Local and large-scale controls of the exceptional Venice floods of November 2019

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christian Ferrarin ◽  
Marco Bajo ◽  
Francesco Barbariol ◽  
Mauro Bastianini ◽  
Alvise Benetazzo ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Mediterranean Sea ◽  
Sea Level ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Adriatic Sea ◽  
Low Pressure ◽  
Water Levels ◽  
Flood Event ◽  
Large Set ◽  
Tyrrhenian Sea ◽  
The Mediterranean

<p class="western" align="justify"><span lang="en-US">On 12 November 2019, an exceptional flood event occurred in Venice, second only to the one that occurred on 4 November 1966. The maximum recorded sea level value of 189 cm above local datum resulted in the flooding of more than 85% of the pedestrian surface of the historical city. Moreover, with four extremely high tides since 11 November 2019, this has been the worst week for flooding in Venice ever since 1872, when official statistics were first produced. The event that struck Venice and the northern Adriatic Sea on 12 November 2019, although having certain conditions seemingly typical of the events that cause exceptional high waters, also had some peculiar characteristics not observed before and therefore it requires an in-depth analysis. Several factors made this event exceptional: an in-phase timing of the peak of the storm surge and the astronomical tide; an anomalously high monthly mean sea level in the Adriatic Sea induced by a steady low-pressure and wind systems over the Mediterranean Sea associated with large-scale low-frequency atmospheric dynamics; a deep low-pressure system over the central-southern Tyrrhenian Sea that generated strong sirocco (south-easterly) winds along the main axis of the Adriatic Sea pushing the waters towards north; a fast-moving local depression - and the associated wind perturbation - travelling in the north-westward direction along the Italian coast that may have forced long ocean waves (e.g., edge wave); and very strong winds (100 km h</span><sup><span lang="en-US">-1</span></sup><span lang="en-US"> on average, with gusts reaching 110 km h</span><sup><span lang="en-US">-1</span></sup><span lang="en-US">) over the Lagoon of Venice which led to a further rise in water levels and damage to the historic city. In this study, a large set of available observations and the high-resolution numerical simulations are used to quantify the influence of these drivers on the peak flood event and to investigate the peculiar weather and sea conditions over the Mediterranean Sea during the Venice floods of November 2019.</span></p>

A Near-Uniform Basin-Wide Sea Level Fluctuation of the Mediterranean Sea

2007 ◽  
Vol 37 (2) ◽  
pp. 338-358 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ichiro Fukumori ◽  
Dimitris Menemenlis ◽  
Tong Lee
Keyword(s):  
Atlantic Ocean ◽  
Mediterranean Sea ◽  
Sea Level ◽  
Ocean Circulation ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Circulation Model ◽  
Level Fluctuation ◽  
Strait Of Gibraltar ◽  
Sea Level Fluctuation ◽  
The Mediterranean

Abstract A new basin-wide oscillation of the Mediterranean Sea is identified and analyzed using sea level observations from the Ocean Topography Experiment (TOPEX)/Poseidon satellite altimeter and a numerical ocean circulation model. More than 50% of the large-scale, nontidal, and non-pressure-driven variance of sea level can be attributed to this oscillation, which is nearly uniform in phase and amplitude across the entire basin. The oscillation has periods ranging from 10 days to several years and has a magnitude as large as 10 cm. The model suggests that the fluctuations are driven by winds at the Strait of Gibraltar and its neighboring region, including the Alboran Sea and a part of the Atlantic Ocean immediately to the west of the strait. Winds in this region force a net mass flux through the Strait of Gibraltar to which the Mediterranean Sea adjusts almost uniformly across its entire basin with depth-independent pressure perturbations. The wind-driven response can be explained in part by wind setup; a near-stationary balance is established between the along-strait wind in this forcing region and the sea level difference between the Mediterranean Sea and the Atlantic Ocean. The amplitude of this basin-wide wind-driven sea level fluctuation is inversely proportional to the setup region’s depth but is insensitive to its width including that of Gibraltar Strait. The wind-driven fluctuation is coherent with atmospheric pressure over the basin and contributes to the apparent deviation of the Mediterranean Sea from an inverse barometer response.

