Álvarez-Salgado, X. A., Otero, J., Flecha, S., & Huertas, I. E. (2020). Seasonality of Dissolved Organic Carbon Exchange Across the Strait of Gibraltar. Geophysical Research Letters, 47(18), e2020GL089601. https://doi.org/10.1029/2020GL089601
Summary:
The Mediterranean Sea is a semi enclosed basin connected with the Atlantic Ocean through the Strait of Gibraltar. At this hot spot of ocean circulation, about 0.8 Sv (1 Sv = 106 m3 s−1) of dissolved organic carbon (DOC) rich Atlantic Surface Water enters the Mediterranean Sea and the same volume of DOC poor Mediterranean Overflow Water flows oppositely to the Atlantic Ocean. Both DOC concentrations and water flows are not stationary but vary seasonally. Differences in the amplitude and timing of those seasonal cycles produce a marked bimodal variation in the net DOC flux of Atlantic water that enters the Mediterranean Sea, with minima in late June and late October and maxima in mid‐April and late August. This pattern has been observed for the first time and allowed the authors to better constrain this organic carbon flux, which represents about half of the total input of DOC in the Mediterranean Sea and supports about one third of its net organic carbon demand.