Abstract. The paper documents seasonality, interannual-to-decadal
variability, and trends in temperature, salinity, and density over a transect
in the shallow northern Adriatic Sea (Mediterranean Sea) between 1979 and
2017. The amplitude of seasonality decreases with depth and is much larger
in temperature and density than in salinity. Time series of temperature and
salinity are correlated in the surface but not in the bottom layer. Trends
in temperature are large (up to 0.6 ∘C over 10 years), significant
through the area, and not sensitive to the sampling interval and time series
length. In contrast, trends in salinity are largely small and insignificant
and depend on the time series length. The warming of the area is more
during spring and summer. Such large temperature trends and their spatial
variability emphasize the importance of maintaining regular long-term
observations for the proper estimation of thermohaline trends and their
variability. This is particularly important in regions which are key for
driving thermohaline circulation such as the northern Adriatic, with the
potential to affect biogeochemical and ecological properties of the whole
Adriatic Sea.
Present climate trends and variability in thermohaline properties of the northern Adriatic shelf