Deep Water Mass Circulation in the Alboran Basin. Measurements - January to April 1982. ALBORAN II,
Abstract
Alboran Sea circulation between 220 m and 1100 m depth is studied. Interactions among 3 sea water types, Atlantic water, Levantine water, and western Mediterranean Deep water cause complicated flow patterns. Atlantic water flowing as a jet through the Strait of Gibraltar forms a variable anticyclonic gyre down to a depth of 200 m. Measurements by moored current meters and free-floating vertical current meters deployed and acoustically tracked in the western part of the Moroccan continental slope revealed an enhanced current along this slope toward Gibraltar. The study of the total deep circulation pattern in the Alboran basin used a combination of current meter and free float measurements. Tracks of the floats at all depths from 220 m to 1100 m revealed broad and slow (approx. 2.5 cm/s) cyclonic circulation located under the surface anticyclonic gyre. Floats revealed the boundary current along the Moroccan continental slope to have a complicated pattern, moving eastward or westward after reaching the slope east or west of 4.0 deg W respectively. The time-dependent vector field of currents created from all the float and current-meter readings shows periods of enhanced and extended cyclonic motion followed by stagnation and even reversal of current direction in external positions, with only the small cyclonic vortex.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Sep 01, 1987
- Accession Number
- ADA189205
Entities
People
- P. Pistek
Organizations
- SACLANT ASW Research Centre