EGU2020-6046
https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu2020-6046
EGU General Assembly 2020
© Author(s) 2020. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

New insights on bottom water flows crossing a marine sill under periodic or impulsive perturbations: an application to the Sicily Channel sill (Central Mediterranean Sea)

Federico Falcini, Marco Di Paolantonio, and Ettore Salusti
Federico Falcini et al.
  • CNR, ISMAR, Rome, Italy

We here discuss the remarkable uplift of the Eastern Mediterranean bottom waters that flow westward, over the Malta Escarpment, and cross the sill of the Channel of Sicily (Astarldi et al., 2001; Iudicone et al., 2003; Falcini & Salusti 2015); a dynamics that is rather similar to the one occurring at the Strait of Gibraltar (Mediterranean Sea) and Bab el Mandab (Red Sea) (Siddall et al., 2002). This classical uplift, which usually occurs under a three layer system dynamics, is mostly explained by the Bernoulli suction effect (Lane-Serff et al., 2000). However, the real filed analyses suggest that this dynamics are significantly perturbed by tidal effects and or large scale storms (Smeed et al., 2004). Here consider a novel, theoretical approach to obtain a rather realistic view of natural perturbations that affect these deep flow dynamics. Our insights on uplift processes, in addition, give a contribution to the general understanding of the Mediterranean Sea deep water circulation and, on climatological grounds, heat storage dynamics. We finally remark that similar phenomena happens in several marine straits and/or in semi-enclosed, peripheral basins of particular importance for local and large-scale processes.

 

References

Astraldi, M., Gasparini, G. P., Gervasio, L., & Salusti, E. (2001). Dense water dynamics along the Strait of Sicily (Mediterranean Sea). Journal of Physical Oceanography, 31(12), 3457-3475.

Falcini, F., & Salusti, E. (2015). Friction and mixing effects on potential vorticity for bottom current crossing a marine strait: an application to the Sicily Channel (central Mediterranean Sea). Ocean Science, 11(3), 391-403.

Iudicone, D., Buongiorno Nardelli, B., Santoleri, R., & Marullo, S. (2003). Distribution and mixing of intermediate water masses in the Channel of Sicily (Mediterranean Sea). Journal of Geophysical Research: Oceans, 108(C9).

Lane-Serff, G. F., Smeed, D. A., & Postlethwaite, C. R. (2000). Multi-layer hydraulic exchange flows. Journal of Fluid Mechanics, 416, 269-296.

Siddall, M., Smeed, D. A., Matthiesen, S., & Rohling, E. J. (2002). Modelling the seasonal cycle of the exchange flow in Bab el Mandab (Red Sea). Deep Sea Research Part I: Oceanographic Research Papers, 49(9), 1551-1569.

Smeed, D. A. (2004). Exchange through the Bab el Mandab. Deep Sea Research Part II: Topical Studies in Oceanography, 51(4-5), 455-474.

How to cite: Falcini, F., Di Paolantonio, M., and Salusti, E.: New insights on bottom water flows crossing a marine sill under periodic or impulsive perturbations: an application to the Sicily Channel sill (Central Mediterranean Sea), EGU General Assembly 2020, Online, 4–8 May 2020, EGU2020-6046, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu2020-6046, 2020

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