Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: http://hdl.handle.net/10553/35473
Title: Tracking the Mediterranean outflow in the Gulf of Cadiz
Authors: Gasser Rubinat, Marc
Pelegrí Llopart, José Luis
Emelianov, Mikhail
Bruno, Miguel
Gracia Mont, Eulalia
Pastor, Marcos
Peters, Hartmut
Rodríguez-Santana, Ángel 
Salvador, J.
Sánchez-Leal, Ricardo F.
UNESCO Clasification: 2510 Oceanografía
Keywords: Mediterranean outflow water
Strait of Gibraltar
Gulf of Cadiz
Topographic steering
Bottom drainage system, et al
Issue Date: 2017
Journal: Progress in Oceanography 
Abstract: The Mediterranean Water leaves the western end of the Strait of Gibraltar as a bottom wedge of salty and warm waters flowing down the continental slope. The salinity of the onset Mediterranean Outflow Water (MOW) is so high that leads to water much denser (initially in excess of 1.5 kg m(-3)) than the overlying central waters. During much of its initial descent, the MOW retains large salinity anomalies-causing density anomalies that induce its gravity current character-and relatively high westward speeds-causing a substantial Coriolis force over long portions of its course. We use hydrographic data from six cruises (a total of 1176 stations) plus velocity data from two cruises, together with high-resolution bathymetric data, to track the preferential MOW pathways from the Strait of Gibraltar into the western Gulf of Cadiz and to examine the relation of these pathways to the bottom topography. A methodology for tributary systems in drainage basins, modified to account for the Coriolis force, emphasizes the good agreement between the observed trajectories and those expected from a topographically-constrained flow. Both contour avenues and cross-slope channels are important and have complementary roles steering the MOW along the upper and middle continental slope before discharging as a neutrally buoyant flow into the western Gulf of Cadiz. Our results show that the interaction between bottom flow and topography sets the path and final equilibrium depths of the modern MOW. Furthermore, they support the hypothesis that, as a result of the high erosive power of the bottom flow and changes in bottom-water speed, the MOW pathways and mixing rates have changed in the geological past.
URI: http://hdl.handle.net/10553/35473
ISSN: 0079-6611
DOI: 10.1016/j.pocean.2017.05.015
Source: Progress in Oceanography[ISSN 0079-6611],v. 157, p. 47-71
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