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2002 LAPCOD Meeting
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Quantitative estimate of inter basin exchanges in the Mediterranean Sea from Lagrangian diagnostics applied to a OGCM
V. Rupolo, D. Iudicone
ENEA
volfango.rupolo@casaccia.enea.it(Abstract received 11/01/2002 for session A)
ABSTRACT
Lagrangian diagnostics is used to quantify mass transport in the main pathways of the upper and lower cells of the Mediterranean thermohaline circulation (THC) as they results from OGCM simulations. About 500 000 particles are integrated off-line using daily averaged velocity fields from a Mediterranean OGCM and the characteristic times of the THC are studied by means of the pdf distribution of particles transit times betwen the different regions of the basin.
The Mediterranean Sea is an evaporative basin in which the deficit of water is supplied by the inflow from the Gibralyar Strait of Atlantic Water (AW). The net result of the air sea interactions in the entire basin is an outflow at Gibraltar of a alty water that is mainly constituted by the Levantin Intermediate Water (LIW), formed in the eastern part of the basin. Despite this simplified pattern, the circulation in the Mediterranean is rather complex. Most of the Mediterranean Sub basins are characterized by water mass formation processes and thepresence of sills and straits strongly influence both the spreading and the mixing of intermediate and deep waters.
In this context the Lagrangian diagnostics reveal to be very useful to quantify both mass transport between different regions and the associated spectrum of transit times.
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2002 LAPCOD Meeting, Key Largo, Florida, December 12-16, 2000