Observation, Preconditioning and Recurrence of Exceptionally High Salinities in the Adriatic Sea

The paper aims to describe the preconditioning and observations of exceptionally high salinity values that were observed in summer and autumn of 2017 in the Adriatic. The observations encompassed CTD measurements carried out along the well-surveyed climatological transect in the Middle Adriatic (the Palagruža Sill, 1961–2020), Argo profiling floats and several glider missions, accompanied with satellite altimetry and operational ocean numerical model (Mediterranean Forecasting System) products. Typically, subsurface salinity maximum, with values lower than 39.0, is observed in the Southern Adriatic (usually between 200 and 400 m), related to ingressions of saltier and warmer waters originating in the eastern Mediterranean (Levantine Intermediate Water—LIW). However, seasonally strong inflow of warm and high salinity waters (S > 38.8) has been observed much closer to the surface since spring 2015. The main LIW core deepened at the same time (to 400–700 m). Such double-maxima vertical pattern was eventually disturbed by winter convection at the beginning of 2017, increasing salinities throughout the water column. A new episode of very strong inflow of high salinity waters from the Northern Ionian was observed in late winter and spring of 2017, this time restricted almost to the surface. As most of 2017 was characterized by extremely dry conditions, low riverine inputs and warmer than usual summer over the Adriatic and Northern Ionian, salinity values above the sharp and shallow (15–40 m) thermocline significantly increased. The maximum recorded salinity was 39.26, as measured by the Argo float in the Southern Adriatic. Surface salinity maximum events, but with much lower intensity, have been documented in the past. Both past events and the 2017 event were characterized by (i) concurrence with overall high salinity conditions and cyclonic or transitional phase of the Adriatic-Ionian Bimodal Oscillating System, (ii) very low river discharges preconditioning the events for a year or more, (iii) higher-than-average heat fluxes during most of the summer and early autumn periods, forming a stable warm layer above the thermocline, and (iv) higher-than-average E-P (evaporation minus precipitation) acting on this warm surface layer. Importantly, the 2017 event was also preceded by strong near-surface inflow of very saline waters from the Northern Ionian in early 2017.

Atlantic Water Modification North of Svalbard in the Mercator Physical System From 2007 to 2020

<div> <div> <div> <p>The Atlantic Water (AW) inflow through Fram Strait, largest oceanic heat source to the Arctic Ocean, undergoes substantial modifications in the Western Nansen Basin (WNB). Evaluation of the Mercator system in the WNB, using 1,500 independent temperature‐salinity profiles and five years of mooring data, highlighted its performance in representing realistic AW inflow and hydrographic properties. In particular, favorable comparisons with mooring time‐series documenting deep winter mixed layers and changes in AW properties led us to examine winter conditions in the WNB over the 2007–2020 period. The model helped describe the interannual variations of winter mixed layers and documented several processes at stake in modifying AW beyond winter convection: trough outflows and lateral exchange through vigorous eddies. Recently modified AW, either via local convection or trough outflows, were identified as homogeneous layers of low buoyancy frequency. Over the 2007–2020 period, two winters stood out with extreme deep mixed layers in areas that used to be ice‐covered: 2017/18 over the northern Yermak Plateau‐Sofia Deep; 2012/13 on the continental slope northeast of Svalbard with the coldest and freshest modified AW of the 12‐year time series. The northern Yermak Plateau‐Sofia Deep and continental slope areas became “Marginal Convection Zones” in 2011 with, from then on, occasionally ice‐free conditions, 50‐m‐ocean temperatures always above 0 °C and highly variable mixed layer depths and ocean‐to‐atmosphere heat fluxes. In the WNB where observations require considerable efforts and resources, the Mercator system proved to be a good tool to assess Atlantic Water modifications in winter.</p> </div> </div> </div>

Analysis of Spatiotemporal Variability of Surface Temperature of Okhotsk Sea and Adjacent Waters Using Satellite Data

