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This paper presents the message passing interface (MPI)-based parallelization of the three-dimensional hydrodynamic model SHYFEM (System of HydrodYnamic Finite Element Modules). The original sequential version of the code was parallelized in order to reduce the execution time of high-resolution configurations using state-of-the-art high-performance computing (HPC) systems. A distributed memory approach was used, based on the MPI. Optimized numerical libraries were used to partition the unstructured grid (with a focus on load balancing) and to solve the sparse linear system of equations in parallel in the case of semi-to-fully implicit time stepping. The parallel implementation of the model was validated by comparing the outputs with those obtained from the sequential version. The performance assessment demonstrates a good level of scalability with a realistic configuration used as benchmark.

Modeling the ocean from the open sea to the coasts requires an adequate choice of the vertical coordinate system.A category of generalized vertical coordinates, the so-called z∗ coordinates ([Stacey et al 1995; Adcroft and Campin 2004]), has been implemented into an unstructured grid, finite elements and layer integrated model which was previously z−geopotential coordinate based.Idealized and realistic test cases are shown to assess the vertical coordinate impact on key physical processes, i.e. the internal tide generation at a continental slope, a river plume shape and intensity and the salt water intrusion.To our knowledge this is the first work that uses the z∗ coordinates in an estuary and river plume with an unstructured grid model. Other studies have used the z∗ coordinates with unstructured grid models covering the global ocean ([Ringler et al 2013, Scholz et al 2019] as examples), but without assessing their performance for the small scale dynamics of estuaries and river plumes. Coastal ocean models are currently mostly based on the terrain following coordinates, used within optimised or hybrid approaches ([Zhang et al 2015; Bruciaferri et al 2018, Fofonova et al 2021, Wise et al 2022] as examples).The results show that the z∗ coordinate model produces, with respect to z−geopotential coordinates, a stronger water column stratification. An idealized twin experiment configuration of the model to simulate the production of internal tides at the continental slope confirms that the z∗ coordinate model reproduces the expected internal tide fields while the z−geopotential model fails. A set of realistic experiments in the Po river delta coastal region, demonstrates that the representation of the dynamical processes at the coastal scales benefits from a very fine resolution of a few tens of centimeters at the surface (four layers of 25 cm are considered in the upper water column), that is only allowed by the z∗ formulation.

Complex processes involved in the river delta areas are not fully solved with a traditional structured-mesh model. A seamless unstructured-grid approach could serve as support to advance in the reproduction and understanding of the dynamics processes across different scales. In this work, a river-coastal-ocean continuum modeling representation has been developed for the Tiber River delta, including the surrounding coastaland open-ocean zones of the Lazio coast (Tyrrhenian Sea, Italy). This area has been selected because it includes important naturalistic sites but also a new commercial, fishery and leisure harbor whose the realization is scheduled for 2023. By using temperature and salinity profiles from near-river CTD data, we demonstrate that this representation simulates the coastal dynamic processes in the Tiber delta zone better than the classic coastal-ocean representation, minimizing calibration and sensitivity experiments. In this work, a large effort has been dedicated to the acquisition of new observations (CTD, drifters, currents radar, bathymetric survey) carried out over different spatial (open-ocean, coastal and near- and along-river) and temporal scales. Validation demonstrated that the model has good accuracy, also in reproducing the salt wedge intrusion along river. Furthermore, currents investigation suggested the existence of an anticyclonic gyre in proximity of the river mouth of the northern branch, mainly induced by river discharge and coastal morphology. These promising results in simulating cross-scale processes in a seamless fashion, will be included in the near future in an operational system for coastal forecasting.

Coastal areas are affected by conflicts between the opportunities and benefits of natural resource exploitation and the preservation of natural ecosystems, as well as by additional stresses and impacts created by ongoing climate change. Coastal infrastructures are one of the major pressures in these areas potentially producing direct and indirect impacts on marine ecosystems. Our pilot project-site is in the area surrounding of the Civitavecchia harbour (Latium, Central Tyrrhenian Sea), whose expansion could affect the existing Posidonia oceanica seagrass meadows, rocky and algal reefs habitats and the conspicuous presence of the giant bivalve Pinna nobilis specimens. In this work we present the RENOVATE project, which aims developing an ecosystem approach to manage and implement compensation and mitigation measures in the coastal marine environment. The project approach is based on the restoration of ecosystem services provided by those natural habitats and sensitive species living near the harbour, as listed before. In order to develop this approach, it is necessary to implement an integrated observing system and operational modelling at regional scale, to contribute to: the development of an early warning system for extreme events, dredging and avoidance of potential impacts; the implementation of ecological compensation measures to restore ecosystem services; the siting and implementation of Nature Based Solutions.

