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Deep water in the Mediterranean originates from three main areas: the Adriatic Sea, from which most of the deep water in the eastern Mediterranean originates, the Aegean Sea, and the Gulf of Lion. Deep water formation in the Mediterranean is triggered by strong winter convection fueled by intense cold winds like the Bora. When new deep water is ...
This triggered the Messinian Salinity Crisis with the formation of thick salt deposits on the former seafloor [7] and erosion of the continental slopes. [8] The Nile and Rhône carved deep canyons during this time. [4] Water levels in the Mediterranean during this time dropped by kilometres. [9]
The result is the formation of the Mediterranean Water that finally spreads into the interior of the North Atlantic forming the most prominent basin-scale thermohaline anomaly at mid-depths, the Mediterranean Salt Tongue, recognizable as a basin-scale salinity anomaly at 1000–1200 m depth through the North Atlantic (see Figure 2).
A dilution basin has a lower salinity due to freshwater gains such as rainfall and rivers, and its water exchange consists of outflow of the fresher mediterranean water in the upper layer and inflow of the saltier oceanic water in the lower layer of the channel. Renewal of deep water may not be sufficient to supply oxygen to the bottom.
As the deep waters sink into the ocean basins, they displace the older deep-water masses, which gradually become less dense due to continued ocean mixing. Thus, some water is rising, in what is known as upwelling. Its speeds are very slow even compared to the movement of the bottom water masses.
The North Adriatic basin, extending between Venice and Trieste towards a line connecting Ancona and Zadar, is only 15 metres (49 ft) deep at its northwestern end; it gradually deepens towards the southeast. It is the largest Mediterranean shelf and is simultaneously a dilution basin and a site of bottom water formation. [2]
The outflow of dense-water-masses characteristics of the Strait of Sicily are not stable but have been found to change interannually. [16] Also the thermohaline circulation showed changes in structure and stratification. These changes were caused by deep water formed in the Aegean Sea which replaced the water formed in the Adriatic during the ...
Bottom and deep water formation in the Southern Ocean (Weddell Sea) and North Atlantic Ocean (Greenland, Labrador, Norwegian, and Mediterranean Seas) is a major contributor towards the removal and sequestration of anthropogenic carbon dioxide, dissolved organic carbon (DOC), and dissolved oxygen.