Physical oceanography and ADCP measurements during Maria S. Merian cruise MSM13/2

However, during the nineties a dramatic climatic change took place in the eastern Mediterranean Sea: the Eastern Mediterranean Transient (EMT). Since then, deep water has been formed by waters originating in the Aegean Sea.

Expeditions carried out in this region in recent years indicate that the process of deep water formation might reverse again. To what extent this assumption applies and what characteristics the deep water in the Ionian Sea exhibit nowadays, should be determined on the cruise. The process of a re-reversal of abyssal water production in the Ionian Sea is a long-term process and must therfore be monitored for several years.