Grid of CTD stations with a step of 1/2 degree both in longitude and in latitude, covering the following areas: Sicily Channel, Ionian Sea, Southern Adriatic and Levantine Basin. In some zones the grid step has a finer resolution.

Salinity of the water column; Horizontal velocity of the water column (currents)

Discrete water samplers; CTD

The CTD data were collected in the framework of a research program scheduled to reach a comprehensive knowledge of the physical, chemical and biological oceanography of the Eastern Mediterranean. The original CTD data were controlled, analyzed and worked up by the originator who holds the principal quality control responsibility. Nevertheless before the dataset has been considered as part of the database it has been submitted to a pre-processing procedure. The high resolution data of each station were averaged over 1 dbar pressure interval. The salinity has been computed according to the practical salinity scale of 1978. The data are stored as depth series per station, per cruise and ship (institution). The CTD stations were occupied during synoptic seasonal cruises, internationally coordinated and covering the whole above mentioned area: POEM01-ON85 (4 cruises), 142 stations; POEM02-MA86 (7 cruises), 334 stations; POEM03-ON86 (3 cruises), 157 stations; POEM04-MA87 (5 cruises), 223 stations; POEM05-AS87 (5 cruises), 427 stations; POEM-IT (86-90) (8 cruises), 642 stations; POEMBC-O91 (5 cruises), 393 stations; POEMBC-A92 (2 cruises), 229 stations; POEMBC-A93 (1 crociera), 72 stations; POEMBC-LIWEX95 (3 phases), 148 stations. The data set comprises about 2800 vertical profiles and includes data supplied by the following institutions: a) Israel Oceanographic and Limnological Research, Haifa (Israel); b) Institute of Marine Sciences (METU), Erdemli (Turkey); c) National Center for Marine Research, Athens (Greece); d) Osservatorio Geofisico Sperimentale, Trieste (Italy); e) Istituto Ricerche Pesca Marittima, Ancona (Italy); f) Dipartimento di Fisica dell'Universita', Roma (Italy); g) Istituto Universitario Navale, Napoli (Italy); h) Institute of Oceanography and Fisheries, Split (Croatia); i) Ministry of Agriculture - Fisheries Department, Nicosia (Cyprus).

National Institute of Oceanography and Applied Geophysics - OGS, Division of Oceanography
Borgo Grotta Gigante 42/c
Sgonico (Trieste)

34010
Italy