Observations of open-ocean deep convection in the northwestern Mediterranean Sea: Seasonal and interannual variability of mixing and deep water masses for the 2007-2013 Period

Loïc Houpert; Xavier Durrieu de Madron; Pierre Testor; Anthony Bosse; Fabrizio d'Ortenzio; Marie-Noëlle Bouin; Denis Dausse; Hervé Le Goff; Stéphane Kunesch; Matthieu Labaste; Laurent Coppola; Laurent Mortier; Patrick Raimbault

doi:10.1002/2016JC011857

Journal articles

Observations of open-ocean deep convection in the northwestern Mediterranean Sea: Seasonal and interannual variability of mixing and deep water masses for the 2007-2013 Period

Loïc Houpert ¹ Xavier Durrieu de Madron ² Pierre Testor ³ Anthony Bosse ⁴ Fabrizio d'Ortenzio ⁵ Marie-Noëlle Bouin ⁶ Denis Dausse ⁷ Hervé Le Goff ⁷ Stéphane Kunesch ² Matthieu Labaste ⁴ Laurent Coppola ⁵ Laurent Mortier ^{8, 3} Patrick Raimbault ⁹

1 SAMS - Scottish Association for Marine Science

2 CEFREM - Centre de Formation et de Recherche sur les Environnements Méditérranéens

3 VOG - Variabilité de l'Océan et de la Glace de mer

LOCEAN - Laboratoire d'Océanographie et du Climat : Expérimentations et Approches Numériques

4 LOCEAN - Laboratoire d'Océanographie et du Climat : Expérimentations et Approches Numériques

5 LOV - Laboratoire d'océanographie de Villefranche

6 CNRM-GAME - Groupe d'étude de l'atmosphère météorologique

7 DITM - Développement Instrumental et Techniques Marines

LOCEAN - Laboratoire d'Océanographie et du Climat : Expérimentations et Approches Numériques

8 ENSTA Paris - École Nationale Supérieure de Techniques Avancées

9 MIO - Institut méditerranéen d'océanologie

Abstract : We present here a unique oceanographic and meteorological data set focus on the deep convection processes. Our results are essentially based on in situ data (mooring, research vessel, glider, and profiling float) collected from a multiplatform and integrated monitoring system (MOOSE: Mediterranean Ocean Observing System on Environment), which monitored continuously the northwestern Mediterranean Sea since 2007, and in particular high-frequency potential temperature, salinity, and current measurements from the mooring LION located within the convection region. From 2009 to 2013, the mixed layer depth reaches the seabed, at a depth of 2330m, in February. Then, the violent vertical mixing of the whole water column lasts between 9 and 12 days setting up the characteristics of the newly formed deep water. Each deep convection winter formed a new warmer and saltier “vintage” of deep water. These sudden inputs of salt and heat in the deep ocean are responsible for trends in salinity (3.3 ± 0.2 × 10−3/yr) and potential temperature (3.2 ± 0.5 × 10−3 C/yr) observed from 2009 to 2013 for the 600–2300 m layer. For the first time, the overlapping of the three “phases” of deep convection can be observed, with secondary vertical mixing events (2–4 days) after the beginning of the restratification phase, and the restratification/spreading phase still active at the beginning of the following deep convection event.

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Journal articles

Domain :

Sciences of the Universe [physics] / Earth Sciences / Oceanography

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Observations of open-ocean deep convection in the northwestern Mediterranean Sea: Seasonal and interannual variability of mixing and deep water masses for the 2007-2013 Period

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