THE PECULIARITIES OF THE INTERMEDIATE MED ITERRANEAN WATER-STRUCTURE IN THE CANARY BASIN

Combined remote acoustical and CTD-measurements were carried out in Ma rch 1990 to study the structure of Intermediate Water of Mediterranean origin in the Central Atlantic region (29-degrees - 35-degrees-N, 20- degrees - 26-degrees-W). The distribution of these waters was irregula r. In the central part of the region the tonque of Intermediate Water, spreading from the north-east to south-west, was found at depths of 7 00 - 1300 m. Several types of finestructure were observed by CTD data within the areas of local intensity maxima of intermediate water. The 30 - 40 km diameter Meddy was also found at the northern part of the r egion. The method of remote acoustic detection and monitoring of the M eddies and thermohaline finestructure features directly from sea surfa ce was introduced. It is based on the existence of spatial variability of sound scattering properties of Intermediate Water.