Sicily Channel Observatory

Sicily Channel 1 (C01)

Posizione: 37.380° N, 11.591° E

Codice WMO: 6101021

Deep submarine multidisciplinary station managed by ISMAR, positioned between the Sicily and Tunisia coast, at about 450 m deep, off the wide continental shelf at the western sill of Sicily Strait. It is dedicated to long term monitoring of surface and intermediate circulation and water exchanges between the eastern and western Mediterranean basins. It has been active since 1993, initially equipped with traditional current meters, actually provides current vertical profiles throughout the water column with ADCP. At the bottom depth, it is equipped by high precision CTD probes to provide continuous measurement over time of water masses thermohaline properties. The site is part of the CIESM Hydrochanges project and participated in the JERICO/JERICO-NEXT transnational access project (EU FP7 G.A. n. 262584 e EU H2020 G.A. n. 654410).
The station has been equipped with sensors for multiparametric measurements (temperature, salinity, oxygen, turbidity and pCO2), through the structural funds of the PAC project. Furthermore, in order to allow the transfer of data in real time, a process of transformation into inductive mooring was tested.

Sicily Channel 2 (C02)

Position: 37.285° N, 11.5° E

Code WMO: 6101022

Deep submarine multidisciplinary station managed by ISMAR, positioned between the Sicily and Tunisia coast, at 530 m deep, about 20 nautical miles west of the site C01 at the western sill of Sicily Strait. It is dedicated to long term monitoring of surface and intermediate circulation and water exchanges between the eastern and western Mediterranean basins. It has been active since 1993, initially equipped with traditional current meters, actually provides current vertical profiles throughout the water column with ADCP. At the bottom depth, it is equipped by high precision CTD probes to provide continuous measurement over time of water masses thermohaline properties. The site is part of the CIESM Hydrochanges project and participated in the JERICO/JERICO-NEXT transnational access project (EU FP7 G.A. n. 262584 e EU H2020 G.A. n. 654410).

Astraldi, M., Gasparini, G.P., Sparnocchia, S., Moretti, M. and Sansone, E.: The characteristics of the water masses and the water transport in the Sicily Strait at long time scales. In Dynamics of Mediterranean Straits and Channels, F. Briand (ed.), Bulletin del l’Institut Océanographique, Monaco, no spécial 17, CIESM Science Series no 2,  95-115, 1996.

Gasparini, G.P., Smeed, D.A., Alderson, S., Sparnocchia, S., Vetrano, A. and Mazzola, S.: Tidal and subtidal currents in the Strait of Sicily, J. Geophys. Res., 109, C02011, doi:10.1029/2003JC002011, 2004.

Gasparini, G.P., Schroeder, K. and Sparnocchia, S.: Straits and Channels as key regions of an integrated marine observatory of the Mediterranean: our experience on their long-term monitoring. In Towards an integrated system of Mediterranean marine observatories, F. Briand (Ed.), CIESM Workshop Monographs, No 34, 75-79, 2008.

Schroeder, K. et al.: Long-term monitoring programme of the hydrological variability in the Mediterranean Sea: a first overview of the HYDROCHANGES network.  Ocean Sci., 9, 301–324, 2013, doi:10.5194/os-9-301-2013.