Long-term changes in ocean heat content (OHC) represent a fundamental global warming indicator and are mostly caused by anthropogenic climate-altering gas emissions. OHC increases heavily threaten the marine environment, therefore, reconstructing OHC before the well-instrumented period (i.e., before the Argo floats deployment in the mid-2000s) is crucial to understanding the multi-decadal climate change in the ocean. Here, we shed light on ocean warming and its uncertainty for the 1961-2022 period through a large ensemble reanalysis system that spans the major sources of uncertainties. Results indicate a 62-year warming of 0.43 ± 0.08 W m, and a statistically significant acceleration rate equal to 0.15 ± 0.04 W m dec, locally peaking at high latitudes. The 11.6% of the global ocean area reaches the maximum yearly OHC in 2022, almost doubling any previous year. At the regional scale, major OHC uncertainty is found in the Tropics; at the global scale, the uncertainty represents about 40% and 15% of the OHC variability, respectively before and after the mid-2000s. The uncertainty of regional trends is mostly affected by observation calibration (especially at high latitudes), and sea surface temperature data uncertainty (especially at low latitudes).

We have explored the earliest stages of wind wave generation in the open sea, from the first initial wavelets appearing on an otherwise flat surface or low smooth undulations till the practically fully developed conditions for the very low range of wind speeds we have considered. We suggest the minimal wind speed for the appearance of the first wavelets to be close to 1.8 ms-1. The peculiar conditions associated to the development of coastal sea breezes allow us to consider the local waves as generated under time-limited conditions. The 2D spectra measured during these very early stages provide the first evidence of an active Phillips process generation in the field. After appearing in these very early stages, wavelets quickly disappear as soon as the developing wind waves take a leading role. We suggest that this process is due to the strong spatial gradients in the surface orbital velocity, which impedes the instability mechanism at the base of their formation, while at a later stage of development, these gradients decrease and wavelets reappear. In a decadal perspective, the progressive decrease of the intensity of the sea breezes in the northern Adriatic Sea, where we have carried out our measurements, is associated to the steadily milder winters, and therefore not sufficiently cold local sea temperatures in early summer.

The Neapolitan Yellow Tuff (NYT) caldera-forming eruption (ca. 15 ky) is a large event occurred at Phlegraean Fields during the late Pleistocene-Holocene. The eruptive products represent a widespread isochron marker which links marine and terrestrial archives of the central Mediterranean area and northern Europe. In this research we describe the stratigraphic signature of the NYT deposits in the Late Pleistocene-Holocene shelf sequence of the Gulf of Gaeta (northern Campania region, southern Tyrrhenian sea) by using a grid of high and very high-resolution seismic lines. The Gulf of Gaeta represents the northern Campania continental margin that is part of a large extensional Plio- Pleistocene basin associated with normal and strike-slip faults linked to the evolution of the eastern Tyrrhenian Sea margin. Since mid-late Pleistocene, extensional tectonics took place across the continental margin and it was accompanied by intense volcanism, from several districts of which the Phlegraean Fields activity has greatly influenced the sedimentation in this sector. The upper Pleistocene-Holocene stratigraphic architecture of the continental shelf is characterized by an offlap prograding succession followed by a very thick transgressive onlapping unit and by the upper highstand unit mainly characterised by undulations probably linked to gas prone sediment. High resolution seismic stratigraphy has been described in detail as a valuable technique of analysis of seismic profiles and has been herein applied in the geological interpretation of seismic. The seismo-stratigraphic interpretation of seven significant Chirp seismic profiles was improved in order to map the trend of the seismic horizon NYT. The NYT reflector is parallel and displays a high amplitude. It has been continuously detected from the shelf to the slope within the transgressive deposits. On the inner shelf its continuity is interrupted by shallow gas pockets. The NYT depths ranges from 2 ms bsf on the slope to 28 ms bsf on the continental shelf. The NYT event appears to have played a key role in controlling the stratigraphic architecture of the studied area during the last transgression, acting as a trigger for the formation of the aggradational sedimentary successions fed by pyroclastic and volcaniclastic deposits.

