scholarly journals Lee waves detection over the Mediterranean Sea using the Advanced Infra-Red WAter Vapour Estimator (AIRWAVE) Total Column Water Vapor (TCWV) dataset

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Enzo Papandrea ◽  
Stefano Casadio ◽  
Elisa Castelli ◽  
Bianca Maria Dinelli ◽  
Mario Marcello Miglietta
Keyword(s):  
Water Vapour ◽  
Eastern Mediterranean ◽  
Geographical Area ◽  
Central Italy ◽  
Small Scale ◽  
Tyrrhenian Sea ◽  
Infra Red ◽  
Lee Waves ◽  
The Mediterranean ◽  
Total Column

Abstract. Atmospheric gravity waves generated downstream by the orography in a stratified airflow are known as lee waves. In the present study, such mesoscale patterns have been detected, over water and in clear sky conditions, using the Advanced Infra-Red WAter Vapour Estimator (AIRWAVE) Total Column Water Vapour (TCWV) dataset, which contains about 20-year day-night products, obtained from the thermal infra-red measurements of the Along Track Scanning Radiometer (ATSR) instrument series. The good accuracy of such data, along 5 with the native 1 × 1 km2 spatial resolution, allows the investigation of small scale features as the lee waves. In this work, we focused on the Mediterranean region, the largest semi-enclosed basin on the Earth. The peculiarities of this area, which is characterized by complex orography and rough coastlines, lead indeed to a possible development of these structures both over land and over sea. We developed an automatic tool for the rapid detection of areas with high probability of lee waves occurrence, exploiting the TCWV variability in spatial regions 0.15° × 0.15° wide. Through this analysis, several occurrences of structures connected with lee waves have been observed. The waves are detected in spring, fall and summer seasons, with TCWV values usually falling in the range from 15 to 35 kg m−2. In this article we describe some cases over the Central (Italy) and the Eastern Mediterranean basin (Greece, Turkey, Cyprus). We compared a case of perturbed AIRWAVE TCWV fields due to lee waves occurred over the Tyrrhenian Sea on 18 July 1997 with the sea surface winds from the Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR), which sounded the same geographical area, finding a good agreement. Another case has been investigated in detail: on 2 August 2002 the Aegean sea region was almost simultaneously sounded by both ATSR-2 and AATSR instruments. The AIRWAVE TCWV fields derived from the two sensors were successfully compared with the vertically integrated water vapour content simulated with the Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) numerical model for the same time period, confirming our findings. Wave parameters such as amplitude, wavelength and phase, are described through the use of the Morlet ContinuousWavelet Transformation (CWT). The performed analysis derived typical wavelengths from 6 to 8 km and amplitude that may extend up to 20 kg m−2.

scholarly journals Lee wave detection over the Mediterranean Sea using the Advanced Infra-Red WAter Vapour Estimator (AIRWAVE) total column water vapour (TCWV) dataset

2019 ◽  
Vol 12 (12) ◽  
pp. 6683-6693
Author(s):  
Enzo Papandrea ◽  
Stefano Casadio ◽  
Elisa Castelli ◽  
Bianca Maria Dinelli ◽  
Mario Marcello Miglietta
Keyword(s):  
Mediterranean Sea ◽  
Water Vapour ◽  
Small Scale ◽  
Tyrrhenian Sea ◽  
Infrared Measurements ◽  
Infra Red ◽  
Lee Waves ◽  
Lee Wave ◽  
The Mediterranean ◽  
Total Column

