Sources of the Levantine Intermediate Water in Winter 2019

Vincent Taillandier (1) , Fabrizio d'Ortenzio (1) , Louis Prieur (1) , Pascal Conan (2) , Laurent Coppola (1) , Marin Cornec (1) , Franck Dumas (3) , Xavier Durrieu de Madron (4) , Bettina Fach (5) , Marine Fourrier (1) , M. Gentil (4) , Daniel Hayes (6) , Y. Sinan Husrevoglu (5) , Hervé Le Goff (7) , Loïc Le Ster (1, 8) , H. Örek (5) , T. Ozer (9) , Pierre-Marie Poulain (10) , M. Pujo-Pay (11) , M. Ribera d'Alcalà (12) , B. Salihoglu (5) , Pierre Testor (13) , Dimitris Velaoras (14) , Thibaut Wagener (15) , Cathy Wimart-Rousseau (15)

1 LOV - Laboratoire d'océanographie de Villefranche
2 UPCité - Université Paris Cité
3 SHOM - Service Hydrographique et Océanographique de la Marine
4 CEFREM - Centre de Formation et de Recherche sur les Environnements Méditérranéens
5 METU - Middle East Technical University [Ankara]
6 Cyprus Oceanography Center
7 DITM - Développement Instrumental et Techniques Marines
8 CEBC - Centre d'Études Biologiques de Chizé - UMR 7372
9 IOLR - Israel Oceanographic and Limnological Research
10 OGS - National Institute of Oceanography and Applied Geophysics
11 LOMIC - Laboratoire d'Océanographie Microbienne
12 SZN - Stazione Zoologica Anton Dohrn
13 VOG - Variabilité de l'Océan et de la Glace de mer
14 HCMR - Hellenic Centre for Marine Research
15 MIO - Institut méditerranéen d'océanologie

Climatic changes and interannual variability in the Mediterranean overturning circulation are crucially linked to dense water formation in the Levantine Sea, namely the Levantine Intermediate Water whose formation zone, comprising multiple and intermittent sources, extends over fluctuating pathways. To probe into the variability of this water formation and spreading, a unique dataset was collected during the winter of 2019 in the western Levantine Sea, via oceanographic cruises, profiling floats and a glider, at a spatio-temporal distribution suited to resolve mesoscale circulation features and intermittent convection events. This study highlights the competition between two source regions, the Cretan Sea and the Rhodes Cyclonic Gyre, to supply the Mediterranean overturning circulation in Levantine Intermediate Water. The Cretan source was estimated as the most abundant, supported by increasingly saltier water masses coming from the Levantine Sea under the pumping effect of a water deficit caused by strong western outflow toward the Ionian Sea.

Keywords: descriptive oceanography; overturning circulation; Mediterranean Sea; ocean observations; water mass formation; Levantine intermediate water

Domains: Sciences of the Universe [physics]; Earth Sciences; Oceanography

Vincent Taillandier, Fabrizio d'Ortenzio, Louis Prieur, Pascal Conan, Laurent Coppola, et al.. Sources of the Levantine Intermediate Water in Winter 2019. Journal of Geophysical Research. Oceans, 2022, 127 (6), pp.e2021JC017506. ⟨10.1029/2021JC017506⟩. ⟨insu-03746448⟩