E' stata eseguita la revisione di articoli scientifici per conto della rivista internazionale Applied Computing and Geosciences - Elsevier Science Publishers

In estuarine-coastal-shelf seas, particulate organic carbon (POC) shows the highest turnover rates of any organic carbon pool on the planet, playing a key role in the biological carbon pump. Compared with open ocean, estuarine and coastal waters are affected by large river inputs and show high hydrodynamic variability, which results in a mixture of diverse particles that includes inorganic mineral particles, living algal particles, and organic detritus. The highly complex and variable particle compositions in estuarine-coastal-shelf waters pose significant challenges in assessing their distinct roles in the carbon cycle and total POC. To overcome challenges, we collected biogeochemical and optical in situ data from 2014 to 2020 in estuarine-coastal-shelf waters of eastern China, which is one of the largest estuarine-coastal-shelf systems in the world, to develop an algorithm that can optically discriminate particle composition and estimate their respective contributions to POC. The algorithm combines the quasi-analytical algorithm and the semi-empirical radiative transfer algorithm to estimate total suspended particle concentrations and the mass fraction of organic particles from which both phytoplankton- and detritus-related POC fractions are derived. Compared to existing POC algorithms, this algorithm shows improved retrievals compared to in situ counterparts, with r^(2) and root mean squared error (RMSE) values of 0.84 and 16.57 ug L^(-1) , respectively. The algorithm is also applied to Sentinel-3/ocean and land color instrument (OLCI) images for the year of 2020. Applying the particle component discrimination method can enhance our understanding of the roles of different particle compositions in coastal carbon cycling affected by strong land-sea exchange.

Partial melting of mantle peridotite from which considerable amounts of melt have been extracted during prior melting episodes generates melts characterized by low incompatible element contents and very low ratios of highly to moderately incompatible elements, so-called 'ultra-depleted' melts. Reaction of peridotite with percolating ultra-depleted melts has been inferred from petrological-geochemical studies of abyssal peridotites and ophiolites. But so far, direct evidence for the existence of ultra-depleted melts, only comes from rare melt inclusions. Here, we show that a pyroxenite layer within abyssal peridotite from the Mid Atlantic Ridge (8 degrees N, Doldrums Fracture Zone) formed by crystallization of a segregated melt that is highly depleted in incompatible elements, at >27 km-depth beneath the ridge axis (at T similar to 1250 degrees C), and with little or no modification by interaction with the host harzburgite. During exhumation, the pyroxenite experienced decompression and partial re-equilibration under plagioclase-facies conditions (similar to 1060 degrees C and similar to 15 km depth). The high Hf isotope ratio (epsilon Hf = 40.3) of the pyroxenite clinopyroxene is inherited from a melt sourced from an ultra-depleted peridotite that evolved with high Lu/Hf. The associated MORB-like Nd isotope ratios (epsilon Nd = 10.6), however, imply a long-term evolution of the source peridotite with composition moderately depleted in incompatible elements (rather low Sm/Nd). These compositions are different from the host harzburgite, but typical for peridotites that have melted and partially reacted with migrating melts in ancient times. Hence, the pyroxenite investigated here is a partial melt from an ultra-depleted peridotite that has become re-enriched in incompatible elements and clinopyroxene. This melt crystallized in the oceanic lithosphere, and partially re-equilibrated at low pressure during exhumation. Overall, our results show that renewed melting of ultra-depleted peridotites with a complex history of prior melting and melt-rock reaction occurs, and that such melts migrate through the sub-ridge mantle, and can thus contribute to mid ocean ridge magmatism, although to a still unknown extent.

Come revisore è stata effettuata l'attività di revisione di articoli scientifici per conto della rivista internazionale Journal of Marine Science and Engineering (MDPI)

Coastal climate services play a crucial role in developing customised climate information for diverse end-users and stakeholders. To build climate-resilient societies, decision-makers should be empowered through easy access to powerful tools that enable timely adaptation to future and ongoing hazards. For this reason, fit-for-purpose climate services are needed to conduct accurate historical characterisation and projections for interpretative studies on climate- and water-related risks at the local coastal scale. The EU-funded SCORE project (Smart Control of Climate Resilience in European Coastal Cities) utilises climate and marine services for the development of smart technologies that support nature-based solutions to address specific concerns, including rising sea levels, coastal erosion, and coastal flooding due to extreme weather events. As part of the SCORE project, decision-makers will be able to address climate change-related coastal effects in their own cities through novel participatory approaches (Coastal City Living Labs--CCLLs). As part of this framework, this work (i) discusses the main requirements for the identification of fit-for-purpose coastal climate services for local-scale impact studies in European coastal cities based on CCLL requests and prior knowledge and (ii) provides relevant parameters and features that fulfil the users' needs.

