediterranean Transient) or to change them with a time lag of 2–3 years. The mapped connections may be used for a short‐time (a few years) forecasting of the Adriatic oceanographic properties or for mapping future climate decadal oscillations as seen by ocean climate models.

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Transient Eastern Mediterranean deep waters in response to the massive dense-water output of the Aegean Sea in the 1990s

Cited by 255 publications

References 48 publications

Abyssal undular vortices in the Eastern Mediterranean basin

Abyssal undular vortices in the Eastern Mediterranean basin

Dense intermediate water outflow from the Cretan Sea: A salinity driven, recurrent phenomenon, connected to thermohaline circulation changes

Mapping of decadal middle Adriatic oceanographic variability and its relation to the BiOS regime

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