Changes in the Intermediate Water Masses of the Mediterranean Sea During the Last Climatic Cycle—New Constraints From Neodymium Isotopes in Foraminifera

• Published in: Paleoceanography and Paleoclimatology
• Main Authors: Colin, Christophe, Duhamel, Maxence, Siani, Giuseppe, Dubois‐dauphin, Quentin, Ducassou, Emmanuelle, Liu, Zhifei, Wu, Jiawang, Revel, Marie, Dapoigny, Arnaud, Douville, Éric, Taviani, Marco, Montagna, Paolo
• Other Authors: Géosciences Paris Saclay (GEOPS), Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-Université Paris-Saclay-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), Environnements et Paléoenvironnements OCéaniques (EPOC), Observatoire aquitain des sciences de l'univers (OASU), Université Sciences et Technologies - Bordeaux 1 (UB)-Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Université Sciences et Technologies - Bordeaux 1 (UB)-Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-École Pratique des Hautes Études (EPHE), Université Paris sciences et lettres (PSL)-Université Paris sciences et lettres (PSL)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), Tongji University, Géoazur (GEOAZUR 7329), Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-Observatoire de la Côte d'Azur, Université Côte d'Azur (UniCA)-Université Côte d'Azur (UniCA)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Institut de Recherche pour le Développement (IRD France-Sud ), Laboratoire des Sciences du Climat et de l'Environnement Gif-sur-Yvette (LSCE), Université de Versailles Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines (UVSQ)-Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-Université Paris-Saclay-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Direction de Recherche Fondamentale (CEA) (DRF (CEA)), Commissariat à l'énergie atomique et aux énergies alternatives (CEA)-Commissariat à l'énergie atomique et aux énergies alternatives (CEA), Géochrononologie Traceurs Archéométrie (GEOTRAC), Commissariat à l'énergie atomique et aux énergies alternatives (CEA)-Commissariat à l'énergie atomique et aux énergies alternatives (CEA)-Université de Versailles Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines (UVSQ)-Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-Université Paris-Saclay-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Direction de Recherche Fondamentale (CEA) (DRF (CEA)), Istituto di Science Marine (ISMAR ), National Research Council of Italy, Stazione Zoologica Anton Dohrn (SZN), Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI), Institute of Polar Sciences Venezia-Mestre (CNR-ISP), Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory (LDEO), Columbia University New York, ANR-19-CE01-0019,MEDSENS,Sensibilité de la circulation thermohaline en Mer Méditerranée : leçons du passé pour le futur(2019)
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: HAL CCSD 2021
• Subjects: PANOPLY; [SDU.STU.OC]Sciences of the Universe [physics]/Earth Sciences/Oceanography; [SDU.STU.CL]Sciences of the Universe [physics]/Earth Sciences/Climatology; North Atlantic
• Online Access: https://hal.science/hal-03227533; https://hal.science/hal-03227533/document; https://hal.science/hal-03227533/file/Colin%20et%20al%202021.pdf; https://doi.org/10.1029/2020pa004153

International audience The Mediterranean Sea is a semi-enclosed basin characterized by arid conditions and connected to the North Atlantic through the Strait of Gibraltar (sill depth of ∼300 m). This generates a Mediterranean thermohaline circulation where the inflow of relatively fresh and cold surface Atlantic water (AW) is transformed into intermediate and deep waters in the Gulf of Lions, the Adriatic Sea, the Levantine Basin and the Aegean Sea (Robinson et al., 2001; Schroeder et al., 2012). In particular, the Levantine Intermediate Water (LIW) is formed in the Cyprus-Rhodes area from where it spreads westwards into the entire Mediterranean Sea at water depths of between ∼150 and 700 m (Lascaratos et al., 1993; Malanotte-Rizzoli et al., 1999). This overturning circulation is associated with an outflow of saltier and warmer intermediate water into the North Atlantic corresponding to the Mediterranean Outflow Water (MOW) (Robinson et al., 2001; Schroeder et al., 2012). Because the MOW contains up to ∼80% of LIW, the water mass formation in the Levantine Sea plays an important role for the salty outflow to the North Atlantic through the Strait of Gibraltar. A link between the intensification of the MOW and the intensity of the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation (AMOC) has been proposed (