scholarly journals Pre-operational short-term forecasts for the Mediterranean Sea biogeochemistry

2009 ◽  
Vol 6 (2) ◽  
pp. 1223-1259 ◽  
Author(s):  
P. Lazzari ◽  
A. Teruzzi ◽  
S. Salon ◽  
S. Campagna ◽  
C. Calonaci ◽  
...  

Abstract. Operational prediction of the marine environment is recognised as a fundamental research issue for Europe. We present a pre-operational implementation of a biogeochemical model for pelagic waters of the Mediterranean Sea, as developed within the framework of the MERSEA-IP European project. The OPATM-BFM coupled model is the core of a fully automatic system that weekly delivers analysis and forecast maps for the Mediterranean Sea biogeochemistry. The system in the present configuration has been working since April 2007 with successful execution of the fully automatic operational chain in the 87% of the cases, and in the remaining cases the runs were successfully accomplished after operator intervention. A description of the system developed and a comparison of the model results with satellite data are also presented, with Spearman correlation on surface chlorophyll temporal evolution equal to 0.71. Future studies will be addressed to the implementations of a data assimilation scheme for the biogeochemical compartment in order to increase the skill of the model performances.

Ocean Science ◽  
2010 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
pp. 25-39 ◽  
Author(s):  
P. Lazzari ◽  
A. Teruzzi ◽  
S. Salon ◽  
S. Campagna ◽  
C. Calonaci ◽  
...  

Abstract. Operational prediction of the marine environment is recognised as a fundamental research issue in Europe. We present a pre-operational implementation of a biogeochemical model for the pelagic waters of the Mediterranean Sea, developed within the framework of the MERSEA-IP European project. The OPATM-BFM coupled model is the core of a fully automatic system that delivers weekly analyses and forecast maps for the Mediterranean Sea biogeochemistry. The system has been working in its current configuration since April 2007 with successful execution of the fully automatic operational chain in 87% of the cases while in the remaining cases the runs were successfully accomplished after operator intervention. A description of the system developed and also a comparison of the model results with satellite data are presented, together with a measure of the model skill evaluated by means of seasonal target diagrams. Future studies will address the implementation of a data assimilation scheme for the biogeochemical compartment in order to increase the skill of the model's performance.


2015 ◽  
Vol 12 (23) ◽  
pp. 7025-7046 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. Guyennon ◽  
M. Baklouti ◽  
F. Diaz ◽  
J. Palmieri ◽  
J. Beuvier ◽  
...  

Abstract. The Mediterranean Sea is one of the most oligotrophic regions of the oceans, and nutrients have been shown to limit both phytoplankton and bacterial activities, resulting in a potential major role of dissolved organic carbon (DOC) export in the biological pump. Strong DOC accumulation in surface waters is already well documented, though measurements of DOC stocks and export flux are still sparse and associated with major uncertainties. This study provides the first basin-scale overview and analysis of organic carbon stocks and export fluxes in the Mediterranean Sea through a modeling approach based on a coupled model combining a mechanistic biogeochemical model (Eco3M-MED) and a high-resolution (eddy-resolving) hydrodynamic simulation (NEMO-MED12). The model is shown to reproduce the main spatial and seasonal biogeochemical characteristics of the Mediterranean Sea. Model estimations of carbon export are also of the same order of magnitude as estimations from in situ observations, and their respective spatial patterns are mutually consistent. Strong differences between the western and eastern basins are evidenced by the model for organic carbon export. Though less oligotrophic than the eastern basin, the western basin only supports 39 % of organic carbon (particulate and dissolved) export. Another major result is that except for the Alboran Sea, the DOC contribution to organic carbon export is higher than that of particulate organic carbon (POC) throughout the Mediterranean Sea, especially in the eastern basin. This paper also investigates the seasonality of DOC and POC exports as well as the differences in the processes involved in DOC and POC exports in light of intracellular quotas. Finally, according to the model, strong phosphate limitation of both bacteria and phytoplankton growth is one of the main drivers of DOC accumulation and therefore of export.


2015 ◽  
Vol 12 (8) ◽  
pp. 6147-6213
Author(s):  
A. Guyennon ◽  
M. Baklouti ◽  
F. Diaz ◽  
J. Palmieri ◽  
J. Beuvier ◽  
...  

Abstract. The Mediterranean Sea is one of the most oligotrophic regions of the oceans, and nutrients have been shown to limit both phytoplankton and bacterial activities. This has direct implications on the stock of dissolved organic carbon (DOC), whose high variability has already been well-documented even if measurements are still sparse and are associated with important uncertainties. We here propose a Mediterranean Basin-scale view of the export of organic carbon, under its dissolved and particulate forms. For this purpose, we have used a coupled model combining a mechanistic biogeochemical model (Eco3M-MED) and a high-resolution (eddy-resolving) hydrodynamic simulation (NEMO-MED12). This is the first Basin-scale application of the biogeochemical model Eco3M-MED and is shown to reproduce the main spatial and seasonal biogeochemical characteristics of the Mediterranean Sea. Model estimations of carbon export are of the same order of magnitude as estimations from in situ observations, and their respective spatial patterns are consistent with each other. As for surface chlorophyll, nutrient concentrations, and productivity, strong differences between the Western and Eastern Basins are evidenced by the model for organic carbon export, with only 39% of organic carbon (particulate and dissolved) export taking place in the Western Basin. The major result is that except for the Alboran Sea, dissolved organic carbon (DOC) contribution to organic carbon export is higher than that of particulate (POC) in the whole Basin, especially in the Eastern Basin. This paper also investigates the seasonality of DOC and POC exports as well as the differences in the processes involved in DOC and POC exports.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alba de la Vara ◽  
William Cabos ◽  
Dmitry V. Sein ◽  
Claas Teichmann ◽  
Daniela Jacob

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.


