'''Short description:''' The Mean Dynamic Topography MDT-CMEMS_2020_MED is an estimate of the mean over the 1993-2012 period of the sea surface height above geoid for the Mediterranean Sea. This is consistent with the reference time period also used in the SSALTO DUACS products '''DOI (product) :''' https://doi.org/10.48670/moi-00151

'''Short description:''' Near Real-Time mono-mission satellite-based 2D full wave spectral product. These very complete products enable to characterise spectrally the direction, wave length and multiple sea Sates along CFOSAT track (in boxes of 70km/90km left and right from the nadir pointing). The data format are 2D directionnal matrices. They also include integrated parameters (Hs, direction, wavelength) from the spectrum with and without partitions. '''DOI (product) :''' https://doi.org/10.48670/mds-00382

'''This product has been archived''' For operationnal and online products, please visit https://marine.copernicus.eu '''Short description:''' The Global Ocean Satellite monitoring and marine ecosystem study group (GOS) of the Italian National Research Council (CNR), in Rome, distributes Level-4 product including the daily interpolated chlorophyll field with no data voids starting from the multi-sensor (MODIS-Aqua, NOAA-20-VIIRS, NPP-VIIRS, Sentinel3A-OLCI at 300m of resolution) (at 1 km resolution) and the monthly averaged chlorophyll concentration for the multi-sensor (at 1 km resolution) and Sentinel-OLCI Level-3 (at 300m resolution). Chlorophyll field are obtained by means of the Mediterranean regional algorithms: an updated version of the MedOC4 (Case 1 waters, Volpe et al., 2019, with new coefficients) and AD4 (Case 2 waters, Berthon and Zibordi, 2004). Discrimination between the two water types is performed by comparing the satellite spectrum with the average water type spectral signature from in situ measurements for both water types. Reference insitu dataset is MedBiOp (Volpe et al., 2019) where pure Case II spectra are selected using a k-mean cluster analysis (Melin et al., 2015). Merging of Case I and Case II information is performed estimating the Mahalanobis distance between the observed and reference spectra and using it as weight for the final merged value. The interpolated gap-free Level-4 Chl concentration is estimated by means of a modified version of the DINEOF algorithm by GOS (Volpe et al., 2018). DINEOF is an iterative procedure in which EOF are used to reconstruct the entire field domain. As first guess, it uses the SeaWiFS-derived daily climatological values at missing pixels and satellite observations at valid pixels. The other Level-4 dataset is the time averages of the L3 fields and includes the standard deviation and the number of observations in the monthly period of integration. '''Processing information:''' Multi-sensor products are constituted by MODIS-AQUA, NOAA20-VIIRS, NPP-VIIRS and Sentinel3A-OLCI. For consistency with NASA L2 dataset, BRDF correction was applied to Sentinel3A-OLCI prior to band shifting and multi sensor merging. Hence, the single sensor OLCI data set is also distributed after BRDF correction. Single sensor NASA Level-2 data are destriped and then all Level-2 data are remapped at 1 km spatial resolution (300m for Sentinel3A-OLCI) using cylindrical equirectangular projection. Afterwards, single sensor Rrs fields are band-shifted, over the SeaWiFS native bands (using the QAAv6 model, Lee et al., 2002) and merged with a technique aimed at smoothing the differences among different sensors. This technique is developed by The Global Ocean Satellite monitoring and marine ecosystem study group (GOS) of the Italian National Research Council (CNR, Rome). Then geophysical fields (i.e. chlorophyll, kd490, bbp, aph and adg) are estimated via state-of-the-art algorithms for better product quality. Level-4 includes both monthly time averages and the daily-interpolated fields. Time averages are computed on the delayed-time data. The interpolated product starts from the L3 products at 1 km resolution. At the first iteration, DINEOF procedure uses, as first guess for each of the missing pixels the relative daily climatological pixel. A procedure to smooth out spurious spatial gradients is applied to the daily merged image (observation and climatology). From the second iteration, the procedure uses, as input for the next one, the field obtained by the EOF calculation, using only a number of modes: that is, at the second round, only the first two modes, at the third only the first three, and so on. At each iteration, the same smoothing procedure is applied between EOF output and initial observations. The procedure stops when the variance