Spatial distribution and intra-annual variability of water masses on the Eastern Gulf of Cadiz seabed

This paper presents the spatial distribution and intra-annual variability of seabed hydrography in the Eastern Gulf of Cadiz based on more than 10 years of near-bottom CTD observations. Well-defined water masses and a variety of mixing products are persistently sorted along three bathymetric areas occupying particular depth intervals: (i) inner shelf waters (<60 m depth), with strong coastal and atmospheric influence; (ii) low-salinity Eastern North Atlantic Central Waters (ENACW) related to the Gulf of Cadiz Current (GCC) along the central and outer shelf (between 100 and 250 m depth); and (iii) a range of salinity and temperature flavors associated with the dense Mediterranean Outflow Water (MOW) occupying the deeper grounds. All three are characterized by significant March– November hydrographic differences suggesting an intra-annual variability pattern. After summer heating and stratification of the water column, warm (17.8 °C) and saline (36.26) waters occupy the inner-shelf in November whereas cooler (14.6 °C) and less saline (36.17) waters occur in March as the combined result of the erosion of the seasonal thermocline and intensified continental runoff. Offshore, colder, more saline and hence denser MOW invades the upper slope in March diluting the easternmost tip of a saltier ENACW wedge and nudging its outer rim up onto the shelf. This narrows and constricts the GCC band in winter, while its bottom trace appears to broaden and stretch eastwards in November. More effective MOW-ENACW mixing west of the Strait of Gibraltar driven both by an elevated MOW and a less stratified ENACW could explain the winter salinification of most of the grounds deeper than 250 m.En prensa2,088

Early transformation of the Mediterranean Outflow Water (MOW) in the Gulf Of Cádiz, SW Iberian Peninsula: pathways, mixing and temporal variability.

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Spatial distribution and estuarine sources of dissolved organic matter export to the coastal zone in the Gulf of Cádiz, Spain

Trabajo presentado en el XVIII Seminario Ibérico de Química Marina, celebrado en Alicante (España) de 20 al 22 de julio de 2016.Dissolved organic matter (DOM) is a major component of the organic matter transported to the coastal zone by rivers. It controls ecosystem-level processes (e.g. food web) and constitutes an important pathway for nutrients transport from land to coastal waters. We know that estuarine discharges affect the primary production and nutrient composition in the adjacent coastal area. For instance, the current hypernutrification of the Guadalquivir estuary may benefit primary production on adjacent coasts. However, studies on DOM in the Gulf of Cádiz waters are unknown despite its importance in the global ocean functioning. The Gulf of Cádiz is under the estuarine influence of three main estuaries: Guadiana, Tinto-Odiel and Guadalquivir. The present study evaluates the relevance of DOM and the estuarine influence and environmental factors which determine its distribution in the Gulf of Cádiz. Our results suggest that the Gulf of Cádiz water mass is receiving large amounts of dissolved organic transported by the Guadiana and Guadalquivir rivers and much lesser from Tinto-Odiel. Thus, the estuarine influenced area explained the fDOM variability in the Gulf of Cadiz and this variability was shaped by turbidity, water depth and distance from the coast. Within the estuarine ecosystems, salinity and turbidity were the main factors explaining the fDOM variability.This work was financed by the MICCIN grants DILEMA (CTM2014-59244-C3-2-R).N

Hotter and Weaker Mediterranean Outflow as a Response to Basin-Wide Alterations

Time series collected from 2004 to 2020 at an oceanographic station located at the westernmost sill of the Strait of Gibraltar to monitor the Mediterranean outflow into the North Atlantic have been used to give some insights on changes that have been taking place in the Mediterranean basin. Velocity data indicate that the exchange through the Strait is submaximal (that is, greater values of the exchanged flows are possible) with a mean value of −0.847 ± 0.129 Sv and a slight trend to decrease in magnitude (+0.017 ± 0.003 Sv decade−1). Submaximal exchange promotes footprints in the Mediterranean outflow with little or no-time delay with regards to changes occurring in the basin. An astonishing warming trend of 0.339 ± 0.008°C decade−1 in the deepest layer of the outflow from 2013 onwards stands out among these changes, a trend that is an order of magnitude greater than any other reported so far in the water masses of the Mediterranean Sea. Biogeochemical (pH) data display a negative trend indicating a gradual acidification of the outflow in the monitoring station. Data analysis suggests that these trends are compatible with a progressively larger participation of Levantine Intermediate Water (slightly warmer and characterized by a pH lower than that of Western Mediterranean Deep Water) in the outflow. Such interpretation is supported by climatic data analysis that indicate diminished buoyancy fluxes to the atmosphere during the seven last years of the analyzed series, which in turn would have reduced the rate of formation of Western Mediterranean Deep Water. The flow through the Strait has echoed this fact in a situation of submaximal exchange and, ultimately, reflects it in the shocking temperature trend recorded at the monitoring station.Postprin

On the origin of the seasonal and interannual T–S variability of the inflow through the Strait of Gibraltar

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