Dense water sinking in the Bari Canyon (Southern Adriatic Sea).

In order to study the role of the Bari canyon system as pathway for sediment and water coming from the Northern Adriatic, three moorings consisting of sediment traps and current meters, were deployed near the bottom, at 600 m depth, for one year. Two moorings were deployed within the canyon (B and C) and one on the adjacent open slope (A). Principal Component Analysis (PCA) on current data indicates that for moorings A and C the major variance occurs in the along- and the across-slope (along canyon axis) direction, respectively; while for mooring B the variance was almost equally between both components. A very good correlation between the major variance component and temperature was found showing 3-day and 10-day fluctuations mainly during the convection and spreading phase.