Present climate trends and variability in thermohaline properties of the northern Adriatic shelf

Abstract

Abstract. The paper documents seasonality, interannual-to-decadal variability, and trends in temperature, salinity, and density over a transect in the shallow northern Adriatic Sea (Mediterranean Sea) between 1979 and 2017. The amplitude of seasonality decreases with depth and is much larger in temperature and density than in salinity. Time series of temperature and salinity are correlated in the surface but not in the bottom layer. Trends in temperature are large (up to 0.6 ∘C over 10 years), significant through the area, and not sensitive to the sampling interval and time series length. In contrast, trends in salinity are largely small and insignificant and depend on the time series length. The warming of the area is more during spring and summer. Such large temperature trends and their spatial variability emphasize the importance of maintaining regular long-term observations for the proper estimation of thermohaline trends and their variability. This is particularly important in regions which are key for driving thermohaline circulation such as the northern Adriatic, with the potential to affect biogeochemical and ecological properties of the whole Adriatic Sea.