The Circulation of the Eastern Mediterranean. Part I

Compared to other interesting regions of the world's ocean, so little is known of the Eastern Mediterranean as to leave unsolved the major question of what is the dominant driving force of its general circulation, the wind stress field, the thermohaline surface fluxes or the inflow/outflow forcing at the Strait of Sicily. This is the first of a systematic series of studies aimed at answering the above question. Our approach is to investigate each forcing mechanism separately first and then in combination to asses the relative importance of each. Thus, in this first study we aim at a much less ambitious goal and address two basic and simpler issues which, however, have never been previously investigated. Specifically we ask: a) is the planetary beta effect important in the Eastern Mediterranean? B) what is the role of topography in determining the general circulation?