Articles | Volume 19, issue 6
https://doi.org/10.5194/os-19-1617-2023
© Author(s) 2023. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
https://doi.org/10.5194/os-19-1617-2023
© Author(s) 2023. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
Research article
| 
24 Nov 2023
Research article |
| 24 Nov 2023
| 24 Nov 2023
Relative dispersion and kinematic properties of the coastal submesoscale circulation in the southeastern Ligurian Sea
Pierre-Marie Poulain
CORRESPONDING AUTHOR
Centre for Maritime Research and Experimentation (CMRE), La Spezia, 19126, Italy
Luca Centurioni
Scripps Institution of Oceanography, La Jolla, 92093, California, USA
Carlo Brandini
Laboratorio di Monitoraggio e Modellistica Ambientale per lo sviluppo sostenibile (LAMMA), CNR, Sesto Fiorentino, 50019, Italy
Stefano Taddei
Laboratorio di Monitoraggio e Modellistica Ambientale per lo sviluppo sostenibile (LAMMA), CNR, Sesto Fiorentino, 50019, Italy
Maristella Berta
Istituto di Scienze Marine (ISMAR), CNR, La Spezia, 19032, Italy
Milena Menna
Istituto Nazionale di Oceanografia e di Geofisica Sperimentale (OGS), Sgonico (Trieste), 34010, Italy
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Sebastien Donnet, Helga S. Huntley, Maristella Berta, Luca Centurioni, Leo Middleton, Tamay Özgökmen, Pierre-Marie Poulain, and Annalisa Griffa
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Oceanographic and atmospheric data is used to study the properties and evolution of an eddy in the Balearic Sea. During the period of observation, this eddy elongates and splits. The unusually dense set of observations from satellites, drifters, and ship-mounted instruments provide insight into this splitting process. In particular, the contribution from the wind is assessed. These mechanisms are known to impact the vertical exchanges of oxygen, carbon dioxide, nutrients, and pollutants.
Michele Bendoni, Francesca Caparrini, Andrea Cucco, Stefano Taddei, Iulia Anton, Roberta Paranunzio, Rossella Mocali, Massimo Perna, Michele Sacco, Giovanni Vitale, Manuela Corongiu, Alberto Ortolani, Salem Gharbia, and Carlo Brandini
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Oceanographic and atmospheric data is used to study the properties and evolution of an eddy in the Balearic Sea. During the period of observation, this eddy elongates and splits. The unusually dense set of observations from satellites, drifters, and ship-mounted instruments provide insight into this splitting process. In particular, the contribution from the wind is assessed. These mechanisms are known to impact the vertical exchanges of oxygen, carbon dioxide, nutrients, and pollutants.
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Riccardo Martellucci, Francesco Tiralongo, Sofia F. Darmaraki, Michela D'Alessandro, Giorgio Mancinelli, Emanuele Mancini, Roberto Simonini, Milena Menna, Annunziata Pirro, Diego Borme, Rocco Auriemma, Marco Graziano, and Elena Mauri
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Alberto Ribotti, Antonio Bussani, Milena Menna, Andrea Satta, Roberto Sorgente, Andrea Cucco, and Riccardo Gerin
Earth Syst. Sci. Data, 15, 4651–4659, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-15-4651-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-15-4651-2023, 2023
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Over 100 experiments were realized between 1998 and 2022 in the Mediterranean Sea using surface coastal and offshore Lagrangian drifters. Raw data were initially unified and pre-processed. Then, the integrity of the received data packages was checked and incomplete ones were discarded. Deployment information was retrieved and integrated into the PostgreSQL database. Data were interpolated at defined time intervals, providing a dataset of 158 trajectories, available in different formats.