PURPOSE A group of international urology and medical oncology experts developed and completed a survey on prostate cancer (PCa) in developing countries. The results are reviewed and summarized, and recommendations on consensus statements for very low-, low-, and intermediate-risk PCa focused on developing countries were developed. METHODS A panel of experts developed more than 300 survey questions of which 66 questions concern the principal areas of interest of this paper: very low, low, and intermediate risk of PCa in developing countries. A larger panel of 99 international multidisciplinary cancer experts voted on these questions to create the recommendations for treatment and follow-up for very low-, low-, and intermediate-risk PCa in areas of limited resources discussed in this manuscript. RESULTS The panel voted publicly but anonymously on the predefined questions. Each question was deemed consensus if 75% or more of the full panel had selected a particular answer. These answers are based on panelist opinion not a literature review or meta-analysis. For questions that refer to an area of limited resources, the recommendations consider cost-effectiveness and the possible therapies with easier and greater access. Each question had five to seven relevant answers including two nonanswers. The results were tabulated in real time. CONCLUSION The voting results and recommendations presented in this document can be used by physicians to support management for very low, low, and intermediate risk of PCa in areas of limited resources. Individual clinical decision making should be supported by available data; however, as guidelines for treatment for very low, low, and intermediate risk of PCa in developing countries have not been developed, this document will serve as a point of reference when confronted with this disease.

The intensification of extreme events, storm surges and coastal flooding in a climate change scenario increasingly influences human processes, especially in coastal areas where sea-based activities are concentrated. Predicting sea level near the coasts, with a high accuracy and in a reasonable amount of time, becomes a strategic task. Despite the developments of complex numerical codes for high-resolution ocean modeling, the task of making forecasts in areas at the intersection between land and sea remains challenging. In this respect, the use of machine learning techniques can represent an interesting alternative to be investigated and evaluated by numerical modelers. This article presents the application of the Long-Short Term Memory (LSTM) neural network to the problem of short-term sea level forecasting in the Southern Adriatic Northern Ionian (SANI) domain in the Mediterranean sea. The proposed multi-model architecture based on LSTM networks has been trained to predict mean sea levels three days ahead, for different coastal locations. Predictions were compared with the observation data collected through the tide-gauge devices as well as with the forecasts produced by the Southern Adriatic Northern Ionian Forecasting System (SANIFS) developed at the Euro-Mediterranean Center on Climate Change (CMCC), which provides short-term daily updated forecasts in the Mediterranean basin. Experimental results demonstrate that the multi-model architecture is able to bridge information far in time and to produce predictions with a much higher accuracy than SANIFS forecasts.

The potential effects of anthropic pressures on the coastal marine environment are difficult to predict due to the high spatial and temporal variability of the physical and biological processes occurring in the coastal area. To overcome this issue, an innovative coastal observing and modelling system has been implemented along the Latium coast (Italy). The core of the modelling suite is composed of the unstructured-grid hydrodynamic SHYFEM and wave WW3 models to allow to compute the temperature, salinity, current velocity, water levels and wave parameters, seamlessly from the open sea to the coastal waters. The hydrodynamic and wave results were then used within process-oriented models (such as XBEACH, PTM, Leeway Lagrangian particles models) to analyse morphological changes, sediment dynamics and pollutant dispersion in the coastal, riverine and near-port areas.In this work, the modelling suite was used to investigate the potential effects on the soft-bottom benthic communities due to the realization of the new port of Fiumicino, located in the coastal zone affected by the Tiber river dynamic. The coastal dynamic processes along the study area were simulated using different weather conditions, before and after the realization of the new harbour. Hydrodynamic and wave model performance was evaluated using in-situ and remote sensing observations carried out by high-resolution satellite imageries and traditional and innovative in-situ platforms. Finally, the model results were compared with the abundance and composition of the benthic community that was analysed in 25 stations, between 2 and 30 m depth.

Eight of the top ten most populated cities in the world are located by the coast. The improvement of the coastal ocean representation is a key topic to understand the present and near-future ocean state and predict its evolution under climate change conditions.The coastal ocean is difficult to model due to the presence of complex coastlines, interaction with inland waters, rapid changes in topography and highly space-time variability of the phenomena involved. Unstructured-grid models are used to partially attenuate this source of errors in cross-scale (from open sea to coastal regions) oceanographic modelling. On the other hand, the data assimilation methodologies to improve the unstructured-grid models in the coastal seas is being developed only recently (e.g., Aydogdu et al., 2018; Bajo et al., 2019) and needs more advancements. Here, we show preliminary results from the coastal ocean forecasting system SANIFS (Southern Adriatic Northern Ionian coastal Forecasting System, Federico et al., 2017) based on SHYFEM fully-baroclinic unstructured-grid model (Umgiesser et al., 2004) interfaced with OceanVar (Dobricic and Pinardi, 2008; Storto et al., 2014), a state-of-art variational data assimilation scheme, adopted for several systems based on structured grid (e.g. regional CMEMS for Mediterranean and Black Seas, marine.cmems.eu).In OceanVar, Empirical Orthogonal Functions (EOFs) method is used to reduce the dimensionality of computation removing the statistically less significant modes and to correlate observations and model background in the water column; while the increments are spread horizontally using the recursive filter method. While this method is typically only used to model covariances between neighbouring points in a structured grid, the algorithm has now been generalised and successfully implemented also for unstructured grids.Preliminary results show that temperature and salinity observations from Argo profilers improve the ocean state. Future steps will also include sea level assimilation. This work is a starting point in order to improve our forecast of local extreme events (e.g. heat waves and storm surge) which are statistically increasing in number and intensity in the Mediterranean region due to climate change.