The chapter is divided into 5 parts. The first part describes what the satellite data is and describes the levels of its processing. In the second part, attention is paid to sea surface temperature anomalies, the conditions for the appearance of the most significant anomalies and their influence on the behavior and survival of aquatic organisms are described. The third part is devoted to calculating linear trends in ocean surface temperature from a 20-year series of satellite data. It is shown that the heat content of the surface layer of Okhotsk Sea decreases, most significantly in its northern and western parts. This trend is especially pronounced in the spring, which may be due to a decrease in ice cover and a more significant cooling of the waters due to winter convection. In the fourth part, periodic fluctuations in the temperature of the surface of the ocean are considered. It is demonstrated how, using the calculated trend and several basic harmonics, one can try to predict the temperature next year. And the last part concludes the chapter.

Particulate biogenic barium tracer of mesopelagic carbon remineralization in the Mediterranean Sea (PEACETIME project)

We report on the sub-basins variability of particulate organic carbon (POC) remineralization in the central and western Mediterranean Sea during a late spring period (PEACETIME cruise). POC remineralization rates (MR) were estimated using the excess non-lithogenic particulate barium (Baxs) inventories in mesopelagic waters (100–1000 m) and compared with prokaryotic heterotrophic production (PHP). MR range from 25 ± 2 to 306 ± 70 mg C m−2 d−1. Results reveal larger MR processes in the Algerian (ALG) basin compared to the Tyrrhenian (TYR) and Ionian (ION) basins. Baxs inventories and PHP also indicates that significant remineralization occurs over the whole mesopelagic layers in the ALG basin in contrast to the ION and TYR basins where remineralization is mainly located in the upper 500 m horizon. We propose that this may be due to particle injection pumps likely driven by strong winter convection in the Western basin of the Mediterranean Sea. This implies significant differences in the remineralization length scale of POC in the central Mediterranean Sea relative to the western region.

Weakening of Cold Halocline Layer Exposes Sea Ice to Oceanic Heat in the Eastern Arctic Ocean

A 15-yr duration record of mooring observations from the eastern (>70°E) Eurasian Basin (EB) of the Arctic Ocean is used to show and quantify the recently increased oceanic heat flux from intermediate-depth (~150–900 m) warm Atlantic Water (AW) to the surface mixed layer and sea ice. The upward release of AW heat is regulated by the stability of the overlying halocline, which we show has weakened substantially in recent years. Shoaling of the AW has also contributed, with observations in winter 2017–18 showing AW at only 80 m depth, just below the wintertime surface mixed layer, the shallowest in our mooring records. The weakening of the halocline for several months at this time implies that AW heat was linked to winter convection associated with brine rejection during sea ice formation. This resulted in a substantial increase of upward oceanic heat flux during the winter season, from an average of 3–4 W m−2 in 2007–08 to >10 W m−2 in 2016–18. This seasonal AW heat loss in the eastern EB is equivalent to a more than a twofold reduction of winter ice growth. These changes imply a positive feedback as reduced sea ice cover permits increased mixing, augmenting the summer-dominated ice-albedo feedback.

Warmer winter causes deepening and intensification of summer subsurface bloom in the Black Sea: the role of convection and self-shading mechanism

