The mixed-layer/thermocline cycle of a persistent warm core eddy in the eastern Mediterranean

Analysis of data from several recent cruises reveals the presence of a persistent warm core eddy located to the southeast of Cyprus. The core of the eddy is warmer and more saline than the environment. The strongest temperature and salinity anomalies are subsurface and reach maximum values of 2–2.4°C and 0.25–0.34 respectively in the layer 200–400 m. In the winter, the core of the eddy consists of a deep mixed layer from the surface to a depth of nearly 400 m while in summer the seasonal thermocline caps the nearly isothermal, isohaline thermostad which remains at 200–400 m. The eddy has no apparent surface signal in summer and only a very weak signal (∼0.5°C) in winter. A one-dimensional model is developed which simulates all aspects of the observed seasonal mixed-layer/thermocline cycle except for the weak signal of Atlantic water which appears near a depth of 40 m during the summer. Finally, a possible mechanism for the generation of the eddy is suggested.