DATE2019-01-08 12:44:24
IDABSTRACT2014/514
CONTACTpiero.lionello@unisalento.it
PRESENTATIONPOSTER
INVITED0
IDSESSION5
TITLETHE LINK BETWEEN MASS MORTALITIES AND RECENT MIXED LAYER WARMING AND DEEPENING IN THE MEDITERRANEAN SEA
AUTHORSIrene Rivetti (1)|Ferdinando Boero (1,2,4)|Simonetta Fraschetti (1)|Enrico Zambianchi (3)|Piero Lionello (1,2)
AFFILIATIONS
  1. DiSTeBA Università del Salento, CoNISMa, Lecce, Italy
  2. CMCC Euro-Mediterranean Center on Climate Change, Lecce, Italy
  3. Dipartimento di Scienze per l'Ambiente, Università
  4. CNR-ISMAR, Genova, Italy
ABSTRACTThis study aims at linking the occurrence of mass mortalities in the Mediterranean Sea to changes in the temperature of the sea. A synthetic description of the evolution of the upper water column (0-150m) in the Mediterranean Sea is provided in terms of few parameters describing the mixed layer and the seasonal thermocline. The analysis covers the period 1945-2011 using data from three public sources: MEDAR-MEDATLAS, World Ocean Database, MFS-VOS programme. Five different methods for estimating the mixed layer depth are compared and two methods have been selected for a systematic analysis of the evolution of the uppermost part of the whole Mediterranean Sea. Mass mortalities events have been identified by an extensive search of all data bases in ISI Web of Knowledge considering studies published from 1945 to 2011. Studies reporting the geographical coordinates, timing, the species involved and the depth at which the event occurred have been considered. Results show a widespread increase of thickness and temperature of the mixed layer, deepening and cooling of the thermocline base in the last two decades of the analyzed period (1992-2011, when mass mortalities have been increasingly reported) with respect to the previous decades (1945-1982, with no recorded mass mortalities). It is shown that most mass mortalities occurred in seasons with anomalously high mixed layer depth temperature and thickness.
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STATE1