Articles | Volume 17, issue 4
https://doi.org/10.5194/os-17-975-2021
https://doi.org/10.5194/os-17-975-2021
Research article
 | 
23 Jul 2021
Research article |  | 23 Jul 2021

Impact of dense-water flow over a sloping bottom on open-sea circulation: laboratory experiments and an Ionian Sea (Mediterranean) example

Miroslav Gačić, Laura Ursella, Vedrana Kovačević, Milena Menna, Vlado Malačič, Manuel Bensi, Maria-Eletta Negretti, Vanessa Cardin, Mirko Orlić, Joël Sommeria, Ricardo Viana Barreto, Samuel Viboud, Thomas Valran, Boris Petelin, Giuseppe Siena, and Angelo Rubino

Related authors

Impact of decadal reversals of the north Ionian circulation on phytoplankton phenology
Héloise Lavigne, Giuseppe Civitarese, Miroslav Gačić, and Fabrizio D'Ortenzio
Biogeosciences, 15, 4431–4445, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-15-4431-2018,https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-15-4431-2018, 2018
Short summary

Cited articles

Bensi, M., Cardin, V., Rubino, A., Notarstefano, G., and Poulain, P. M.: Effects of winter convection on the deep layer of the Southern Adriatic Sea in 2012, J. Geophys. Res.-Oceans, 118, 6064–6075, https://doi.org/10.1002/2013JC009432, 2013. 
Bombosch, A. and Jenkins, A.: Modeling the formation and deposition of frazil ice beneath the Filchner–Ronne Ice Shelf, J. Geophys. Res., 100, 6983–6992, 1995. 
Borzelli, G. L. E, Gačić, M., Cardin, V., and Civitarese, G.: Eastern Mediterranean Transient and reversal of the Ionian Sea circulation, Geophys. Res. Lett., 36, L15108, https://doi.org/10.1029/2009GL039261, 2009. 
Brandt, P., Rubino, A., Quadfasel, D., Alpers, W., Sellschopp, J., and Fiekas, H. V.: Evidence for the influence of Atlantic-Ionian Stream fluctuations on the tidally induced internal dynamics in the Strait of Messina, J. Phys. Oceanogr., 29, 1071–1080, 1999. 
Cenedese, C., Whitehead, J. A., Ascarelli, T. A., and Ohiwa, M.: A dense current flowing down a sloping bottom in a rotating fluid, J. Phys. Oceanogr., 14, 188–202, 2004. 
Download
Short summary
Experiments in rotating tanks can simulate the Earth system and help to represent the real ocean, where rotation plays an important role. We wanted to show the minor importance of the wind in driving the flow in the Ionian Sea. We did this by observing changes in the water current in a rotating tank affected only by the pumping of dense water into the system. The flow variations were similar to those in the real sea, confirming the scarce importance of the wind for the flow in the Ionian Sea.