explained by the current EOF mode exceeds that of noise. '''Description of observation methods/instruments:''' Ocean colour technique exploits the emerging electromagnetic radiation from the sea surface in different wavelengths. The spectral variability of this signal defines the so-called ocean colour which is affected by the pre+D2sence of phytoplankton. '''Quality / Accuracy / Calibration information:''' A detailed description of the calibration and validation activities performed over this product can be found on the CMEMS web portal. '''Suitability, Expected type of users / uses:''' This product is meant for use for educational purposes and for the managing of the marine safety, marine resources, marine and coastal environment and for climate and seasonal studies. '''Dataset names:''' *dataset-oc-med-chl-multi-l4-chl_1km_monthly-rt-v02 *dataset-oc-med-chl-multi-l4-interp_1km_daily-rt-v02 *dataset-oc-med-chl-olci-l4-chl_300m_monthly-rt-v02 '''Files format:''' *CF-1.4 *INSPIRE compliant '''DOI (product) :''' https://doi.org/10.48670/moi-00113

'''Short description:''' For the Mediterranean Sea - The product contains daily Level-3 sea surface wind with a 1km horizontal pixel spacing using Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) observations and their collocated European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF) model outputs. Products are processed homogeneously starting from the L2OCN products. '''DOI (product) :''' https://doi.org/10.48670/mds-00342

'''DEFINITION''' This product includes the Mediterranean Sea satellite chlorophyll trend map based on regional chlorophyll reprocessed (MY) product as distributed by CMEMS OC-TAC (OCEANCOLOUR_MED_BGC_L3_NRT_009_141). This dataset, derived from multi-sensor (SeaStar-SeaWiFS, AQUA-MODIS, NOAA20-VIIRS, NPP-VIIRS, Envisat-MERIS and Sentinel3-OLCI) (at 1 km resolution) Rrs spectra produced by CNR using an in-house processing chain, is obtained by means of the Mediterranean Ocean Colour regional algorithms: an updated version of the MedOC4 (Case 1 (off-shore) waters, Volpe et al., 2019, with new coefficients) and AD4 (Case 2 (coastal) waters, Berthon and Zibordi, 2004). The processing chain and the techniques used for algorithms merging are detailed in Colella et al. (2023). The trend map is obtained by applying Colella et al. (2016) methodology, where the Mann-Kendall test (Mann, 1945; Kendall, 1975) and Sens’s method (Sen, 1968) are applied on deseasonalized monthly time series, as obtained from the X-11 technique (see e. g. Pezzulli et al. 2005), to estimate, trend magnitude and its significance. The trend is expressed in % per year that represents the relative changes (i.e., percentage) corresponding to the dimensional trend [mg m-3 y-1] with respect to the reference climatology (1997-2014). Only significant trends (p < 0.05) are included. This OMI has been introduced since the 2nd issue of Ocean State Report in 2017. '''CONTEXT''' Phytoplankton are key actors in the carbon cycle and, as such, recognised as an Essential Climate Variable (ECV). Chlorophyll concentration - as a proxy for phytoplankton - respond rapidly to changes in environmental conditions, such as light, temperature, nutrients and mixing (Colella et al. 2016). The character of the response depends on the nature of the change drivers, and ranges from seasonal cycles to decadal oscillations (Basterretxea et al. 2018). The Mediterranean Sea is an oligotrophic basin, where chlorophyll concentration decreases following a specific gradient from West to East (Colella et al. 2016). The highest concentrations are observed in coastal areas and at the river mouths, where the anthropogenic pressure and nutrient loads impact on the eutrophication regimes (Colella et al. 2016). The the use of long-term time series of consistent, well-calibrated, climate-quality data record is crucial for detecting eutrophication. Furthermore, chlorophyll analysis also demands the use of robust statistical temporal decomposition techniques, in order to separate the long-term signal from the seasonal component of the time series. '''KEY FINDINGS''' The chlorophyll trend in the Mediterranean Sea for the 1997–2024 period confirms the findings of the previous release, with predominantly negative values observed across most of the basin. On average, the region shows a trend of approximately -0.77% per year, slightly more negative than the overall trend reported previously. As in earlier assessments, weak positive trends persist in specific areas such as the northern Aegean Sea and the Sicily Channel. Compared to the 1997–2023 period, new positive trends are now evident in the Gulf of Lion. In contrast