2026-06-03T11:43:45Zhttps://riuma.uma.es/rest/oai/request

oai:riuma.uma.es:10630/244272026-02-03T12:20:28Zcom_10630_2254col_10630_37959

00925njm 22002777a 4500 dc García-Lafuente, Jesús author Sammartino, Simone author Sánchez-Leal, Ricardo author Nadal Arizo, Irene author Naranjo-Rosa, Cristina Belén author 2022 Thermohaline properties of near-bottom (about 15m above seafloor) Mediterranean waters that form part of the Mediterranean outflow (MOW) have been monitored since 2004 at the Espartel Sill in the Strait of Gibraltar, the westernmost gate before the MOW spreads in the Gulf of Cadiz and the Atlantic Ocean (Sammartino et al. 2015; doi:10.1002/2014JC010674). Monitored near-bottom water shows a surprising warming trend of 0.339 ± 0.008°C decade−1 from 2013 onwards, which is one order of magnitude greater than the usual deep waters trends reported in the Mediterranean (García-Lafuente et al. 2021; doi:10.3389/fmars.2021.613444). The origin of such trend might be the concomitant warming of deep waters unnoticed so far, which is not likely taking into account the observational effort being carried out in the basin, or the progressive increase of the contribution of the warmer and saltier Levantine Intermediate Water (LIW) in the MOW at the expense of the colder and fresher Western Mediterranean Deep Water (WMDW) counterpart. ERA5 climatic reanalysis points at average negative buoyancy flux anomalies in the Mediterranean basin during the period 2013-to-present, which implies reduced WMDW formation rates in the convection areas. Increased volume of LIW in the outflow would compensate the WMDW deficit in the MOW, thus explaining the temperature trend. The warming, in turn, will produce a more buoyant MOW in the Gulf of Cadiz with consequences to be investigated in the future. https://hdl.handle.net/10630/24427 Gibraltar (Estrecho) Mediterráneo Corrientes marinas Efectos del calentamiento global Circulación oceánica Increased warming trend of the Mediterranean outflow into the North Atlantic Ocean