Spreading of Levantine Intermediate Waters by submesoscale coherent vortices in the northwestern Mediterranean Sea as observed with gliders

Type : ACL
Nature : Production scientifique
Au bénéfice du Laboratoire : Oui
Statut de publication : Publié
Année de publication : 2015
Auteurs (7) : BOSSE Antony TESTOR Pierre MORTIER Laurent PRIEUR Louis TAILLANDIER Vincent D'ORTENZIO Fabrizio COPPOLA Laurent
Revue scientifique : Journal of Geophysical Research-Oceans
Volume : 120
Fascicule : 3
Pages : 1599-1622
DOI : 10.1002/2014JC010263
URL : http://hal.upmc.fr/hal-01136110
Abstract : Since 2007, gliders have been regularly deployed in the northwestern Mediterranean Sea, a crucial region regarding the thermohaline circulation of the Mediterranean Sea. It revealed for the first time very warm (+0.4 degrees C) and saline (+0.1) submesoscale anticyclones at intermediate depth characterized by a small radius (similar to 5 km), high Rossby (similar to 0.3), and Burger (similar to 0.7) numbers. They are likely order of 10 to be formed each year, have a life time order a year and certainly contribute significantly to the spreading of the Levantine Intermediate Waters (LIW) toward the whole subbasin, thus potentially impacting wintertime vertical mixing through hydrographical and dynamical preconditioning. They could be mainly formed by the combined action of turbulent mixing and flow detachment of the northward flow of LIW at the northwestern headland of Sardinia. Upwelling conditions along the western coast of Sardinia associated with a southward geostrophic flow within the upper layers seem to play a key role in their formation process.
Mots-clés : submesoscale coherent vortices; Levantine Intermediate Waters; northwestern Mediterranean Sea; gliders observations
Commentaire : -
Tags : hauturier MOOSE
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Citation :
Bosse A, Testor P, Mortier L, Prieur L, Taillandier V, D'Ortenzio F, Coppola L (2015) Spreading of Levantine Intermediate Waters by submesoscale coherent vortices in the northwestern Mediterranean Sea as observed with gliders. J Geophys Res-Oceans 120: 1599-1622 | doi: 10.1002/2014JC010263