The Sound Channel Axis in the Western Mediterranean

Abstract

The effect of the subsurface current on the sound velocity field in the western Mediterranean was investigated in the summer of 1970. This water movement carries warm waters from the Strait of Sicily to the Strait of Gibraltar at depths below the sound channel axis. A hydrographic section made between the two straits indicates that a change in the properties of the intermediate water at around 7 degrees E results in a doubling of the depth of the sound channel axis and alters the character of the sound velocity profile about this axis. A more extensive study of this region, including towing of an instrument package, gave indications of an intermittent process involved in this change. The sound velocity field was found to change appreciably over distances of ten nautical miles. A second tow exercise probed the region between the Strait of Sicily and the Tyrrhenian Sea. It found the velocity field there to be less variable than might have been expected.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
May 01, 1971
Accession Number
AD0723865

Entities

People

  • Eli J. Katz

Organizations

  • Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Materials and Manufacturing Processes
  • Sensors

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Classification
  • Contracts
  • Governments
  • Measurement
  • Mediterranean Sea
  • Military Research
  • Oceans
  • Physical Properties
  • Regions
  • Salinity
  • Security
  • Stratified Fluids
  • Surface Waters
  • Temperature Gradients
  • Tyrrhenian Sea
  • United States Government
  • Water

Readers

  • Atmospheric Science / Meteorology, specifically Wind Wave Turbulence.
  • Oceanography.