Variability and decadal evolution of temperature and salinity in the Mediterranean Sea surface

Year 2016, , 24 - 33, 01.10.2016

Lamri Nacef Nour El İslam Bachari Abderrahmane Bouda Riad Boubnia

https://doi.org/10.26833/ijeg.285222

Cited By: 11

Abstract

Based
on the Med-Atlas 20002 database data at Mediterranean Sea surface, analysis of
spatial and temporal variations of temperature and salinity, as well as, the
search of its possible trends are the main goals of this work. The used
statistical techniques allowed us to obtain various climatological fields of
temperature and salinity, on a period of 45 years (1955-1999). Spatial and
temporal analysis of those fields shows that the north-south gradient is weaker
than the east-west gradient. The strongest variability in both mean fields is
sharper in downwelling areas than anywhere else, showing the colder and less
saline surface waters. Warmer and saltiest water surface are located in
southeast of the Levantine basin. The eastern Mediterranean Sea is generally
more saline than the western basin. The temperature seasonal cycle is more
marked than the salinity seasonal cycle. The summer-winter thermal and saline
fields are completely contrasted, especially in the northern Adriatic Sea. The
largest positive peak of inter-annual temperature variability is encountered in
1994, the largest negative peak in 1992. Whereas those related to salinity
observed in 1983 and in 1997 respectively. The decadal variations indicate a
cooling of Mediterranean Sea surface in 1970s and a northward warming since
1980s that accelerated in 1990s. The eastern Mediterranean Sea exhibits a
higher warming rate as compared to the western basin, but the average increase
is about 0.2 °C/decade. The Salinity rising corresponds to the cooling periods
and the decreasing is associated with the warming ones.

Keywords

Mediterranean Sea surface, Temperature, Salinity, Spatio-temporal/Interannual/decadal variability