scholarly journals Changes in ventilation of the Mediterranean Sea during the past 25 year

Ocean Science ◽  
2014 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-16 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. Schneider ◽  
T. Tanhua ◽  
W. Roether ◽  
R. Steinfeldt
Keyword(s):  
Mediterranean Sea ◽  
Deep Water ◽  
Adriatic Sea ◽  
Western Mediterranean ◽  
Tyrrhenian Sea ◽  
Deep Water Formation ◽  
Technical Problems ◽  
Water Formation ◽  
The Mediterranean ◽  
Transient Tracer

Abstract. Significant changes in the overturning circulation of the Mediterranean Sea has been observed during the last few decades, the most prominent phenomena being the Eastern Mediterranean Transient (EMT) in the early 1990s and the Western Mediterranean Transition (WMT) during the mid-2000s. During both of these events unusually large amounts of deep water were formed, and in the case of the EMT, the deep water formation area shifted from the Adriatic to the Aegean Sea. Here we synthesize a unique collection of transient tracer (CFC-12, SF6 and tritium) data from nine cruises conducted between 1987 and 2011 and use these data to determine temporal variability of Mediterranean ventilation. We also discuss biases and technical problems with transient tracer-based ages arising from their different input histories over time; particularly in the case of time-dependent ventilation. We observe a period of low ventilation in the deep eastern (Levantine) basin after it was ventilated by the EMT so that the age of the deep water is increasing with time. In the Ionian Sea, on the other hand, we see evidence of increased ventilation after year 2001, indicating the restarted deep water formation in the Adriatic Sea. This is also reflected in the increasing age of the Cretan Sea deep water and decreasing age of Adriatic Sea deep water since the end of the 1980s. In the western Mediterranean deep basin we see the massive input of recently ventilated waters during the WMT. This signal is not yet apparent in the Tyrrhenian Sea, where the ventilation seems to be fairly constant since the EMT. Also the western Alboran Sea does not show any temporal trends in ventilation.

scholarly journals The non-indigenous Paranthura japonica Richardson, 1909 in the Mediterranean Sea: travelling with shellfish?

2014 ◽  
Vol 15 (3) ◽  
pp. 545 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. MARCHINI ◽  
J. C. SORBE ◽  
F. TORELLI ◽  
A. LODOLA ◽  
A. OCCHIPINTI-AMBROGI
Keyword(s):  
Mediterranean Sea ◽  
Adriatic Sea ◽  
Atlantic Coast ◽  
Tyrrhenian Sea ◽  
Lagoon Of Venice ◽  
Ligurian Sea ◽  
Long Time ◽  
The Mediterranean ◽  
North Adriatic Sea ◽  
Italian Coast

An anthurid isopod new to the Mediterranean Sea has recently been observed in samples from three localities of the Italian coast: the Lagoon of Venice (North Adriatic Sea), La Spezia (Ligurian Sea) and Olbia (Sardinia, Tyrrhenian Sea). The specimens collected showed strong affinity to a species originally described from the NW Pacific Ocean: Paranthura japonica Richardson, 1909. The comparison with specimens collected from the Bay of Arcachon (Atlantic coast of France), where P. japonica had been recently reported as non-indigenous, confirmed the identity of the species. This paper reports the most relevant morphological details of the Italian specimens, data on the current distribution of the species and a discussion on the pathways responsible for its introduction. The available data suggest that the presence of this Pacific isopod in several regions of coastal Europe might be due to a series of aquaculture-mediated introduction events that occurred during the last decades of the 1900s. Since then, established populations of P. japonica, probably misidentified, remained unnoticed for a long time.

scholarly journals A High Resolution Reanalysis for the Mediterranean Sea

2021 ◽  
Vol 9 ◽  
Author(s):  
Romain Escudier ◽  
Emanuela Clementi ◽  
Andrea Cipollone ◽  
Jenny Pistoia ◽  
Massimiliano Drudi ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
High Resolution ◽  
Mediterranean Sea ◽  
Sea Level ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Mixed Layer Depth ◽  
Horizontal Resolution ◽  
Continuous Increase ◽  
The Past ◽  
The Mediterranean

