Vertical diffusion processes in the Eastern Mediterranean - Black Sea System

The identification and examination of 'complete' potential density overturns in CTD profiles, within the framework of SESAME project, are employed to assess vertical eddy diffusivities, mostly in the top 100 m of the water column, for a broad area covering the East Mediterranean, the Turkish Straits and the Black Sea. The implementation of this method shows that, mixing induced by mechanical turbulence is enhanced in frontal areas, in the proximity of straits and inside anticyclones; furthermore, that mechanical turbulence is insignificant, down to the scale of CTD resolution, within areas of double diffusive staircases, encountered in deep layers of the water column. Consequently, only laminar theories about double diffusion are applied for assessing diffusivities therein. Susceptibility to different types of double diffusion seems to be related to the interaction of different types of water masses.