2019 ◽  
Vol 197 ◽  
pp. 103176 ◽  
Author(s):  
Valeria Di Biagio ◽  
Gianpiero Cossarini ◽  
Stefano Salon ◽  
Paolo Lazzari ◽  
Stefano Querin ◽  
...  

1999 ◽  
Vol 51 (3) ◽  
pp. 317-327 ◽  
Author(s):  
Amos Frumkin ◽  
Derek C. Ford ◽  
Henry P. Schwarcz

AbstractA long radiometrically dated oxygen isotopic record of continental climatic variations since the penultimate glaciation was obtained from a stalagmite deposited in a sealed cave in Jerusalem. This record shows that speleothems have the potential of assigning dates to long- and short-term climatic events, with possible refining of Milankovitch tuning of ice and marine records which themselves are not datable. Short-term (∼1000-yr) events are very significant in the region, reaching ∼50% of glacial/interglacial fluctuations. The Mediterranean Sea was the most probable source of local precipitation throughout the last glacial cycle.


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Valeria Di Biagio ◽  
Gianpiero Cossarini ◽  
Stefano Salon ◽  
Cosimo Solidoro

Abstract. We propose a new method to identify and characterise the occurrence of prolonged extreme events in marine ecosystems on the basin scale. There is a growing interest about events that can affect ecosystem functions and services in a changing climate. Our method identifies extreme events as peak occurrences over 99th percentile thresholds computed from local time series and defines an Extreme Events Wave (EEW) as a connected region including these events. The EEWs are characterised by a set of novel indexes, referred to initiation, extent, duration and strength. The indexes, associated to the areas covered by each EEW, are then statistically analysed to highlight the main features of the EEWs on the considered domain. We applied the method to the winter-spring daily chlorophyll field of a validated multidecadal hindcast provided by a coupled hydrodynamic-biogeochemical model of the Mediterranean open-sea ecosystem, with 1/12° horizontal resolution. This allowed to identify the maxima of chlorophyll as exceptionally high and prolonged blooms and to characterise their phenomenology in the period 1994–2012. A fuzzy k-means cluster analysis on the EEWs indexes provided a bio-regionalisation of the Mediterranean Sea associated to the occurrence of chlorophyll EEWs with different regimes.


2021 ◽  
Vol 18 (3) ◽  
pp. 937-960
Author(s):  
Caroline Ulses ◽  
Claude Estournel ◽  
Marine Fourrier ◽  
Laurent Coppola ◽  
Fayçal Kessouri ◽  
...  

Abstract. The north-western Mediterranean deep convection plays a crucial role in the general circulation and biogeochemical cycles of the Mediterranean Sea. The DEWEX (DEnse Water EXperiment) project aimed to better understand this role through an intensive observation platform combined with a modelling framework. We developed a three-dimensional coupled physical and biogeochemical model to estimate the cycling and budget of dissolved oxygen in the entire north-western Mediterranean deep-convection area over the period September 2012 to September 2013. After showing that the simulated dissolved oxygen concentrations are in a good agreement with the in situ data collected from research cruises and Argo floats, we analyse the seasonal cycle of the air–sea oxygen exchanges, as well as physical and biogeochemical oxygen fluxes, and we estimate an annual oxygen budget. Our study indicates that the annual air-to-sea fluxes in the deep-convection area amounted to 20 molm-2yr-1. A total of 88 % of the annual uptake of atmospheric oxygen, i.e. 18 mol m−2, occurred during the intense vertical mixing period. The model shows that an amount of 27 mol m−2 of oxygen, injected at the sea surface and produced through photosynthesis, was transferred under the euphotic layer, mainly during deep convection. An amount of 20 mol m−2 of oxygen was then gradually exported in the aphotic layers to the south and west of the western basin, notably, through the spreading of dense waters recently formed. The decline in the deep-convection intensity in this region predicted by the end of the century in recent projections may have important consequences on the overall uptake of atmospheric oxygen in the Mediterranean Sea and on the oxygen exchanges with the Atlantic Ocean, which appear necessary to better quantify in the context of the expansion of low-oxygen zones.


2015 ◽  
Vol 12 (6) ◽  
pp. 1647-1658 ◽  
Author(s):  
G. Cossarini ◽  
P. Lazzari ◽  
C. Solidoro

Abstract. The paper provides a basin-scale assessment of the spatiotemporal distribution of alkalinity in the Mediterranean Sea. The assessment is made by integrating the available observations into a 3-D transport–biogeochemical model. The results indicate the presence of complex spatial patterns: a marked west-to-east surface gradient of alkalinity is coupled to secondary negative gradients: (1) from marginal seas (Adriatic and Aegean Sea) to the eastern Mediterranean Sea and (2) from north to south in the western region. The west–east gradient is related to the mixing of Atlantic water entering from the Strait of Gibraltar with the high-alkaline water of the eastern sub-basins, which is correlated to the positive surface flux of evaporation minus precipitation. The north-to-south gradients are related to the terrestrial input and to the input of the Black Sea water through the Dardanelles. In the surface layers, alkalinity has a relevant seasonal cycle (up to 40 μmol kg−1) that is driven by physical processes (seasonal cycle of evaporation and vertical mixing) and, to a minor extent, by biological processes. A comparison of alkalinity vs. salinity indicates that different regions present different relationships: in regions of freshwater influence, the two quantities are negatively correlated due to riverine alkalinity input, whereas they are positively correlated in open sea areas of the Mediterranean Sea.


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