Partial melting of mantle peridotite from which considerable amounts of melt have been extracted during prior melting episodes generates melts characterized by low incompatible element contents and very low ratios of highly to moderately incompatible elements, so-called 'ultra-depleted' melts. Reaction of peridotite with percolating ultra-depleted melts has been inferred from petrological-geochemical studies of abyssal peridotites and ophiolites. But so far, direct evidence for the existence of ultra-depleted melts, only comes from rare melt inclusions. Here, we show that a pyroxenite layer within abyssal peridotite from the Mid Atlantic Ridge (8°N, Doldrums Fracture Zone) formed by crystallization of a segregated melt that is highly depleted in incompatible elements, at >27 km-depth beneath the ridge axis (at T circa 1250 °C), and with little or no modification by interaction with the host harzburgite. During exhumation, the pyroxenite experienced decompression and partial re-equilibration under plagioclase-facies conditions (circa1060 °C and circa 15 km depth). The high Hf isotope ratio (epsilonHf = 40.3) of the pyroxenite clinopyroxene is inherited from a melt sourced from an ultra-depleted peridotite that evolved with high Lu/Hf. The associated MORB-like Nd isotope ratios (epsilonNd = 10.6), however, imply a long-term evolution of the source peridotite with composition moderately depleted in incompatible elements (rather low Sm/Nd). These compositions are different from the host harzburgite, but typical for peridotites that have melted and partially reacted with migrating melts in ancient times. Hence, the pyroxenite investigated here is a partial melt from an ultra-depleted peridotite that has become re-enriched in incompatible elements and clinopyroxene. This melt crystallized in the oceanic lithosphere, and partially re-equilibrated at low pressure during exhumation. Overall, our results show that renewed melting of ultra-depleted peridotites with a complex history of prior melting and melt-rock reaction occurs, and that such melts migrate through the sub-ridge mantle, and can thus contribute to mid ocean ridge magmatism, although to a still unknown extent.

Marine geological studies of Naples Bay are discussed and reviewed, focusing on the application of the seismo-stratigraphic concepts to a Late Quaternary volcanic area. The Bay of Naples rep-resents an active volcanic area where the interactions between volcanic and sedimentary pro-cesses controlled a complex stratigraphic architecture during the Late Quaternary. While the volcanic processes took place in correspondence with the Somma-Vesuvius, Campi Flegrei Is-chia, and Procida volcanic complexes, the sedimentary processes were controlled by the fluvial processes in the Sarno-Sebeto coastal plain and by the tectonic uplift in correspondence of the Sorrento Peninsula structural high. Key geophysical and stratigraphic studies of the three active volcanic complexes are revised and discussed. The seismo-stratigraphic concepts applied in the geological interpretation of seismic profiles of Naples Bay are reviewed and discussed: here the classical concepts of seismic and sequence stratigraphy have been successfully applied, but only partly, due to the occurrence of several buried volcanoes and volcanic seismic units and tephra layers, calibrated by gravity cores.

Some seismo-stratigraphic evidence on the occurrence of wave-cut marine terraces in the morpho-structural high of the Licosa Cape (Southern Tyrrhenian Sea) based on a densely spaced grid of high-resolution seismic reflection profiles (Sub-bottom Chirp) is herein presented. This evidence is represented by several orders of terraced surfaces disposed at several water depths below the sea level and incised in the rocky acoustic basement, widely cropping out in the seaward prolongation of the morpho-structural high of the Licosa Cape (Southern Tyrrhenian Sea). The terraced surfaces have been tentatively correlated with the recent curves of the isotopic stratigraphy, so providing indirect attribution and dating of the marine terraced surfaces. The geologic interpretation of seismic reflection profiles located in the morpho-structural high of the Licosa Cape has evidenced the occurrence of the acoustic basement, cropping out at the sea bottom nearshore and dipping seawards below the Quaternary marine deposits, which form the recent sedimentary cover. Several local unconformities overlie coarse-grained deposits, filling intra-basin depressions or palaeo-channels located at the top of the acoustic basement. A polycyclic nature of these unconformities has been inferred, suggesting that the acoustic basement was involved in several phases of emersion and erosion, development of terraces, and successive transgression, as a consequence of both Late Quaternary glacio-eustatic sea-level fluctuations and Pleistocene tectonic uplift. Remnants of marine terraced surfaces, located at different water depths, have shown the complex morpho-evolution of the acoustic basement during the Late Quaternary.