This paper presents the MPI-based parallelization of the three-dimensional hydrodynamic model SHYFEM (System of HydrodYnamic Finite Element Modules). The original sequential version of the code was parallelized in order to reduce the execution time of high-resolution configurations using state-of-the-art HPC systems. A distributed memory approach was used, based on the message passing interface (MPI). Optimized numerical libraries were used to partition the unstructured grid (with a focus on load balancing) and to solve the sparse linear system of equations in parallel in the case of semi-to-fully implicit time stepping. The parallel implementation of the model was validated by comparing the outputs with those obtained from the sequential version. The performance assessment demonstrates a good level of scalability with a realistic configuration used as benchmark.

Issue sup1: Copernicus Marine Service Ocean State Report, Issue 5 Supplement.-- Karina von Schuckmann (Editor), Pierre-Yves Le Traon (Editor), Neville Smith (Chair) (Review Editor), Ananda Pascual (Review Editor), Samuel Djavidnia (Review Editor), Jean-Pierre Gattuso (Review Editor), Marilaure Grégoire (Review Editor), The work was supported by the Copernicus Marine Environment Monitoring Service (CMEMS) LATEMAR project. CMEMS is implemented by Mercator Ocean in the framework of a delegation agreement with the European Union. This work has also been conducted as part of the bilateral project EOLO-1 (“Extreme Oceanic waves during tropical, tropical-like, and bomb cyclones”) between CNR-ISMAR and the University of Tokyo (Japan; Prof. Takuji Waseda). Antonio Ricchi funding have been provided via the PON “AIM” - Attraction and international mobility program AIM1858058. Joanna Staneva acknowledges H2020 IMMERSE Project, Arno Behrens was supported by CMEMS Waveflow project and G. Gayer by ESA Black Sea and Danube Regional Initiative (EO4BS).

Marmara Sea including Bosphorus and Dardanelles Straits (i.e. Turkish Strait Systems, TSS) is the connection between the Black Sea and the Mediterranean. The exchange flow that occurs in the Straits is crucial to set the deep water properties in the Black Sea and the surface water conditions in the Northern Aegean Sea. We have developed a new high-resolution unstructured grid model (U-TSS) for the Marmara Sea including the Bosporus and Dardanelles Straits using the System of HydrodYnamic Finite Element Modules (SHYFEM). Using an unstructured grid in the horizontal better resolves geometry of the Turkish Straits. The new model has a resolution between 500 meter in the deep to 50 meter in the shallow areas, and 93 geopotential coordinate levels in the vertical. We conducted a 4 year hindcast simulation between 2016 and 2019 using lateral boundary conditions from CMEMS (https://marine.copernicus.eu/) analysis, in particular Black Sea Forecasting System (BS-FS) for the northern boundary and Mediterranean Sea Forecasting System (MS-FS) for the southern boundary. Atmospheric boundary conditions fare from the ECMWF dataset.Mean averaged surface circulation shows that there is a cyclonic gyre in the middle of the basin due to Bosphorus jet flowing to the south and turning to west after reaching the southern Marmara coast. The U-TSS model has been validated against the seasonal in situ observations obtained from four different cruises between 2017 and 2018. The maximum bias occurs at around halocline depth between 20 to 30 meters. We also found that root mean square error field is higher in the mixed layer interface. We conclude that capturing shallow mixed layer depth is very in the Marmara Sea due to the interplay of air-sea fluxes and mixing parametrizations uncertainties. Maximum salinity bias and rms in the new U-TSS model are around 3 psu which is a significant improvement with respect to previous studies. This new model will be used as an operational forecasting system and will provide lateral boundary conditions for the BS-FS and MS-FS models in the future.

Coastal marine environment is increasingly subject to multiple pressures and stressors produced by the effects of both natural inputs and human activities. Depending on the location and the intensity of these pressures the marine ecosystem, particularly sensitive areas, may be affected. An important disturbance which affects coastal areas can derive from impacts directly connected to the ports expansion: dredging activities, changing in coastal dynamics, etc. The main environmental effects can be associated with suspended sediments and increases in turbidity into the water column, which can have adverse effects on marine animals and plants by reducing light penetration and by physical disturbance. In addition, the change of coast morphology, due to the infrastructure construction, can affect local circulation, sediment transport and shoreline changes. New approaches in coastal infrastructures design are emerging, in order to increase the harmony between project realization and the environment. One of these approaches is represented by Building with Nature, recommended by the European Commission also for dredging and ports development. However, the study of these complex processes needs a multidisciplinary approach able to analyze the response of natural systems to the variations generated by specific interventions and distinguish the variations induced by climatic trends and territorial changes. This strategy was applied along Latium coast, which is an area affected by Tiber river which strongly influences coastal evolution and at the same will be interested by a new important infrastructure, the port of Fiumicino. The project will represent a modern integrated coastal observing system composed by in situ observations, numerical models, remote sensing and informative systems which will be interconnected in order to correctly assess the potential effects of the infrastructure on ecosystems, coastal morphology and uses.