Valeria Di Biagio, Riccardo Martellucci, Milena Menna, Anna Teruzzi, Carolina Amadio, Elena Mauri, and Gianpiero Cossarini
State Planet, 1-osr7, 10, https://doi.org/10.5194/sp-1-osr7-10-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/sp-1-osr7-10-2023, 2023
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Tiziana Ciuffardi, Zoi Kokkini, Maristella Berta, Marina Locritani, Andrea Bordone, Ivana Delbono, Mireno Borghini, Maurizio Demarte, Roberta Ivaldi, Federica Pannacciulli, Anna Vetrano, Davide Marini, and Giovanni Caprino
Earth Syst. Sci. Data, 15, 1933–1946, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-15-1933-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-15-1933-2023, 2023
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This paper presents the results of the first 2 years of the Levante Canyon Mooring, a mooring line placed since 2020 in the eastern Ligurian Sea, to study a canyon area at about 600 m depth characterized by the presence of cold-water living corals. It provides hydrodynamic and thermohaline measurements along the water column, describing a water-mass distribution coherent with previous evidence in the Ligurian Sea. The data also show a Northern Current episodic and local reversal during summer.
Emma Reyes, Eva Aguiar, Michele Bendoni, Maristella Berta, Carlo Brandini, Alejandro Cáceres-Euse, Fulvio Capodici, Vanessa Cardin, Daniela Cianelli, Giuseppe Ciraolo, Lorenzo Corgnati, Vlado Dadić, Bartolomeo Doronzo, Aldo Drago, Dylan Dumas, Pierpaolo Falco, Maria Fattorini, Maria J. Fernandes, Adam Gauci, Roberto Gómez, Annalisa Griffa, Charles-Antoine Guérin, Ismael Hernández-Carrasco, Jaime Hernández-Lasheras, Matjaž Ličer, Pablo Lorente, Marcello G. Magaldi, Carlo Mantovani, Hrvoje Mihanović, Anne Molcard, Baptiste Mourre, Adèle Révelard, Catalina Reyes-Suárez, Simona Saviano, Roberta Sciascia, Stefano Taddei, Joaquín Tintoré, Yaron Toledo, Marco Uttieri, Ivica Vilibić, Enrico Zambianchi, and Alejandro Orfila
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Over the past decade, understanding of the Indian Ocean has progressed through new observations and advances in theory and models of the oceanic and atmospheric circulation. This review brings together new understanding of the ocean–atmosphere system in the Indian Ocean, describing Indian Ocean circulation patterns, air–sea interactions, climate variability, and the critical role of the Indian Ocean as a clearing house for anthropogenic heat.
Miroslav Gačić, Laura Ursella, Vedrana Kovačević, Milena Menna, Vlado Malačič, Manuel Bensi, Maria-Eletta Negretti, Vanessa Cardin, Mirko Orlić, Joël Sommeria, Ricardo Viana Barreto, Samuel Viboud, Thomas Valran, Boris Petelin, Giuseppe Siena, and Angelo Rubino
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Experiments in rotating tanks can simulate the Earth system and help to represent the real ocean, where rotation plays an important role. We wanted to show the minor importance of the wind in driving the flow in the Ionian Sea. We did this by observing changes in the water current in a rotating tank affected only by the pumping of dense water into the system. The flow variations were similar to those in the real sea, confirming the scarce importance of the wind for the flow in the Ionian Sea.
Ivan Manso-Narvarte, Erick Fredj, Gabriel Jordà, Maristella Berta, Annalisa Griffa, Ainhoa Caballero, and Anna Rubio
Ocean Sci., 16, 575–591, https://doi.org/10.5194/os-16-575-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/os-16-575-2020, 2020
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John Lodise, Tamay Özgökmen, Annalisa Griffa, and Maristella Berta
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Observations of ocean currents within the first meter of the surface are made using a large number of ocean drifters of two different draft depths (0–5 and 0–60 cm). We deconstruct the total drifter velocities using an estimate of the regional circulation and a modeled Stokes drift velocity to calculate the purely wind-driven component of each drifter type. We reveal that the wind-driven velocities rotate to the right of the wind, while also decreasing, with depth.
