Hydrographic indications of advection/convection effects in the Gulf of Elat

Ann Wolf-Vecht*, Nathan Paldor, Stephen Brenner

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

92 Scopus citations

Abstract

The convective/advective balance at the northern end of the Gulf of Elat was investigated by comparing observed data to a numerical model's predictions. The data, monthly temperature and salinity profiles collected from July 1988 to August 1989, indicate a continuously developing annual cycle, with the water column reaching vertical homogeneity in February and the new thermocline beginning to develop in March. In the summer, an upper 200 m thermally stratified layer (surface temperatures reaching 26°C) overlies a thermally homogeneous layer of 21°C. Salinity is close to 40.5% and varies by less than 0.5% throughout the year, although a salinity minimum develops in the upper layer in late spring and erodes and deepens in the fall and winter as the water column becomes mixed. The strictly one-dimensional convective model successfully reproduces the thermal structure, with a slight lag in summer thermocline development, but is unable to predict the observed salinity minimum. The addition of some advected Red Sea water (40.3%) to the model enables the reproduction of the salinity minimum. This inflow of warmer water also may account for the relatively early thermocline development.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)1393-1401
Number of pages9
JournalDeep-Sea Research, Part A: Oceanographic Research Papers
Volume39
Issue number7-8
DOIs
StatePublished - 1992

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