Articles | Volume 8, issue 1
https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-8-141-2016
https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-8-141-2016
29 Mar 2016
 | 29 Mar 2016

The MEDESS-GIB database: tracking the Atlantic water inflow

Marcos García Sotillo, Emilio Garcia-Ladona, Alejandro Orfila, Pablo Rodríguez-Rubio, José Cristobal Maraver, Daniel Conti, Elena Padorno, José Antonio Jiménez, Este Capó, Fernando Pérez, Juan Manuel Sayol, Francisco Javier de los Santos, Arancha Amo, Ana Rietz, Charles Troupin, Joaquín Tintore, and Enrique Álvarez-Fanjul

Abstract. On 9 September 2014, an intensive drifter deployment was carried out in the Strait of Gibraltar. In the frame of the MEDESS-4MS Project (EU MED Program), the MEDESS-GIB experiment consisted of the deployment of 35 satellite tracked drifters, mostly of CODE-type, equipped with temperature sensor sampling at a rate of 30 min. Drifters were distributed along and on both sides of the Strait of Gibraltar. The MEDESS-GIB deployment plan was designed as to ensure quasi-synoptic spatial coverage. To this end, four boats covering an area of about 680 NM2 in 6 h were coordinated. As far as these authors know, this experiment is the most important exercise in the area in terms of number of drifters released. Collected satellite-tracked data along drifter trajectories have been quality controlled and processed to build the presented MEDESS-GIB database. This paper reports the MEDESS-GIB data set that comprises drifter trajectories, derived surface currents and in situ SST measurements collected along the buoys tracks. This series of data is available through the PANGAEA (Data Publisher for Earth and Environmental Science) repository, with the following doi:10.1594/PANGAEA.853701. Likewise, the MEDESS-GIB data will be incorporated as part of the Copernicus Marine historical products. The MEDESS-GIB data set provides a complete Lagrangian view of the surface inflow of Atlantic waters through the Strait of Gibraltar and thus, very useful data for further studies on the surface circulation patterns in the Alboran Sea, and their links with one of the most energetic Mediterranean Sea flows: the Algerian Current.

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Short summary
An intensive drifter deployment was carried out in the Strait of Gibraltar: 35 satellite tracked drifters were released, coordinating to this aim 4 boats, covering an area of about 680 NM2 in 6 hours. This MEDESS-GIB Experiment is the most important exercise in the Mediterranean in terms of number of drifters released. The MEDESS-GIB dataset provides a complete Lagrangian view of the surface inflow of Atlantic waters through the Strait of Gibraltar and its later evolution along the Alboran Sea.
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