ERS, shipborne and aircraft observations of circulation in the region of the Almeria-Oran front

During the second OMEGA cruise, in situ measurements were taken in a series of 5 fine scale surveys in the eastern Alboran Sea. Several legs of the survey were coincident with ERS altimeter tracks. A spatial context for the shipborne measurements was obtained from daily IR imagery relayed to the ship and a two day airborne sea surface temperature survey. Atlantic water entering the Alboran via the straits of Gibraltar circulates around a system of gyres, the edge of the eastern most gyre forming the Almeria-Oran front. Within the,ayre relatively warm fresh water overlies cooler saltier Levantine intermediate water. Between these is a transitional layer about 100m deep which outcrops to the east of the Almeria-Oran front having a strong thermal signature. Strong geostrophic flow along the front can be detected in the altimetry. Longer term monitoring of the Almeria-Oran front should now be possible by combining the altimeter and in situ data to give cross-track surface geostrophic currents over the lifetime of the ERS satellites.