Articles | Volume 18, issue 2
https://doi.org/10.5194/os-18-483-2022
https://doi.org/10.5194/os-18-483-2022
Research article
 | 
08 Apr 2022
Research article |  | 08 Apr 2022

Untangling the mistral and seasonal atmospheric forcing driving deep convection in the Gulf of Lion: 2012–2013

Douglas Keller Jr., Yonatan Givon, Romain Pennel, Shira Raveh-Rubin, and Philippe Drobinski

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This preprint is open for discussion and under review for Nonlinear Processes in Geophysics (NPG).
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Cited articles

Arsouze, T., Beuvier, J., Béranger, K., Bourdallé-Badie, R., Deltel, C., Drillet, Y., Drobinski, P., Ferry, N., Lebeaupin-Brossier, C., Lyard, F., Sevault, F., and Somot, S.: Release note of the high-resolution oceanic model in the Mediterranean Sea NEMO-MED12 based on NEMO 3.2 version, Tech. rep., Centre National de Recherches Météorologiques, http://www.umr-cnrm.fr/spip.php?article1197&lang=fr (last access: 24 March 2022), 2012. a
Balmaseda, M. A., Trenberth, K. E., and Källén, E.: Distinctive climate signals in reanalysis of global ocean heat content, Geophys. Res. Lett., 40, 1754–1759, https://doi.org/10.1002/grl.50382, 2013. a
Béranger, K., Testor, P., and Crépon, M.: Modelling water mass formation in the Gulf of Lions (Mediterranean Sea), CIESM Workshop Monographs, Workshop, 27–30 May 2009, Malta, 2009. a
Beuvier, J., Béranger, K., Brossier, C. L., Somot, S., Sevault, F., Drillet, Y., Bourdallé-Badie, R., Ferry, N., and Lyard, F.: Spreading of the Western Mediterranean Deep Water after winter 2005: Time scales and deep cyclone transport, J. Geophys. Res.-Oceans, 117, C07022, https://doi.org/10.1029/2011jc007679, 2012. a, b, c, d, e, f
Coppola, L., Prieur, L., Taupier-Letage, I., Estournel, C., Testor, P., Lefevre, D., Belamari, S., LeReste, S., and Taillandier, V.: Observation of oxygen ventilation into deep waters through targeted deployment of multiple Argo-O2 floats in the north-western Mediterranean Sea in 2013, J. Geophys. Res.-Oceans, 122, 6325–6341, https://doi.org/10.1002/2016jc012594, 2017. a
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The mistral winds are believed to be the primary source of cooling of the Gulf of Lion, leading to deep convection in the region, a process that mixes the ocean column from the seafloor to the sea surface. However, we have found that seasonal atmospheric changes also significantly cool the Gulf of Lion waters to cause deep convection, rather than mistral winds being the sole source, contributing roughly two-thirds of the required cooling, with the mistral winds contributing the final third.
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