In order to be able to forecast the weather and estimate future climate changes in the ocean, it is crucial to understand the past and the mechanisms responsible for the ocean variability. This is particularly true in a complex area such as the Mediterranean Sea with diverse dynamics like deep convection and overturning circulation. To this end, effective tools are ocean reanalyses or reconstructions of the past ocean state. Here we present a new physical reanalysis of the Mediterranean Sea at high resolution, developed in the Copernicus Marine Environment Monitoring Service (CMEMS) framework. The hydrodynamic model is based on the Nucleus for European Modelling of the Ocean (NEMO) combined with a variational data assimilation scheme (OceanVar). The model has a horizontal resolution of 1/24° and 141 unevenly distributed vertical z* levels. It provides daily and monthly temperature, salinity, current, sea level and mixed layer depth as well as hourly fields for surface velocities and sea level. ECMWF ERA-5 atmospheric fields force the model and daily boundary conditions in the Atlantic are taken from a global reanalysis. The reanalysis covers the 33 years from 1987 to 2019. Initialized from SeaDataNet climatology in January 1985, it reaches a nominal state after a 2-years spin-up. In-situ data from CTD, ARGO floats and XBT are assimilated into the model in combination with satellite altimetry observations. This reanalysis has been validated and assessed through comparison to in-situ and satellite observations as well as literature climatologies. The results show an overall improvement of the comparison with observations and a better representation of the main dynamics of the region compared to a previous, lower resolution (1/16°), reanalysis. Temperature and salinity RMSD are decreased by respectively 14 and 18%. The salinity biases at depth of the previous version are corrected. Climate signals show continuous increase of the temperature and salinity, confirming estimates from observations and other reanalysis. The new reanalysis will allow the study of physical processes at multi-scales, from the large scale to the transient small mesoscale structures and the selection of climate indicators for the basin.

scholarly journals Characterisation of low-frequency sea level oscillations in the Mediterranean sea

2019 ◽  
pp. 121-133
Author(s):  
Vesna Bertoncelj ◽  
Matjaž Ličer ◽  
Dušan Žagar ◽  
Davide Bonaldo
Keyword(s):  
Spectral Analysis ◽  
Mediterranean Sea ◽  
Sea Level ◽  
Mediterranean Basin ◽  
Adriatic Sea ◽  
Low Frequency ◽  
Storm Event ◽  
Sea Level Oscillations ◽  
The Mediterranean ◽  
The Mediterranean Basin

Implementing adequate defences for low-lying coastal area against coastal flooding requires thorough knowledge of all potential influences leading to increased sea levels, including low-frequency sea level oscillations. We present and describe several methods applicable for the analysis of low-frequency sea level oscillations in the Mediterranean Sea: wavelet analysis, spectral analysis, moving-periodogram analysis, and rotary spectral analysis. These methods were applied for characterisation of subinertial sea level oscillations with periods greater of the period of inertial oscillation (18 hours in the Northern Adriatic Sea) on measured sea surface elevations and current velocities in the Mediterranean Sea. Preliminary analysis was performed on observations of a storm event in the Adriatic Sea at the end of January and the beginning of February 2014, revealing a peak in the frequency spectrum in the frequency band between 0.3−0.4 day−1. Further analysis was done on long-term tide gauge measurements available for 62 stations in the Mediterranean basin. The application of the selected methods provided a preliminary set of seasonal occurrences and durations of subinertial oscillation. This sets the ground for further investigation into the propagation of low-frequency sea level oscillations throughout the Mediterranean basin and for characterisation of the mechanisms triggering the process, including with regard to climate change.