Large differences in the vertical distribution of chlorophyll-a concentration (Chl) in a year with cold and warm winter are observed in the Black Sea on the base of Bio-Argo data. Stronger winter nutrient flux from deeper isopycnal layer in cold 2017 caused an increase of Chl in the upper 40-meter layer observed throughout the whole year – from February to October, with a maximum exceeding 1.3 mg/m3 in February-May of 2017. In warm 2016 with weaker winter convection maximum of Chl during winter-spring in this layer was only about 0.8–0.9 mg/m3. However, the increase of Chl in 2017 led to strong light attenuation in the upper layer and a decrease of euphotic layer depth due to the self-shading mechanism. In 2016 with weaker bloom irradiance penetrated to a 40–70 m layer, below the maximum winter mixed layer depth (40–50 m) and reached the upper layer of nitroclyne, which was not affected by winter mixing. As a result, in warm 2016 the subsurface chlorophyll maximum deepens and Chl in deeper layers was on 0.2–0.6 mg/m3 higher than in 2017. The maximum difference (0.6 mg/m3) was observed during a summer seasonal peak of irradiance due to the largest increase of light attenuation in 2017. As a result, the column-averaged yearly values of Chl in warm 2016 and cold 2017 were comparable. These results demonstrate that the effect of self-shading largely compensates the role of winter convective entrainment of nutrients and causes the deepening of Chl subsurface maximum in warmer years.

A neural-based bio-regionalization of the Mediterranean Sea using satellite and Argo-float records

<p>The regionalization of the Mediterranean Sea has been the subject of many studies. It is a miniature ocean where most of the processes of the global ocean are encountered (Lejeusne et al., 2010). Several features of the Mediterranean (near-tropical ocean in summer with a well-formed thermocline, near-polar ocean in winter with deep convection, multiple basins with different characteristics) make it a hotspot of marine biodiversity (Coll and al., 2010) and consequently vulnerable to climate change. It is therefore important to characterize the present state of the Mediterranean Sea with robust estimators in order to study the long-term evolution of this mesocosm.</p><p>We present a partitioning of the Mediterranean Sea in regions having well defined characteristics with respect to Sea Surface Temperature and surface chlorophyll observed by satellite, and Argo mixed layer depth. This regionalization was performed by using an innovative classification based on neural networks, the so-called 2S-SOM. Its major advantage is to consider the specificity of the variables by adding automatically, through machine learning, specific weights to each of them, which facilitates the classification and consequently highlights the regional correlations. The 2S-SOM provided a well differentiated regionalization of the Mediterranean Sea waters into seven bioregions governed by specific physical and biogeochemical processes such as Intermediate-water formation in the Aegean Sea, large surface currents in the Adriatic and the Alboran, deep winter convection phenomena in the Balearic and stratification phenomena during summer in the eastern part of the Mediterranean Sea.</p><p>Besides, in order to highlight the phytoplankton diversity in these regions, we processed the satellite ocean color observations with a specific neural network approach (SOM-PFT, El Hourany et al., 2019). As a result, specific phytoplankton communities characterized by their seasonal variability are associated with the obtained Mediterranean bioregions; the dominance of the Nanophytoplankton groups is largely observed in the western basin during the period ranging from autumn to spring. While the dominance of different types of cyanobacteria Synechococcus and Prochlorococcus is highlighted in summer and more precisely in the waters of the eastern basin. Diatoms dominate throughout the year in the coastal and shallow regions, which can be explained by the presence of terrigenous input necessary for the development of this type of phytoplankton. Diatoms also largely benefit from the strong deep convection in the Balearic Sea marked by a large bloom at the end of winter convection in March.</p><p>This work will be further extended to study the phytoplankton diversity at global scale using various data set from the Tara Oceans.</p>

Effects of large scale advection and small scale turbulence on vertical phytoplankton dynamics

