RESULTS OF INVESTIGATIONS IN THE SICILY CHANNEL (1986-1990)

In the framework of the programme POEM (Physical Oceanography of the Eastern Mediterranean), the Italian area of the Sicily Channel was intensively surveyed from 1986 to 1990. A jet-like meandering flow of Atlantic Water was found at the boundary of a sharp thermal front which changed from one survey to another and is evident in satellite imagery only during the warm season. No particularly energetic area was found in the Levantine Intermediate Water (LIW), which is traced by the position of its salinity maximum. A section north of the Pantelleria Island, crossing the deepest part of the Strait, was considered for computing the AW and LIW transports as well as their seasonal changes. The new data give transports smaller than 1 x 10(6) m3 s-1, somewhat less than reported in the literature. Seasonal variations indicate that the mean transport is smaller in winter than it is in summer.