Reassessing sea level change rates in the Mediterranean Sea in the age of altimetry

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Francesco De Biasio ◽  
Stefano Vignudelli
Keyword(s):  
Mediterranean Sea ◽  
Sea Level ◽  
Satellite Altimetry ◽  
Adriatic Sea ◽  
Tide Gauge ◽  
Sea Level Change ◽  
Data Sets ◽  
Level Change ◽  
The Mediterranean

<p>Consistent long-term satellite-based data-sets of sea surface elevation exist nowadays to study sea level variability, globally and at regional scales. Two of them are suitable for climate-related studies: one produced in the framework of the European Space Agency (ESA)-funded Sea Level Climate Change Initiative (SL_CCI); the other offered by the European Copernicus Climate Change Service (C3S). Both data-sets cover the global ocean since 1993 to 2015 (SL_CCI) and to present (C3S) at spatial resolution of 0.25 x 0.25 degrees. The first is obtained by merging data from all the available satellite altimetry missions. The second one relies only on a couple of simultaneous altimetry missions at a time to provide stable long-term variability estimates of sea level, is constantly updated and has resolution 0.125 x 0.125 degrees in the Mediterranean Sea.<br>Previous studies have investigated the relationship between satellite-derived absolute sea level change rates and tide gauge observations of relative sea level change in littoral zones of the Mediterranean basin [Fenoglio-Mark, L., 2002; Fenoglio-Mark et al., 2012]. Other studies made use also of global positioning system measurements of vertical land motion in addition to tide gauge and satellite altimetry data [Rocco F.V., 2015; Zerbini et al., 2017]. Vignudelli et al., [2018] highlighted the difficulty of deriving spatially-consistent information on the sea level rates at regional scale in the Adriatic Sea. Other studies have claimed the possibility to merge locally isolated information into a coherent regional picture using a linear inverse problem approach [Wöppelmann and Marcos, 2012]: such approach has been successfully applied to a number of tide gauges in the Adriatic Sea [De Biasio et al., 2020]. The approach tested in the Adriatic Sea is going to be extended to the Mediterranean and major findings will be presented at conference.<br>The motivation of this study is that industrial areas are widely spread along the littoral zone of the southern Europe, and residential settlements are densely scattered along the coasts of the Mediterranean Sea. Not least, a strongly rooted seaside tourism is one of the main economic resources of the region, which is particularly exposed to the sea level variability of both natural and anthropogenic origin. A well known example of such a exposition is Venice (northern Italy) which has been recently hit by the second-highest tide in recorded history (November 2019), and is being protected against storm surges by the MOSE barrier since October 2020. Therefore, a re-analyses of the actual sea level rates with novel methodologies that take into account a better usage of all available observations is key to understand the future coastal sea level changes and their relative importance.</p><p>Fenoglio-Marc, L. 2002. DOI: 10.1016/S1474-7065(02)00084-0</p><p>Fenoglio-Marc, L.; Braitenberg, C.; Tunini, L. 2012. DOI: 10.1016/j.pce.2011.05.014</p><p>Rocco, F.V. Ph.D. Thesis, 2015. URI: https://amslaurea.unibo.it/id/eprint/10172</p><p>Zerbini, S.; Raicich, F.; Prati, C.M.; Bruni, S.; Conte, S.D.; Errico, M.; Santi, E. 2017. DOI: 10.1016/j.earscirev.2017.02.009</p><p>Vignudelli, S., De Biasio, F., Scozzari, A. Zecchetto, S., and Papa, A. 2019. DOI:10.1007/1345_2018_51</p><p>Wöppelmann, G. and Marcos, M. 2012. DOI: 10.1029/2011JC007469</p><p>De Biasio, F., Baldin, G. and Vignudelli, S. 2020. DOI:10.3390/jmse8110949</p>

scholarly journals Changes in ventilation of the Mediterranean Sea during the past 25 yr

2013 ◽  
Vol 10 (4) ◽  
pp. 1405-1445 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. Schneider ◽  
T. Tanhua ◽  
W. Roether ◽  
R. Steinfeldt
Keyword(s):  
Mediterranean Sea ◽  
Deep Water ◽  
Adriatic Sea ◽  
Western Mediterranean ◽  
Tyrrhenian Sea ◽  
Deep Water Formation ◽  
Overturning Circulation ◽  
Water Formation ◽  
The Mediterranean ◽  
Transient Tracer

