REVIEW OF THE INVESTIGATIONS MEDITERRANEAN INTRATHERMOCLINE EDDIES IN THE ATLANTIC OCEAN

Abstract

The Mediterranean waters (MW) occupy intermediate depths (500–1500 m) of the Northeast Atlantic. These waters are transported by the bottom current to the Atlantic through Strait of Gibraltar. Salinity of these waters exceeds 37.0 and the temperature is warmer 13◦C. In addition to the MW transport by the quasi-continuous “stream” component there is an irregular “lens” component. This component consists of intra-thermocline eddies or long-living MW lenses (the “Meddies”), which are formed to south and west of the Iberian Peninsula and then spread over long distances. These lenses desintegrated in time and support the salt MW "tongue” far from the Strait of Gibraltar. The goal of this work is to give a brief review of the main research of this phenomenon and to determine the criteria to distinguish MW lenses based on selected field data. Peculiarities of the space and time evolution of the MW lenses are shown based on the T,S-analysis of the lens cores.