Nature Based solutions (NBS) have been presented in the recent past as a potential solution to natural and climate change adverse effects on human well-being and socio-economic activities. In this study, we present a simulation design methodology for NBS that can mitigate the effect of storm surges and coastal erosion. The chosen NBS is marine seagrass and it will be applied to the coastal strip of the Emilia-Romagna coasts. Within the framework of the OPEn-air laboRAtories for Nature baseD solUtions to Manage environmental risks (OPERANDUM) project, the seagrass NBS is presented within a simulation design methodology consisting of the comparison between validated wave numerical simulations for the present climate and modified wave simulations with marine seagrass. In this context, the unstructured version of WAVEWATCH III (WW3) model has been implemented for simulating the wave characteristics across the Emilia-Romagna coastal strip with and without seagrass.The calibration/validation of WW3 was carried out and sensitivity experiments using the various wind-input dissipation source packages and bottom friction formulations were also attempted to evaluate the model performances (validation results presented here are for the entire 2017 year). The ST6 physics along with SHOWEX bottom friction formulations were chosen ideal for the study area. To evaluate the model results a directional wave rider buoy data was utilized. The model simulated significant wave parameters namely Hs (significant wave height), Tm (mean wave period) were compared with buoy observations and high correlations (0.93) were found with Hs comparison. Further the WW3 model was modified by including the modified bottom dissipation stress due to submerged vegetation, thereby incorporating the NBS as a potential mechanism for wave amplitude reduction. The seagrass species ‘Zostera marina’ was chosen in this study and comparisons showed that seagrass is capable to reduce the wave energy in the study area. Furthermore, the dependence on seagrass plant high-density and low-density scenarios, together with seagrass parameters (height and width of the seagrass) and species show the sensitivity of the results even on reduction of wave energy as obtained with different degrees by all NBS scenarios. Keywords: Nature-based solutions, WW3, marine seagrass, storm surge, Zostera marina.

Being situated in a semi-enclosed Mediterranean lagoon, the Port of Taranto represents a transport, industrial and commercial hub, where the port infrastructure, a notorious steel plant, oil refinery and naval shipyards coexist with highly-dense urban zone, recreation facilities, mussel farms, and vulnerable environmental sites. A Single Buoy Mooring in the center of the Mar Grande used by tankers and subsea pipeline that takes oil directly from tanker to refinery are assumed to stay at risk of accidental oil spills, despite significant progress in technology and prevention.The oil spill model MEDSLIK-II (http://medslik-ii.org) coupled to the high resolution Southern Adriatic Northern Ionian coastal Forecasting System (SANIFS http://sanifs.cmcc.it Federico et al., 2017) is used to model hypothetical oil spill scenarios in stochastic mode. 15,000+ hypothetical individual spills are generated from randomly selected start locations: 50% from a buoy and 50% along the subsea pipeline 2018–2020. Individual spill scenario is based on a real crude oil spill caused by a catastrophic pipeline failure happened in Genoa in April 2016 (Vairo et al., 2017). The model outputs are processed statistically to represent quantitively: (1) timing of the oil drift; (2) hazard maps in probability terms at the sea surface and on the coastline; (3) oil mass balance; (4) local-zone contamination assessment.The simulations reveal that around 48% of the spilled oil will evaporate during the first 8 hours after the accident. Being transported by highly variable currents and waves, the rest is additionally exposed to multiply reflections from sea walls and concrete wharfs that dominate in the study area. As a result, the oil will be dispersed almost isotropically in the Mar Grande, indicating a rather moderate or small level of concentrations over the minimum threshold values (French McCay, 2016).We have concluded that at a probability of 50%, the first oil beaching event will happen within 14 hours after the accident. The most contaminated areas are predicted on and around the nearest Port berths, on the coastlines of the urban area and on the tips of the breakwaters that frame the Mar Grande openings. The remote areas of the West Port and Mar Piccolo are expected to be the least contaminated ones.Results are applicable to contingency planning, ecological risk assessment, cost-benefit analysis, and education.This work is conducted in the framework of the IMPRESSIVE project (#821922) co-funded by the European Commission under the H2020 Programme.ReferencesFederico, I., Pinardi, N., Coppini, G., Oddo, P., Lecci, R., Mossa, M., 2017. Coastal ocean forecasting with an unstructured grid model in the southern Adriatic and northern Ionian seas. Nat. Hazards Earth Syst. Sci., 17, 45–59, doi: 10.5194/nhess-17-45-2017.French McCay, D., 2016. Potential effects thresholds for oil spill risk assessments. Proc. of the 39 AMOP Tech. Sem., Environment and Climate Change Canada, Ottawa, ON, 285–303.Vairo, T., Magrì, S., Qualgliati, M., Reverberi, A.P., Fabiano, B., 2017. An oil pipeline catastrophic failure: accident scenario modelling and emergency response development. Chem. Eng. Trans., 57, 373–378, doi: 10.3303/CET1757063.

The paper shows for the first time the observational evidence of basin-wide gyre reversal in the Gulf of Taranto (north-western Ionian Sea in the eastern Mediterranean Sea) by means of two specifically designed in situ oceanographic campaigns (based on CTD and ADCP measurements). The analysis of the in situ data shows a change in circulation from anticyclonic in October 2014 to cyclonic in June-July 2016. Furthermore, long-term (1993-2018) analysis using gridded satellite altimetry data in the Gulf of Taranto shows that the cyclonic gyres are more frequent than anticyclonic gyres. The latter occur only for 2 to 3 years at a time in some decades. Plain Language Summary The work shows the observational evidence of a phenomenon named gyre reversal (the circulation changes from cyclonic to anticyclonic), occurring in ocean regions with specific geometry characteristics, among others the Gulfs. In particular, our results unequivocally show for the first time the reversal of the basin-scale gyre circulation in the Gulf of Taranto (north-western Ionian Sea in the eastern Mediterranean Sea), by means of in situ oceanographic measurements and satellite data.