to the findings of Salgado-Hernanz et al. (2019), which were based on satellite observations from 1998 to 2014, this analysis does not reveal a distinct difference between the western and eastern Mediterranean basins. Notably, the Ligurian Sea now exhibits a negative trend, diverging from the positive trends identified by Colella et al. (2016) for the 1998–2009 period and by Salgado-Hernanz et al. (2019) for 1998–2014. Similarly, the waters of the Northern Adriatic Sea show weak positive trends, differing from the strong negative trend previously reported by Colella et al. (2016), and also representing a shift from the positive values observed by Salgado-Hernanz et al. (2019). '''DOI (product):''' https://doi.org/10.48670/moi-00260

'''This product has been archived''' For operationnal and online products, please visit https://marine.copernicus.eu '''Short description:''' The Global Ocean Satellite monitoring and marine ecosystem study group (GOS) of the Italian National Research Council (CNR), in Rome operationally distributes Remote Sensing Reflectances (Rrs) and diffuse attenuation coefficient of light at 490 nm (kd490) data. These datasets derived from Rrs multi-sensor (MODIS-AQUA, NOAA20-VIIRS, NPP-VIIRS, Sentinel3A-OLCI) spectra at the state-of-the-art algorithms for multi-sensor merging. Single sensor Rrs fields are band-shifted, over the SeaWiFS native bands (using the QAAv6 model, Lee et al., 2002) and merged with a technique aimed at smoothing the differences among different sensors. Reprocessed (multi-year) products are consistent and homogeneous in terms of format, algorithms and processing software. Rrs is defined as the ratio of upwelling radiance and downwelling irradiance at any wavelength (412, 443, 490, 555, and 670 nm). Kd490 is defined as the diffuse attenuation coefficient of light at 490 nm, and is a measure of the turbidity of the water column, i.e., how visible light in the blue-green region of the spectrum penetrates within the water column. It is directly related to the presence of scattering particles in the water column and is estimated through the ratio between Rrs at 490 and 555 nm. Kd490 is achieved via Mediterranean regional algorithm developed by GOS on the basis of MedBiOp in situ dataset (Volpe et al., 2019). The current day data temporal consistency is evaluated as Quality Index (QI): QI=(CurrentDataPixel-ClimatologyDataPixel)/STDDataPixel where QI is the difference between current data and the relevant climatological field as a signed multiple of climatological standard deviations (STDDataPixel). Inherent Optical Properties (aph443, adg443 and bbp443 at 443nm) are derived via QAAv6 model. '''Processing information:''' Multi-sensor product is constituted by MODIS-AQUA, NOAA20-VIIRS, NPP-VIIRS and Sentinel3A-OLCI. For consistency with NASA L2 dataset, BRDF correction was applied to Sentinel3A-OLCI prior to band shifting and multi sensor merging. Single sensor NASA Level-2 data are destriped and then all Level-2 data are remapped at 1 km spatial resolution using cylindrical equirectangular projection. Afterwards, single sensor Rrs fields are band-shifted, over the SeaWiFS native bands (using the QAAv6 model, Lee et al., 2002) and merged with a technique aimed at smoothing the differences among different sensors. This technique is developed by The Global Ocean Satellite monitoring and marine ecosystem study group (GOS) of the Italian National Research Council (CNR, Rome). Then geophysical fields (i.e. chlorophyll and kd490, bbp, aph and adg) are estimated via state-of-the-art algorithms for better product quality. The entire data set is consistent and processed in one-shot mode (with an unique software version and identical configurations). '''Description of observation methods/instruments:''' Ocean colour technique exploits the emerging electromagnetic radiation from the sea surface in different wavelengths. The spectral variability of this signal defines the so-called ocean colour which is affected by the presence of phytoplankton. '''Quality / Accuracy / Calibration information:''' A detailed description of the calibration and validation activities performed over this product can be found on the CMEMS web portal. '''Suitability, Expected type of users / uses:''' This product is meant for use for educational purposes and for the managing of the marine safety, marine resources, marine and coastal environment and for climate and seasonal studies. '''Dataset names:''' * dataset-oc-med-opt-multi-l3-rrs412_1km_daily-rep-v02 * dataset-oc-med-opt-multi-l3-rrs443_1km_daily-rep-v02 * dataset-oc-med-opt-multi-l3-rrs490_1km_daily-rep-v02 * dataset-oc-med-opt-multi-l3-rrs510_1km_daily-rep-v02 * dataset-oc-med-opt-multi-l3-rrs555_1km_daily-rep-v02 * dataset-oc-med-opt-multi-l3-rrs670_1km_daily-rep-v02 * dataset-oc-med-opt-multi-l3-kd490_1km_daily-rep-v02 * dataset-oc-med-opt-multi-l3-bbp443_1km_daily-rep-v02 * dataset-oc-med-opt-multi-l3-adg443_1km_daily-rep-v02 * dataset-oc-med-opt-multi-l3-aph443_1km_daily-rep-v02 '''Files format:''' *CF-1.4 *INSPIRE compliant '''DOI (product) :''' https://doi.org/10.48670/moi-00116