Roberta Sciascia, Maristella Berta, Daniel F. Carlson, Annalisa Griffa, Monica Panfili, Mario La Mesa, Lorenzo Corgnati, Carlo Mantovani, Elisa Domenella, Erick Fredj, Marcello G. Magaldi, Raffaele D'Adamo, Gianfranco Pazienza, Enrico Zambianchi, and Pierre-Marie Poulain
Ocean Sci., 14, 1461–1482, https://doi.org/10.5194/os-14-1461-2018, https://doi.org/10.5194/os-14-1461-2018, 2018
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Understanding the role of ocean currents in the recruitment of commercially important fish is an important step toward developing sustainable resource management guidelines. Here, we attempt to elucidate the role of surface ocean transport in supplying recruits of European sardines to the Gulf of Manfredonia, a known recruitment area in the Adriatic Sea. We find that transport to the Gulf of Manfredonia from remote spawing areas in the Adriatic is more likely than local spawning and retention.
Maristella Berta, Lucio Bellomo, Annalisa Griffa, Marcello G. Magaldi, Anne Molcard, Carlo Mantovani, Gian Pietro Gasparini, Julien Marmain, Anna Vetrano, Laurent Béguery, Mireno Borghini, Yves Barbin, Joel Gaggelli, and Céline Quentin
Ocean Sci., 14, 689–710, https://doi.org/10.5194/os-14-689-2018, https://doi.org/10.5194/os-14-689-2018, 2018
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The Northern Current (NC) in the NW Mediterranean Sea is studied by HF radar, glider, vessel survey, wind station, and model. NC variability is dominated by synoptic response to wind events, studied decomposing geostrophic and ageostrophic surface components. The combination of autonomous observing platforms with classical marine surveys provides high-resolution datasets for scientific purposes and practical applications such as the management of marine resources in the Mediterranean Sea.
Maher Bouzaiene, Milena Menna, Pierre-Marie Poulain, and Dalila Elhmaidi
Ocean Sci. Discuss., https://doi.org/10.5194/os-2017-34, https://doi.org/10.5194/os-2017-34, 2017
Preprint withdrawn
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The South Western Mediterranean, connected to the Atlantic Ocean through the Strait of Gibraltar, is a study area useful to describe the interaction between the light Atlantic Water and the denser Mediterranean Water. The spreading of fluid particles, estimated through the analysis of drifter data, is dominated by large mesoscale eddies at short times and small separation distances, and by small mesoscale structures for scale ranging between 3 and 11 km.
Y.-H. Wang, I-J. Cheng, and L. Centurioni
Biogeosciences Discuss., https://doi.org/10.5194/bgd-11-11481-2014, https://doi.org/10.5194/bgd-11-11481-2014, 2014
Revised manuscript not accepted
Related subject area
Approach: In situ Observations | Properties and processes: Mesoscale to submesoscale dynamics
An estimate of the eddy diffusivity tensor from observed and simulated Lagrangian trajectories in the Benguela Upwelling System
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An emerging pathway of Atlantic Water to the Barents Sea through the Svalbard Archipelago: drivers and variability
Subsurface manifestation of Marine Heatwaves in the South West Indian Ocean
The Polar Front in the northwestern Barents Sea: structure, variability and mixing
Tipping of the double-diffusive regime in the southern Adriatic Pit in 2017 in connection with record high-salinity values
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Ria Oelerich, Birte Gülk, Julia Dräger-Dietel, and Alexa Griesel
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Yan Barabinot, Sabrina Speich, and Xavier Carton
Ocean Sci., 21, 151–179, https://doi.org/10.5194/os-21-151-2025, https://doi.org/10.5194/os-21-151-2025, 2025
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Mesoscale eddies are ubiquitous rotating currents in the ocean. Some eddies, called "materially coherent", are able to transport a different water mass from the surrounding water. By analyzing 3D eddy structures sampled during oceanographic cruises, we found that eddies can be nonmaterially coherent, accounting only for their surface properties, but materially coherent considering their properties at depth. Future studies cannot rely solely on satellite data to evaluate heat and salt transport.
