ALBERT

Description: The spreading of Mediterranean Water (MW) released through the Straits of Gibraltar is studied with hydrographic data, oxygen, nutrients and for the first time with chlorofluoromethane (CFM, compounds F11 and F12) distributions along seven sections in the Gulf of Cadiz, and with measurements in the Western Alboran Sea and west of the Gulf. The properties of MW entering the Gulf are deduced from CFM-salinity correlations east and west of the Straits as well as from property-depth profiles in the Western Alboran Sea. At the time of the survey, the outflow originated from depths above the salinity maximum of the Intermediate Water in the Alboran Sea. It turned out that the F11/F12 ratio of the outflow is equal to the ratios found in the Atlantic water in the Gulf of Cadiz; thus the ratio carries no time information in the region. A model is developed to describe mixing of the MW undercurrent with overlying North Atlantic Central Water (NACW) from different depths. The contribution of each layer to the mixing is parameterized by a weighting factor, which has to satisfy the balances of potential temperature (θ), CFMs, oxygen and nutrients in the MW undercurrent. It is shown that entrainment of water from shallower depths into the undercurrent is important near the Iberian Continental Shelf. Farther west and south, the undercurrent mainly mixes with water from near the salinity minimum of the NACW. For regions where the undercurrent has left the bottom, additional mixing with North Atlantic Deep Water (NADW) has to be taken into account. The percentage of MW in the undercurrent decreases from 76% hear the Straits to about 34% at 7°30′W for the lower core (MI) and about 22–24% for the upper core (Mu). Assuming an outflow of undiluted MW through the Straits of 1.0 Sv, the transport of the undercurrent can be calculated by determining an average dilution factor for each section. The undercurrent transports 2.0 Sv just west of the Straits and 3.6 Sv leave the Gulf of Cadiz. At 36°N, 9°54′W, a meddy with unusually high temperatures and salinities below 500 m was found, covering the density range for both cores, Mu and Ml. From the θ−S characteristics and the evaluated mixing scheme of the meddy it appears to have formed near 7°W in the Gulf, a region up to now not proposed in the literature, and moved westward without much further mixing.

Description: The origin and the spreading of the shallow Mediterranean water core (Ms) in the Iberian basin is discussed with a quasi-synoptic hydrographic data set enhanced by chlorofluoromethane (CFM) measurements. Its characteristic density level is found to be σt = 27.4. Characterized by high temperature and CFM values, Ms enters the Iberian basin in the region of Cape St Vincent between depths of 500–750 dbar. A heat anomaly of 〉11.8 × 109 J m−2 is chosen as the boundary between the presence of Ms and the background field. The core is found in a tongue-like shape as well as in separate isolated eddies of both cyclonic and anticyclonic circulation. Using the optimum multiparameter analysis (Tomczak and Large, 1989, Journal of Geophysical Research, 94, 16141–16149), the North Atlantic Central Water (NACW), which mixes with the Mediterranean outflow to form Ms, turned out to be in the mean 1°C warmer and 0.11 saltier than in regions with minor Mediterranean influence. This points to the Gulf of Cadiz as the origin of Ms, where the Mediterranean oufflows is in contact with NACW of the appropriate characteristics.

Description: In the Deep Western Boundary Current (DWBC) mean velocities obtained by the F11/F12 dating method are far smaller (1–2 cm s−1) than direct velocity measurements (5–20 cm s−1). To resolve this discrepancy, a simple box model is presented that uses the ideas of Pickartet al. (1989, Physical Oceanography, 19, 940–951) to parametrize turbulent diffusion of the current with its surroundings. In contrast to previous models, however, the boundary conditions include all water masses forming the lower part of the DWBC (Denmark Strait Overflow Water, Iceland Scotland Overflow Water and Northeast Atlantic Water). The model-derived mean velocity of the DWBC leads to tracer concentrations that have to fit the observed F11 and F12 distributions, the F11/F12 ratios, and the tritium distributions. Moreover, the model area is extended from south of the Faroe bank along the continental margin of the American continent to 10°S. The model assumes uniform velocity and uniform turbulent mixing along the flow path of the DWBC, and enhanced turbulent mixing in the vicinity of the current compared to the ocean's interior allows the surrounding waters, which remain motionless, to accumulate tracers. The highest mean velocity of the DWBC, which results in model F12, F11, and 3H distributions as well as F11/F12 ratios, compatible to measurements of these tracers along the western boundary, are 4.8 cm s−1. Variations in the composition of the DWBC as well as changes in the time history of the source water masses do not increase the range of the model velocities.

Description: Hydrographic observations from the Iberian Basin demonstrate the variability of water masses in upper and intermediate layers. The surveyed area embraces the internal front between water masses from higher latitudes and the Mediterranean outflow, exhibits several isolated Mediterranean eddy (meddy) structures at middepth, and displays the virtual source region for the Mediterranean Water (MW) tongue off the Portuguese continental slope. The description is enhanced by additional chlorofluoromethane measurements, which show anomalously high concentrations at middepth, due to mixing of MW with the overlying Atlantic waters in the Gulf of Cadiz. The geostrophic stream function shows several meddylike features that not only are remarkably extended in the depth range of the MW, but are also correlated with surface height anomalies.