Ierapetra gyre

To study one of the best-known oceanic feature of the Mediterranean Sea, the Ierapetra gyre (South-East of Crete), the use of several kind of data, as MyOcean provides, is a definite plus.

The Ierapetra gyre is a Mediterranean oceanic feature that pops up more or less regularly. This anti-cyclonic, warm, gyre (turning clockwise, since it is in the Northern hemisphere) forms, as a result of northerly winds, interactions with the relief on Crete and of ocean circulation in the Kasos strait. The mountains 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.

This gyre appears - or not – according to the periods: variations from a year to another are supposedly due to the winds and the mid-Mediterranean jet along the coast of North Africa.

For example, the gyre was clearly visible between 1993 and 2001, showing a marked seasonal cycle, with a maximum intensity in September/October; it disappeared in 2002 and reappeared in July 2004. In 2004-2007, its activity was very similar to the one observed between 1993 and 2001. This was helpful to study its creation and evolution over several years.

The video below illustrates this phenomenon, which was clearly visible during the period September-December 2010.