the southern basin, makes a coherent and satisfactory description of the northern and southern
basins quite difficult. as does the study of the
shallow northern region synoptically with the
deep southern one. Some basic processes, such as
the dense-water formation in the southern
Adriatic and the possible contribution of the
NADW to the ADW have been very poorly documented. Knowledge of the role of fresh water
input in the northern shelf area, as well as the
I . .
I . .
11.1 1U lU ItO IU 1l~ 17J
Pat1llp.1'Gl
1 1 1 1 l S 1 1 1 1 1 1
a
I . .
Seasonal Variability of the Adriatic Sea Hydrography
47
considerable amount of saline water received
from the Ionian Sea through the Otranto Strait,
which drives the entire Adriatic barodinic circulation. is still lacking.
The main objective of the sub-project «longitudinal fluxes", within the PRISMA programme
(Programma di RIcerca e Sperimentazione del
Mare Adriatico), was the study on seasonal timescales of the water and the biogeochemical fluxes, across four significant transversal sections of
b
,..f'tI
Ptt'lllql.f'tI
11.. IIJ 13.0 141 ItO 1U 11.1
nUll 17 11 n D B D
Fig.2a,b. Spatially averaged vertical profiles of temperature during the seasonal cruises in the northern transects a and middle transects b. The thin lines denote one (J standard deviation