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Internal tides responsible for lithogenic inputs along the Iberian continental slope
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  • Simon Barbot,
  • Marion Lagarde,
  • Florent Henri Lyard,
  • Patrick Marsaleix,
  • Pascale Lherminier,
  • Catherine Jeandel
Simon Barbot
LEGOS, LEGOS

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Marion Lagarde
LEGOS, LEGOS
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Florent Henri Lyard
Pôle d'Océanographie Côtière de l'Observatoire Midi-Pyrénées (LEGOS), Pôle d'Océanographie Côtière de l'Observatoire Midi-Pyrénées (LEGOS)
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Patrick Marsaleix
LEGOS, LEGOS
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Pascale Lherminier
Ifremer, Ifremer
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Catherine Jeandel
LEGOS, LEGOS, UMR CNRS 5566, Université Paul Sabatier, CNRS, IRD, CNES
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Abstract

This study details sediment resuspension due to internal tides (ITs) and the subsequent propagation of suspended particles along and off the Iberian continental slope. Five resuspension sites are identified along the western Iberian shelf slope using a tidal regional model of the Bay of Biscay and Iberian continental shelf. Two sites are sources of lithogenic material, one is a source of biogenic matter, and two are sources of a mixture of both. The potential pathways for particles from the resuspension sites toward the GEOVIDE stations are identified using IBIRYS reanalysis to infer their transport by the ocean circulation. It appears that each station is influenced by a specific pathway and mixed particles from several resuspension sites. This methodology enables us to establish more realistic interpretations of the geochemical in situ observations combining distinct modeling of ITs and oceanic circulation as well as in situ sediment properties. It also reveals that the criticality of the bathymetry slope, commonly used to track the potential occurrence of ITs, is not sufficient to investigate their role in sediment resuspension. An explicit resolution of ITs using a numerical tidal model is required for an exhaustive identification of the resuspension sites.
Oct 2022Published in Journal of Geophysical Research: Oceans volume 127 issue 10. 10.1029/2022JC018816