The Mediterranean Sea is often considered as a miniature ocean for climatic studies (Béthoux et al., 1999;Durrieu de Madron et al., 2011;Tsimplis et al., 2006). Its semi-enclosed geometry fosters a zonal overturning circulation that connects remote areas of the easternmost Levantine Sea with the North Atlantic Ocean, in compensation for the evaporation excess over the basin (Hopkins, 1978). This open thermohaline cell sets the stratification of the whole Mediterranean Sea according to a two-layer flow (Wüst, 1961): the non-return flow of fresh waters of Atlantic origin (AW) in the surface layer, and the formation and westward spreading in the intermediate layer of salty waters, namely the Levantine Intermediate Water (LIW). This latter water mass plays a major role in the vertical exchanges of physical and biogeochemical properties as well as their arrangement and transport over the different sub-basins of the Mediterranean Sea. LIW is involved in the deep water formation processes that drive the two internal thermohaline cells in the western and eastern Mediterranean basins
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