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Information - OS9 The Mediterranean Sea: a natural laboratory for marine interdisciplinary studies
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Event Information |
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The Mediterranean Sea is a laboratory basin for the study of oceanic processes of global importance, endowed moreover with a geographic configuration that makes possible intensive field work and advanced numerical modeling. Moreover, the coastal areas are characterised by wide and narrow shelves with important interactions with the open ocean.
The oceanic processes include the physics and dynamics underlying air-sea exchanges of momentum, heat, moisture and greenhouse gases; basin-scale thermohaline circulations with possible multiple equilibria ;sub-basin scale wind-driven circulations and their seasonal, interannual and decadal variability; jet current instabilities and the generation and energetics of the mesoscale eddy field; the physics of convection and water mass formation, spreading and tranformation; strait dynamics; among others. The coastal processes involve important exchanges with the open ocean, the effects of land runoff and underground fresh water sources.
Furthermore, the Mediterranean Sea comprises widely different ecosystems, ranging from the oligotrophic Eastern Mediterranean to eutrophic areas under the influence of the river discharges. Physical processes greatly influence the seasonal dynamics and species composition of the marine populations. Climatic changes in progress, the related modifications of the hydrological cycles and mechanisms of water exchanges among different sub-basins can favour undesirable phenomena, like intrusion of alien species, harmful algal blooms including toxic species, anoxia events in eutrophic regions.
Furthermore, very recent and past climate changes have left important signatures in the sediments, such as sapropels.
Contributions are solicited on all of the above topics, both from the observational and modeling perspectives.
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Preliminary List of Solicited Speakers |
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