A seasonal model of the Mediterranean Sea general circulation

This paper describes the seasonal characteristics of the Mediterranean Sea general circulation as simulated by a primitive equation general circulation model. The general circulation is composed of subbasin gyres, and cyclonic motion dominates the northern and anticyclonic motion the southern part of the basin. The Atlantic stream is a coherent structure at the surface. At depth it appears as current segments and jets around a vigorous gyre system. The seasonal variability is manifested by a change in amplitude and location of the gyres and by the appearance of seasonally recurrent gyres in different parts of the basin. For the first time a Mersa-Matruh Gyre is successfully simulated due to the introduction of our heat fluxes at the air-sea interface. The seasonal thermocline is formed each summer, and a deep winter mixed layer is produced in the region of Levantine intermediate water formation. -from Authors