Publication Date:
2014-03-13
Description:
The Strait of Sicily plays a crucial role in determining the water mass exchanges and related properties between western and eastern Mediterranean. The presence of sills to the east and west of the Strait of Sicily and the complex seabed topography modulate the thermohaline circulation of the Mediterranean basin. An anti-estuarine circulation is mainly characterized, from a dynamic point of view, by a two-layer system: a surface layer composed of Atlantic Water (AW) flowing eastward, essentially dominated by mesoscale processes, and a subsurface layer composed of Levantine Intermediate Water (LIW) flowing in the opposite direction; the topography appears to play an important role. Furthermore, there are transition water masses with variable hydrological characteristics. The dataset here studied is a time series 16 years long (1998–2013), which highlights the high horizontal and vertical interannual variability affecting the study area. Strong temperature-salinity correlations, in the intermediate layer, for specific time intervals, could be linked to the reversal of sub-surface circulation in the Central Ionian Sea. Moreover, a long-term monitoring of the hydrographic properties of water masses across this strait allow the modelers to assess the performance of hydrological models of this area.
Print ISSN:
1812-0806
Electronic ISSN:
1812-0822
Topics:
Geosciences
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