Circulation in the Alboran Sea as Determined by Quasi-Synoptic Hydrographic Observations. Part I: Three-Dimensional Structure of the Two Anticyclonic Gyres
- 1 May 1996
- journal article
- Published by American Meteorological Society in Journal of Physical Oceanography
- Vol. 26 (5) , 684-705
- https://doi.org/10.1175/1520-0485(1996)026<0684:citasa>2.0.co;2
Abstract
The circulation and dynamics of the Modified Atlantic Water have been studied using data from an intensive field experiment carried out between 22 September and 7 October 1992. Data included 134 CTD casts, ADCP, and satellite imagery. A well-defined wavelike front was observed with two significant anticyclonic gyres in the western and eastern Alboran Sea. Smaller-scale cyclonic eddies were also observed. The front separates the more saline, older modified Atlantic water (S>38) in the northern region from the fresher, more recent modified Atlantic water (S38) in the northern region from the fresher, more recent modified Atlantic water (S<36.8) in the south. The associated baroclinic jet had a mean transport of 1 Sv and maximum geostrophic velocities of 1.0 ms−1. The three-dimensional structure and spatial scales of both gyres were similar, that is, 90 km long and 220 m deep. In the eastern Alboran, northeast of Oran, the origin of the Algerian Current was also detected with an eastward transport of 1.8 Sv. The general picture can be presented as a structure formed by a wavelike ...Keywords
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