Abstract. Atmospheric gravity waves generated downstream by orography in a stratified airflow are known as lee waves. In the present study, such mesoscale patterns have been detected, over water and in clear-sky conditions, using the Advanced Infra-Red WAter Vapour Estimator (AIRWAVE) total column water vapour (TCWV) dataset, which contains about 20 years of day and night products, obtained from the thermal infrared measurements of the Along Track Scanning Radiometer (ATSR) instrument series. The high accuracy of such data, along with the native 1 km×1 km spatial resolution, allows the investigation of small-scale features such as lee waves. In this work, we focused on the Mediterranean Sea, the largest semi-enclosed basin on the Earth. The peculiarities of this area, which is characterised by complex orography and rough coastlines, lead to the development of these structures over both land and sea. We developed an automatic tool for the rapid detection of areas with high probability of lee wave occurrence, exploiting the TCWV variability in spatial regions with a 0.15∘×0.15∘ area. Through this analysis, several occurrences of structures connected with lee waves have been observed. The waves are detected in spring, autumn and summer seasons, with TCWV values usually falling in the range of 15 to 35 kg m−2. In this article, we describe some cases over the central (Italy) and the Eastern Mediterranean Basin (Greece, Turkey and Cyprus). We compared a case of perturbed AIRWAVE TCWV fields due to lee waves occurring over the Tyrrhenian Sea on 18 July 1997 with the sea surface winds from the synthetic aperture radar (SAR), which sounded the same geographical area, finding a good agreement. Another case has been investigated in detail: on 2 August 2002 the Aegean Sea region was almost simultaneously sounded by both the second sensor of the ATSR series (ATSR-2) and the Advanced ATSR (AATSR) instruments. The AIRWAVE TCWV fields derived from the two sensors were successfully compared with the vertically integrated water vapour content simulated with the Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) numerical model for the same time period, confirming our findings. Wave parameters such as amplitude, wavelength and phase are described through the use of the Morlet continuous wavelet transformation (CWT). The performed analysis derived typical wavelengths from 6 to 8 km and amplitudes of up to 20 kg m−2.

Toward a history of the Trecento diptych: Format, materiality, and mobility in a corpus of diptychs from Angevin Naples

2018 ◽  
Vol 81 (1) ◽  
pp. 3-29
Author(s):  
Sarah K. Kozlowski
Keyword(s):  
Eastern Mediterranean ◽  
Central Italy ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Mediterranean ◽  
First Time

Abstract Laying the groundwork for a larger project, this essay brings together for the first time a working corpus of diptychs connected with the Angevin court in Naples in the later thirteenth and fourteenth centuries. Comprising both surviving diptychs and diptychs now lost but recorded in inventories, this body of material reveals that objects of this type were commissioned and collected in significant numbers at the Neapolitan court, in a range of sizes, mediums, and subjects, and were produced by workshops linked not only to Naples but also to central Italy, Genoa, and the Eastern Mediterranean. In turn, diptychs in Naples raise larger questions about the histories, materialities, and meanings of the format in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries in Europe and the Mediterranean. Above all, the objects brought together here press us to set diptychs in motion through networks of artworks, artists, and patrons on the move across the Mediterranean.

scholarly journals Fisheries in the Mediterranean

2000 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 5 ◽  
Author(s):  
C. PAPACONSTANTINOU ◽  
H. FARRUGIO
Keyword(s):  
Time Series Data ◽  
Early Stage ◽  
Eastern Mediterranean ◽  
Fishing Effort ◽  
Series Data ◽  
Small Scale ◽  
General Description ◽  
Stage Of Development ◽  
Mediterranean Countries ◽  
The Mediterranean

The aim of this paper is to give a description of the Mediterranean fisheries, and its level of exploitation and to address the main questions dealing with its management. The Mediterranean is a semi-enclosed marine area with generally narrow continental shelves. The primary production of the Mediterranean is among the lowest in the world (26-50g C m-2 y-1). The Mediterranean fisheries can be broken down into three main categories: small scale fisheries, trawling and seining fisheries, which operated on demersal, small pelagic and large pelagic resources. After a general description of the state of the resources in the different areas of the Mediterranean it is concluded that (a) the overall pictures from the western to the eastern Mediterranean are not considerably different, (b) the total landings in the Mediterranean have been increased the last decades, and (c) from the perspective of stock assessment, the very few available time series data show stable yield levels. In general fisheries management in the Mediterranean is at a rela- tively early stage of development, judging by the criteria of North Atlantic fisheries. Quota systems are generally not applied, mesh-size regulations usually are set at low levels relative to scientific advice, and effort limitation is not usually applied or, if it is, is not always based on a formal resource assessment. The conservation/management measures applied by the Mediterranean countries can be broadly separated into two major categories: those aiming to keep the fishing effort under control and those aiming to make the exploitation pattern more rational. The most acute problems in the management of the Mediterranean resources are the multispecificity of the catches and the lack of reliable official statistics.

