Description: Euro-Argo strategy in the context of the OneArgo new international design

Description: Investigations and preparation of glider observations to be assimilated in MED-MFC and WMOP systems.

Description: Investigations and preparation of glider observations to be assimilated in MED-MFC and WMOP systems.

Description: The Mediterranean community represented in this paper is the result of more than 30 years of EU and nationally funded coordination, which has led to key contributions in science concepts and operational initiatives. Together with the establishment of operational services, the community has coordinated with universities, research centers, research infrastructures and private companies to implement advanced multi-platform and integrated observing and forecasting systems that facilitate the advancement of operational services, scientific achievements and mission-oriented innovation. Thus, the community can respond to societal challenges and stakeholders needs, developing a variety of fit-for-purpose services such as the Copernicus Marine Service. The combination of state-of-the-art observations and forecasting provides new opportunities for downstream services in response to the needs of the heavily populated Mediterranean coastal areas and to climate change. The challenge over the next decade is to sustain ocean observations within the research community, to monitor the variability at small scales, e.g., the mesoscale/submesoscale, to resolve the sub-basin/seasonal and inter-annual variability in the circulation, and thus establish the decadal variability, understand and correct the model-associated biases and to enhance model-data integration and ensemble forecasting for uncertainty estimation. Better knowledge and understanding of the level of Mediterranean variability will enable a subsequent evaluation of the impacts and mitigation of the effect of human activities and climate change on the biodiversity and the ecosystem, which will support environmental assessments and decisions. Further challenges include extending the science-based added-value products into societal relevant downstream services and engaging with communities to build initiatives that will contribute to the 2030 Agenda and more specifically to SDG14 and the UN's Decade of Ocean Science for sustainable development, by this contributing to bridge the science-policy gap. The Mediterranean observing and forecasting capacity was built on the basis of community best practices in monitoring and modeling, and can serve as a basis for the development of an integrated global ocean observing system.

Description: The present deliverable is a continuation of deliverable D4.21, in which we presented the first steps in the design and preparation of different reanalysis simulations assimilating glider data. We here show the assessment and intercomparison of CMCC MedFS and SOCIB WMOP systems experiments. We have performed, for each system, three different experiments, running a one-year simulation during 2017. We compare a free-run simulation without data assimilation (FREE) and two reanalyses including assimilation: one considering only the generic data sources included in each operational system (NOGLID) and another one adding glider observations to the previous dataset (GLIDER). The models are assessed and inter compared to each other, focusing on the performance to represent the observed 3D structure of the ocean and on their capacity to recreate physical processes, as an anticyclonic eddy structure present in the Balearic sea. Results show how in both systems the use of glider observations can help to further improve the results obtained when using data assimilation, helping to an enhancement of the forecasting capabilities.

Description: This document presents the results of simulations that include glider profiles assimilation. Simulations are performed with the Marine Copernicus operational biogeochemical model system of the Mediterranean Sea. The deliverable shows that the assimilation of BGC-glider is feasible in the contest of biogeochemical operational systems and that it is built upon the experience of BGC-Argo float data assimilation. Different configuration of the assimilation of glider data have been tested to assess the impact of the physical and biogeochemical glider observations. The deliverable also describes the pre-processing activities of the BGC-glider data to provide qualified observations for the data assimilation and the cross validation of chlorophyll glider data with other sensors (ocean colour and BGC-Argo floats). Results of the simulations show that BGC-glider data assimilation, as already shown for BGC-Argo floats, provides complementary information with respect to Ocean Colour data (which is the only or the most commonly assimilated data in biogeochemical operational systems). Beside their relatively limited horizontal spatial impact, the assimilation of BGC profiles can constrain model simulations for relevant biogeochemical processes in specific periods (summer and transition periods) and layers (surface and subsurface). Results also highlight the importance of the assimilation modelling systems that can efficiently resolve the inconsistencies between chlorophyll observations of different sensors.

Description: The Copernicus Marine Environment Monitoring Service (CMEMS) Ocean State Report (OSR) provides an annual report of the state of the global ocean and European regional seas for policy and decision-makers with the additional aim of increasing general public awareness about the status of, and changes in, the marine environment. The CMEMS OSR draws on expert analysis and provides a 3-D view (through reanalysis systems), a view from above (through remote-sensing data) and a direct view of the interior (through in situ measurements) of the global ocean and the European regional seas. The report is based on the unique CMEMS monitoring capabilities of the blue (hydrography, currents), white (sea ice) and green (e.g. Chlorophyll) marine environment. This first issue of the CMEMS OSR provides guidance on Essential Variables, large-scale changes and specific events related to the physical ocean state over the period 1993–2015. Principal findings of this first CMEMS OSR show a significant increase in global and regional sea levels, thermosteric expansion, ocean heat content, sea surface temperature and Antarctic sea ice extent and conversely a decrease in Arctic sea ice extent during the 1993–2015 period. During the year 2015 exceptionally strong large-scale changes were monitored such as, for example, a strong El Niño Southern Oscillation, a high frequency of extreme storms and sea level events in specific regions in addition to areas of high sea level and harmful algae blooms. At the same time, some areas in the Arctic Ocean experienced exceptionally low sea ice extent and temperatures below average were observed in the North Atlantic Ocean.

