Hydrography and circulation south of Cyprus in late summer 1995 and in spring 1996

Abstract

The hydrodynamical characteristics of the area south of Cyprus in the Levantine Sea were examined in late summer 1995 and in spring 1996. Analysis of the CTD data collected, provided a new dynamic picture of the Cyprus Basin and revealed the existence of the Cyprus Basin cyclonic eddy. The latter circulated to the south of Cyprus and exhibited marked seasonality. Production of Levantine Intermediate Water in the area of the latter eddy occurred. Occasionally, between the Cyprus Basin cyclonic eddy and the southern coast of Cyprus a warm current, the Cyprus coastal current appears to intrude from the east. In late summer 1995, the spatial fluctuations of the mid-Mediterranean jet, the main current of the Eastern Mediterranean Sea, caused the splitting of the Cyprus Basin cyclonic eddy, into two smaller cyclonic ones. During spring 1996, however, the Cyprus Basin cyclonic eddy appears as a single large vortex, occupying the greater part of the area south of Cyprus, and flanked to the south by the Cyprus anticyclonic eddy.