New monitoring technologies are being progressively implemented in open-ocean and coastal observatories. The Mediterranean Sea is a well-known, reduced-scale ocean, an ideal natural laboratory to study global ocean processes, in particular those associated with meso- and submesoscale variability, interactions with mean flows and associated ecosystem response. SOCIB, the Balearic Islands Coastal Ocean Observing and Forecasting System, is one of such observatories, a multiplatform distributed and integrated system, a facility of facilities that extends from the nearshore to the open sea. SOCIB profits from the strategic position of the Balearic Islands at the Atlantic/Mediterranean transition area, one of the “hot spots” of biodiversity in the world’s oceans, and also of societal needs in islands where preservation of the environment is essential to assure both residents’ welfare and the competitiveness of the tourist sector. SOCIB is unique in that, from peer-reviewed excellence, its mission and objectives are science-, technology-, and society-driven. These types of new marine infrastructures, because of their critical mass and sustained funding, are presently establishing new ways of international cooperation, leading to major science breakthroughs, innovations in oceanographic instrumentation, and new ways of more efficient and science-based coastal and ocean management. We describe the major elements and structure of SOCIB and present some recent scientific, technological, and society-related results that are of relevance at a global ocean scale.

High-frequency (HF) coastal radars measure current velocity at the ocean surface with a 30–100 km range and 1–3 km resolution, every 0.25–1 h. HF radars are well suited to many applications, such as search and rescue (SaR), oil-spill mitigation and ecosystem management. Here we present a first organized core of 12 HF radars installed in five sites in four countries (Greece, Italy, France and Spain) within the European MED project, the Tracking Oil Spill and Coastal Awareness (TOSCA) network. Dedicated experiments tested radar capabilities to estimate transport driven by currents, which is the key feature for all the above applications. Experiments involved the deployment of drifters, i.e., floating buoys, acting as proxies for substances passively advected by currents. Using HF radars the search range is reduced by a factor of 1.6 to 5.3 after 24 h. The paper also underlines the importance of sharing common tools for HF radar data processing and the need to mitigate radio frequency interference. The effort can be regarded as an initial step toward the creation of a Mediterranean or European HF radar network, crucial for any European integrated ocean observing system (IOOS).

[2] We study the sea surface transport in the Western Mediterranean Sea from a Lagrangian point of view, in particular the Alboran and the North-Western subbasins. The study is carried out through the analysis of 3 years of surface velocity model data through Finite Size Lyapunov Exponents, Residence Time, and virtual particle trajectories complementing the classical Eulerian approach. The spatiotemporal variability of the main transport processes is inferred from the Empirical Orthogonal Function modes of the Lyapunov Exponents, being the most relevant modes discussed and physically interpreted. Results indicate that some of the variability in the surface transport patterns in the Western Mediterranean can be explained by specific modes which provide an indication of connectivity among subbasins, like the inflow of Atlantic waters through the Ibiza Channel.

The variability of La Guajira upwelling system, in the south-central Caribbean Sea, is strongly influenced by the intensity and location of the atmospheric Caribbean Low-Level Jet (CLLJ), a near-surface branch of the easterlies, as well as by the regional ocean circulation. During favorable conditions (i.e., strong easterlies blowing almost parallel to the coast), upwelling is enhanced and a large amount of primary productivity occurs in La Guajira area. In contrast, during relatively mild wind conditions, the CLLJ is misaligned to the coast and the Caribbean Counter Current (CCC, locally also known as the Darien Current), which forms as a branch from the Panama-Colombia Gyre, flows northeastward over the continental shelf advecting waters from the southwestern Caribbean basin toward La Guajira. The CCC has a clear signature at the surface layer that extends from the Darien Gulf toward La Guajira peninsula during mild wind periods, while disappears during the months of strong winds. The direction and the magnitude of the easterlies, and more specifically of the CLLJ, control the position and pathway of the CCC, which extends more than 900 km in the southern Caribbean Sea during May, June, August, September, and October. The high concentration of chlorophyll-a at the sea surface evidenced by satellite-based color images is semi-seasonally modulated by the CLLJ, which during its relaxation phase allows the irruption of the CCC toward the east up to La Guajira.