'''DEFINITION''' Ocean salt content (OSC) is defined and represented here as the volume average of the integral of salinity in the Mediterranean Sea from z1 = 0 m to z2 = 300 m depth: ¯S=1/V ∫V S dV Time series of annual mean values area averaged ocean salt content are provided for the Mediterranean Sea (30°N, 46°N; 6°W, 36°E) and are evaluated in the upper 300m excluding the shelf areas close to the coast with a depth less than 300 m. The total estimated volume is approximately 5.7e+5 km3. '''CONTEXT''' The freshwater input from the land (river runoff) and atmosphere (precipitation) and inflow from the Black Sea and the Atlantic Ocean are balanced by the evaporation in the Mediterranean Sea. Evolution of the salt content may have an impact in the ocean circulation and dynamics which possibly will have implication on the entire Earth climate system. Thus monitoring changes in the salinity content is essential considering its link to changes in: the hydrological cycle, the water masses formation, the regional halosteric sea level and salt/freshwater transport, as well as for their impact on marine biodiversity. The OMI_CLIMATE_OSC_MEDSEA_volume_mean is based on the “multi-product” approach introduced in the seventh issue of the Ocean State Report (contribution by Aydogdu et al., 2023). Note that the estimates in Aydogdu et al. (2023) are provided monthly while here we evaluate the results per year. Six global products and a regional (Mediterranean Sea) product have been used to build an ensemble mean, and its associated ensemble spread. The reference products are: • The Mediterranean Sea Reanalysis at 1/24°horizontal resolution (MEDSEA_MULTIYEAR_PHY_006_004, DOI: https://doi.org/10.25423/CMCC/MEDSEA_MULTIYEAR_PHY_006_004_E3R1, Escudier et al., 2020) • Four global reanalyses at 1/4°horizontal resolution (GLOBAL_REANALYSIS_PHY_001_031, GLORYS, C-GLORS, ORAS5, FOAM, DOI: https://doi.org/10.48670/moi-00024, Desportes et al., 2022) • Two observation-based products: CORA (INSITU_GLO_TS_REP_OBSERVATIONS_013_001_b, DOI: https://doi.org/10.17882/46219, Szekely et al., 2022) and ARMOR3D (MULTIOBS_GLO_PHY_TSUV_3D_MYNRT_015_012, DOI: https://doi.org/10.48670/moi-00052, Grenier et al., 2021). Details on the products are delivered in the PUM and QUID of this OMI. '''CMEMS KEY FINDINGS''' The Mediterranean Sea salt content shows a positive trend in the upper 300 m with a continuous increase over the period 1993-2021 at rate of 7.0*10-3 ±3.1*10-4 psu yr-1. The overall ensemble mean of different products is 38.57 psu. During the early 1990s in the entire Mediterranean Sea there is a large spread in salinity with the observational based datasets showing a higher salinity, while the reanalysis products present relatively lower salinity. The maximum spread between the period 1993–2021 occurs in the 1990s with a value of 0.12 psu, and it decreases to as low as 0.02 psu by the end of the 2010s. '''DOI (product):''' https://doi.org/10.48670/mds-00325

'''Short description:''' This product provides daily (nighttime), gap-free (Level-4, L4) maps of foundation Sea Surface Temperature (SST) - that is, the SST free from diurnal warming - over the Mediterranean Sea, at high (HR, 1/16°) and ultra-high (UHR, 1/100°) spatial resolutions, covering the period from 2008 to present. Each map represents nighttime SST values (centered at 00:00 UTC) and is produced by the Italian National Research Council – Institute of Marine Sciences (CNR-ISMAR). L4 maps are generated by selecting only the highest-quality SST observations from upstream Level-2 (L2) data acquired within a short local nighttime window, in order to minimize cloud contamination and avoid the effects of the diurnal cycle. The main L2 sources currently ingested include SLSTR from Sentinel-3A and -3B, VIIRS from NOAA-21, NOAA-20, and Suomi-NPP, AVHRR from Metop-B and -C, and SEVIRI. A two-step algorithm allows to interpolate SST data at high and ultra-high spatial resolution, applying statistical techniques (Buongiorno Nardelli et al., 2013; Buongiorno Nardelli et al., 2015). Additionally, from 2024 onwards, an improved first-guess field has been used in the generation of the MED UHR L4 data, enhancing the product's spatial resolution of SST features and the accuracy of SST gradients via machine learning techniques (Fanelli et al., 2024). '''DOI (product) :''' https://doi.org/10.48670/moi-00172

