Cretan deep water outflow into the Eastern Mediterranean

A simple hydraulic model is used to estimate the deep water fluxes of Cretan Deep Water (CDW), through the Cretan Are Straits and into the Eastern Mediterranean Basins. The input to the model consists of the height of the deep water reservoir above sill depth and its density difference from the overlying water masses. Data from four hydrographic cruises, which took place in 1995, 1991 and 1987, are used to estimate the depth of the reservoir above the sill and the density difference. The results show a significant CDW outflow of 0.75x10(6) m(3) s(-1) in early 1995. The outflow of CDW through Kassos Strait, in the east, is 0.53x10(6) m(3) s(-1) while 0.22x10(6) m(3) s(-1) outflows through the Antikithira Strait in the west. The model results agree with fluxes estimated from current meter observations. The CDW outflow has been neither steady nor uniform during the period 1987-95. In the Kassos Strait, the outflow commenced in 1987 and increased rapidly until 1991; since then, it appears to have stabilised. In the Antikithira Strait, in contrast, the outflow has increased steadily since 1987. Such modifications in the CDW outflow are associated with changes in its hydrographic characteristics. The salinity of CDW increased constantly, by approximately 0.1, between 1987 and 1995 while its temperature warmed, between 1987 and 1991, and then cooled. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.