Transient Eastern Mediterranean deep waters in response to the massive dense-water output of the Aegean Sea in the 1990s

We present a detailed account of the changing hydrography and the large-scale circulation of the deep waters of the Eastern Mediterranean (EMed) that resulted from the unique, high-volume influx of dense waters from the Aegean Sea during the 1990s, and of the changes within the Aegean that initiated the event, the so-called ‘Eastern Mediterranean Transient’ (EMT). The analysis uses repeated hydrographic and transient tracer surveys of the EMed in 1987, 1991, 1995, 1999, and 2001/2002, hydrographic time series in the southern Aegean and southern Adriatic Seas, and further scattered data. Aegean outflow averaged nearly 3 × 10⁶ m³ s⁻¹ between mid-1992 and late 1994, and was largest during 1993, when south and west of Crete Aegean-influenced deep waters extended upwards to 400 m depth. EMT-related Aegean outflow prior to 1992, confined to the region around Crete and to 1800 m depth-wise, amounted to about 3% of the total outflow. Outflow after 1994 up to 2001/2002, derived from the increasing inventory of the tracer CFC-12, contributed 20% to the total, of 2.8 × 10¹⁴ m³. Densities in the southern Aegean Sea deep waters rose by 0.2 kg/m³ between 1987 and 1993, and decreased more slowly thereafter. The Aegean waters delivered via the principal exit pathway in Kasos Strait, east of Crete, propagated westward along the Cretan slope, such that in 1995 the highest densities were observed in the Hellenic Trench west of Crete. Aegean-influenced waters also crossed the East Mediterranean Ridge south of Crete and from there expanded eastward into the southeastern Levantine Sea. Transfer into the Ionian mostly followed the Hellenic Trench, largely up to the trench’s northern end at about 37°N. From there the waters spread further west while mixing with the resident waters. Additional transfer occurred through the Herodotus Trough in the south. Levantine waters after 1994 consistently showed temperature–salinity (T–S) inversions in roughly 1000–1700 m depth, with amplitudes decreasing in time. The T–S distributions in the Ionian Sea were more diverse, one cause being added Aegean outflow of relatively lower density through the Antikithira Strait west of Crete. Spreading of the Aegean-influenced waters was quite swift, such that by early 1995 the entire EMed was affected. and strong mixing is indicated by near-linear T–S relationships observed in various places. Referenced to 2000 and 3000 dbar, the highest Aegean-generated densities observed during the event equaled those generated by Adriatic Sea outflow in the northern Ionian Sea prior to the EMT. A precarious balance between the two dense-water source areas is thus indicated. A feedback is proposed which helped triggering the change from a dominating Adriatic source to the Aegean source, but at the same time supported the previous long-year dominance of the Adriatic. The EMed deep waters will remain transient for decades to come.