ENCIBA


CODE: CTM2013-40886-P

Estudio numérico de la circulación 3D de la Bahía de Algeciras y de los procesos físicos y biológicos de su entorno

CHIEF RESEARCHER Jesús García Lafuente glafuente@ctima.uma.es
FUNDING114.950 €
FUNDER Ministerio de Economía y Competitividadmineco-logo.jpg
DURATION 01/01/2014 - 31/12/2016
Members
  • José Carlos Sánchez Garrido jcsanchez@ctima.uma.es
  • Simone Sammartino ssammartino@ctima.uma.es
  • Cristina Naranjo Rosa cnaranjo@ctima.uma.es
  • Javier Delgado Cabello jdcabello@uma.es
  • OBJECTIVES

    The project faces two main objectives:

    RESULTS

    THE BAY of ALGECIRAS

    The Algeciras Bay is a natural port whose southern boundary is the line joining P. Carnero at its southwestern end and P Europa at the southeast. Its major axis, running north-south, has a length of 10 km, it is typically 8 km wide, and it has a surface area of 75 km2. The bay is cut by a submarine canyon whose depth reaches 500m at the point where it joins the Strait of Gibraltar, from which the Bay is not separable. Its water volume is around 15 km3, of which 25% exhibits Atlantic water characteristics, the remaining showing up a Mediterranean origin, although there is no solid evidence backing these percentages . In any case, the proportion changes continuosly depending on the tidal and subinertial forcings.

    Plane view of the Bay (Google) under its present configuration. Left panel shows the bathymetry.

    TIDAL DYNAMICS IN THE ALGECIRAS BAY

    Tidal dynamics prevails over the remaining forcings and shows a clear baroclinic pattern. The tidal exchange forces the upper Atlantic layer in during the flood (rising) tide and the Mediterranean layer out. The direction of the flows changes when the tide reverses to ebb (or falling tide). This is the way the Bay responds to the baroclinic tide in the Strait of Gibraltar, which is the driving mechanism of the tidal dynamics in the Bay domain.

    Stream function of M2 constituent. Amplitude (left) and phase (right).

    The following papers are of interest to the objectives of the project:


    FILES

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