Why the Mediterranean Sea Is Becoming Saltier

다국어 초록 (Multilingual Abstract)

Anthropogenic changes have been made to the water budget for the Mediterranean Sea as a result of river diversion projects. The decrease in freshwater inflow to the Mediterranean represents an effective increase in the overall net evaporation over the basin. Hydraulic control models for the exchange between the Mediterranean and Atlantic through the Strait of Gibraltar predict that the salinity of the Mediterranean should increase if the net evaporation over the Mediterranean increases. Increases in the salinity of the deep waters in both the western and eastern Mediterranean basins have been observed. The causes of such higher deep water salinity are attributed to increases in intermediate water salinity which are ultimately mixed down into the deep sea during wintertime buoyancy loss events. The pattern of the Mediterranean salinity increase is instructive for understanding how the water mass properties in a basin change over time as a result of anthropogenic changes.