Ventilation of deep waters in the Adriatic and Ionian Seas following changes in thermohaline circulation of the Eastern Mediterranean

Date

2006-07-27

Author

Manca, Beniamino B.
Ibello, Valeria
Pacciaroni, Massimo
Scarazzato, Paolo
Giorgetti, Alessandra

Metadata

Show full item record

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

Item Usage Stats

218
views

0
downloads

Hydrographic measurements obtained in March-April 2002 indicate a new ventilation of the deep layers in the Adriatic and Ionian Seas, following abrupt changes in the thermohaline circulation of the eastern Mediterranean observed since the beginning of the last decade. The water masses that reside in the Southern Adriatic basin were renewed by open ocean winter convection of water with potential density excess (sigma(theta)) > 29.18 kg m(-3) at depths 600 to 800 m and by a vein of still denser (29.26 kg m(-3)) and oxygen-rich (230 to 232 mmol m(-3)) water flowing into the southern Adriatic depression (similar to 1200 m), presumably from the north, When compared to 1999, a moderate increase in salinity (similar to 0.05) and a much stronger dissolved oxygen increase (> 29 mmol m(-3)) were found in the bottom layer of the southern Adriatic Sea. The cold, fresh and highly oxygenated water of Adriatic origin, overflowing the Otranto Strait sill (similar to 935 m) with a potential density of 29.24 kg m(-3), was dense enough to sink into the deep Ionian basin. Multiparameter analysis based on the fundamentals of the mixing processes was applied using temperature, salinity, oxygen and nutrient data to investigate the spatial distribution of water masses and to quantify the fractional contributions of distinctive source water types along specific sections running from the Adriatic to the Ionian Sea. The results clearly indicate that the dense water of Adriatic origin, which was recently in contact with the atmosphere, have again replenished the volume of the deep Ionian basin by more than 50%.

Subject Keywords

Water mass composition, Deep ventilation, Thermohaline circulation, Adriatic Sea, Ionian Sea

URI

https://hdl.handle.net/11511/30652

Journal

CLIMATE RESEARCH

DOI

https://doi.org/10.3354/cr031239

Collections

Graduate School of Marine Sciences, Article

Suggestions

OpenMETU
Core

Seasonal Changes in the Composition and Abundance ofZooplankton in the Seas of the Mediterranean Basin Kovalev, Av; Mazzocchı, Mg; Toklu Alıçlı, Benin; Skryabın, Va; Kıdeyş, Ahmet Erkan (2003-01-01) Seasonal changes in the composition, abundance and biomass of zooplankton in the seas of the Mediterranean basin (the Mediterranean, Black and Azov seas) have been reviewed using our own data and data from the literature. In the deep-water central regions of the seas, the seasonal cycle of zooplankton abundance is characterised by one maximum occurring in spring or summer. In the coastal regions, two to three peaks (spring, summer and autumn) exist for the zooplankton abundance. The amplitude of seasonal fl...
Determinants of temperature and salinity in the Levantine Sea using in-situ data Serimözü, Cem; Taşıran, Ali Cevat; Sustainable Environment and Energy Systems (2019-8) The Levantine Sea, part of the Eastern Mediterranean where international interests collide and exposed to rising anthropogenic pressure, is our focus in this study. Additionally, four of its sub-regions: Cilician and Levantine Basins, Coastal Nile Delta and Rhodes Gyre are chosen. On account of the relative scarcity of scientific studies of these regions, we aimed to contribute to the investigation of Sea Water Temperature and Salinity, two critical oceanographic parameters in the context of climate change....
Continuous resistivity profiling survey in Mersin Harbour, Northeastern Mediterranean Sea OKYAR, Mahmut; YILMAZ, Sedat; Tezcan, Devrim; Cavas, Hakan (2013-06-01) No detailed information has previously been available on the geological and geophysical characteristics of the sea floor and the underlying strata of Mersin Harbour, Northeastern Mediterranean Sea (Turkey). Continuous resistivity profiling (CRP) and borehole data from Mersin Harbour were used to interpret geoelectric stratigraphy of Neogene-Quaternary sediments in the area. This represents one of few such detailed case studies that have applied these valuable CRP techniques for the purpose of marine stratig...
Wet deposition of major ions and trace elements in the eastern Mediterranean basin Al-Momani, IF; Aygun, S; Tuncel, Süleyman Gürdal (1998-04-20) Elemental and ionic composition of the eastern Mediterranean precipitation was determined on the Mediterranean coast of Turkey between January 1992 and January 1994. Measured concentrations were comparable with the concentrations reported from other rural stations. Concentrations of elements and ions show strong short-term and well-defined long-term variations. Short-term variations are due to transport from different source areas whereas longterm (seasonal) variations are governed by the seasonal changes i...
NUTRIENT AND ORGANIC CARBON EXCHANGES BETWEEN THE BLACK AND MARMARA SEAS THROUGH THE BOSPORUS STRAIT Polat, Çolpan; Tuğrul, Süleyman (2005-08-01) ecent systematic chemical data, together with a new estimate of the water fluxes, permit the calculation of the total phosphorus (TP), nitrogen (TN) and organic carbon (TOC) exchanged between the Black and the Marmara Seas through the Bosphorus. Assuming the chemical concentrations of the exchanging waters to be constant on a yearly time scale, the estimated total annual fluxes are as follows.

Citation Formats

B. B. Manca, V. Ibello, M. Pacciaroni, P. Scarazzato, and A. Giorgetti, “Ventilation of deep waters in the Adriatic and Ionian Seas following changes in thermohaline circulation of the Eastern Mediterranean,” CLIMATE RESEARCH, pp. 239–256, 2006, Accessed: 00, 2020. [Online]. Available: https://hdl.handle.net/11511/30652.