RT Conference Proceedings
T1 On how tides affect the biological productivity of the Strait of Gibraltar-Alboran sea system: a numerical model study
A1 Sánchez-Garrido, José Carlos
A1 Naranjo-Rosa, Cristina Belén
A1 Macías, Diego
A1 Sammartino, Simone
A1 García-Lafuente, Jesús
K1 Productividad primaria (Biología) -- Medición
K1 Alborán
AB The Mediterranean is an oligotrophic sea that exhibits a decreasing biological productivity pattern fromWest to East. The Alboran Sea (AS) is its most productive sub-basin as shown by in situ measurements,satellite images, and basin-scale numerical simulations. All these sources reveal a mean state characterizedby an incoming jet of Atlantic Water meandering around two mesoscale anticiclonic gyres as itprogresses to the Mediterranean. Differently to the gyres, which are largely oligotrophic, the jet andits surroundings are zones of great biological productivity. Given that Atlantic Waters are poor in nutrientssuch high productivity is explained by an active submesoscale dynamics, with potential to pumpnutrients to the photic zone.The above scenario is based on a hypothetic quasi-steady circulation and does not consider tides, particularlyrelevant in the Strait of Gibraltar. Tides in the Strait can (1) fertilize the incoming jet through theadvection of mixed water from Tangier Basin at the lee side of Camarinal Sill (with origin in an internalhydraulic jump), or facilitate the entrainment of Mediterranean Water by the jet at the narrowest sectionof the Strait. In addition, (2) tides export nonlinear internal waves and other ageostrophic flows to theAS, giving rise to a more energetic submesoscale circulation. The role that these two processes playon the biological productivity of the AS is investigated with an ecosystemic Nutrient-Phytoplankton-Zooplankton-Detritus (NPZD) model embedded with a submesoscale-resolving tidally-driven circulationmodel. Results reveal that the join contribution of (1) and (2) increases the biological productivityof the AS in a factor of two.70
YR 2014
FD 2014-06-18
LK http://hdl.handle.net/10630/7684
UL http://hdl.handle.net/10630/7684
LA eng
NO Universidad de Málaga. Campus de Excelencia Internacional Andalucía Tech.
DS RIUMA. Repositorio Institucional de la Universidad de Málaga
RD 20 ene 2026