Evolving miogeanticlines of the East Mediterranean (Hellenic, Calabrian and Cyprus Outer Ridges)

1977 ◽  
Vol 284 (1322) ◽  
pp. 255-285 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Eastern Mediterranean ◽  
Small Scale ◽  
East Mediterranean ◽  
Mediterranean Ridge ◽  
Plan View ◽  
Simple Closure ◽  
Side Scan Sonar ◽  
Mountain Ranges ◽  
Air Gun ◽  
The Mediterranean

Extensive surveys with long range side-scan sonar, as well as an air-gun sub-bottom profiler and a narrow beam echo-sounder, are described for the eastern half of the Mediterranean Sea. The main structural trends are shown in plan view to follow the curve of the Hellenic Outer Ridge (previously known as the Mediterranean Ridge, East Mediterranean Ridge or Mediterranean Rise), and suggest a structural continuation into the Ionian Islands west of Greece. To the west a similar but smaller feature, the Calabrian Outer Ridge (external to the Calabrian Arc) is described. This is partly welded to the Hellenic Outer Ridge along a narrow suture zone. To the east the Hellenic Outer Ridge is shown to merge into the Cyprus Outer Ridge (external to the Cyprus Arc). The Hellenic Outer Ridge is clearly asymmetrical in cross section, with its steeper slope facing towards the interior of its Arc System. Folds and strike faults have been recognized on sonographs, particularly those of the Hellenic Outer Ridge. Cross-faults (possibly strike-slip) are numerous on the northern slope of this Outer Ridge. Cross-faults are especially well developed where the Ridge is narrowest and highest between Crete and North Africa, and where it may have been thickened by thrusting. In general the intensity of deformation decreases southwards across the Hellenic Outer Ridge. Slumping is probably responsible for progressively reducing the height of the relief produced by folding and faulting. The Hellenic, Calabrian and Cyprus Outer Ridges are interpreted as miogeanticlines related to the Plio-Quaternary phase of the continuing southwards outgrowth of the Hellenic, Calabrian and Cyprus Arc Systems. The large and small scale structures are of particular interest because they show the surface relief of some early evolutionary stages of dominantly compressional submarine mountain ranges before they are subject to subaerial erosion or modified by later tectonism. The driving force of the continuing orogeny is seen as resulting from local mantle diapirs spreading outwards from the Tyrrhenian, Aegean and Turkish regions, rather than from a simple closure of the Eastern Mediterranean due to the supposed convergence of the Eurasian and African ‘Plates’.

scholarly journals The transient distributions of nuclear weapon-generated tritium and its decay product <sup>3</sup>He in the Mediterranean Sea, 1952–2011, and their oceanographic potential

2013 ◽  
Vol 10 (2) ◽  
pp. 649-690 ◽  
Author(s):  
W. Roether ◽  
P. Jean-Baptiste ◽  
E. Fourré ◽  
J. Sültenfuß
Keyword(s):  
Mediterranean Sea ◽  
Transit Time ◽  
Nuclear Weapon ◽  
Eastern Mediterranean ◽  
Decay Product ◽  
Intermediate Water ◽  
Tyrrhenian Sea ◽  
Transit Times ◽  
Time Dispersion ◽  
The Mediterranean

