Recent unprecedented warming and oligotrophy of the eastern Mediterranean Sea within the last millennium

Sisma-Ventura, Guy; Yam, Ruth; Shemesh, Aldo

doi:10.1002/2014gl060393

Cited by 46 publications

(54 citation statements)

References 65 publications

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“…In the second half of the current millennium, the two wells from Jaffa (Fig. ) match data obtained from bioconstructions (Sisma‐Ventura et al., ) indicating slow rise of sea level from −0.43 m at the beginning of the 18th century to −0.17 m by 1900 CE.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 77%

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Evaluating ancient coastal wells as sea‐level indicators from the coast of Israel

et al. 2017

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This paper re‐evaluates previous records and adds new data to the relative sea level (RSL; namely the sea level related to the level of the national terrestrial datum) reconstruction in Israel from the last 2400 years based on ancient coastal water wells. Different methods for obtaining the most accurate modern offset between coastal groundwater level and mean sea level are also tested, since this is a crucial component for using wells as reliable sea‐level indicators in the Mediterranean and beyond. Very few, if any, sea‐level studies outside of Israel use coastal wells as RSL indicators; refinements to the methods associated with this indicator type will facilitate their use in other regions. Coastal wells in the study are located within 200 m of the present‐day coastline. The functional age range for the wells is based on site stratigraphy, artifacts, historical records, and the coastal water well typology. These archaeological indicators rely on finding the vertical offset between present‐day coastal groundwater and sea level, and applying it to ancient times. The current study explores two methods to calculate accurate vertical offsets: a) modern averages of the upper aquifer groundwater elevation in the vicinity of ancient wells, which are calculated from 60 years of measurements by the Israeli Hydrological Service; and b) a hydrological model where groundwater elevation is a function of distance from the modern coastline. The model uses a simulation of the coastal aquifer with a two‐dimensional, vertical cross‐section. The modeled approach is found to be preferable. The results show that sea level in Roman times (1st century CE) was similar to present‐day, slightly higher in the Byzantine period (4th to 7th centuries CE), and lower in part of the Early Islamic period (9th to 10th centuries CE). For the later Fatimid/Ayyubid and Crusader periods (11th to 13th centuries CE), RSL reaches its lowest elevations (of about −0.5 m) as previously found. Following these low levels, sea level rose going into the 18th and 19th centuries CE.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 77%

“…(; ) and Toker et al. () using archaeological indications, and in Sisma‐Ventura, Yam, and Shemesh () with bioconstructions.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Evaluating ancient coastal wells as sea‐level indicators from the coast of Israel

et al. 2017

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“…Temperature development in the Eastern Mediterranean region during the past 1,500 years based on palaeoclimate proxies of selected study sites. Proxy series from left to right (with site numbers): 59: Kocain Cave (Göktürk, ), AA38: Jableh (Kaniewski et al, ), AA39: Wadi Jarrah (Kaniewski et al, ), AA37: Tel Akko (Kaniewski et al, ), AA36: Israel coastal reefs (Sisma‐Ventura et al, ), and AA35: Dead Sea (Litt et al, ). Illustrated site numbers are bold and underlined in location map in Figure .…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Medieval Climate Anomaly in the Mediterranean Region