<p>When studying the life cycle of phytoplankton frequently one is interested in the survival or death conditions of a population (bloom/no bloom). These dynamics have been studied extensively in the literature through a range of modelling scenarios but in summary the main factors affecting the vertical dynamics are: Water column mixing intensity, solar energy distribution, nutrients availability and predatory activity. The later two can be represented by different biological models whereas the vertical mixing is usually parameterized by a diffusive process. Even though turbulence has been recognized as a paramount factor in the survival dynamics of sinking phytoplankton species, dealing with the multi scale nature of turbulence is a formidable challenge from the modelling point of view. In addition, convective motions are being recognized to play a role in the survival of phytoplankton throughout winter stocking. With this in mind, in this work we revisit a theoretically appealing  model for phytoplankton vertical dynamics with turbulent diffusivity and numerically study how large-scale fluid motions affect its survival and extinction conditions. To achieve this and to work with realistic parameter values, we adopt a kinematic flow field to account for the different spatial and temporal scales of turbulent motions. The dynamics of the population density are described by a reaction-advection-diffusion model with a growth term proportional to sun light availability. Light depletion is modelled accounting for water turbidity and plankton self-shading; advection is represented by a sinking speed and a two-dimensional, multiscale, chaotic flow. Preliminary results show that under appropriate conditions for the flow, our model reproduces past results based on turbulent diffusivity. Furthermore, the presence of large scale vortices (such as those one might expect during winter convection) seems to hinder survival, an effect that is partially mitigated by turbulent  diffusion.</p>

Mixed layer depth in winter convection in the Lofoten Basin in the Norwegian Sea and assessment methods

We calculate the depth of winter convection in the Lofoten Basin in the Norwegian Sea using the oceanic reanalysis GLORYS12V1 data for the period 1993 to 2018. Two independent methods are used to estimate the depth of the mixed layer depth (MLD). We call the first method as the Kara method and the second one as the Montegut method. We build the monthly average maps of the MLD for the period from December to April. The maximum values of the MLD are observed in the area of the Lofoten Vortex. The MLD is maximal in March reaching 400-500 m, and 200 to 400 m in the other months. The MLD tends to increase in the northern and northwestern parts of the study area. We show the estimates of the MLD obtained by the Montegut method to be underestimated in comparison with the estimates by the Kara method. We estimate coefficients of the linear trend for monthly averaged MLD values from December to April for the period 1993 to 2018. We demonstrate in the interannual variability that the winter convection decreases in December, January, and February at the end of the study period, but it increases in March and April. This means a shift in the periods of maximum development of winter convection to a later date. This shift may be due to the processes of global warming. There is a significant intra-monthly variability when the values of the MLD can differ by 1.5-2 times during a month. Since the methods by Kara and Montegut are based both on empirical criteria, the estimates of MLD in the Lofoten Basin differ from each other. However, the empirical approaches for MLD estimates make it impossible to determine the advantages of one method relative to another

Inconsistent change in surface hydrography of the eastern Arabian Sea during the last four glacial–interglacial intervals

The eastern Arabian Sea is influenced by both the advection of upwelled water from the western Arabian Sea and winter convective mixing. Therefore, sediments collected from the eastern Arabian Sea can help to understand the long-term seasonal hydrographic changes. We used the planktonic foraminifera census and stable isotopic ratio (δ18O) from sediments drilled during the International Ocean Discovery Program Expedition 355 to reconstruct surface hydrographic changes in the eastern Arabian Sea during the last 350 kyr. The increased abundance of Globigerina bulloides suggests enhanced advection of upwelled water during the latter half of MIS7 and the beginning of MIS6, as a result of a strengthened summer monsoon. A large drop in upwelling and/or advection of upwelled water from the western Arabian Sea is inferred during the subsequent interval of MIS6, based on the rare presence of G. bulloides. The comparable relative abundance of Neogloboquadrina dutertrei, G. bulloides and Globigerinoides ruber suggests that during the early part of MIS5, hydrographic conditions were similar to today. The upwelling decreased and winter convection increased with the progress of the glacial interval. A good coherence between planktonic foraminiferal assemblage-based monsoon stacks from both the eastern and western Arabian Sea suggests a coeval response of the entire northern Arabian Sea to the glacial–interglacial changes. The glacial–interglacial difference in δ18Osw-ivc was at a maximum with 4–5 psu change in salinity during Termination 2 and 3, and a minimum during Termination 4. The significantly reduced regional contribution to the glacial–interglacial change in δ18Osw-ivc during Termination 4 suggests a lesser change in the monsoon.