Dense low-salinity outflow from the Adriatic Sea under mild (2001) and strong (1999) winter conditions

Abstract

Quasi-synoptic temperature, salinity, and oxygen measurements in the Adriatic and northern Ionian Seas (Mediterranean Sea) during two different winter conditions are presented. In addition to the confirmation of previous knowledge about deepwater formation in the eastern Mediterranean, measurements give more insight into processes in the Adriatic Sea in winter and, especially, into the fate of the dense low-salinity water masses transported by the West Adriatic Current (WAC) and its spreading into the Ionian Sea. A mild winter season without dense water production in the shallow areas of the Adriatic Sea was encountered during a cruise in February 2001. Dense water outflow, restricted to the deeper parts of the Strait of Otranto, was nevertheless present during that mild winter and also in previous records of a cruise in autumn 1999. Thus, even in times of no deepwater production in the southern Adriatic Sea, observations reveal a continuous flow of Adriatic Deep Water (ADW) through the Strait of Otranto and downslope in the northern Ionian Sea. Strong winter conditions are represented by a cruise carried out in February 1999. At that time, cold and fresh water with density higher than that of south ADW was observed on the Italian shelf. The dense coastal current is continued around Cape Santa Maria di Leuca at the heel of the Italian boot. In the Gulf of Taranto, where the width of the shelf rapidly decreases, dense coastal water is released to depth and transformed by intrusion and mixing with ambient water. Plumes and patches with horizontal extensions smaller than distances of a station grid are resolved by towed measurements in the 200 m upper layer with a multisensor chain. Products of coastal water transformation may be found at any depth on the western slopes of the Ionian Sea. The new observations of dense water carried by the WAC and plunging down to the level of neutral buoyancy in the Gulf of Taranto seem to confirm the hypothesis that the WAC could be the origin of cold lenses found below the thermocline in the central Ionian Sea [Sellschopp and Onken, 2000].