Lüning¹,

Schulte

Garcés‐Pastor

et al. 2019

Paleoceanog and Paleoclimatol

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The Medieval Climate Anomaly (MCA) is a preindustrial phase of pronounced natural climate variability with a core period from 1000 to 1200 CE. The paper presents a synthesis that integrates palaeotemperature records from the Greater Mediterranean Region encompassing the past 1,500 years based on multiproxy data from 79 published land and marine sites. MCA warming dominated the Western Mediterranean (Iberia, NW Africa) as well as the northern land areas of the Central and Eastern Mediterranean region. MCA cooling prevailed in the Canary Current Upwelling System, southern Levant, and some sea areas of the Central and Eastern Mediterranean. Previous palaeoreconstructions suggest persistent positive Atlantic Multidecadal Oscillation (AMO+) and North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO+) conditions during the MCA, while the Little Ice Age was dominated by an AMO− and NAO− regime. During the past 150 years, AMO+ conditions are typically associated with warming episodes in the Mediterranean area. A similar relationship appears to have also been established during the MCA as the majority of all Mediterranean land sites experienced warm climate conditions. In contrast, the NAO typically leads to a characteristic west‐east temperature dipole pattern in the basin, as documented for the last decades. During NAO+ conditions the Western Mediterranean is generally warm (and dry), while large parts of the Central and Eastern Mediterranean are cold. Similar trends seem to have been developed during the MCA when the NAO+ regime led to consistent warming in the Western Mediterranean, while a significant number of sites with MCA cooling existed in the Central and Eastern Mediterranean.

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“…Within the Mediterranean, the southeastern basin is more prone to these global stressors than the western basin (Rilov et al 2018). It has been warming faster than the western basin, with an increase of 2°-3°C in sea surface temperature (SST) in the past three decades (Sisma-Ventura et al 2014, Ozer et al 2017, and is a hot spot for marine alien species in the Mediterranean, and probably also globally due to the presence of a major conduit of tropical invaders from the Indo-Pacific: the Suez Canal (Rilov and Galil 2009, Edelist et al 2013, Katsanevakis et al 2014. It has been warming faster than the western basin, with an increase of 2°-3°C in sea surface temperature (SST) in the past three decades (Sisma-Ventura et al 2014, Ozer et al 2017, and is a hot spot for marine alien species in the Mediterranean, and probably also globally due to the presence of a major conduit of tropical invaders from the Indo-Pacific: the Suez Canal (Rilov and Galil 2009, Edelist et al 2013, Katsanevakis et al 2014.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Ocean warming and tropical invaders erode the performance of a key herbivore

Yeruham

Shpigel

Abelson

et al. 2019

Ecology

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Citation: Yeruham, E., M. Shpigel, A. Abelson, and G. Rilov. 2020. Ocean warming and tropical invaders erode the performance of a key herbivore. Ecology 101(2):Abstract. Climate change and bioinvasions are two facets of global change that can act in tandem to impact native species and ecosystems. However, their combined effects on key species have rarely been studied. The Mediterranean Sea is a hot spot of both ocean warming and bioinvasions, where their impact can be tested together. In recent years, the population of a key herbivore, the European purple sea urchin (Paracentrotus lividus), has virtually collapsed along the Israeli Mediterranean coast (southeastern Levant). Here, we used field and lab experiments to test two complementary hypotheses that may explain the urchin population collapse: (1) resource competition that may lead to competitive exclusion by invasive grazers (two Red Sea rabbitfishes) and (2) reduced performance due to ocean warming. An inclusion-exclusion in situ caging experiment revealed a strong negative impact of fish grazing on algal cover and on the urchin's gut content and gonado-somatic index (GSI). Laboratory experiments revealed a considerable negative impact of both elevated temperature and food deficiency on sea urchin respiration and GSI, and consequently on its energy budget and reproductive potential and, potentially, fitness. Such reduced reproductive capacity must have greatly lowered the sea urchin's population viability, contributing (and possibly even leading) to its collapse in the southeastern Levant in the past two decades. Urchin population declines are expected to spread to the west and north of the Mediterranean Sea following further warming and rabbitfish expansion. This study is the first to demonstrate the potential additive effects of ocean warming and implied competitive exclusion by an invader on a native species at its warm biogeographic distribution edge.

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Recent unprecedented warming and oligotrophy of the eastern Mediterranean Sea within the last millennium

Cited by 46 publications

References 65 publications

Evaluating ancient coastal wells as sea‐level indicators from the coast of Israel

Evaluating ancient coastal wells as sea‐level indicators from the coast of Israel

The Medieval Climate Anomaly in the Mediterranean Region

Ocean warming and tropical invaders erode the performance of a key herbivore

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