Multivariate Sub-Regional Ocean Indicators in the Mediterranean Sea: From Event Detection to Climate Change Estimations

Abstract

The increasing science and society requests for ocean monitoring from global to regional and local scales, the need for integration and convergence into a globally consistent ocean observing system as well as the need for improvement of access to information are now internationally recognized goals to progress toward the sustainable management of a healthy ocean. To respond to these challenges at regional level, the Balearic Islands Coastal Observing and Forecasting System (SOCIB) is developing a comprehensive set of ocean indicators in the Mediterranean Sea and around the Balearic Islands, key environments that are strongly affected by climate change and human pressure. This new SOCIB value-added product addresses the sub-regional ocean variability from daily (events) to interannual/decadal (climate) scales. A user-friendly interface has been implemented to monitor, visualize and communicate ocean information that is relevant for a wide range of sectors, applications and regional end-users. These sub-regional indicators allowed us to detect specific events in real time. Remarkable events and features identified include marine heat waves, atmospheric storm, extreme river discharge, mesoscale eddy, deep convection among others, all of them being oceanic phenomena that directly impact the ocean circulation and marine ecosystems. The long-term variations, in response to climate change, are also addressed highlighting and quantifying trends in physical and biogeochemical components of the ocean as well as sub-regional differences. At both (sub-) regional, national and international levels, a society-aligned science will have stronger impact on policy decision-makings and will support society to implement specific actions to address worldwide environmental challenges.

Sub-Regional Marine Heat Waves in the Mediterranean Sea From Observations: Long-Term Surface Changes, Sub-Surface and Coastal Responses

“…The authors also highlighted the strong spatial variability in SST trend estimations. Trend values over 1982-2020 have been estimated at 0.032 and 0.044 ± 0.002 • C/year as averages in the western and eastern Mediterranean, respectively (Juza and Tintoré, 2021), and at 0.033 ± 0.004 • C/year in the Ionian and Levantine Seas (Ibrahim et al, 2021). The rapid sea surface warming trend in this ocean basin has been associated with strong increase in MHW days, particularly during the last two decades since the beginning of the 20th century (Bensoussan et al, 2019;Ibrahim et al, 2021;Juza and Tintoré, 2021).…”

“…As a semi-enclosed and relatively small basin, including many coastal areas and islands, the Mediterranean Sea is one of the most vulnerable regions to climate change and responds rapidly to global warming (Giorgi, 2006;Lionello and Scarascia, 2018), from the surface to the deep ocean, from coastal to open ocean waters, through oceanographic and environmental changes (Bethoux et al, 1999). The surface Mediterranean warming rate is approximately three or four times higher than the global ocean one (von Schuckmann et al, 2020;Juza and Tintoré, 2021) with basin-averaged trend estimations of sea surface temperature (SST) around 0.041 ± 0.006 • C/year over 1982-2018 (Pisano et al, 2020), 0.037 ± 0.003 • C/year over 1982(von Schuckmann et al, 2020 and 0.038 ± 0.002 • C/year over 1982-2020 (Juza and Tintoré, 2021). The authors also highlighted the strong spatial variability in SST trend estimations.…”

Science for Good Environmental Status: A European Joint Action to Support Marine Policy

“…Ocean data, at national and EU level, appear sparse and heterogeneous in terms of targeted variables, quality, sampling methodologies and strategy, etc. (e.g., [11,23,41,[46][47][48]. This implies difficulties in providing available, harmonized data sets for interoperability, comparability and for calibration and validation activities.…”

Coastal HF radars in the Mediterranean: status of operations and a framework for future development

“…The Mediterranean Sea is one of the biggest reservoirs of marine life in the world, contributing to more than 7% of world's marine biodiversity including a high percentage of endemic species (Coll et al, 2010). Since natural disasters, anthropogenic activities and climate change might impose significant and long-lasting pressures (Juza and Tintoré, 2021;Tuel and Eltahir, 2020;Spalding et al, 2014), diverse science priorities have been identified to promote healthy and sustainable marine ecosystems in the Mediterranean Sea, among others:…”

“…ii) The impact assessment of coastal hazards and extreme sea states, ranging from storm surges, erosion and flash-floods to rogue waves and the Mediterranean hurricanes, also named "Medicanes" (Von Schuckmann et al, 2020;Milglietta and Rotunno, 2019;Wolff et al, 2018;Cavaleri et al, 2012). iii) The thorough analysis of climate-driven variations such as sea level rise, the steady acidification, the increase of ocean heat content, recurrent marine heat waves or potential alterations in the thermohaline circulation (Juza and Tintoré, 2021;Garrabou et al, 2019).…”