The Taranto Sea is a Mediterranean lagoon where alarming pressure is expected to further increase, due to industrialization, heavy ship traffic, and densely populated coasts. The area hosts the Trading Port, Industrial Port, and Container Terminal. There is an important refinery, owned by ENI's Refining&Marketing, with a potential of 6 million tons per year (Autorità di Sistema Portuale del Mar Ionio – Porto di Taranto, 2017). A buoyed area in the Mar Grande is used by tankers of up to 300,000 GRT carrying petroleum for the refinery. Being at risk of oil pollution, the Taranto Sea became a pilot site for the development of a universal relocatable platform aimed at the real time management of marine pollution events in the harbors and ports in the framework of the IMPRESSIVE Project.According to a Project paradigm, marine pollution forecasting system in harbors includes (1) EO observation technologies (satellite, ASV, UAV); (2) high-resolution hydrodynamic models based on downscaling of CMEMS products, and (3) pollution transport models.To implement the system components for the Taranto Sea the Lagrangian oil spill model MEDSIK-II has been coupled to Southern Adriatic Northern Ionian coastal Forecasting System (SANIFS http://sanifs.cmcc.itFederico et al., 2017) and ECMWF atmospheric forecast. To this end, the SANIFS output discretized on the unstructured horizontal grid at a variable resolution of 3–4 km for the open sea and of 50–500 m for the coastal area is interpolated to a regular grid with a resolution of 150 m. For the first time, MEDSLIK-II can use currents and sea surface temperature of such the resolution, which is almost 15 times less than previously exploited horizontal resolution for the Pilot sites in the framework of coupling to the Adriatic Forecasting System (AFS) (Guarnieri et al., 2010).The new coupling is planned to run the MEDSLIK-II simulations in stochastic mode in order to evaluate the environmental consequences of possible accidents and malfunctions in the ENI petroleum transport system.This work is performed in the framework of the IMPRESSIVE project (#821922) co-funded by the European Commission under the H2020 Programme.References:Autorità di Sistema Portuale del Mar Ionio – Porto di Taranto, 2017. Three-year operational plan 2017–2019 and Port vision 2030 of the Port of Taranto. http://www.port.taranto.it/index.php/en/Federico, I., Pinardi, N., Coppini, G., Oddo, P., Lecci, R., Mossa, M. 2017. Coastal ocean forecasting with an unstructured grid model in the southern Adriatic and northern Ionian seas. Nat. Hazards Earth Syst. Sci., 17, 45–59, doi: 10.5194/nhess-17-45-2017.Guarnieri, A., Oddo, P., Pastore, M., Pinardi, N., 2010. The Adriatic Basin Forecasting System new model and system development. Coastal to Global Operational Oceanography: Achievements and Challenges, pp. 184–190.

We performed stochastic simulations of hypothetical oil spills from a single-point buoy mooring and subsea pipeline for the Port of Taranto given that this port is an essential strategic hub in the European logistic chain. Our methodology integrates (1) the MEDSLIK-II oil spill model coupled to a high-resolution hydrodynamic model run on an unstructured grid in operational forecasting mode; (2) a hypothetical oil spill scenario based on a historical pipeline rupture at the Port of Genoa, 2016; and (3) randomly sampling the environmental conditions over 2018–2020. The main oil drift was found to be directed southwesterly towards the outlet to the open sea. When oil is transported by highly variable currents, waves and turbulent mixing, it is exposed to multiple strandings and washing-offs from concrete constructions in the port. Consequently, oil tends to be dispersed almost isotropically over the Mar Grande, indicating low to moderate pollution indices.

The Turkish Strait System, which is the only connection between the Black Sea and the Mediterranean Sea, is a challenging region for ocean circulation models due to topographic constraints and water mass structure. We present a newly developed high resolution unstructured finite element grid model to simulate the Turkish Strait System using realistic atmospheric forcing and lateral open boundary conditions. We find that the jet flowing from the Bosphorus Strait into the Marmara creates an anticyclonic circulation. The eddy kinetic energy field is high around the jets exiting from the Bosphorus Strait, Dardanelles Strait, and also the leeward side of the islands in the Marmara Sea. The model successfully captures the two-layer structure of the Sea of Marmara. The volume transport at the Bosphorus is around 120 km3/year which is consistent with the recent observations. The largest bias in the model is at the interface depth due to the shallower mixed layer.