'''This product has been archived''' For operationnal and online products, please visit https://marine.copernicus.eu '''Short description:''' The Global Ocean Satellite monitoring and marine ecosystem study group (GOS) of the Italian National Research Council (CNR), in Rome, distributes Level-4 product including the daily interpolated chlorophyll field with no data voids starting from the multi-sensor (MODIS-Aqua, NOAA-20-VIIRS, NPP-VIIRS, Sentinel3A-OLCI), the monthly averaged chlorophyll concentration for the multi-sensor and climatological fields, all at 1 km resolution. Chlorophyll field are obtained by means of the Mediterranean regional algorithms: an updated version of the MedOC4 (Case 1 waters, Volpe et al., 2019, with new coefficients) and AD4 (Case 2 waters, Berthon and Zibordi, 2004). Discrimination between the two water types is performed by comparing the satellite spectrum with the average water type spectral signature from in situ measurements for both water types. Reference insitu dataset is MedBiOp (Volpe et al., 2019) where pure Case II spectra are selected using a k-mean cluster analysis (Melin et al., 2015). Merging of Case I and Case II information is performed estimating the Mahalanobis distance between the observed and reference spectra and using it as weight for the final merged value. The interpolated gap-free Level-4 Chl concentration is estimated by means of a modified version of the DINEOF algorithm by GOS (Volpe et al., 2018). DINEOF is an iterative procedure in which EOF are used to reconstruct the entire field domain. As first guess, it uses the SeaWiFS-derived daily climatological values at missing pixels and satellite observations at valid pixels. Monthly Level-4 dataset is the time averages of the L3 fields and includes the standard deviation and the number of observations in the monthly period of integration. SeaWiFS daily climatology provides reference for the calculation of Quality Indices (QI) for Chl observations. '''Processing information:''' Multi-sensor product is constituted by MODIS-AQUA, NOAA20-VIIRS, NPP-VIIRS and Sentinel3A-OLCI. For consistency with NASA L2 dataset, BRDF correction was applied to Sentinel3A-OLCI prior to band shifting and multi sensor merging. Single sensor NASA Level-2 data are destriped and then all Level-2 data are remapped at 1 km spatial resolution using cylindrical equirectangular projection. Afterwards, single sensor Rrs fields are band-shifted, over the SeaWiFS native bands (using the QAAv6 model, Lee et al., 2002) and merged with a technique aimed at smoothing the differences among different sensors. This technique is developed by The Global Ocean Satellite monitoring and marine ecosystem study group (GOS) of the Italian National Research Council (CNR, Rome). Then geophysical fields (i.e. chlorophyll) are estimated via state-of-the-art algorithms for better product quality. Level-4 includes both monthly time averages and the daily-interpolated fields. Time averages are computed on the delayed-time data. The interpolated product starts from the L3 products at 1 km resolution. At the first iteration, DINEOF procedure uses, as first guess for each of the missing pixels the relative daily climatological pixel. A procedure to smooth out spurious spatial gradients is applied to the daily merged image (observation and climatology). From the second iteration, the procedure uses, as input for the next one, the field obtained by the EOF calculation, using only a number of modes: that is, at the second round, only the first two modes, at the third only the first three, and so on. At each iteration, the same smoothing procedure is applied between EOF output and initial observations. The procedure stops when the variance explained by the current EOF mode exceeds that of noise. The entire data set is consistent and processed in one-shot mode (with an unique software version and identical configurations). For the climatology Rrs data are derived from the latest SeaWiFS NASA reprocessing (R2018.0) and converted to chlorophyll concentrations with the same algorithm as the one used for other L4 and/or L3 products. '''Description of observation methods/instruments:''' Ocean color technique exploits the emerging electromagnetic radiation from the sea surface in different wavelengths. The spectral variability of this signal defines the so called ocean color which is affected by the presence of phytoplankton. '''Quality / Accuracy / Calibration information:''' A detailed description of both the cal/val and a more in depth view of the method is given in QUID-009-038to045-071-073-078-079-095-096.pdf over Copernicus web portal. '''Suitability, Expected type of users / uses:''' This product is meant for use for educational purposes and for the managing of the marine safety, marine resources, marine and coastal environment and for climate and seasonal studies. '''Dataset names:''' *dataset-oc-med-chl-multi-l4-chl_1km_monthly-rep-v02 *dataset-oc-med-chl-multi-l4-interp_1km_daily-rep *dataset-oc-med-chl-seawifs-l4-chl_1km_daily-climatology-v02 '''Files format:''' *CF-1.4 *INSPIRE compliant. '''DOI (product) :''' https://doi.org/10.48670/moi-00114

