Elio Paschini

The Adriatic Sea General Circulation. Part I: Air–Sea Interactions and Water Mass Structure

Abstract A comprehensive historical hydrographic dataset for the overall Adriatic Sea basin is analyzed in order to define the open ocean seasonal climatology of the basin. The authors also define the regional climatological seasons computing the average monthly values of heat fluxes and heat storage from a variety of atmospheric datasets. The long term mean surface heat balance corresponds to a heat loss of 19–22 W m−2. Thus, in steady state, the Adriatic should import about the same amount of heat from the northern Ionian Sea through the Otranto Channel. The freshwater balance of the Adriatic Sea is defined by computing the average monthly values of evaporation, precipitation, and river runoff, obtaining an annual average gain of 1.14 m. The distribution of heat marks the difference between eastern and western Adriatic areas, showing the winter heat losses in different parts of the basin. Climatological water masses are defined for three regions of the Adriatic: (i) the northern Adriatic where seasonal ...

The Adriatic Sea General Circulation. Part II: Baroclinic Circulation Structure

Abstract In the second part of the paper dedicated to the Adriatic Sea general circulation, the horizontal structure of the hydrographic parameters and dissolved oxygen fields is described on a seasonal timescale. Maps of temperature and salinity climatological fields reveal the enhanced seasonal variability of the Adriatic Sea, which at the surface is associated with the major dilution effects of river runoff. The density and derived dynamic height fields show for the first time the baroclinic geostrophic structure of the general circulation. Winter is dominated by compensation effects between temperature and salinity fronts along the western coastline. The resulting baroclinic circulation is weak and suggests the presence of barotropic current components not accessible by the dataset. Spring and summer seasons have the smallest spatial scales in the temperature and salinity fields and stronger subbasin-scale gyres and current systems, which have been classified in a schematic representation of the circu...

General Circulation of the Eastern Mediterranean

Abstract A novel description of the phenomenology of the Eastern Mediterranean is presented based upon a comprehensive pooled hydrographic data base collected during 1985–1987 and analyzed by cooperating scientists from several institutions and nations (the POEM project). Related dynamical process and modeling studies are also overviewed. The circulation and its variabilities consist of three predominant and interacting scales: basin scale, subbasin scale, and mesoscale. Highly resolved and unbiased maps of the basin wide circulation in the thermocline layer are presented which provide a new depiction of the main thermocline general circulation, composed of subbasin scale gyres interconnected by intense jets and meandering currents. Semipermanent features exist but important subbasin scale variabilities also occur on many time scales. Mesoscale variabilities modulate the subbasin scale and small mesoscale eddies populate the open sea, especially the south-eastern Levantine basin. Clear evidence indicates Levantine Intermediate Water (LIW) to be present over most of the Levantine Basin, implying that formation of LIW is not localized but rather is ubiquitous. The Ionian and Levantine basins are confirmed to form one deep thermohaline cell with deep water of Adriatic origin and to have a turnover time of one and a quarter centuries. Prognostic, inverse, box and data assimilative modeling results are presented based on both climatological and POEM data. The subbasin scale elements of the general circulation are stable and robust to the dynamical adjustment process. These findings bear importantly on a broad range of problems in ocean science and marine technology that depend upon knowledge of the general circulation and water mass structure, including biogeochemical fluxes, regional climate, coastal interactions, pollution and environmental management. Of global ocean scientific significance are the fundamental processes of water mass formations, transformations and dispersion which occur in the basin.

The mesoscale eddy field of the middle Adriatic Sea during fall 1988

The analysis of the first mesoscale experiment in the middle Adriatic Sea reveals the horizontal and vertical scale of the eddy field. The mesoscale variability is characterized by 10–20 km in diameter eddies. They are lower thermocline intensified, and the velocities in the upper and lower thermocline levels range from 10 to 1 cm s−1, respectively. The eddies are small because of the local Rossby radius deformation (5.4 and 2.8 km for the first and second internal baroclinic mode, respectively) and because they are second baroclinic mode intensified. The Levantine Intermediate Water is found in tongue-like features intruding between the intense eddy field.

Hydrological Regime and Renewal Capacity of the Micro-tidal Lesina Lagoon, Italy

A multidisciplinary approach that combines field measurements, artificial neural networks, water balance analyses and hydrodynamic modelling was developed to investigate the water budget and renewal capacity of semi-closed coastal systems. The method was applied to the Lesina Lagoon, a micro-tidal lagoon in the southern Adriatic Sea (Italy). Surface water flux between the lagoon and the sea was determined by neural network prediction and used as input in the analysis. Strong seasonal variations in the water budget equation were predicted. Fresh water inputs estimated by the water balance analysis were used as forcing by a calibrated finite element model to describe the water circulation and transport time scale of the lagoon’s surface waters. The model highlighted the spatial heterogeneity of the renewal behaviour of the system, with a strong east–west water renewal time gradient. Knowledge of spatial distribution of water renewal times is crucial for understanding the lagoon’s renewal capacity and explaining the high spatial variability of the biogeochemistry of the Lesina Lagoon.

Variability of nutrient and thermal structure in surface waters between New Zealand and Antarctica, October 2004-January 2005

We describe the upper ocean thermal structure and surface nutrient concentrations between New Zealand and Antarctica along five transects that cross the Subantarctic Front, the Polar Front (PF) and the southern Antarctic Circumpolar Current (ACC) front. The surface water thermal structure is coupled with variations in surface nutrient concentrations, making water masses identifiable by both temperature and nutrient ranges. In particular, a strong latitudinal gradient in orthosilicate concentration is centred at the PF. On the earlier sections that extend south-west from the Campbell Plateau, orthosilicate increases sharply southward from 10–15 to 50–55 µmol l−1 between 58° S and 60° S, while surface temperature drops from 7°C to 2°C. Nitrate increases more regularly toward the south, with concentrations ranging from 10–12 µmol l−1 at 54° S to 25–30 µmol l−1 at 66° S. The same features are observed during the later transects between New Zealand and the Ross Sea, but the sharp silica and surface temperature gradients are shifted between 60° S and 64° S. Both temporal and spatial factors may influence the observed variability. The January transect suggests an uptake of silica, orthophosphate and nitrate between 63° S and 70° S over the intervening month, with an average depletion near 37%, 44% and 29%, respectively. An N/P (nitrite + nitrate/orthophosphate) apparent drawdown ratio of 8.8±4.1 and an Si/N (silicic acid/nitrite + nitrate) apparent drawdown ratio >1 suggest this depletion results from a seasonal diatom bloom. A southward movement of the oceanic fronts between New Zealand and the Ross Sea relative to prior measurements is consistent with reports of recent warming and changes in the ACC.

An Individual-based Probabilistic Model for Fish Stock Simulation

We define an individual-based probabilistic model of a sole (Solea solea) behaviour. The individual model is given in terms of an Extended Probabilistic Discrete Timed Automaton (EPDTA), a new formalism that is introduced in the paper and that is shown to be interpretable as a Markov decision process. A given EPDTA model can be probabilistically model-checked by giving a suitable translation into syntax accepted by existing model-checkers. In order to simulate the dynamics of a given population of soles in different environmental scenarios, an agent-based simulation environment is defined in which each agent implements the behaviour of the given EPDTA model. By varying the probabilities and the characteristic functions embedded in the EPDTA model it is possible to represent different scenarios and to tune the model itself by comparing the results of the simulations with real data about the sole stock in the North Adriatic sea, available from the recent project SoleMon. The simulator is presented and made available for its adaptation to other species.