The drift of Modified Atlantic Water from the Alboran Sea to the eastern Mediterranean

Abstract

The Algerian basin is a region of the western Mediterranean with a highly variable circulation structure, including the eastward transport of Modified Atlantic Water (MAW) in its surface layer. An experiment with satellite tracked Lagrangian drifters was performed in 1996-97 to analyse the mesoscale circulation of the Algerian current. The complete trajectories of 18 drifters indicate that, at basin scale, all the surface flow occured along the coast from the Alboran Sea to the strait of Sicily. At that time, no portion of the inflowing MAW was driven to the central or northern regions.