The Western Mediterranean Circulation Experiment (WMCE): Introduction

The purpose of the Western Mediterranean Circulation Experiment was to study the circulation of the western Mediterranean Sea from the Strait of Sicily to the Strait of Gibraltar using scales ranging from basin‐size to 1 km and depths from the surface to the deepest layers. An international consortium of multidisciplined marine investigators formed its study group; each had programs adapted to achieve the common goal: to derive the spatial and temporal variability of the western Mediterranean Sea circulation. WMCE was a logical outgrowth of a number of field campaigns and data analyses (see, for example, Donde Va? Group [1984]) that raised as many questions as answers. The WMCE Consortium was formed during a 1983 NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organization) study meeting in La Spezia, Italy, when the time and resources were judged appropriate for a study of the western Mediterranean as a single entity. Such a study would answer the following questions: 1. What are the major features of the western Mediterranean circulation, and how do they vary in space and time? 2. What are the physical forcing mechanisms? 3. How can this knowledge be implemented into numerical models? 4. How does the circulation affect the chemical, biological, and optical properties of the western Mediterranean Sea?