The coastal scale observing system component of ADRICOSM: Gulf of Trieste network

In the framework of the ADRICOSM project, from October 2002 to September 2003, a coastal observing system network was set up in the Gulf of Trieste. During this period, 36 CTD cruises were performed over a grid of 19 stations. An accurate data acquisition and quality check protocol was implemented for data decimation and smoothing. However, data analysis showed that conductivity/ salinity spikes were recorded at the depth of the very sharp thermocline observed in summer 2003. The exceptionally high salinity waters and the marked thermocline observed in the Gulf of Trieste in spring and summer 2003 directed us to compare the distributions of the temperature and salinity fields observed during ADRICOSM cruises with the available climatological values of the Gulf of Trieste, in order to assess whether the data collected during this research deviated significantly from the climatology.