Resumen de What Mechanisms Underlie Palaeoceanographic Changes in the Mediterranean Outflow?

Mike Rogerson, Eelco J. Rohling, Grant R. Bigg, Jorge Ramirez

• The Mediterranean Outflow balances the freshwater and salinity budgets of the Mediterranean Sea andis considered a testing ground for concepts of strait-controlled basin exchanges. Likewise, the contourite arisingfrom the flow of this watermass in the Gulf of Cadiz is one of the most intensely studied in the world. Theinteraction between these two systems reflects the complex interplay of sea level, the Mediterranean freshwaterbudget, the salinity of surface water in the eastern North Atlantic and the vertical density structure of the easternNorth Atlantic. The result is that the flux of water outflowing from the Mediterranean is high during the latermillennia of interglacial periods, during glacial terminations and during Heinrich Stadials. The flux is low duringglacial periods and the early millennia of interglacials. The velocity and settling depth of the plume is higher duringglacial periods, however. This reflects higher density of the outflowing water, but seems to contradict understandingof how this highly dense water should mix with the ambient water in the Atlantic. Potential explanations lie withinthe capacity of the water to entrain sediment (becoming a self-sustaining flow) and in a reduction in the verticaldensity gradient in the Atlantic.