Publication Date:
2017-04-04
Description:
This study intends to understand and assess the effects of the discharge from the Buna/Bojana river delta
watersheds on the eutrophic status of the southeastern Adriatic Sea, and contrast this area with the
northwestern Adriatic region where the Po River dominates the freshwater discharge into the coastal
ocean. We compare observations of inorganic nutrients, turbidity, and physical variables from the two
regions and use numerical model results to characterize the physical circulation of the two areas.
The area affected by the Po River discharge extends at least one hundred kilometers southward from
the delta and approximately 20 km offshore. Maximum chlorophyll concentrations typically occur
within the river plume. Similarly, in the southeastern Adriatic Sea, the Buna/Bojana River discharge
extends northward along the coasts for approximately one hundred kilometers and contains a large
maxima in the regional chlorophyll distribution. The two coastal areas tend to have opposing physical
forcing processes: the Po River tends to be affected area by northerly to northeasterly winds that cause
downwelling, whereas the Buna/Bojana River on the opposite side of the basin is typically characterized
by northerly, upwelling favorable winds. However, during the study period, upwelling is not a dominant
feature of the circulation and both the shelf slope current (SouthEastern Adriatic e SEAd current) and the
along shore currents in the southeastern Adriatic Sea are northward. The along shore current probably
dominated by the river runoff is here described for the first time and called the southeastern Shelf
Coastal (SESC) current.
Under these conditions, primary productivity is high in both regions leading us to conclude that river
plume dynamics and the associated nutrient inputs determine the eutrophication status of the coastal
strip, regardless of the circulation regime in the southeastern Adriatic Sea area. The Adriatic southeastern
coastal area is an eutrophic area that is strongly affected by freshwater inputs particularly from the Buna/
Bojana River system.
Description:
Published
Description:
395-406
Description:
1.8. Osservazioni di geofisica ambientale
Description:
JCR Journal
Description:
reserved
Keywords:
eutrophication
;
dissolved nutrients
;
coastal strip
;
Adriatic sea
;
hydrodynamics regime
;
03. Hydrosphere::03.04. Chemical and biological::03.04.04. Ecosystems
Repository Name:
Istituto Nazionale di Geofisica e Vulcanologia (INGV)
Type:
article
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