ABACUS-4

ABACUS-4: Fourth Algerian Basin circulation unmanned survey

User group PI: Yuri Cotroneo, Università degli Studi di Napoli “Parthenope”, Italy

Hosting infrastructure: SOCIB glider facility, Spain


Main Objectives

The Algerian Basin (AB) is located in the south of the Western Mediterranean Sea and is characterized by the presence of fairly fresh surface waters coming from the Atlantic (Atlantic Water- AW) and the more saline waters from the northwestern Mediterranean region interacting at different scales from basin-scale to mesoscale structures.

In this framework, ABACUS 4 aims at assessing the importance of a monitoring line across the AB between Palma de Mallorca and the Algerian coasts. ABACUS 4 project will contribute to data collection in The Southern European Seas, one of the main EU maritime policy objectives, as outlined in the Marine Strategy Framework Directive through a multi-platform study of the mesoscale variability and main physical and biological characteristics of the AC system.

The basin scale variability of the main physical and biological (chlorophyll concentration, turbidity and oxygen concentration) will be investigated through in situ data collected by the glider and data collected by several satellite platforms on the study area, moreover the high resolution of glider data (2km) will also allow us to investigate smaller spatial scales.

ABACUS 4 will realize 2 glider missions in the study area.

The first leg (ABACUS 4.1) will allow the extension of the dataset previously collected in the area (Autumn 2014, 2015 and 2016) in order to enrich the dataset that will also be used for an interannual comparison.

The second leg (ABACUS 4.2) to be realized in May 2018 will be the starting point for the study of seasonal variability of the ABACUS transect. This mission will take advantage of the previous experience of a glider mission realized in May 2016 by IMEDEA along the same satellite ground-track and of a planned survey of the area scheduled for May 2018 in the framework of the Spanish funded PRE-SWOT project.

The main objectives of the proposed research are:

  • To continue the time series of oceanographic data collected in the AB along the endurance line between Mallorca and Algeria during the JERICO TNA-ABACUS project in 2014, during the external-access SOCIB call in 2015 and during the JERICO NEXT – TNA ABACUS 3 project in 2016;
  • To identify the physical and biological properties of the surface and intermediate water masses between Balearic islands and Algerian coasts;
  • To collect data across mesoscale structure eventually crossed along the ABACUS track;
  • To understand sub-basins dynamics;
  • To assess the ocean description capabilities of several satellite products when approaching coastal areas, also comparing them to glider in situ data;
  • To validate the new along-track (L3) and gridded interpolated maps (L4) altimetry products provided by the Sentinel-3 altimetry mission and other satellites in the western Mediterranean Sea

DATA:

ABACUS 4.1: http://thredds.socib.es/thredds/catalog/auv/glider/sdeep04-scb_sldeep004/L2/2017/catalog.html?dataset=auv/glider/sdeep04-scb_sldeep004/L2/2017/dep0010_sdeep04_scb-sldeep004_L2_2017-11-15_data_dt.nc

ABACUS 4.2: http://thredds.socib.es/thredds/catalog/auv/glider/sdeep00-scb_sldeep000/L2/2018/catalog.html?dataset=auv/glider/sdeep00-scb_sldeep000/L2/2018/dep0024_sdeep00_scb-sldeep000_L2_2018-05-15_data_dt.nc

ABACUS project database: http://apps.socib.es/data-catalog/#/data-products/abacus

DOI: 10.25704/b200-3vf5

Project Report:

ABACUS4 Report Final (709.6 KiB)