The role of Sea Surface Temperature in the weather forecast has been investigated in the past years and its role in modulating local circulation has been assessed. In this context, a coupled ocean-atmosphere numerical simulation has been developed. The three models WRF, ROMS and SWAN are coupled together within the Coupled Ocean-Atmosphere-Wave-Sediment Transport modeling system (COAWST) for the Adriatic Sea. For what concerns the atmospheric component the WRF-ARW model is used. Two domains run independently: a low resolution domain (15 km) initialized using NCEP analyses at 0.25 degrees and a high resolution domain (3 km) covering the Adriatic regions, initialized using the WRP low- resolution output. For what concern the oceanographic component, the circulation model ROMS and the wave driver SWAN run on the same high horizontal resolution grid (1km). The vertical discretization of ROMS is performed using 30 sigma layers while the river inputs consist of 67 sources of fresh water (Po river included). The exchange of data between models it is set to happen every 1O minutes of model time. The exchange is two-ways, therefore each component of the system influences the dynamics of the other components. In order to resolve the coastal dynamics, the oceanographic component above described was also used as parent grid for a one-way nested grid covering the area of sea facing the Marche rigion (child grid) with an horizontal resolution of 200 m. In this effort, the model system validation and results from a case study will be presented. The impact of the ocean-atmosphere coupling will be briefly addressed by comparing results with the ones obtained by a weather forecast (no coupled) and an ocean forecast (only ROMS+SWAN coupling). While the capability of the system in resolving the coastal dynamics is it assessed comparing results from the parent grid and results from the child grid with observed data.
The Ross Ice Shelf floats above the southern sector of the Ross Sea and creates a cavity where critical ocean-ice interactions take place. Crucial processes occurring in this cavity include the formation of Ice Shelf Water, the coldest ocean water, and the intrusion of Antarctic Surface Water, the main driver of frontal and basal melting. During the winter, a polynya forms along the Ross Ice Shelf edge, producing a precursor to Antarctic Bottom Water known as High Salinity Shelf Water. Due to the difficulty of direct exploration of the Ross Ice Shelf in the winter, processes occurring there have been only hypothesized to date. Here we show thermohaline observations collected along the Ross Ice Shelf front from 2020 to 2023 using unconventionally programmed Argo floats. These measurements provide year-round observations of water column changes in and around the Ross Ice Shelf cavity, allowing to quantify production of High Salinity Shelf Water, ocean heat content and basal melt rates. This study presents thermohaline observations collected along the Ross Ice Shelf front from 2020 to 2023 using unconventionally programmed Argo floats that provide year-round observations of water column changes close to the Ross Ice Shelf cavity.
Along the Italian coasts, toxins of algal origin in wild and cultivated shellfish have been reported since the 1970s. In this study, we used data gathered by the Veterinary Public Health Institutes (IZS) and the Italian Environmental Health Protection Agencies (ARPA) from 2006 to 2019 to investigate toxicity events along the Italian coasts and relate them to the distribution of potentially toxic species. Among the detected toxins (OA and analogs, YTXs, PTXs, STXs, DAs, AZAs), OA and YTX were those most frequently reported. Levels exceeding regulatory limits in the case of OA (≤2,448 μg equivalent kg−1) were associated with high abundances of Dinophysis spp., and in the case of YTXs (≤22 mg equivalent kg−1) with blooms of Gonyaulax spinifera, Lingulodinium polyedra, and Protoceratium reticulatum. Seasonal blooms of Pseudo-nitzschia spp. occur all along the Italian coast, but DA has only occasionally been detected in shellfish at concentrations always below the regulatory limit (≤18 mg kg−1). Alexandrium spp. were recorded in several areas, although STXs (≤13,782 µg equivalent kg−1) rarely and only in few sites exceeded the regulatory limit in shellfish. Azadinium spp. have been sporadically recorded, and AZAs have been sometimes detected but always in low concentrations (≤7 µg equivalent kg−1). Among the emerging toxins, PLTX-like toxins (≤971 μg kg−1 OVTX-a) have often been detected mainly in wild mussels and sea urchins from rocky shores due to the presence of Ostreopsis cf. ovata. Overall, Italian coastal waters harbour a high number of potentially toxic species, with a few HAB hotspots mainly related to DSP toxins. Nevertheless, rare cases of intoxications have occurred so far, reflecting the whole Mediterranean Sea conditions.
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