Reliable and timely information on the environmental conditions at sea is key to the safety of professional and recreational users as well as to the optimal execution of their activities. The possibility of users obtaining environmental information in due time and with adequate accuracy in the marine and coastal environment is defined as sea situational awareness (SSA). Without adequate information on the environmental meteorological and oceanographic conditions, users have a limited capacity to respond, which has led to loss of lives and to large environmental disasters with enormous consequent damage to the economy, society and ecosystems. Within the framework of the TESSA project, new SSA services for the Mediterranean Sea have been developed. In this paper we present SeaConditions, which is a web and mobile application for the provision of meteorological and oceanographic observation and forecasting products. Model forecasts and satellite products from operational services, such as ECMWF and CMEMS, can be visualized in SeaConditions. In addition, layers of information related to bathymetry, sea level and ocean-colour data (chl a and water transparency) are displayed. Ocean forecasts at high spatial resolutions are included in the version of SeaConditions presented here. SeaConditions provides a user-friendly experience with a fluid zoom capability, facilitating the appropriate display of data with different levels of detail. SeaConditions is a single point of access to interactive maps from different geophysical fields, providing high-quality information based on advanced oceanographic models. The SeaConditions services are available through both web and mobile applications. The web application is available at www.sea-conditions.com and is accessible and compatible with present-day browsers. Interoperability with GIS software is implemented. User feedback has been collected and taken into account in order to improve the service. The SeaConditions iOS and Android apps have been downloaded by more than 105000 users to date (May 2016), and more than 100000 users have visited the web version.

In this paper, we present results of astronomical and landscape analysis at four Incasites located in the Nevados de Cachi area, North Calchaquí Valley, Salta Province, Argentina.Selection criteria took into consideration the existence of certain traits of paramount importanceamongst Inca architecture, such as ushnu platforms, gnomons and a particularly interestingpetroglyph located in a high-altitude sanctuary. Results show that the location and spatial layoutof certain Inca settlements, as well as certain structures within, were designed and located basedon astronomical observation patterns centred on solstices, equinoxes and lunar standstills. Fil: Leibowicz, Ivan Federico. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Saavedra 15. Instituto Multidisciplinario de Historia y Ciencias Humanas; Argentina Fil: Moyano, Ricardo Daniel. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Mendoza. Instituto de Ciencias Humanas, Sociales y Ambientales; Argentina Fil: Ferrari, Alejandro Andrés. Universidad Austral. Facultad de Comunicación. Instituto de Estudios Americanistas Julián Cáceres Freyre; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; Argentina Fil: Acuto, Felix Alejandro. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Saavedra 15. Instituto Multidisciplinario de Historia y Ciencias Humanas; Argentina Fil: Jacob, Cristian. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Filosofía y Letras. Departamento de Ciencias Antropológicas; Argentina

International audience; Integration of observations of the coastal ocean continuum, from regional oceans toshelf seas and estuaries/deltas with models, can substantially increase the value ofobservations and enable a wealth of applications. In particular, models can play a criticalrole at connecting sparse observations, synthesizing them, and assisting the design ofobservational networks; in turn, whenever available, observations can guide coastalmodel development. Coastal observations should sample the two-way interactionsbetween nearshore, estuarine and shelf processes and open ocean processes, whileaccounting for the different pace of circulation drivers, such as the fast atmospheric,hydrological and tidal processes and the slower general ocean circulation and climatescales. Because of these challenges, high-resolution models can serve as connectorsand integrators of coastal continuum observations. Data assimilation approachescan provide quantitative, validated estimates of Essential Ocean Variables in thecoastal continuum, adding scientific and socioeconomic value to observations throughapplications (e.g., sea-level rise monitoring, coastal management under a sustainableecosystem approach, aquaculture, dredging, transport and fate of pollutants, maritimesafety, hazards under natural variability or climate change). We strongly recommendan internationally coordinated approach in support of the proper integration of globaland coastal continuum scales, as well as for critical tasks such as community-agreedbathymetry and coastline products.

Este artículo contiene 30 páginas, 14 figuras., The Mediterranean community represented in this paper is the result of more than 30 years of EU and nationally funded coordination, which has led to key contributions in science concepts and operational initiatives. Together with the establishment of operational services, the community has coordinated with universities, research centers, research infrastructures and private companies to implement advanced multi-platform and integrated observing and forecasting systems that facilitate the advancement of operational services, scientific achievements and mission-oriented innovation. Thus, the community can respond to societal challenges and stakeholders needs, developing a variety of fit-for-purpose services such as the Copernicus Marine Service. The combination of state-of-the-art observations and forecasting provides new opportunities for downstreamservices in response to the needs of the heavily populatedMediterranean coastal areas and to climate change. The challenge over the next decade is to sustain ocean observations within the research community, to monitor the variability at small scales, e.g., the mesoscale/submesoscale, to resolve the sub-basin/seasonal and inter-annual variability in the circulation, and thus establish the decadal variability, understand and correct the model-associated biases and to enhance model-data integration and ensemble forecasting for uncertainty estimation. Better knowledge and understanding of the level ofMediterranean variability will enable a subsequent evaluation of the impacts and mitigation of the effect of human activities and climate change on the biodiversity and the ecosystem, which will support environmental assessments and decisions. Further challenges include extending the science-based added-value products into societal relevant downstream services and engaging with communities to build initiatives that will contribute to the 2030 Agenda and more specifically to SDG14 and the UN’s Decade of Ocean Science for sustainable development, by this contributing to bridge the science-policy gap. The Mediterranean observing and forecasting capacity was built on the basis of community best practices in monitoring and modeling, and can serve as a basis for the development of an integrated global ocean observing system.

