Mooring Southern Adriatic, MSA
The southern Adriatic is the deepest part of the Adriatic Sea with a maximum depth of 1200 m. On its western side, surface waters coming from the northern Adriatic spread southward along the Italian coast, whereas the surface Ionian waters flow along the eastern margin of the basin. Below the surface layer, the MLIW (Modified Levantine Intermediate Water), from the Eastern Mediterranean basin, enters the Adriatic Sea on the eastern side of the Otranto Strait, at a depth of 200-600 m.
The southern Adriatic is a site of dense water formation. The Adriatic Deep Water (AdDW) is generated through deep vertical convection, caused by surface heat losses following cold continental wind events occurring in late winter. Occasionally, North Adriatic Deep Water (NAdDW), produced by surface heat loss and evaporation driven by Bora storms during winter, in the Northern Adriatic Sea, contribute to the formation of AdDW. The NAdDW constitutes the densest waters of the whole Easter Mediterranean, it flows mostly along the western shelf of the central Adriatic Sea as a bottom-arrested density current and arrives at the Gargano Peninsula 2–4 months after has been produced. Recently shorter arrival times (3-4 weeks) have been observed.
With the aim of monitoring the arrival and the path of the dense waters coming from the northern Adriatic shelf, an observational system has been positioned based on three mooring lines: BB, EE and FF. This observational system has been activated and financed since 2004 by various scientific projects (EU_EuroSTRATAFORM, EU_HERMIONE, PRIN_OBAMA, EU_Perseus, EU_CoCoNet, Ritmare (SP5_WP5_AZ3) and Marine Strategy ).
In addition, the BB and FF moorings are included in the activities of the Joint Research Unit of EMSO Italia. A structure that coordinates the participation of Italian research institutions in the European Research Infrastructure EMSO-ERIC (European Multidisciplinary Seafloor and water column Observatory European-Research Infrastructure Consortium).
The location of these sites was chosen by integrating morpho-bathymetric observations that defined the areas in which the passage of dense waters was most likely with forecasts based on modelling of the outflow of the North Adriatic dense waters. The BB mooring is located in the northern branch of the Bari canyon, the EE mooring is located in an erosional area west of the Dauno seamount, at about 1200m of depth, and the FF mooring is on the continental slope in front of the Gargano promontory.
The 3 moorings were serviced every six months using various CNR research vessels : R/V Urania, R/V Minerva Uno and N/O G. Dallaporta, as part of the experimental activities of the aforementioned projects.
The oceanographic sensors are fixed at different heights above the sea bed in the deepest part of the water column. The list of parameters measured at the three moorings is shown in the following table.
The oceanographic data are downloaded in delayed mode during mooring maintenance, checked for QA / QC and stored in the internal data center of CNR-ISP. Metadata and data are visible on this site as time plots; the data are also available for download upon request.
