Circulation and mixing of Mediterranean water west of the Iberian Peninsula

Abstract

The spreading of water of Mediterranean origin west of the Iberian Peninsula was studied with hydrographic data from several recent cruises and current measurements from the BORD-EST programme. The vertical breakdown of the “Mediterranean salt” content reveals the dominant contribution of the so-called lower core of the outflow (60%), and the significant fraction (22%) brought downward to levels below 1500 m by diffusion. Intense salinity maxima in the upper core (18%) are only encountered south of 38°N in the vein flowing northward along the continental slope, and at a few stations in the deep ocean. Apart from the coastally trapped vein, other preferred paths of the water mass are revealed by the horizontal distributions of salinity maximum and Mediterranean Water percentage. One is southward, west of the Gorringe Bank, and two northwestward ones lie around 40°N and west of the Galicia Bank. Year-long velocity measurements in the Tagus Basin show westward mean values of 7 × 10 −2 m s −1 at 1000 m associated with a very intense mesoscale variability. This variability is related to the pronounced dynamical signature of the outflow which favours instability in any branch having detached from the slope current. From a mixing point of view, the strong interleaving activity occurring near Cape St-Vincent is illustrated, but its contribution to the downstream salinity decrease in the coastally trapped vein is weak. Current and meddy detachment play the dominant role, with a scaling estimate of their associated lateral diffusivity of order 500 m 2 s −1. The statistical distribution of the density ratio parameter, which governs double-diffusion at the base of the Mediterranean Water, was found to be very tight around R π = 1.3 in the temperature range of 5°C< φ < 8°C. North of 40°N, the presence of a fraction of Labrador Sea Water in the underlying water is shown to decrease that parameter and should favour the formation of salt fingers.