An integration between geomorphological maps constructed in the Bay of Naples and in the Cilento offshore is herein presented, aimed at showing a more complete geomorphological framework of these two sectors of the Eastern Tyrrhenian margin. Both geomorphological maps have been constructed in a GIS environment. The landforms recognized in the Bay of Naples have been compiled based on onshore and offshore literature data and have been geo-referenced in a GIS environment. The landforms recognized in the Cilento offshore have been reported after reviewing the results of the geological sheet n. 502 "Agropoli" at the 1:50,000 scale. The integration between the geomorphological maps constructed in the Bay of Naples and in the Cilento offshore has highlighted that important differences exist between these two sectors of the Eastern Tyrrhenian margin. While the geological evolution of the Cilento offshore has been mainly controlled by the sedimentary processes, the Bay of Naples has been dominated by the volcanic processes, which have strongly influenced the geomorphological setting of this area, both onshore and offshore. These maps represent a useful tool for planning marine hazards in the Bay of Naples and of the Cilento offshore. Based on the obtained results the marine hazard is high in the Bay of Naples at southern Ischia, in correspondence of the Naples canyons, and at the southern slope of Sorrento-Capri. On the contrary, the marine hazard is low in the Cilento offshore, where the mapped landforms have shown normal sedimentary processes.

Marine plastic pollution is receiving much public attention, as the civil society sees it as a tangible threat to our oceans and its services. Regrettably, this perception and its evident effects on marine habitats (entanglement, ingestion, aesthetic aspects of contamination) link people to the sea through a connection of strong negative traits. The fact that plastic is identified as a hazard can help against its misuse and mismanagement, but it does not provide a durable commitment to the ocean, which must be sought by other means and new communication styles. The ocean is facing multiple anthropic pressures, not tangible on a spatial or temporal human scale in most cases. What once drove children to become todays' marine scientists were the wonder and curiosity that the ocean and its creatures could elicit: the spectacle of ocean life undoubtfully creates a magic "connectedness" that amazes and binds. The feelings arising from a pristine sea enable the awareness that the ocean soothes the eyes and the soul and heals, positively reconnecting humans to nature in the "one-health" perspective. In recent experiences we examined children's "good" bond to nature through questionnaires, and their engagement in the quest for plastic trash, aimed at sparking kids' natural curiosity and exploration desire. We humans are better able to protect what we care for: the relationship with nature fosters care and understanding, which should be encouraged from an early age to recreate the "connectedness" fundamental to rebuild respect, love and commitment for the ocean that we want and need.

Flying fishes (Teleostei: Exocoetidae) and flying squids (Cephalopoda: Ommastrephidae) are key components of tropical and subtropical epipelagic ecosystems, but information about their ecology, abundance and global distribution is still scant. Here we present some notes on the occurrence of flying fishes and flying squids in the Eastern Atlantic Ocean along a large-scale visual transect between 31°S and 53° N. The density of airborne specimens startled by the passage of the ship was used as a proxy of their abundance. The number of flying individuals was estimated using visual census, and individual densities were computed according to a fixed-width strip transect protocol. During the survey, 119 vessel-based transects were performed during March and April 2017, for a total surveyed length of 1540.8 km. Flying squids were observed only in a narrow latitudinal band between 17.5° and 26.1° S. Flying fish abundance, on the other hand, varied significantly along the ship's route. Maximum densitities occurred between 3° and 15° S. Flying fish abundance markedly decreased around the equator and then increased again towards 8-10° N. No flying fishes were seen north of 19° N, with the only exception of 4 individuals sighted near the Strait of Gibraltar (35-36° N). No attempt was made to identify fishes or squids down to the genus or species level; however, the observed variations in size class distribution suggest a certain degree of habitat segregation between different species or life stages. Sea surface temperature was the best descriptive variable explaining the distribution of flying fishes in the area surveyed. Further work is needed to better understand the environmental factors governing the distribution of these important, but seldom surveyed, organisms.

