Capturing dense shelf water cascading  with a high-resolution ocean reanalysis

Fos, Helena; Peña-Izquierdo, Jesús; Amblas, David; Arjona-Camas, Marta; Romero, Laia; Estella-Pérez, Víctor; Florindo-Lopez, Cristian; Calafat, Antoni; Cerdà-Domènech, Marc; Puig, Pere; Durrieu de Madron, Xavier; Sanchez-Vidal, Anna

doi:https://doi.org/10.5194/os-21-2169-2025

Articles | Volume 21, issue 5

https://doi.org/10.5194/os-21-2169-2025

© Author(s) 2025. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

https://doi.org/10.5194/os-21-2169-2025

© Author(s) 2025. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

Articles | Volume 21, issue 5

Research article

|

02 Oct 2025

Research article |

| 02 Oct 2025

Capturing dense shelf water cascading with a high-resolution ocean reanalysis

Helena Fos, Jesús Peña-Izquierdo, David Amblas, Marta Arjona-Camas, Laia Romero, Víctor Estella-Pérez, Cristian Florindo-Lopez, Antoni Calafat, Marc Cerdà-Domènech, Pere Puig, Xavier Durrieu de Madron, and Anna Sanchez-Vidal

Data sets

CC1000 observatory data Anna Sanchez-Vidal and Antoni Calafat David Amblas Marc Cerdà-Domènech Helena Fos https://doi.org/10.17882/104746

CC750 observatory data Pere Puig and Albert Palanques https://doi.org/10.17882/104799

BILLION observatory data Xavier Durrieu de Madron et al. https://doi.org/10.17882/45980

Mediterranean Sea Physics Reanalysis (CMEMS MED-Currents) (Version 1) R. Escudier et al. https://doi.org/10.25423/CMCC/MEDSEA_MULTIYEAR_PHY_006_004_E3R1

Video supplement

Movie S1: Bottom θ in the Gulf of Lion from the Mediterranean Sea Physics Reanalysis in winter 2005 H. Fos et al. https://doi.org/10.5446/70980

Movie S2: Bottom θ in the Gulf of Lion from the Mediterranean Sea Physics Reanalysis in winter 2012 H. Fos et al. https://doi.org/10.5446/70979

Movie S3: Daily sequence of the hydrographic properties in the vertical sections of Cap de Creus and Lacaze-Duthiers canyons H. Fos et al. https://doi.org/10.5446/70978

Short summary

Dense shelf water cascading (DSWC) is an oceanographic process where dense shelf water rapidly spills over the shelf edge and cascades into the deep ocean. Using a high-resolution model that incorporates real observations from the water column and sea surface (MedSea Reanalysis), this study compares over 30 years of simulated intense DSWC with actual observations in the NW Mediterranean. We identified all the intense cascading events since 1987, with results closely matching the observations.