Abstract. We present a comprehensive account of tritium and 3He in the Mediterranean Sea since the appearance of the tritium generated by the atmospheric nuclear-weapon testing in the 1950's and early 1960's, based on essentially all available observations. Tritium in surface waters rose to 20–30 TU in 1964 (TU = 1018 · [3H]/[H]), a factor of about 100 above the natural level, and thereafter declined 30-fold up to 2011. The decline was largely due to radioactive tritium decay, which produced significant amounts of its stable daughter 3He. We present the scheme by which we separate the tritiugenic part of 3He and the part due to release from the sea floor (terrigenic part). We show that the tritiugenic component can be quantified throughout the Mediterranean waters, typically to a &amp;pm;0.15 TU equivalent, mostly because the terrigenic part is low in 3He. This fact makes the Mediterranean unique in offering a potential for the use of tritiugenic 3He as a tracer. The transient distributions of the two tracers are illustrated by a number of sections spanning the entire sea and relevant features of their distributions are noted. By 2011, the 3He concentrations in the top few hundred meters had become low, in response to the decreasing tritium concentrations combined with a flushing out by the general westward drift of these waters. Tritium-3He ages in Levantine Intermediate Water (LIW) were obtained repeated in time at different locations, defining transit times from the LIW source region east of Rhodes. The ages show an upward trend with the time elapsed since the surface-water tritium maximum, which arises because the repeated observations represent increasingly slower moving parts of the full transit time spectrum of LIW. The transit time dispersion found by this new application of tritium-3He dating is considerable. We find mean transit times of 12 &amp;pm; 2 yr up to the Strait of Sicily, 18 &amp;pm; 3 yr up to the Tyrrhenian Sea, and 22 &amp;pm; 4 yr up into the Western Mediterranean. We furthermore present full Eastern Mediterranean sections of terrigenic 3He and tritium-3He age in 1987, the latter one similarly showing an effect of the transit time dispersion. We conclude that the available tritium and 3He data, in particular if combined with other tracer data, are useful for constraining the subsurface circulation and mixing of the Mediterranean Sea.

scholarly journals Intercomparison of intense cyclogenesis events over the Mediterranean basin based on baroclinic and diabatic influences

2006 ◽  
Vol 7 ◽  
pp. 333-342 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ll. Fita ◽  
R. Romero ◽  
C. Ramis
Keyword(s):  
Mediterranean Sea ◽  
Mediterranean Basin ◽  
Numerical Study ◽  
Eastern Mediterranean ◽  
Geographical Area ◽  
Relative Weight ◽  
High Impact ◽  
The Mediterranean ◽  
The Mediterranean Basin

Abstract. A large number of high impact cyclones all over the Mediterranean basin have been reported on the data base of the MEDEX project (http://medex.inm.uib.es). A numerical study on the impacts and interactions of baroclinic and diabatic factors is carried out through a PV-based system of prognostic equations for 11 intense MEDEX cyclone episodes occurred in different zones of the basin (Western, Central and Eastern Mediterranean). The main aim of the study is to investigate the possible similarities and differences among the selected cases of the relative weight of the considered cyclogenetic factors on the cyclone evolutions as function of cyclone type and geographical area. A crucial role of the baroclinicity over the Mediterranean zone is obtained in most of the cases. A certain distinction can be also established in terms of the cyclogenesis areas (Africa, Mediterranean Sea, and Alpine region), and between west-central and eastern Mediterranean basins. It is generally observed that the considered baroclinic and diabatic factors cooperate most strongly for the cyclone deepening process when the disturbance reaches the Mediterranean sea.

scholarly journals New records of amphipod crustaceans along the Israeli Mediterranean coast, including a rare Mediterranean endemic species, Maera schieckei Karaman & Ruffo, 1971

2020 ◽  
Vol 8 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sabrina Lo Brutto ◽  
Davide Iaciofano
Keyword(s):  
Mediterranean Sea ◽  
Mediterranean Basin ◽  
Eastern Mediterranean ◽  
Aegean Sea ◽  
Western Mediterranean ◽  
Mediterranean Coast ◽  
Tyrrhenian Sea ◽  
Western Mediterranean Basin ◽  
The Mediterranean ◽  
Distribution And Ecology

