scholarly journals Latitudinal Differentiation among Modern Planktonic Foraminiferal Populations of Central Mediterranean: Species–Specific Distribution Patterns and Size Variability

2021 ◽  
Vol 9 (5) ◽  
pp. 551
Author(s):  
George Kontakiotis ◽  
Eirini Efstathiou ◽  
Stergios D. Zarkogiannis ◽  
Evangelia Besiou ◽  
Assimina Antonarakou
Keyword(s):  
Surface Temperature ◽  
Sea Surface Temperature ◽  
Planktonic Foraminifera ◽  
Sea Surface ◽  
Distributional Pattern ◽  
Central Mediterranean ◽  
Specific Distribution ◽  
Size Variability ◽  
The Mediterranean ◽  
Species Specific

Studies of the spatial distribution and size of modern planktonic foraminifera are still lacking in the Mediterranean Sea. In this study, 17 core-top sediments collected from a north-south transect along the central Mediterranean have been analyzed for planktonic foraminiferal content, in terms of their distributional pattern and intraspecific size variability. Among the analyzed planktonic foraminiferal species, Globigerina bulloides and Globigerinoides ruber (w) were the most abundant, presenting an antagonistic behavior and an overall decreasing trend in their average size values from Adriatic to Ionian sub-basins. Intraspecific differences have been also documented for G. ruber (w), with the dominant sensu stricto morphotype to present generally higher frequencies and more constant shell sizes than sensu lato. The greater size variability of the latter is possibly related to its adaptation in particular hydrographic conditions based on its depth habitat preference and ecological characteristics to reach the (sub)optimum growth conditions. The rest of the species occur in minor percentages and show on average 11% increase with decreasing latitude characterized by distinct species-specific size variations along the transect. Our results show that the relationship between planktonic foraminifera shell size and abundance or sea surface temperature are either absent or weaker than previously reported for other regions and that in central Mediterranean assemblages’ size may be mainly related to nutrient availability. Besides the environmental parameters (sea surface temperature, primary productivity, water depth, stratification), the possible hidden cryptic diversity, still lingers to be consistently determined, could give a better understanding of the geographic and morphological differentiation within the Mediterranean planktonic populations.

Variation in biometry and population density of solitary corals with solar radiation and sea surface temperature in the Mediterranean Sea

2007 ◽  
Vol 152 (2) ◽  
pp. 351-361 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stefano Goffredo ◽  
Erik Caroselli ◽  
Elettra Pignotti ◽  
Guido Mattioli ◽  
Francesco Zaccanti
Keyword(s):  
Population Density ◽  
Solar Radiation ◽  
Surface Temperature ◽  
Sea Surface Temperature ◽  
Mediterranean Sea ◽  
Sea Surface ◽  
The Mediterranean

scholarly journals The Role of Sea Surface Temperature Forcing in the Life-Cycle of Mediterranean Cyclones

2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (5) ◽  
pp. 825 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christos Stathopoulos ◽  
Platon Patlakas ◽  
Christos Tsalis ◽  
George Kallos
Keyword(s):  
Life Cycle ◽  
Surface Temperature ◽  
Sea Surface Temperature ◽  
Early Warning Systems ◽  
Life Cycles ◽  
Heat Fluxes ◽  
Sea Surface ◽  
Mediterranean Cyclones ◽  
The Mediterranean ◽  
The Impact

Air–sea interface processes are highly associated with the evolution and intensity of marine-developed storms. Specifically, in the Mediterranean Sea, the air–ocean temperature deviations have a profound role during the several stages of Mediterranean cyclonic events. Subsequently, this enhances the need for better knowledge and representation of the sea surface temperature (SST). In this work, an analysis of the impact and uncertainty of the SST from different well-known datasets on the life-cycle of Mediterranean cyclones is attempted. Daily SST from the Real Time Global SST (RTG_SST) and hourly SST fields from the Operational SST and Sea Ice Ocean Analysis (OSTIA) and the NEMO ocean circulation model are implemented in the RAMS/ICLAMS-WAM coupled modeling system. For the needs of the study, the Mediterranean cyclones Trixi, Numa, and Zorbas were selected. Numerical experiments covered all stages of their life-cycles (five to seven days). Model results have been analyzed in terms of storm tracks and intensities, cyclonic structural characteristics, and derived heat fluxes. Remote sensing data from the Integrated Multi-satellitE Retrievals (IMERG) for Global Precipitation Measurements (GPM), Blended Sea Winds, and JASON altimetry missions were employed for a qualitative and quantitative comparison of modeled results in precipitation, maximum surface wind speed, and wave height. Spatiotemporal deviations in the SST forcing rather than significant differences in the maximum/minimum SST values, seem to mainly contribute to the differences between the model results. Considerable deviations emerged in the resulting heat fluxes, while the most important differences were found in precipitation exhibiting spatial and intensity variations reaching 100 mm. The employment of widely used products is shown to result in different outcomes and this point should be taken into consideration in forecasting and early warning systems.

scholarly journals Tropical sea-surface temperature reconstruction for the early Paleogene using Mg/Ca ratios of planktonic foraminifera

2003 ◽  
Vol 18 (4) ◽  
pp. n/a-n/a ◽  
Author(s):  
Aradhna K. Tripati ◽  
Margaret L. Delaney ◽  
James C. Zachos ◽  
Linda D. Anderson ◽  
Daniel C. Kelly ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Surface Temperature ◽  
Sea Surface Temperature ◽  
Planktonic Foraminifera ◽  
Temperature Reconstruction ◽  
Sea Surface ◽  
Tropical Sea ◽  
Early Paleogene

scholarly journals New Evidence of Mediterranean Climate Change and Variability from Sea Surface Temperature Observations

