GYRE-SCALE CIRCULATION CELLS IN THE RED-SEA

High resolution synoptic hydrographic surveys carried out during 1982 to 1987 are used to delineate the two-dimensional baroclinic flow patt ern of the Red Sea. it is shown that the circulation can be characteri zed through a succession Of four gyres, some 200 km in diameter, the l ocations of which are linked to the major topographic basins of the Re d Sea. The gyres have a transport almost an order of magnitude larger than the large-scale thermohaline driven flow. They appear to be force d by the strongly rotational wind field over the Red Sea.