Adriatic Sea (North Central) - Environment

Three main water types have been identified in the Adriatic Sea (Artegiani et al. 1997a): the Surface Water (SW), the Deep Water (DW) and the Modified Levantine Intermediate Waters (MLIW), and the general circulation is baroclinic (Artegiani et al. 1997b). Owing to river runoff (mainly by the Po River located in the northwest) and the oceanographic conditions, the region exhibits a decreasing trend in nutrient concentration and production from north to south and from west to east (Fonda Umani 1996, Zavatarelli et al. 1998). The substrate is characterised by muddy to sandy bottoms (Brambati et al., 1983). The area has a mean depth of 75 m, with 30 m depth in the north, and its maximum depth is registered in the Pomo Pit as 280 m deep.