Plastic and oil pollution are closely linked to our dependence on petroleum derivatives. Their excessive use and inefficiencies in their management, have led to negative impacts on marine ecosystems since their very introduction. Agglomerates of tar, plastic, paraffins, and other petrochemicals and oil derivatives with naturally occurring materials, are increasingly widespread in coastal environments, stalling as an iconic and readable sign of environmental degradation. Starting from a historical review of the available reports on the occurrence of similar aggregates dating back to 1971, we highlight how most of these observations are based on the morphological description of the petroleum residues with no chemical fingerprinting and are mainly related to materials stranded on the coastline, with few and unclear indications for the open sea. We discuss here a list of scientific questions and knowledge gaps, that need to be examined by future studies.

Depositional processes recorded by shelf deposits may vary widely along-strike, depending largely on the mode of delivery and deposition of sediments to the basin. In fine-grained systems in particular, depositional processes are difficult to reconstruct with standard facies analysis of sediment cores due to the ostensibly featureless and homogenous appearance of muds. In this study, sedimentological, palaeontological, geochemical, and oceanographic data were combined in a detailed characterization of depositional conditions via sedimentary structures, type of organic matter, trace-metal geochemistry, and benthic fauna assemblages (foraminifera and ostracods) along the 600 km long shelf delta clinothems of the West Adriatic shelf (Italy). Processes inferred from sedimentary facies and micro-structures were then considered in the context of the modern Adriatic oceanographic regime. Specific attention was given to the Little Ice Age stratigraphic unit (1500-1850 ce), which contains a continuum of genetically related fine-grained strata. The Little Ice Age deposit offers the opportunity to examine a source-to-sink system with the high resolution typical of modern analogues, at a time interval when Apennine rivers were not yet hydraulically engineered with man-made sediment traps along their trunks. Individual beds within the Little Ice Age muddy prodelta form hectometre to kilometre-wide bedsets that reflect the interplay between energetic meteo-ocean conditions (storm-dominated beds), flood supply (river-dominated beds or hyperpycnites) and along-shelf bottom-current dispersion (drift-dominated beds). The multidisciplinary approach applied at different scales of observations helped in understanding sediment provenance and the relative timing of sediment transport before final burial that strongly promoted organic matter oxygen exposure and the loss of carbon by microbial degradation. Overall, the distinctive depositional processes that acted in concert along the prodelta slope produced a subtle lateral heterogeneity of preserved sedimentary structures, faunal associations, and organic matter composition in a laterally-continuous lithostratigraphic unit deposited at centennial scale. These findings have implications on the forcing conditions that ultimately control the location and nature of fine-grained beds in both modern and ancient, mud-dominated depositional systems.

Regional coupled and Earth system models are fundamental numerical tools for climate investigations, downscaling of predictions and projections, process-oriented understanding of regional extreme events, and many more applications. Here we introduce a newly developed coupled regional modeling framework for the Mediterranean region, called MESMAR (Mediterranean Earth System model at ISMAR) version 1, which is composed of the Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) atmospheric model, the NEMO oceanic model, and the hydrological discharge (HD) model, coupled via the OASIS coupler. The model is implemented at about 1/12° of horizontal resolution for the ocean and river routing, while roughly twice coarser for the atmosphere, and it is targeted to long-term investigations. We focus on the evaluation of skill score metrics from several sensitivity experiments devoted to (i) understanding the best vertical physics configuration for NEMO, (ii) identifying the impact of the interactive river runoff, and (iii) choosing the best-performing physics-microphysics suite for WRF in the regional coupled system. The modeling system has been developed for downscaling reanalyses and long-range predictions, as well as coupled data assimilation experiments. We then formulate and show the performance of the system when weakly coupled data assimilation is embedded in the system (variational assimilation in the ocean and spectral nudging in the atmosphere), in particular for the representation of extreme events like intense Mediterranean cyclones (i.e., medicanes). Finally, we outline plans for future extension of the modeling framework.

