Physical Oceanography of the Adriatic Sea

by Cushman-Roisin, Benoit; Gacic, Miroslav; Poulain, Pierre-Marie; Artegiani, Antonio

• ISBN13: 9781402002250
• ISBN10: 1402002254
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2002-02-01
• Publisher: Kluwer Academic Pub

Summary

This monograph is the first book on the oceanography of the Adriatic Sea. It is a synthesis between the physical oceanography of the Adriatic Sea, its water masses, overall circulation and regional dynamics as well as its connection to the rest of the Mediterranean Sea. Topical coverage ranges from historical surveys to contemporary methods of investigation and simulation. A final chapter identifies topics in need of further inquiry. This reference book should be an aid to all scientists and policy makers with an interest in the Adriatic Sea.

Table of Contents

Preface	xi
Contributing authors	xiii
Overview	1	(44)
Introduction	1	(8)
Geography	1	(1)
Bathymetry	2	(4)
Climate	6	(3)
History of Major Expeditions	9	(9)
Early achievements	9	(1)
Classical period	10	(3)
Research between the two world wars	13	(1)
Developments after World War II	13	(2)
Last decades of the 20th century	15	(3)
Classical Hydrography	18	(8)
Basin morphology and current field	18	(1)
Temeperature distribution	18	(3)
Salinity distribution	21	(1)
Water-mass properties and climatic changes	21	(5)
Advent of New observations	26	(16)
Measurements from moored instruments	26	(1)
Lagrangian observations	27	(2)
Acoustic Doppler Current Profiler (ADCP) and Coastal Radar	29	(3)
Remote sensing	32	(10)
Deep-water Formation	42	(3)
Forcings	45	(22)
Air-sea Fluxes	45	(16)
Surface winds	45	(2)
Bora	47	(1)
Sirocco	48	(1)
Other winds	49	(1)
Momentum flux	49	(1)
Wind climatologies and products	50	(4)
Satellite winds	54	(1)
Heat flux	55	(4)
Water flux	59	(2)
River and Coastal Runoff	61	(6)
Circulation	67	(44)
Observations of Near-Surface Circulation	67	(21)
Introduction	67	(1)
Indirect Observations	68	(4)
Direct Observations	72	(10)
Lagrangian Methods	82	(1)
Circulation inferred from remote sensing	83	(5)
Observations of Intermediate and Bottom Circulations	88	(3)
Dynamical Description	91	(8)
Thermohaline circulation	91	(3)
Wind-driven circulation	94	(4)
Topographic steering	98	(1)
Numerical Simulations	99	(9)
Modeling of the northern and middle Adriatic	99	(1)
Modeling of the Mediterranean Sea	99	(2)
Modeling of the whole Adriatic Sea	101	(7)
Concluding Remarks	108	(3)
Adriatic Deep Water and Interaction with the Eastern Mediterranean Sea	111	(32)
Evidence of Deep-water Formation	111	(13)
Strait of Otranto	111	(4)
Southern Adriatic	115	(7)
Northern Adriatic	122	(2)
Modeling of Deep-Water Formation	124	(5)
Interaction with the Eastern Mediterranean	129	(14)
Eastern Mediterranean circulation and water mass characteristics	129	(5)
Interaction between the Adriatic and Ionian Seas	134	(9)
Northern Adriatic Sea	143	(24)
Introduction	143	(1)
Forcing Mechanisms	143	(2)
Observations	145	(8)
Distributions of temperature, salinity and pigment	145	(2)
Satellite observations of surface temperature and chlorophyll concentration	147	(1)
Po River plume and Western Coastal Layer	148	(2)
Circulation	150	(3)
Numerical Simulations	153	(14)
Wind-driven circulation	153	(2)
Thermohaline circulation and the role of the Po River	155	(5)
Climatological forcing and long-term effects	160	(3)
High-frequency forcing and episodic events	163	(4)
Regional Studies	167	(50)
Gulf of Trieste	167	(15)
Historical background	167	(2)
Seiches in the Gulf of Trieste	169	(1)
Post-war hydrography and water-mass analysis	170	(7)
Circulation in the Gulf	177	(3)
Heating and cooling of the Gulf of Trieste	180	(1)
Rivers into the Gulf	180	(1)
Conclusions	181	(1)
Italian Coastal Waters	182	(7)
Introduction	182	(1)
Northern WAC segment	182	(4)
Middle WAC segment	186	(3)
Southern WAC segment	189	(1)
Croatian Coastal Waters	189	(25)
Introduction	189	(2)
Wind-driven motions	191	(8)
Barotropic free waves	199	(11)
Baroclinic free waves	210	(4)
Conclusions	214	(1)
Albanian Shelf Circulation	214	(3)
Tides, Seiches and Low-frequency Oscillations	217	(24)
Tidal Observations	217	(7)
Theoretical Models of Tides	224	(4)
Numerical Models of Tides	228	(6)
Tidal Residuals	234	(2)
Seiches	236	(3)
Low-frequency Oscillations	239	(2)
Toward the Future	241	(6)
Summary and Conclusions	241	(3)
General remarks	241	(2)
Specifics	243	(1)
Research Recommendations	244	(3)
References	247	(34)
Index	281