References

• Barnier B., Brodeau L. and T. Penduff, 2006. Ocean surface forcing and surface fields. Mercator Ocean Quaterly Newsletter, pp. 4-7.
• Beniston Martin, 2004. The Climate System, In Climatic Change and Its Impacts. Advances in Global Change Research, 19, pp. 27-52.
• Bergamasco A. and P. Malanotte-Rizzoli, 2010. The circulation of the Mediterranean Sea: a historical review of experimental investigations. Advances in Oceanography and Limnology, 1(1), pp. 11-28.
• Béthoux J. P. Gentili B, Morin P., Nicolas E., Pierre C. and D. Ruiz-Pino, 1999. The Mediterranean Sea: a miniature ocean for climatic and environmental studies and a key for the climatic functioning of the North Atlantic. Progress in Oceanography, 44, pp. 131-146.
• Bryden H.L., Candela J., T. H. Kinder, 1994. Exchange through the strait of Gibraltar. Progress in Oceanography, 33, pp. 20-248.
• Castellari S, Pinardi N. and K. Leaman, 1998. A model study of air-sea interactions in the Mediterranean Sea. Journal of Marine Systems, (18), pp. 89-114.
• CIESM, 2002. Tracking long-term hydrological change in the Mediterranean Sea, CIESM Workshop Series, 16, 134 pp
• Coll M., Piroddi C. and al., 2010. The biodiversity of the Mediterranean Sea: estimates, patterns and threats. PLoS ONE, 5 (8), e11842. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0011842
• D'Ortenzio F. and M. Ribera D'Alcalã, 2009. On the trophic regimes of the Mediterranean Sea: a satellite analysis. Biogeosciences, 6, pp. 139-148.
• Fichaut M, Garcia M. J., Giorgetti A., Iona A., Kushmaro A. et al., 2003. MEDAR/MEDATLAS 2002: a Mediterranean and Black Sea database for the operational Oceanography. Proceedings of the third International Conference on Euro-GOOS, December 2002, Athens, Greece. Oceanography Series 69, pp. 645-648.
• Gabrié C., Lagabrielle E., Bissery C., Crochelet E., Meola B., Webster C., Claudet J., Chassanite A., Marinesque S., Robert P., Goutx M. and C. Quod, 2012. Statut des Aires Marines Protégées en mer Méditerranée. Med PAN Collection, 260 pp.
• Gill A.E., 1982. Atmosphere-Ocean Dynamics. Int. Geophys. Ser., Academic Press, 30, New York and London, 662 pp
• Hewitt C.D. and D.J. Griggs, 2004. Ensembles Based Predictions of Climate Changes and their Impacts. EOS, (85), 566 pp.
• Hoegh-Guldberg O. and J.F. Bruno, 2010. The impact of climate change on the world's marine ecosystems. Science, 328, pp. 1523-1528.
• Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), 2007. Impacts, Adaptation and Vulnerability. Cambridge Univ. Press, Cambridge, UK.
• Lebeaupin C., Ducrocq V. and H. Giordani, 2006. Sensitivity of Mediterranean torrential rain events to the Sea Surface Temperature based on high resolution numerical forecasts. Journal of Geophysical Research, 111 (D12), 12110 10.1029/2005JD006541
• Lejeusne C., P. Chevaldonné, C. Pergent-Martini, C.F. Boudouresque and T. Pérez, 2010. Climate change effects on a miniature ocean: the highly diverse, highly impacted Mediterranean Sea. Trends Ecol. Evol., 25, pp. 250-260.
• Levitus S., Antonov J. I. and T. P. Boyer, 2005. Warming of the World Ocean, 1955–2003. Geophys. Res. Lett., 32, L02604, doi: 10.1029/2004GL021592
• Levitus S., Antonov J. I., Boyer T. P., Locarnini R. A., Garcia H. E. and A.V. Mishonov, 2009. Global ocean heat content 1955–2008 in light of recently revealed instrumentation problems. Geophys. Res. Lett., 36, L07608, doi:10.1029/2008GL037155
• Li L., 2006. Atmospheric GCM response to an idealized anomaly of the Mediterranean Sea surface temperature. Clim. Dyn., Doi: 10.1007/s00382-006-0152
• Lionello P., 2012. The climate of the Mediterranean region: From the past to the future. Elsevier Edit, 584 pp
• Mariotti A. and A. Dell’Aquila, 2011. Decadal climate variability in the Mediterranean region: roles of large-scale forcing and regional processes. Clim Dyn., doi: 10.1007/s00382-011-1056-7
• Mariotti A., 2010. Recent changes in the Mediterranean water cycle: a pathway toward long-term regional hydroclimatic change. Journal of Climate, 23, pp. 1513-1525.
• MEDAR Group 2002. MED-ATLAS 2002 database: Mediterranean and Black Sea database of temperature salinity and biochemical parameters. Climatological Atlas. IFREMER.
• Millot C. and F. Briand, 2002. Executive summary in Tracking Long-Term Hydrological Change in the Mediterranean Sea. CIESM Workshop Series, 16, pp. 7-14.
• Millot C. and I. Taupier-Letage, 2005. Circulation in the Mediterranean Sea. The Handbook of Environmental Chemistry, K, doi: 10.1007/b107143, pp. 29-66.
• Millot C., Candela J, Fuda J. L. and Y. Tber, 2006. Large warming and salinification of the Mediterranean outflow due to changes in its composition. Deep-Sea Res., 53 (4), pp. 656-666.
• Pickard G. L. and W.J. Emery, 1964. Descriptive physical oceanography. Butterworth Heinemann, Oxford.
• Potter R. and S. Lozier, 2004. On the warming and salinification of the Mediterranean Outflow waters in the North Atlantic. Geophys. Res. Lett., 31, L01202, doi : 10.1029/2003GL018161
• Pusceddu A, Mea M, Gambi M, Bianchelli S, Canals M, Sanchez-Vidal A et al., 2010. Ecosystem effects of dense water formation on deep Mediterranean Sea ecosystems: an overview. Advances in Oceanography and Limnology, 6(1), pp. 67-83.
• Romanou A., Tselioudis G., Zerefos C.S., Clayson C., Curry J.A. and A. Andersson, 2010. Evaporation-precipitation variability over the Mediterranean and the Black Seas from satellite and reanalysis estimates. Journal of Climate, 23, pp. 5268-5287.
• Russo A., Rabitti S. and M. Bastianini, 2002. Decadal climatic anomalies in the Northern Adriatic Sea inferred from a new oceanographic data set. PSZNI Mar. Ecol., 23, pp. 340-351.
• Sanchez Gomez E, Somot S. and A. Mariotti, 2009. Future changes in the Mediterranean water budget projected by an ensemble of Regional Climate Models. Geophys. Res. Lett.
• Sanchez-Gomez E, Somot S and M. Déqué, 2008. Ability of an ensemble of regional climate models to reproduce weather regimes over Europe-Atlantic during the period 1961–2000. Clim. Dyn., 10, 1007/s00382-008-0502-7
• Simmons A. J. and L. Bengtsson, 1984. Atmospheric general circulation models, their design and use for climate studies. In The Global Climate, Cambridge University Press, 211 pp
• Skliris N., Sofianos S. and A. Lascaratos, 2007. Hydrological changes in the Mediterranean Sea in relation to changes in the freshwater budget: a numerical modelling study. J. Mar. Syst., 65, pp. 400-416.
• Solomon S., Qin D., Chen Z., Marquis M., Averyt K.B., Tignor M. and H.L. Miller, 2007. Contribution of Working Group I to the Fourth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. Cambridge University Press, 996 pp.
• Somot S., Sevault F., Déqué M. and M. Crépon, 2008. 21st century climate change scenario for the Mediterranean using a coupled atmosphere-ocean regional climate model. Glob. Planet. Change, 63, pp. 112-126.
• Somot S., 2005. Modélisation climatique du bassin méditerranéen : Variabilité et scénarios de changement climatique. Ph.D. thesis. Spec. Phys. du Clim., Univ. Toulouse III Paul Sabatier, Toulouse, France, 333 pp.
• Timplis M., Zervakis V., Josey S., Peneva E.L., Struglia M.V., Stanev E., Teocharis A., Lionello P., Malanotte Rizzoli P., Artale V, Tragou E. and T. Oguz, 2005. Changes in the Oceanography of the Mediterranean Sea and their Link to Climate Variability. Ed. Elsevier, pp. 226-281.
• Timplis M., and H.L. Bryden, 2000. Estimation of the transport through the strait of Gibraltar. Deep Sea Research, 47 (1), pp. 2219-2242.
• Woodruff S.D., Diaz H.F., Kent E.C., Reynolds R.W. and S.J. Worley, 2008. The evolving SST record from ICOADS, in Climate Variability and Extremes during the Past 100 Years. Advances in Global Change Research, 33, pp. 65-83