Abstract. The Mediterranean Sea has a fast overturning circulation and the deep water masses are well ventilated in comparison to the deep waters of the world ocean. Significant changes in the overturning circulation has been observed during the last few decades, the most prominent phenomena being the Eastern Mediterranean Transient (EMT) in the early 1990s and the Western Mediterranean Transit (WMT) near the mid of the decade following. During both of these events unusually large amounts of deep water were formed, and in the case of the EMT, the deep water formation area shifted from the Adriatic to the Aegean Sea. This variability is important to understand and to monitor, because ventilation is the main process to propagate surface perturbations, such as uptake of anthropogenic CO2, into the ocean interior. Here we synthesize a unique collection of transient tracer (CFC-12, SF6 and tritium) data from nine cruises conducted between 1987 and 2011 and use these data to determine temporal variability of Mediterranean ventilation. We also discuss biases and technical problems with transient tracer-based ages arising from their different input histories over time; particularly in the case of time-dependent ventilation. We observe a period of stagnation in the deep eastern (Levantine) basin after it was ventilated by the EMT so that the age of the deep water is increasing with time. In the Ionian Sea, on the other hand, we see evidence of increased ventilation after year 2001, indicating the restarted deep water formation in the Adriatic Sea. This is also reflected in the increasing age of the Cretan Sea deep water and decreasing age of Adriatic Sea deep water since the end of the 1980s. In the western Mediterranean deep basin we see the massive input of recently ventilated waters during the WMT. This signal is not yet apparent in the Tyrrhenian Sea, where the ventilation seems to be fairly constant since the EMT. Also the western Alboran Sea does not show any temporal trends in ventilation.

scholarly journals Impact of air–sea coupling on the climate change signal over the Iberian Peninsula

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alba de la Vara ◽  
William Cabos ◽  
Dmitry V. Sein ◽  
Claas Teichmann ◽  
Daniela Jacob
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Iberian Peninsula ◽  
Mediterranean Sea ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Regional Distribution ◽  
Coupled Model ◽  
Climate Change Signal ◽  
The North ◽  
The Mediterranean ◽  
The Impact

AbstractIn this work we use a regional atmosphere–ocean coupled model (RAOCM) and its stand-alone atmospheric component to gain insight into the impact of atmosphere–ocean coupling on the climate change signal over the Iberian Peninsula (IP). The IP climate is influenced by both the Atlantic Ocean and the Mediterranean sea. Complex interactions with the orography take place there and high-resolution models are required to realistically reproduce its current and future climate. We find that under the RCP8.5 scenario, the generalized 2-m air temperature (T2M) increase by the end of the twenty-first century (2070–2099) in the atmospheric-only simulation is tempered by the coupling. The impact of coupling is specially seen in summer, when the warming is stronger. Precipitation shows regionally-dependent changes in winter, whilst a drier climate is found in summer. The coupling generally reduces the magnitude of the changes. Differences in T2M and precipitation between the coupled and uncoupled simulations are caused by changes in the Atlantic large-scale circulation and in the Mediterranean Sea. Additionally, the differences in projected changes of T2M and precipitation with the RAOCM under the RCP8.5 and RCP4.5 scenarios are tackled. Results show that in winter and summer T2M increases less and precipitation changes are of a smaller magnitude with the RCP4.5. Whilst in summer changes present a similar regional distribution in both runs, in winter there are some differences in the NW of the IP due to differences in the North Atlantic circulation. The differences in the climate change signal from the RAOCM and the driving Global Coupled Model show that regionalization has an effect in terms of higher resolution over the land and ocean.

scholarly journals Observations on the Feeding of Drymonema dalmatinum in the Gulf of Trieste

Diversity ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (4) ◽  
pp. 163
Author(s):  
Saul Ciriaco ◽  
Lisa Faresi ◽  
Marco Segarich
Keyword(s):  
Mediterranean Sea ◽  
Adriatic Sea ◽  
Gulf Of Trieste ◽  
The Mediterranean ◽  
Scyphozoan Jellyfish

The largest scyphozoan jellyfish of the Mediterranean Sea, Drymonema dalmatinum was first described by Haeckel [1] from material collected off the Dalmatian coast of the Adriatic Sea [...]

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