Kjersti Kalhagen, Ragnheid Skogseth, Till M. Baumann, Eva Falck, and Ilker Fer
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Clea Baker Welch, Neil Malan, Daneeja Mawren, Tamaryn Morris, Janet Sprintall, and Juliet Clair Hermes
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Marine heatwaves (MHWs) are prolonged periods of extreme ocean temperatures with significant impacts on marine ecosystems. Much research has focused on surface MHWs, but less is known about their subsurface extent. This study uses satellite and in situ data to investigate MHWs in the Southwest Indian Ocean (SWIO). We find that MHWs in the SWIO are typically moderate in severity, closely linked to mesoscale eddies, and that strong temperature anomalies extend below surface-identified MHWs.
Eivind H. Kolås, Ilker Fer, and Till M. Baumann
Ocean Sci., 20, 895–916, https://doi.org/10.5194/os-20-895-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/os-20-895-2024, 2024
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In the northwestern Barents Sea, we study the Barents Sea Polar Front formed by Atlantic Water meeting Polar Water. Analyses of ship and glider data from October 2020 to February 2021 show a density front with warm, salty water intruding under cold, fresh water. Short-term variability is linked to tidal currents and mesoscale eddies, influencing front position, density slopes and water mass transformation. Despite seasonal changes in the upper layers, the front remains stable below 100 m depth.
Felipe L. L. Amorim, Julien Le Meur, Achim Wirth, and Vanessa Cardin
Ocean Sci., 20, 463–474, https://doi.org/10.5194/os-20-463-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/os-20-463-2024, 2024
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Analysis of a high-frequency time series of thermohaline data measured at the EMSO-E2M3A regional facility in the southern Adriatic Pit (SAP) reveals a significant change in the double-diffusive regime in 2017 associated with the intrusion of extremely salty waters into the area, suggesting salt fingering as the dominant regime. The strong heat loss at the surface during this winter allowed deep convection to transport this high-salinity water from the intermediate to deep layers of the pit.
Ryan P. North, Julia Dräger-Dietel, and Alexa Griesel
Ocean Sci., 20, 103–121, https://doi.org/10.5194/os-20-103-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/os-20-103-2024, 2024
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The Benguela upwelling region off the coast of Namibia supplies cold water from the deep ocean that is transported offshore in finger-like structures called filaments. We investigate one major filament using measurements from a ship that crossed it multiple times and with mutiple buoys that follow the ocean currents. We find that the motions associated with the filament enhance the kinetic energy at small scales and provide a pathway for mixing of water and turbulent dissipation of energy.
Ria Oelerich, Karen J. Heywood, Gillian M. Damerell, Marcel du Plessis, Louise C. Biddle, and Sebastiaan Swart
Ocean Sci., 19, 1465–1482, https://doi.org/10.5194/os-19-1465-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/os-19-1465-2023, 2023
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At the southern boundary of the Antarctic Circumpolar Current, relatively warm waters encounter the colder waters surrounding Antarctica. Observations from underwater vehicles and altimetry show that medium-sized cold-core eddies influence the southern boundary's barrier properties by strengthening the slopes of constant density lines across it and amplifying its associated jet. As a result, the ability of exchanging properties, such as heat, across the southern boundary is reduced.
Arthur Coquereau and Nicholas P. Foukal
Ocean Sci., 19, 1393–1411, https://doi.org/10.5194/os-19-1393-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/os-19-1393-2023, 2023
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Understanding meltwater circulation around Greenland is crucial as it could influence climate variability but difficult as data are scarce. Here, we use 34 surface drifters to evaluate satellite-derived surface currents and show that satellite data recover the general structure of the flow and can recreate the pathways of particles around the southern tip of Greenland. This result permits a wide range of work to proceed looking at long-term changes in the circulation of the region since 1993.
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Short summary
Drifters and a profiling float were deployed in the coastal waters of the southeastern Ligurian Sea to characterize the near-surface circulation at a scale of ~10 km. The drifters were trapped in an offshore-flowing filament and a cyclonic eddy that developed at the southwestern extremity of the filament. Drifter velocities are used to estimate differential kinematic properties and relative dispersion statistics of the surface currents.
Drifters and a profiling float were deployed in the coastal waters of the southeastern Ligurian...