A survey has been carried out at four Israeli rocky sites to evaluate the diversity of the amphipod fauna on various hard substrates, still scarcely monitored, as potential pabulum for amphipod crustacean species. A survey of shallow rocky reefs along the Mediterranean coast of Israel recovered 28 species and integrated the Amphipoda checklist for the country ofIsrael with 12 newly-recorded species. Such renewed national list includes Maera schieckei Karaman &amp; Ruffo, 1971, a rare species endemic to the Mediterranean Sea, recorded here for the first time from the southern Levant Basin. The species, described from specimens collected in the Tyrrhenian Sea in 1970, has been only recorded eight times within the whole Mediterranean Sea. A revision of the bibliography on the distribution and ecology of M. schieckei showed that, although mentioned only for the western Mediterranean basin by some authors, it is listed in the checklist of amphipods of the Aegean Sea and neighbouring seas and has been found in the eastern Mediterranean basin since 1978. Maera schieckei was rarely found in the Mediterranean, one of the most studied marine biogeographic region as concerns the amphipod fauna; and the species seems to prefer bays or gulf areas. The role of updating and monitoring faunal composition should be re-evaluated.

scholarly journals Validation of the Advanced Infra-Red Water Vapour Estimator (AIRWAVE) Total Column Water Vapour using Satellite and Radiosonde products.

2018 ◽  
Vol 61 ◽  
Author(s):  
Enzo Papandrea ◽  
Stefano Casadio ◽  
Elisa Castelli ◽  
Bianca Maria Dinelli ◽  
Erminia De Grandis ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Water Vapour ◽  
Infra Red ◽  
Total Column

scholarly journals The transient distributions of nuclear weapon-generated tritium and its decay product <sup>3</sup> He in the Mediterranean Sea, 1952–2011, and their oceanographic potential

Ocean Science ◽  
2013 ◽  
Vol 9 (5) ◽  
pp. 837-854 ◽  
Author(s):  
W. Roether ◽  
P. Jean-Baptiste ◽  
E. Fourré ◽  
J. Sültenfuß
Keyword(s):  
Mediterranean Sea ◽  
Transit Time ◽  
Nuclear Weapon ◽  
Eastern Mediterranean ◽  
Decay Product ◽  
Intermediate Water ◽  
Tyrrhenian Sea ◽  
Transit Times ◽  
Time Dispersion ◽  
The Mediterranean

Abstract. We present a comprehensive account of tritium and 3He in the Mediterranean Sea since the appearance of the tritium generated by the atmospheric nuclear-weapon testing in the 1950s and early 1960s, based on essentially all available observations. Tritium in surface waters rose to 20–30 TU in 1964 (TU = 1018 × [3H]/H]), a factor of about 100 above the natural level, and thereafter declined 30-fold up to 2011. The decline was largely due to radioactive tritium decay, which produced significant amounts of its stable daughter 3He. We present the scheme by which we separate the tritiugenic part of 3He and the part due to release from the sea floor (terrigenic part). We show that the tritiugenic component can be quantified throughout the Mediterranean waters, typically to a ± 0.15 TU equivalent, mostly because the terrigenic part is low in 3He. This fact makes the Mediterranean unique in offering a potential for the use of tritiugenic 3He as a tracer. The transient distributions of the two tracers are illustrated by a number of sections spanning the entire sea and relevant features of their distributions are noted. By 2011, the 3He concentrations in the top few hundred metres had become low, in response to the decreasing tritium concentrations combined with a flushing out by the general westward drift of these waters. Tritium-3He ages in Levantine Intermediate Water (LIW) were obtained repeated in time at different locations, defining transit times from the LIW source region east of Rhodes. The ages show an upward trend with the time elapsed since the surface-water tritium maximum, which arises because the repeated observations represent increasingly slower moving parts of the full transit time spectrum of LIW. The transit time dispersion revealed by this new application of tritium-3He dating is considerable. We find mean transit times of 12 ± 2 yr up to the Strait of Sicily, 18 ± 3 yr up to the Tyrrhenian Sea, and 22 ± 4 yr up into the Western Mediterranean. Furthermore, we present full Eastern Mediterranean sections of terrigenic 3He and tritium-3He age in 1987, the latter one similarly showing an effect of the transit time dispersion. We conclude that the available tritium and 3He data, particularly if combined with other tracer data, are useful for constraining the subsurface circulation and mixing of the Mediterranean Sea.

