Biological and geochemical signatures associated with the water circulation through the Strait of Gibraltar and in the western Alboran Sea

Abstract

Previous hydrological investigations of the Gibraltar Strait have left some questions unanswered as regards the composition of the Mediterranean outflow into the Atlantic Ocean. In the present study, nutrient, oxygen, and chlorophyll distributions are used to characterize the main water masses flowing through the Strait of Gibraltar and the Alboran Sea, with particular reference to Levantine Intermediate Water (LIW) and Western Mediterranean Deep Water (WMDW). High chlorophyll a concentrations, reaching 3 μg L−1 at the subsurface, are observed in the northern part of the anticyclonic Alboran Sea gyre. The salinity subsurface minimum (≃36), located temporarily in the strait, corresponds to high nutrient concentrations (7–8 μg at. L−1). Diagram analysis shows that in the upwelling area off the Spanish coast, nutrients are largely transported into the photic zone, and that photosynthetic nitrate consumption actually takes place. Consequently, the formation of the Alboran Sea O2 extraminimum can be related to the enhanced new production. Most of the lowest O2 values (<4.00 mL L−1) also correspond to a slight nutrient maximum (PO4 and NO3). Comparative diagram analysis of biologically affected parameters (oxygen and nutrients) versus salinity as a conservative property confirms and expands results from the classical θ‐S analysis. Oxygen and silicate exhibit the best tracer qualities for the circulation pattern, demonstrating in particular that during the period of observations, water rich in LIW feeds the Mediterranean outflow.