Search results for "Physical Oceanography"

Radiogenic isotopes: new tools help reconstruct paleocean circulation and erosion input

2001

Ocean and atmosphere circulation and continental weathering regimes have undergone great changes over thousands of years as well as tens of millions of years. During the glacial stages of the Pleistocene, ocean circulation was generally more sluggish and deep water circulation in the Atlantic had a shallower flow. At the same time, weathering on the continents was enhanced by glacial erosion, particularly in high northern latitudes, which increased the input of erosional detritus into the ocean. In addition, atmospheric pressure gradients were larger, leading to higher wind speeds and increased supply of aeolian dust to the ocean. Prior to the onset of Northern Hemisphere glaciation and pro…

Physical forcing and physical/biochemical variability of the Mediterranean Sea: a review of unresolved issues and directions for future research

2014

Malanotte-Rizzoli, Paola ... et. al.-- 76 pages

Seascape connectivity of European anchovy in the Central Mediterranean Sea revealed by weighted Lagrangian backtracking and bio-energetic modelling

2020

AbstractEcological connectivity is one of the most important processes that shape marine populations and ecosystems, determining their distribution, persistence, and productivity. Here we use the synergy of Lagrangian back-trajectories, otolith-derived ages of larvae, and satellite-based chlorophyll-a to identify spawning areas of European anchovy from ichthyoplanktonic data, collected in the Strait of Sicily (Central Mediterranean Sea), i.e., the crucial channel in between the European and African continents. We obtain new evidence of ecosystem connectivity between North Africa and recruitment regions off the southern European coasts. We assess this result by using bio-energetic modeling, …

Deep-Sea Bioluminescence Blooms after Dense Water Formation at the Ocean Surface

2013

The deep ocean is the largest and least known ecosystem on Earth. It hosts numerous pelagic organisms, most of which are able to emit light. Here we present a unique data set consisting of a 2.5-year long record of light emission by deep-sea pelagic organisms, measured from December 2007 to June 2010 at the ANTARES underwater neutrino telescope in the deep NW Mediterranean Sea, jointly with synchronous hydrological records. This is the longest continuous time-series of deep-sea bioluminescence ever recorded. Our record reveals several weeks long, seasonal bioluminescence blooms with light intensity up to two orders of magnitude higher than background values, which correlate to changes in th…

La temperatura superficial del mar en la cuenca balear y golfo de Valencia a partir de imágenes NOAA

1989

Evaluating several satellite precipitation estimates and global ground-based dataset on Sicily (Italy)

2012

The developing of satellite-based precipitation retrieval systems, presents great potentialities for several ap­ plications ranging from weather and meteorological applications to hydrological modelling. Evaluating perfor­ mances for these estimates is essential in order to understand their real capabilities and suitability related to each application. In this study an evaluation analysis of satellite precipitation retrieval systems has been carried out for the area of Sicily (Italy). Sicily is an island in the Mediterranean sea with a particular climatology and morphology, which is considered as an interesting test site for satellite precipitation products on the European mid-latitude area…

Recent warming in the Balearic Sea and Spanish Mediterranean coast. Towards an earlier and longer summer

2015

This paper analyses recent changes in the temperature of the Balearic Sea and surrounding coastal areas. Monthly temperature data from several weather stations located around the Balearic basin have been used to obtain land temperatures during the period 1960-2010, and monthly thermal satellite images from the Physical Oceanography Distributed Active Archive Center (PO.DAAC) covering the period 1985-2009 have been processed to obtain sea surface temperatures (SSTs) in the Balearic Sea. A rise in temperature has been observed since 1980 and increasingly in the last 25 years, with an average warming trend of 0.039 ºC/year on land for the period 1960-2010 and 0.026 ºC/year in SSTs for 1985-200…

Recent trends of SST in the Western Mediterranean basins from AVHRR Pathfinder data (1985-2007)

2011

Climate change in the Mediterranean region cannot be understood without taking into account changes in the Mediterranean Sea, which is an important source of moisture and heat for the Mediterranean climate system. Many research papers have been published in the last two decades increasing our knowledge about long-term trends and inter-annual variability of temperature and salinity in the Western Mediterranean. Although recent changes have been better documented, there remain uncertainties because different results are obtained depending on the period of time analyzed or the geographic region selected. This paper analyses the regional, seasonal and decadal variability of sea surface temperat…

The synergy of water quality and sea surface currents data in determining the spatio-temporal evolution of large-scale circulation features

2014

Chlorophyll-a (CHL-a) and Sea Surface Temperature (SST), amongst others, are proxies or indicators for water quality and can be easily retrieved synoptically and almost in near-real time through satellite remote-sensing. However, as they evolve in space and time in response to winds and currents, a full resolution of the temporal and spatial scales of these latters is required and their influence in shaping the distribution of water quality parameters needs to be assessed. While providing synoptic views and revealing mesoscale features, satellites suffer, indeed, from inadequate representation of sub-grid physical processes and lack of temporal resolution. Conventional point-wise measuremen…

Sprectroradiometric characteristics of inland water bodies infestated by Oscillatoria rubescens algae

2010

In December 2006 blooms of Oscillatoria rubescens were found in the reservoir Prizzi in Sicily. Oscillatoria is a genus of filamentous alga comprising approximately 6 species, between these the O. rubescens is sadly famous since this organism produces microcystins which are powerful hepatotoxins. Firstly found in Europe in 1825 on Geneva lake, recently (2006) those algae has been find out in Pozzillo, Nicoletti e Ancipa reservoirs (Enna Province), as well as in Prizzi (Palermo Province) and Garcia reservoirs (Trapani Province). Toxins produced by those bacteria (usually called microcystine LR-1 and LR-2) are highly toxic since they can activate oncogenes cells causing cancer pathologies on …