Chapter 4 Changes in the oceanography of the Mediterranean Sea and their link to climate variability

Tsimplis, Michael; Zervakis, Vassilis; Josey, Simon A.; Peneva, Elisaveta; Struglia, Maria Vittoria; Stanev, Emil V.; Theocharis, A.; Lionello, Piero; Malanotte‐Rizzoli, Paola; Artale, V.; Tragou, Elina; Oğuz, Temel

doi:10.1016/s1571-9197(06)80007-8

Cited by 59 publications

(59 citation statements)

References 147 publications

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“…Robinson et al, 2001;Millot and Taupier-Letage, 2005;Bergamasco and Malanotte-Rizzoli, 2010;Schroeder et al, 2012). Additionally, Tsimplis et al (2006) reviews recent changes in the oceanography attributed to climate variability. The Mediterranean Sea is clearly a dynamic system with significant temporal and spatial variability and where several permanent structures interact with gyres and eddies (both permanent and intermittent).…”

Section: Hydrography Of the Mediterranean Seamentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The AW mainly follows a cyclonic circulation of the western Mediterranean (e.g. Millot, 1999;Tsimplis et al, 2006), starting along the North African coast eastwards as the Algerian current. This current generates several short-lived mesoscale and larger open sea eddies that are important for transporting AW to the interior basin (e.g.…”

Section: The Shallow Overturning Of the Mediterranean Seamentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Gascard, 1978;Killworth, 1983;Schott et al, 1993;Rhein, 1995;Tsimplis et al, 2006). During winter, dry and cold air mixes the AW and the Winter Intermediate Water (WIW) with the underlying, warmer and saltier LIW.…”

Section: Western Mediterranean Seamentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Schroeder et al, 2008). In addition to deep waters, intermediate waters are formed during winter at the shelf/slope system in the northern part of the western Mediterranean Basin (Tsimplis et al, 2006) during years of less intense deep convection. The WIW follows the general circulation of the western basin underneath the AW.…”

Section: Western Mediterranean Seamentioning

confidence: 99%

“…This seems particularly relevant in light of the significant changes that have been observed during recent decades (e.g. Roether et al, 1996;Tsimplis et al, 2006;Schroeder et al, 2012. ) This article provides a brief review of the physical and chemical oceanography in the Mediterranean Sea as background information and introduction to the special issue in Ocean Science on "Physical, Chemical and Biological Oceanography of the Mediterranean Sea".…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 96%

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The Mediterranean Sea system: a review and an introduction to the special issue

et al. 2013

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Abstract. The Mediterranean Sea is a semi-enclosed sea characterized by high salinities, temperatures and densities. The net evaporation exceeds the precipitation, driving an anti-estuarine circulation through the Strait of Gibraltar, contributing to very low nutrient concentrations. The Mediterranean Sea has an active overturning circulation, one shallow cell that communicates directly with the Atlantic Ocean, and two deep overturning cells, one in each of the two main basins. It is surrounded by populated areas and is thus sensitive to anthropogenic forcing. Several dramatic changes in the oceanographic and biogeochemical conditions have been observed during the past several decades, emphasizing the need to better monitor and understand the changing conditions and their drivers. During 2011 three oceanographic cruises were conducted in a coordinated fashion in order to produce baseline data of important physical and biogeochemical parameters that can be compared to historic data and be used as reference for future observational campaigns. In this article we provide information on the Mediterranean Sea oceanographic situation, and present a short review that will serve as background information for the special issue in Ocean Science on "Physical, chemical and biological oceanography of the Mediterranean Sea". An important contribution of this article is the set of figures showing the large-scale distributions of physical and chemical properties along the full length of the Mediterranean Sea.

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Section: Hydrography Of the Mediterranean Seamentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: The Shallow Overturning Of the Mediterranean Seamentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Western Mediterranean Seamentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Western Mediterranean Seamentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 96%

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The Mediterranean Sea system: a review and an introduction to the special issue

et al. 2013

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Mediterranean Sea: Radionuclides

Delfanti¹,

Papucci²

2005

Encyclopedia of Inorganic Chemistry

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The main sources of anthropogenic radioactivity in the Mediterranean Sea are fallout from atmospheric nuclear weapon testing and from the Chernobyl accident in 1986, while the releases from the nuclear industry are small. Consequently, the present radionuclide levels in the marine environment are of no concern from the radiological point of view. However, the Mediterranean Sea is an ideal environment to show how both coastal and open‐sea processes act to redistribute radionuclides in the different compartments of the marine environment. In fact, the Mediterranean Sea is considered a miniature ocean, where all the processes characterizing the global ocean take place on smaller space and timescales. For these reasons, in the past decades it had largely been used as a “laboratory basin” for process studies. In this framework, anthropogenic and natural radionuclides were often measured to be used as tracers of water mass dynamics, transit and renewal times, particle dynamics, sediment accumulation, etc. In this article, we first briefly describe the physical and biogeochemical characteristics of the Mediterranean Sea. After reviewing and quantifying the sources of radioactivity, we mainly focus on two radionuclides: (i) 137 Cs: conservative in the open sea, the most abundant anthropogenic radionuclide, and, among these, the main contributor to radioactive dose to the population, and (ii) the very long‐lived 239,240 Pu: nonconservative and the most abundant among transuranics. We describe their distribution and time trend in seawater, sediments, and biota, define their budgets in the basin, quantify the exchanges at the Gibraltar and Turkish Straits, and indicate future trends. We also report levels and distributions of selected natural radionuclides: (i) 238 U, with 234 Th as the main tracer for particle dynamics and whose concentration in the Mediterranean slightly differs from that in the oceans, and (ii) 210 Po, which is efficiently accumulated by marine organisms and is the main contributor to radioactive dose to the population. Finally, we identify topics for future research, mainly related to the application of nuclear techniques to the study of oceanographic processes.

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