Here, we report on 33 molluscan species from Miocene 'Calcari a Lucina' hydrocarbon -seep deposits in northern Italy. Three new species are described: the chilodontaid gastropod Putzeysia diversii sp. nov., the lucinid bivalve Miltha (sensu lato) romaniae sp. nov., and Sisonia ultimoi sp. nov., a heterodont bivalve of uncertain taxonomic affinity. Fourteen species are described in open nomenclature. The common but enigmatic gastropod species Phasianema taurocrassa is here suggested to belong to the seguenzioid genus Cataegis. Most gastropod species are inhabitants of the deep-sea floor in general, and are not restricted (obligate) to sites of hydrocarbon-seepage. The gastropod Putzeysia diversii sp. nov. and the bivalve Sisonia ultimoi sp. nov. are the geologically oldest members of their genera known to date. While the genus Putzeysia is geographically restricted to the NE Atlantic Ocean and the Mediterranean Sea, Sisonia ultimoi sp. nov. represents another link of the Miocene Mediterranean seep fauna to that of the central Indo-West Pacific Ocean.

Introduction: Municipal Solid Waste Incineration (MSWI) plants generate significant amounts of solid end-products, such as bottom ash (BA), containing potentially toxic elements like Cr, Ni, As, Cd, and Pb, base elements (e.g., Si, Al, Fe, Ti, Cu, and Zn), and other technology-critical elements (TCE), such as Co, Ga, Mg, Nb, P, Sb, Sc, V, Li, Sr, and REE. The accurate determination of these elements in anthropogenic wastes and the assessment of their removal are crucial for the circular economy.Methods: This paper aims to characterize BA samples from two Italian MSWI plants (named FE and FC) by X-ray fluorescence (XRF) and comparatively assess the removal of a selection of elements using the aqua regia digestion (ARD) method, followed by Inductively Coupled Plasma Mass Spectrometry (ICP-MS) analytical determination.Results and discussion: According to the XRF analysis, Ca, Fe, Al, Mg, and Na had high concentrations in BA, and their contents increased with decreasing particle size in both FE and FC samples. The Enrichment Factor (EF) based on the upper continental crust's average values of Zn, Cu, and Pb was high (EF > 30), while Cr, Ni, and As were scarcely enriched (EF > 1), and REE enrichment was very low (EF < 1). In both FE and FC plants, the Degree of Elements Extractability (DE) was high (>80%), especially in the fine-grained fractions of MSWI bottom ash. The Enrichment Factor (EF) based on the upper continental crust average values of Zn, Cu, and Pb was high (EF > 30), while Cr, Ni, and As were scarcely enriched (EF > 1), and REE enrichment was very low (EF < 1). The bibliometric analysis helped highlight research trends in the assessment and treatment of MSWI-BA, discriminating the literature impact on environment/health issues and recovery/recycling strategies for the circular economy associated with the MSWI-BA material.Conclusion: Although higher data coverage is needed, the present study suggests ARD as an effective method for better understanding the environmental impact and recoverability of useful elements from anthropogenic materials like MSWI bottom ash.

Combined natural processes and human activities shaped the late Holocene landscape history in many Mediterranean regions. This is especially true with areas subjected to specific human interest, such as coastal areas morphologically suitable to the establishment of harbours. Here, we test the hypothesis on the location of the Roman harbour Portus Trajectus in Peloro Cape (NE Sicily, Italy) and describe the evolution of the area over the last 3700 years through lithostratigraphic, geochemical, meiofauna and microfossil analyses performed on a new sediment core recovered from the coastal salt marsh Pantano Grande (aka Lago di Ganzirri). The age-depth model was developed on radiocarbon dates and geochemical fingerprinting of two tephra layers. Results indicate that the area underwent dramatic changes ca. 650 bce. The anthropogenic impact of Greek colonies may have contributed to modifying the coastal environment of Peloro Cape due to their widespread impact on natural resources. This happened at many localities in the Mediterranean, indicating the magnitude of impact of the Greek colonies over the landscape. According to our results, it is unlikely that the current Pantano Grande basin was used as a harbour in Roman times, although the presence of a harbour in the nearby Pantano Piccolo marsh cannot be excluded. Pantano Grande had been isolated from the sea for more than 2000 years. Human intervention in the 19th century halted that isolation and provided the background for the ecological, economic and social functions the salt marsh performs today.