Seasonal changes of water mass structure and shelf slope exchanges at the Ebro shelf (NW Mediterranean)

Among several field efforts undertaken in the framework of the EU MAST-III FANS project, three oceanographic cruises covering the Ebro shelf and slope regions (NW Mediterranean) were carried out on board R/V Garcia del Cid between November 1996 and July 1997. A major aim of these three cruises was to provide insight into the seasonal variability of the distribution of physico-chemical oceanographic parameters and the shelf/slope circulation. In this paper we discuss the observed changes in the hydrographic structure, the spatial distribution of nutrients, chlorophyll and suspended particulate matter and the local circulation in relationship to the seasonal variability of the Ebro river discharge rates and the water column stratification. The added effects of mesoscale circulation structures and of the exchanges across the shelf edge are also addressed. (C) 2002 Published by Elsevier Science Ltd.