Is the Mediterranean Sea Circulation in a Steady State

Abed El Rahman Hassoun (1, 2) , Véronique Guglielmi (1) , Elissar Gemayel (2, 1) , Catherine Goyet (1) , Marie Abboud-Abi Saab (2) , Michele Giani (3) , Patrizia Ziveri (4) , Gianmarco Ingrosso (3) , Franck Touratier (1)

1 IMAGES-Espace DEV - Institut de Modélisation et d'Analyses en géo-environnement et santé - Espace Développement
2 National Center for Marine Sciences [Lebanon]
3 OGS - Istituto Nazionale di Oceanografia e di Geofisica Sperimentale
4 ICTA - Institute of Environmental Science and Technology [Barcelona]

Most global ocean models are based on the assumption of a " steady state " ocean. Here, we investigate the validation of this hypothesis for the anthropized Mediterranean Sea. In order to do so, we calculated the mixing coefficients of the water masses detected in this sea via an optimum multiparameter analysis referred to as the MIX approach, using data from the BOUM (2008) and MedSeA (2013) cruises. The comparison of the mixing coefficients of each water mass, between 2008 and 2013, indicates that some of their proportions have significantly changed. Surface water mass proportions did not change significantly (∆ 0.05-0.1), while intermediate and deep water mass mixing coefficients of both Eastern and Western basins were significantly modified (~∆ 0.35). This study clearly shows that the Mediterranean seawater is not in a " steady state " .

Mots clés: Mixing Coefficient; MIX Approach; Climate Change; Mediterranean Sea; Water Masses; Seawater Circulation

Domaines: Milieux et Changements globaux

Abed El Rahman Hassoun, Véronique Guglielmi, Elissar Gemayel, Catherine Goyet, Marie Abboud-Abi Saab, et al.. Is the Mediterranean Sea Circulation in a Steady State. Journal of Water Resources and Ocean Science, 2015, 4, pp.6-17. ⟨10.11648/j.wros.20150401.12⟩. ⟨hal-01140241⟩