scholarly journals New Mediterranean Biodiversity Records (October 2015)

2015 ◽  
Vol 16 (3) ◽  
pp. 682 ◽  
Author(s):  
F. CROCETTA ◽  
D. AGIUS ◽  
P. BALISTRERI ◽  
M. BARICHE ◽  
Y.K. BAYHAN ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Mediterranean Sea ◽  
Eastern Mediterranean ◽  
Tyrrhenian Sea ◽  
Ionian Sea ◽  
Oplegnathus Fasciatus ◽  
Pterois Miles ◽  
Entire Country ◽  
Alien Fish ◽  
The Mediterranean ◽  
Mediterranean Biodiversity

The Collective Article “New Mediterranean Biodiversity Records” of the Mediterranean Marine Science journal offers the means to publish biodiversity records in the Mediterranean Sea. The current article is divided per countries, listed according to a Mediterranean west-east geographic position. New biodiversity data are reported for 7 different countries, although one species hereby reported from Malta is overall new for the entire Mediterranean basin, and is presumably present also in Israel and Lebanon (see below in Malta). Italy: the rare native fish Gobius kolombatovici is first reported from the Ionian Sea, whilst the alien jellyfish Rhopilema nomadica and the alien fish Oplegnathus fasciatus are first reported from the entire country. The presence of O. fasciatus from Trieste is concomitantly the first for the entire Adriatic Sea. Finally, the alien bivalve Arcuatula senhousia is hereby first reported from Campania (Tyrrhenian Sea). Tunisia: a bloom of the alien crab Portunus segnis is first reported from the Gulf of Gabes, from where it was considered as casual. Malta: the alien flatworm Maritigrella fuscopunctata is first recorded from the Mediterranean Sea on the basis of 25 specimens. At the same time, web researches held possible unpublished records from Israel and Lebanon. The alien crab P. segnis, already mentioned above, is first formally reported from Malta based on specimens collected in 1972. Concomitantly, the presence of Callinectes sapidus in Maltese waters is excluded since based on misidentifications. Greece: the Atlantic northern brown shrimp Penaeus atzecus, previously known from the Ionian Sea from sporadic records only, is now well established in Greek and international Ionian waters. The alien sea urchin Diadema setosum is reported from the second time from Greece, and its first record date from the country is backdated to 2010 in Rhodes Island. The alien lionfish Pterois miles is first reported from Greece and concomitantly from the entire Aegean Sea. Turkey: the alien rhodophyte Antithamnion hubbsii is first recorded from Turkey and the entire eastern Mediterranean. New distributional data are also offered for the native fishes Alectis alexandrina and Heptranchias perlo. In particular, the former record is constituted by a juvenile of 21.38 mm total length, whilst the latter by a mature male. Cyprus: the rare native cephalopod Macrotritopus defilippi, and the alien crab Atergatis roseus, sea slug Plocamopherus ocellatus and fish Cheilodipterus novemstriatus are first recorded from the entire country. Lebanon: the alien crabs Actaea savignii and Matuta victor, as well as the alien fish Synanceia verrucosa, are first recorded from the entire country. In addition, the first Mediterranean record of A. savignii is backdated to 2006, whilst the high number of M. victor specimens observed in Lebanon first suggest its establishment in the basin. The Atlantic fishes Paranthias furcifer and Seriola fasciata, and the circumtropical Rachycentron canadum, are also first reported from the country. P. furcifer record backdate its presence in the Mediterranean to 2007, whilst S. fasciata records backdate its presence in the eastern Mediterranean to 2005. Finally, two of these latter species have been recently ascribed to alien species, but all the three species may better fit the cryptogenic category, if not a new one.

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