A multiscale sampling experiment was carried out in the Gulf of Taranto (eastern Mediterranean) providing the first synoptic evidence of the large-scale circulation structure and associated mesoscale variability. The mapping of the mesoscale and large-scale geostrophic circulation showed the presence of an anticyclonic large-scale gyre occupying the central open ocean area of the Gulf of Taranto. On the periphery of the gyre upwelling is evident where surface waters are colder and saltier than at the center of the gyre. Over a 1-week period, the rim current of the gyre undergoes large changes which are interpreted as baroclinic–barotropic instabilities, generating small-scale cyclonic eddies in the periphery of the anticyclone. The eddies are generally small, one of which can be classified as a submesoscale eddy due to its size. This eddy field modulates the upwelling regime in the gyre periphery.

We present a numerical platform named Structured and Unstructured grid Relocatable ocean platform for Forecasting (SURF). The platform is developed for short-time forecasts and is designed to be embedded in any region of the large-scale Mediterranean Forecasting System (MFS) via downscaling. We employ CTD data collected during a campaign around the Elba island to calibrate and validate SURF. The model requires an initial spin up period of a few days in order to adapt the initial interpolated fields and the subsequent solutions to the higher-resolution nested grids adopted by SURF. Through a comparison with the CTD data, we quantify the improvement obtained by SURF model compared to the coarse-resolution MFS model.

In response to the oil spill caused by the collision between the Ro-Ro ship Ulysse and CSL Virginia on 7th October 2018, the Lagrangian oil spill model MEDSLIK-II was utilized to predict spill transport and fate. Oil drift was forced by the high-resolution sea circulation provided by CMEMS and the ECMWF wind. Successive model runs were restarted 5 times with the distinct overflight- and satellite-derived observations provided by REMPEC and the Copernicus Sentinel-1 mission. The results were verified based on the ability to predict the first oil-beaching event that happened near Saint-Tropez (France) in the early afternoon of 16th October. Despite the general consistency among the runs, only the last initialization was able to forecast the oil beaching. Stochastic MEDSLIK-II simulations forced by the historical meteo-oceanographic datasets 2014–2018 revealed that the coastlines between Cap Lardier and the Gulf of Saint-Tropez were among the most impacted areas.

none 6 si The present work describes an operational strategy for the development of a multiscale modeling system, based on a multiple-nesting approach and open-source numerical models. The strategy was applied and validated for the Gulf of Taranto in southern Italy, scaling large-scale oceanographic model results to high-resolution coupled wave-3-D hydrodynamics simulations for the area of Mar Grande in the Taranto Sea. The spatial and temporal high-resolution simulations were performed using the open-source TELEMAC suite, forced by wind data from the COSMO-ME database, boundary wave spectra from the RON buoy at Crotone and results from the Southern Adriatic Northern Ionian coastal Forecasting System (SANIFS) regarding sea levels and current fields. Model validation was carried out using data collected in the Mar Grande basin from a fixed monitoring station and during an oceanographic campaign in October 2014. The overall agreement between measurements and model results in terms of waves, sea levels, surface currents, circulation patterns and vertical velocity profiles is deemed to be satisfactory, and the methodology followed in the process can constitute a useful tool for both research and operational applications in the same field and as support of decisions for management and design of infrastructures. Gaeta, Maria Gabriella; Samaras, Achilleas; Federico, Ivan; Archetti, Renata; Maicu, Francesco; Lorenzetti, Giuliano Gaeta, Maria Gabriella; Samaras, Achilleas; Federico, Ivan; Archetti, Renata; Maicu, Francesco; Lorenzetti, Giuliano

This chapter discusses Inca rule over Northern Argentina from a landscape perspective, analyzing the politics of space of Inca imperialism. For the indigenous peoples of this rather large region of the South Andes, this process of colonial encounter entailed their forced relocation, the imposition of an Inca landscape overlapping the native one, the intrusion and remodeling of some of their towns and villages, and the seizure of their sacred places and shrines. Through this strategic intervention and reshaping of the native landscape, the Incas sought to construct a new socio-spatial order that served them to set the relationships with their subjects, to spread their ideology, and to redefine the interaction with supernatural entities.

