The effect of wind-stress over the Eastern Mediterranean on deep-water formation in the Adriatic Sea

Yael Amitai*, Y. Ashkenazy, Hezi Gildor

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

10 Scopus citations

Abstract

We investigate the effect of interannual variability of the wind-stress over the Eastern Mediterranean on Adriatic Deep Water (ADW) formation using an oceanic general circulation model of the Mediterranean Sea driven by monthly ERA-Interim wind-stress of the years 1979–2014. This is done by using climatological annual cycle of the surface temperature and freshwater flux but interannually varying wind-stress. A connection between the wind-stress magnitude over the Rhodes Gyre region and ADW outflow is found in association with the formation of Levantine Intermediate Water (LIW). 720 years artificially generated wind-stress fields were constructed based on the first 50 Empirical Orthogonal Functions (EOFs) of the wind-stress monthly anomalies. This simulation strengthen the connection that was found and also reveal a centennial internal variability of both the LIW and the ADW outflow. It is also found that the intensity of the Rhodes Gyre is almost linearly related to the wind-stress amplitude. However, the ADW outflow is non-monotonically related to the wind-stress amplitude. There is an optimal wind-stress amplitude for which the ADW formation is maximal. When the wind-stress amplitude is more than 50% the climatological mean wind-stress amplitude, the ADW outflow is weakened. This implies a different balance between the saline LIW and the fresh Atlantic Water, entering the Eastern Mediterranean from Sicily Strait, under stronger than present wind-stress amplitude.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)5-13
Number of pages9
JournalDeep-Sea Research Part II: Topical Studies in Oceanography
Volume164
DOIs
StatePublished - Jun 2019

Bibliographical note

Publisher Copyright:
© 2018 Elsevier Ltd

Keywords

  • Adriatic deep water formation
  • Eastern Mediterranean
  • Levantine intermediate water

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