Premium
Can internal processes sustain reversals of the ocean upper circulation? The Ionian Sea example
Author(s) -
Gačić M.,
Borzelli G. L. Eusebi,
Civitarese G.,
Cardin V.,
Yari S.
Publication year - 2010
Publication title -
geophysical research letters
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.007
H-Index - 273
eISSN - 1944-8007
pISSN - 0094-8276
DOI - 10.1029/2010gl043216
Subject(s) - thermohaline circulation , oceanography , geology , mediterranean sea , shutdown of thermohaline circulation , climatology , water mass , mediterranean climate , ocean current , inflow , structural basin , wind stress , ocean general circulation model , north atlantic deep water , climate change , general circulation model , paleontology , geography , archaeology
In 1997 an inversion in the Ionian upper‐layer circulation was documented and ascribed to a massive inflow of Aegean dense waters associated with the Eastern Mediterranean Transient (EMT) and not to the wind‐stress (Borzelli et al., 2009). Here we generalize the concept hypothesizing that such inversions are possible even in the absence of the Aegean influence. Indeed, salinity and density data collected in the Southern Adriatic, the main source of the Eastern Mediterranean deep water, show decadal variations coherent with changes in the sea level height in the northern Ionian. Scaling considerations suggest that the redistribution of Ionian water masses, resulting from changes in the thermohaline properties of waters entering the basin, can sustain inversions of the upper‐layer circulation. Therefore, we propose a feedback mechanism (named the Adriatic‐Ionian Bimodal Oscillating System – BiOS) between variations in the thermohaline properties of waters formed in the Southern Adriatic and the Ionian circulation.