Generation of dense waters in the Adriatic Sea during an extreme cooling event in the winter of 2012, including its preconditioning and spreading phases, have been investigated using the one-way coupled ROMS and the ALADIN/HR modeling system. Both climatological and real river fluxes are used in the simulations. Aside from the “convenient” dense water formation areas located at the northernmost Adriatic shelf, we found that a similar amount of dense water, with slightly lower density, was formed in the eastern and deeper Adriatic coastal area, which was subjected to extreme heat losses (up to 2000 W/m²) during peak cooling periods. This part of the Adriatic has been known for extreme cooling during wintertime bora outbreaks; nevertheless, no ocean model study has previously reproduced dense water formation in this area. The most likely reason for that was an overestimate of river discharges introduced to ocean models. From newly available data, we estimated that the contribution of eastern Adriatic rivers between the Neretva River and Rijeka Bay is more than six times lower than what has been previously documented. Transport of dense water toward the middle Adriatic had a peak value of about 0.6 Sv, while the speed of initial bottom density current surpassed 40–50 cm/s, which is several times faster than past events. Different pathways of the dense water toward the middle and south Adriatic depressions have also been documented. The contribution of the eastern coastal Adriatic area to the overall north Adriatic dense water formation has been quantified and discussed for average and low freshwater load conditions, indicating that this part of the Adriatic is a common place for dense water generation.

Bio‐logging data obtained by tagging animals is key to addressing global conservation challenges. However, the many thousands of existing bio‐logging datasets are not easily discoverable, universally comparable, nor readily accessible through existing repositories and across platforms. This slows down ecological research and effective management. A set of universal standards is needed to ensure discoverability, interoperability, and effective translation of bio‐logging data into research and management recommendations. We propose a standardisation framework adhering to existing data principles (FAIR: Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, and Reusable; and TRUST: Transparency, Responsibility, User focus, Sustainability and Technology) and involving the use of simple templates to create a data flow from manufacturers and researchers to compliant repositories, where automated procedures should be in place to prepare data availability into four standardised levels: (i) decoded raw data, (ii) curated data, (iii) interpolated data, and (iv) gridded data. Our framework allows for integration of simple tabular arrays (e.g., csv files) and creation of sharable and interoperable network Common Data Form (netCDF) files containing all the needed information for accuracy‐of‐use, rightful attribution (ensuring data providers keep ownership through the entire process), and data preservation security. We show the standardisation benefits for all stakeholders involved, and illustrate the application of our framework by focusing on marine animals and by providing examples of the workflow across all data levels, providing data examples, including filled templates and code to process data between levels, as well as templates to prepare netCDF files ready for sharing. Adoption of our framework will facilitate collection of Essential Ocean Variables (EOVs) in support of the Global Ocean Observing System (GOOS) and inter‐governmental assessments (e.g., the World Ocean Assessment), and will provide a starting point for broader efforts to establish interoperable bio‐logging data formats across all fields in animal ecology.

A combination of recent intensive observations and simulations with two numerical models is used to revisit the issue of the northern Adriatic response to strong bora episodes. New observed and simulated data reinforce the view that an episode of strong bora wind provokes a double‐gyre (cyclonic, Trieste, and anticyclonic, Rovinj) response north of the Po Delta ‐ Pula line. During an intense bora episode, both measured and modeled statistics picture a downwind, highly polarized, and almost depth‐independent flow within the Trieste gyre NW arm. Its NE arm maintains a sharp polarization and strong depth dependence while exhibiting lower speeds, with models in good accord with observations. The current statistics for Rovinj gyre provide lower maximum and average speed values and less polarized but still rather depth‐independent flow, while exhibiting clockwise rotation. The north arm of the Senj gyre (positioned south of the Po Delta–Pula line) enjoys more lateral freedom, and exhibits less rectilinear flow. Our review reinforces the notion that modeling studies based on ECMWF wind forcing fail to properly take into account the orographic control of the Dinaric Alps, and to produce correct bora‐induced gyral pattern. The COAMPS^® model successfully simulated the onset, duration, and decay of the wind peaks, but exhibited a tendency to overpredict the strength of the bora wind. Our simulations have identified the shallow NW coastal strip as an important source of colder water observed in a sequence of remotely sensed SST fields derived from AVHRR data.

The primary goal of this study was to incorporate data-derived harmonic constants into a complex dynamic model using a form of variational data assimilation, with a view to improve the prediction of 7 dominant tidal constituents in the Adriatic Sea. Firstly, harmonic-constant data for 6 Adriatic stations were fed into a steady-state, 3-D, forward/inverse model to furnish optimal boundary conditions (OBCs). Calculated OBCs were then used to derive individual constituent responses, as well as to synthesise seven-constituent boundary conditions for the time stepping, 3-D model. A separate set of 25 stations provided control harmonic constant data. In validating the model output particular attention has been given to the often-ignored tidal currents. To that end 14 current meter data records were processed into tidal current ellipse parameters and used to examine the comparable model output. Comparison to gauge data has shown that the present solution is better than our own previous one, and shows an improvement over recent solutions by other authors. The model accurately reproduces available data with individual station amplitude differences rarely exceeding 1cm, and with the phase error commonly staying well below 10°. For all tidal constituents individual station differences result in RMSE in the 0.33-0.71-cm range for amplitude, and the 5.6°-19.2° range for phase. Semidiurnal currents appear to be modelled better than the diurnal ones (generally over-predicted). High eccentricity of both data and model-derived ellipses often impaired calculating the proper sense of rotation; inclination of the ellipses proved to be the most robust parameter, successfully predicted for most constituents at all depths.