Description: Published

Description: s235–s320

Description: 4A. Oceanografia e clima

Description: JCR Journal

Description: The formation of intermediate and deep water masses is one of the most important processes occurring in the Mediterranean Sea, being a component of its general overturning circulation, and it has crucial implications on the ecosystem. The objective of the proposed work is to revise the main water mass formation events occurred during the latest 30 years (1987-2016) in the Mediterranean Sea and analyse their impact on biogeochemical properties considering the CMEMS Med-MFC physical and biogeochemical reanalysis data sets (https://doi.org/10.25423/medsea_reanalysis_phys_006_004 and https://doi.org/10.25423/MEDSEA_REANALYSIS_BIO_006_008 respectively). The analysis takes into consideration the four regions where events of intermediate and deep water formation are known to occur: 1) the Gulf of Lions for the Western Mediterranean Deep Waters; 2) the Southern Adriatic Pit for the Eastern Mediterranean Deep Waters; 3) the Cretan Sea for Cretan Intermediate Waters and Cretan Deep Waters; 4) the Rhodes Gyre, the area of formation of the so- called Levantine Intermediate Waters and Levantine Deep Waters. Annual water mass formation rates have been computed using daily mixed layer depth estimates considering the annual maximum volume of water above mixed layer depth with potential density within or higher than specific thresholds, and then divided by seconds per year. The use of different density thresholds reported in literature to identify water masses allows to detect variations of their characteristics over time, as observed from observations. The adopted methodology might underestimate the actual water mass formation rate but, thanks to the assimilation of in situ temperature and salinity profiles and the interactive heat flux correction based on observed satellite sea surface temperature, it permits an accurate estimation of the mixed layer depth and to detect the main open ocean convection events from the selected reanalysis data set. The analysis of chlorophyll and nutrient dynamics during the most significant episodes of water mass formation in North West Mediterranean and South Adriatic Sea highlights that these intense physical processes have an impact on the biogeochemical properties. We verified that dense water formation changes the structure of nutrients fields and might cause precondition for chlorophyll blooms, highlighting a strong link between vertical transport mechanisms and primary productivity. The CMEMS Mediterranean Sea physical reanalysis is able to reproduce both Eastern Mediterranean Transient and Western Mediterranean Transition phenomena and catches the principal water mass formation events reported in literature. This result is promising because it allows a constant monitoring of the open ocean deep convection process in the Mediterranean Sea, a better understanding of the multiple drivers of the general overturning circulation at interannual and multidecadal time scales and the possible effects on the Mediterranean ecosystems.

Description: Published

Description: Vienna

Description: 4A. Oceanografia e clima

Description: The Mediterranean Monitoring and Forecasting Center (MED-MFC) is part of the Copernicus Marine Environment and Monitoring Service (CMEMS) and provides regular and systematic information on the time-evolving Mediterranean Sea physical (including waves) and biogeochemical state. The systems consist of 3 components: 1) Med-Physics, a numerical ocean prediction systems, based on NEMO model, that operationally produces analyses, reanalysis and short term forecasts of the main physical parameters; 2) Med-Biogeochemistry, a biogeochemical analysis, reanalysis and forecasting system based on the Biogeochemical Flux Model (BFM) which provides information on chlorophyll, phosphate, nitrate, primary productivity, oxygen, phytoplankton biomass, pH and pCO2; 3) Med-Waves based on WAM model and providing analysis, forecast and reanalysis products for waves. The systems have been recently upgraded at a resolution of 1/24 degree in the horizontal and 141 vertical levels. The Med-Physics analysis and forecasting system is composed by the hydrodynamic model NEMO 2-way coupled with the third-generation wave model WaveWatchIII and forced by ECMWF atmospheric fields. The model solutions are corrected by the 3DVAR data assimilation system (3D variational scheme adapted to the oceanic assimilation problem) with a daily assimilation cycle of sea level anomaly and vertical profiles of temperature and salinity. The model has a non-linear explicit free surface and it is forced by surface pressure, interactive heat, momentum and water fluxes at the air-sea interface. The biogeochemical analysis and forecasts are produced by means of the MedBFM v2.1 modeling system (i.e. the physical-biogeochemical OGSTM-BFM model coupled with the 3DVARBIO assimilation scheme) forced by the outputs of the Med-Physics product. Seven days of analysis/hindcast and ten days of forecast are bi-weekly produced on Wednesday and on Saturday, with the assimilation of surface chlorophyll concentration from satellite observations. In-situ data are mainly used to estimate model uncertainty at different spatial scales. The Med-Waves modelling system is based on the WAM Cycle 4.5.4 wave model code. It consists of a wave model grid covering the Mediterranean Sea at a 1/24° horizontal resolution, nested to a North Atlantic grid at a 1/6° resolution. The system is forced by ECMWF winds at 1/8°. Refraction due to surface currents is accounted by the system which assimilates altimeter along-track significant wave height observations. On a daily basis, it provides 1-day analysis and 5-day forecast hourly wave parameters. Currently, wave buoy observations of significant wave height and mean wave period along with satellite observations are used to calibrate and validate the Med-waves modelling system.

Description: Published

Description: Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada

Description: 4A. Oceanografia e clima

Description: INGV

Description: Published

Description: 4A. Oceanografia e clima