2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
pp. 132 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andrea Pisano ◽  
Salvatore Marullo ◽  
Vincenzo Artale ◽  
Federico Falcini ◽  
Chunxue Yang ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Surface Temperature ◽  
Sea Surface Temperature ◽  
Mediterranean Sea ◽  
Sea Surface ◽  
Western Basin ◽  
Mean Values ◽  
The Mediterranean ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Northeastern Atlantic

Estimating long-term modifications of the sea surface temperature (SST) is crucial for evaluating the current state of the oceans and to correctly assess the impact of climate change at regional scales. In this work, we analyze SST variations within the Mediterranean Sea and the adjacent Northeastern Atlantic box (west of the Strait of Gibraltar) over the last 37 years, by using a satellite-based dataset from the Copernicus Marine Environment Monitoring Service (CMEMS). We found a mean warming trend of 0.041 ± 0.006 ∘ C/year over the whole Mediterranean Sea from 1982 to 2018. The trend has an uneven spatial pattern, with values increasing from 0.036 ± 0.006 ∘ C/year in the western basin to 0.048 ± 0.006 ∘ C/year in the Levantine–Aegean basin. The Northeastern Atlantic box and the Mediterranean show a similar trend until the late 1990s. Afterwards, the Mediterranean SST continues to increase, whereas the Northeastern Atlantic box shows no significant trend, until ~2015. The observed change in the Mediterranean Sea affects not only the mean trend but also the amplitude of the Mediterranean seasonal signal, with consistent relative increase and decrease of summer and winter mean values, respectively, over the period considered. The analysis of SST changes occurred during the “satellite era” is further complemented by reconstructions also based on direct in situ SST measurements, i.e., the Extended Reconstructed SST (ERSST) and the Hadley Centre Sea Ice and Sea Surface Temperature dataset (HadISST), which go back to the 19th century. The analysis of these longer time series, covering the last 165 years, indicates that the increasing Mediterranean trend, observed during the CMEMS operational period, is consistent with the Atlantic Multidecadal Oscillation (AMO), as it closely follows the last increasing period of AMO. This coincidence occurs at least until 2007, when the apparent onset of the decreasing phase of AMO is not seen in the Mediterranean SST evolution.

Coupled Mg/Ca and clumped isotope measurements at IODP Site U1488 confirm absence of Plio-Pleistocene sea surface temperature cooling in the Western Pacific Warm Pool

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Niklas Meinicke ◽  
Maria Reimi ◽  
Christina Ravelo ◽  
Nele Meckler
Keyword(s):  
Surface Temperature ◽  
Sea Surface Temperature ◽  
Planktonic Foraminifera ◽  
Warm Pool ◽  
Western Pacific ◽  
Sea Surface ◽  
Western Pacific Warm Pool ◽  
Pacific Warm Pool ◽  
The Western Pacific

<p>The Western Pacific Warm Pool (WPWP) as a major source of heat and water vapor has a crucial influence on climate dynamics both in the tropics and globally. Yet, there is conflicting proxy evidence regarding the evolution of WPWP temperatures since the Miocene. On the one hand TEX<sub>86</sub> data suggest a gradual cooling by ~2℃ (O’Brian et al., 2014, Zhang et al., 2014) from the Pliocene to today, while faunal (planktonic foraminifera) sea surface temperature estimates (Dowsett, 2007) and Mg/Ca data measured in planktonic foraminifera (Wara et al., 2005) on the other hand indicate the absence of any long-term temperature trends. It has been suggested that Mg/Ca temperatures could on these time scales be biased by long-term changes of the Mg/Ca ratio of seawater (Evans et al., 2016). To test the influence of the proposed seawater changes on Mg/Ca we combined data from two independent temperature proxies, Mg/Ca and clumped isotopes, measured on two species of planktonic foraminifera from IODP Site U1488 in the central WPWP. Our study finds good agreement between both proxies thereby verifying the validity of Mg/Ca records from the WPWP and confirming the absence of a Plio-Pleistocene cooling trend for the WPWP. This finding suggests that the persistent disagreement between foraminifer-based proxies such as Mg/Ca and biomarker data might be caused by different environmental parameters being recorded in the two archives.</p><p> </p><p>References:</p><p>O’Brien CL, Foster GL, Martínez-Botí MA, Abell R, Rae JWB, Pancost RD. High sea surface temperatures in tropical warm pools during the Pliocene. Nature Geoscience. 2014;7(8):606-11.</p><p>Zhang YG, Pagani M, Liu Z. A 12-million-year temperature history of the tropical Pacific Ocean. Science. 2014;344(6179):84-7.</p><p>Dowsett H. Faunal re-evaluation of Mid-Pliocene conditions in the western equatorial Pacific. Micropaleontology. 2007;53(6):447-56.</p><p>Wara MW, Ravelo AC, Delaney ML. Permanent El Nino-like conditions during the Pliocene warm period. Science. 2005;309(5735):758-61.</p><p>Evans D, Brierley C, Raymo ME, Erez J, Müller W. Planktic foraminifera shell chemistry response to seawater chemistry: Pliocene–Pleistocene seawater Mg/Ca, temperature and sea level change. Earth and Planetary Science Letters. 2016;438:139-48.</p>

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