Variations of thermal conditions in the southern Adriatic from XBT measurements in the period October 2002-June 2003

XBT measurements along two sections in the southern Adriatic carried out from the preconditioning through spreading phase of the deep convection in the season 2002/03 enabled us to describe in detail the process of dense water formation. In autumn, thermal conditions revealed a prominent doming structure and cyclonic circulation in the area that strengthened the inflow of Ionian waters. In March, the vertical convection reached 600 m depth but the air-sea heat and buoyancy losses were mitigated by the horizontal advection of buoyancy. Comparison with previously collected data reveals that the temperature of the mixed water patch shows a continuous interannual increasing trend noticed in the last decade.