En este trabajo me propongo discutir como un abordaje experiencial directo, basado en un trabajo decampo orientado, puede convertirse en una herramienta fundamental a la hora de acercarse al registroarqueológico y obtener datos que habitualmente serían dejados de lado. Sin asumir una unidad de lasubjetividad humana, ni negar nuestra constitución social y nuestra corporeidad, como un producto dela posmodernidad, este acercamiento pretende problematizar y poner en relieve a la experiencia, estimulandodiferentes maneras de ver y registrar tanto los objetos como los paisajes pretéritos y de este modoampliar nuestras capacidades interpretativas. De esta manera, la información recolectada, combinadacon otros tipos de evidencia, así como con criterios más establecidos y aceptados dentro de la disciplinaarqueológica, debería permitirnos alcanzar comprensiones más acabadas e ingeniosas del pasado. Así,se propone la superación de los límites que imponen los métodos positivistas al trabajo de campo arqueológicoy dejar de lado la neutralidad a la hora de registrar la evidencia material. Dado que el solohecho de tener más y diferentes líneas de evidencia sobre un sitio y/o región, nos otorgará más variablesy nos permitirá generar más ideas y llegar a interpretaciones más abarcativas. In this paper I intend to discuss how a direct experiential approach, based on a oriented fieldwork, can become a fundamental tool to approach the archaeological record and obtain data that would usually be left out. Without assuming a unity of human subjectivity, or denying our social constitution and our corporeity as a product of postmodernity, this approach seeks to problematize and highlight the experience, stimulating different ways of seeing and recording both objects and past landscapes and thus broaden our interpretive capacities. In this way, the information collected, combined with other types of evidence, as well as more established and accepted archaeological criteria can help to reach more complete and ingenious understandings of the past. It is proposed to overcome the limits imposed by positivist methods to the archaeological fieldwork and leave behind the neutrality at the moment of recording the material evidence. The mere fact of having more and different lines of evidence about a site and / or region will give more variables, generate more ideas and reach wider interpretations Neste artigo, proponho discutir como uma abordagem experiencial direta, baseada em uma abordagem orientada para o campo, pode se tornar uma ferramenta fundamental para ou aproximar o registro arqueológico e obter dados que normalmente seriam excluídos. Sem assumir uma unidade de subjetividade humana ou negar a nossa constituição social e nossa corporeidade, como produto da modernização, esta abordagem visa problematizar e enfatizar a experiência, estimulando diferentes formas de ver e registrar objetos e paisagens passadas e expandir nossas capacidades interpretativa Forma de Desta, a informação coletada, combinada com outros tipos de evidências, bem como com critérios mais estabelecidos e óleos dentro da disciplina arqueológica, nos permitem entender por melhores entendimentos mais finais e engenhosos do passado. Assim, propõe limites superando métodos ha positivistas não trabalho de campo arqueológico e deixa lado a neutralidade ao registrar-se em evidência material. Dado ou simples fato de ter mais e diferentes linhas de evidência em um site e / ou região, isso nos dará mais e nos permitirá gerar mais ideais e alcançar interpretações mais abreviadas Fil: Leibowicz, Ivan Federico. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Saavedra 15. Instituto Multidisciplinario de Historia y Ciencias Humanas; Argentina

This paper deals with the development and application of a two-dimensional weakly compressible Smoothed Particle Hydrodynamics (SPH) model to study plane jets propagating into still fluid tanks and current flows. These flow processes occurring in different water bodies are here treated through an appropriate algorithm to model inlet/outlet boundary conditions which are defined by different sets of particles. SPH equations of fluid mechanics including viscous and interface stabilization terms are adopted to determine the flow field induced by the fluid interaction. Flow phenomena induced by jet injection in a water body occur in natural and anthropic environments such as pollutant discharge into reservoirs, rivers and coasts, or in several engineering applications such as marine outfalls. Three test cases with different initial configurations are simulated: injection of a jet at the top and at the bottom of a water tank, and upstream of a channel flow (coflow jet). The proposed SPH model is validated both near the jet nozzle and far from it, comparing the obtained jet trajectories, widths and velocities with other numerical approaches, laboratory experiments and analytical solutions.

SANIFS (Southern Adriatic Northern Ionian coastal Forecasting System) is a coastal-ocean operational system based on the unstructured grid finite-element three-dimensional hydrodynamic SHYFEM model, providing short-term forecasts. The operational chain is based on a downscaling approach starting from the large-scale system for the entire Mediterranean Basin (MFS, Mediterranean Forecasting System), which provides initial and boundary condition fields to the nested system. The model is configured to provide hydrodynamics and active tracer forecasts both in open ocean and coastal waters of southeastern Italy using a variable horizontal resolution from the open sea (3–4 km) to coastal areas (50–500 m). Given that the coastal fields are driven by a combination of both local (also known as coastal) and deep-ocean forcings propagating along the shelf, the performance of SANIFS was verified both in forecast and simulation mode, first (i) on the large and shelf-coastal scales by comparing with a large-scale survey CTD (conductivity–temperature–depth) in the Gulf of Taranto and then (ii) on the coastal-harbour scale (Mar Grande of Taranto) by comparison with CTD, ADCP (acoustic doppler current profiler) and tide gauge data. Sensitivity tests were performed on initialization conditions (mainly focused on spin-up procedures) and on surface boundary conditions by assessing the reliability of two alternative datasets at different horizontal resolution (12.5 and 6.5 km). The SANIFS forecasts at a lead time of 1 day were compared with the MFS forecasts, highlighting that SANIFS is able to retain the large-scale dynamics of MFS. The large-scale dynamics of MFS are correctly propagated to the shelf-coastal scale, improving the forecast accuracy (+17 % for temperature and +6 % for salinity compared to MFS). Moreover, the added value of SANIFS was assessed on the coastal-harbour scale, which is not covered by the coarse resolution of MFS, where the fields forecasted by SANIFS reproduced the observations well (temperature RMSE equal to 0.11 °C). Furthermore, SANIFS simulations were compared with hourly time series of temperature, sea level and velocity measured on the coastal-harbour scale, showing a good agreement. Simulations in the Gulf of Taranto described a circulation mainly characterized by an anticyclonic gyre with the presence of cyclonic vortexes in shelf-coastal areas. A surface water inflow from the open sea to Mar Grande characterizes the coastal-harbour scale.