'''DEFINITION''' The Mediterranean water mass formation rates are evaluated in 4 areas as defined in the Ocean State Report issue 2 (OSR2, von Schuckmann et al., 2018) section 3.4 (Simoncelli and Pinardi, 2018): (1) the Gulf of Lions for the Western Mediterranean Deep Waters (WMDW); (2) the Southern Adriatic Sea Pit for the Eastern Mediterranean Deep Waters (EMDW); (3) the Cretan Sea for Cretan Intermediate Waters (CIW) and Cretan Deep Waters (CDW); (4) the Rhodes Gyre, the area of formation of the so-called Levantine Intermediate Waters (LIW) and Levantine Deep Waters (LDW). Annual water mass formation rates have been computed using daily mixed layer depth estimates (density criteria Δσ = 0.01 kg/m3, 10 m reference level) considering the annual maximum volume of water above mixed layer depth with potential density within or higher the specific thresholds specified in Table 1 then divided by seconds per year. Annual mean values are provided using the Mediterranean 1/24o eddy resolving reanalysis (Escudier et al. 2020, 2021). Time spans from 1987 to the year preceding the current one [-1Y], operationally extended yearly. '''CONTEXT''' The formation of intermediate and deep water masses is one of the most important processes occurring in the Mediterranean Sea, being a component of its general overturning circulation. This circulation varies at interannual and multidecadal time scales and it is composed of an upper zonal cell (Zonal Overturning Circulation) and two main meridional cells in the western and eastern Mediterranean (Pinardi and Masetti 2000). The objective is to monitor the main water mass formation events using the eddy resolving Mediterranean Sea Reanalysis (MEDSEA_MULTIYEAR_PHY_006_004, Escudier et al. 2020, 2021) and considering Pinardi et al. (2015) and Simoncelli and Pinardi (2018) as references for the methodology. The Mediterranean Sea Reanalysis can reproduce both Eastern Mediterranean Transient and Western Mediterranean Transition phenomena and catches the principal water mass formation events reported in the literature. This will permit constant monitoring of the open ocean deep convection process in the Mediterranean Sea and a better understanding of the multiple drivers of the general overturning circulation at interannual and multidecadal time scales. Deep and intermediate water formation events reveal themselves by a deep mixed layer depth distribution in four Mediterranean areas: Gulf of Lions, Southern Adriatic Sea Pit, Cretan Sea and Rhodes Gyre. '''KEY FINDINGS''' The Western Mediterranean Deep Water (WMDW) formation events in the Gulf of Lion appear to be larger after 1999 consistently with Schroeder et al. (2006, 2008) related to the Eastern Mediterranean Transient event. This modification of WMDW after 2005 has been called Western Mediterranean Transition. WMDW formation events are consistent with Somot et al. (2016) and the event in 2009 is also reported in Houpert et al. (2016). The Eastern Mediterranean Deep Water (EMDW) formation in the Southern Adriatic Pit region displays a period of water mass formation between 1988 and 1993, in agreement with Pinardi et al. (2015), in 1996, 1999 and 2000 as documented by Manca et al. (2002). Weak deep water formation in winter 2006 is confirmed by observations in Vilibić and Šantić (2008). An intense deep water formation event is detected in 2012-2013 (Gačić et al., 2014). Last years are characterized by large events starting from 2017 (Mihanovic et al., 2021). Cretan Intermediate Water formation rates present larger peaks between 1989 and 1993 with the ones in 1992 and 1993 composing the Eastern Mediterranean Transient phenomena. The Cretan Deep Water formed in 1992 and 1993 is characterized by the highest densities of the entire period in accordance with Velaoras et al. (2014). The Levantine Deep Water formation rate in the Rhode Gyre region presents the largest values between 1992 and 1993 in agreement with Kontoyiannis et al. (1999). '''DOI (product):''' https://doi.org/10.48670/mds-00318