News
Search into News content.- By category.
- Rss feeds.
- Events.
- Ocean indicators.
- Images of the Month.
- 2009.
- 2008.
- 2007.
- 2006.
- 2005.
- 2004.
- 2003.
- 2002.
- 2001.
- 2000.
- 1999.
- Dec. 1999: Measuring waves... with waves.
- Nov. 1999: Eddies: two sides to the story.
- Oct. 1999: Mediterranean tides are more than meets the eye.
- Sep. 1999: Mare nostrum, Mare incognita ?.
- Aug. 1999: Great Lakes as seen by Topex/Poseidon.
- Jul. 1999: Aral Sea could be rising from the dust.
- Jun. 1999: An eddy blown by the wind.
- May 1999: A turbulent sea.
- Apr. 1999: Jason-1 put to the test.
- Mar 1999: Observing the ocean to improve forecasting.
- Feb. 1999: Route du Rhum 1998.
- Jan. 1999: A glassy sea... of ridges and valleys.
- 1998.
- Operational News.
An eddy blown by the wind
Image of the Month - Jun. 1999
- Sea level anomalies and wind speed in the Eastern Mediterranean during the summer of 1994. The anticyclonic Ierapetra gyre (in red, south-east of Crete) forms as a result of wind interactions with the relief on Crete. (Credits CLS/MATER)
The winds and sea are in constant motion and their movements are closely interdependent. The wind not only generates waves, it also drives eddy movements on the ocean surface. For example, in the Eastern Mediterranean, northerly winds called the Etesians interact with the relief on the island of Crete. The peaks on land cause the wind to change course, thus generating swirling movements which the wind transfers to the sea to form what is known as the Ierapetra gyre. The strength of this gyre depends on the speed and direction of the wind.
Altimetry enables us to observe such phenomena, as it measures the peaks and valleys in the ocean surface around which eddies form (see last month's image: A turbulent sea). Other spaceborne sensors such as the AVHRR, which measures sea-surface temperature, complement altimetry data.
See also:
- Applications: Ocean circulation and its variations
- Applications: Mediterranean Sea
Websites on this subject:
- About the Mediterranean Sea
MedNet - MEDIAS
(Support Office for Regional Research on Global Environmental Change in the Mediterranean Basin and Subtropical Africa)