Mediterranean Outflow Water in the eastern Gulf of Cadiz: pathways and seasonal variability.

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On its pathway towards the Atlantic basin, the Mediterranean Outflow Water (MOW) is subjected to the abrupt and complex seafloor topography of the Gulf of Cadiz. MOW overflows the Strait of Gibraltar at a sill depth of 350 m as a dense, salty, bottomtrapped gravity current. Initially an undercurrent to the Eastern North Atlantic Central Water (ENACW), it is seen to reach Cape St. Vincent as a multi-layered, buoyant plume at depths ranging 8001300 m. This work presents the bottom hydrography in the eastern Gulf of Cadiz based on historical near-bottom CTD observations (2005-2013) combined with a repeated series (2007-2013) of high-resolution CTD-LADCP observations along a number of standard sections crossing the early MOW.