water renewal between 2004 and 2006, Geophys. Res. Lett., 35, L18605, doi:10.1029/2008GL035146, 2008.

Schroeder, K., Josey, S. A., Herrmann, M., Grignon, L., Gasparini, G. P., and Bryden, H. L.: Abrupt warming and salting of the Western Mediterranean Deep Water after 2005: atmospheric forcings and lateral advection, J. Geophys. Res., C08029, doi:10.1029/2009JC005749, 2010.

Schroeder, K., Garcia-Lafuente, J., Josey, S. A., Artale, V., Buongiorno Nardelli, B., Carrillo, A., Gacic, M., Gasparini, G. P., Herrmann, M., Lionello, P., Ludwig, W., Millot, C., Ozsoy, E., Pisacane, G., Sanchez-Garrido, J. C., Sannino, G., Santoleri, R., Somot, S., Struglia, M., Stanev, E., Taupier-Letage, I., Tsimplis, M. N., Vargas-Yanez, M., Zervakis, V., and Zodiatis, G.: Climate of the Mediterranean Region – From the past to the future, edited by: Lionello, P., Elsevier, 187–256, 2012.

Send, U., Font, J., Krahmann, G., Millot, C., Rhein, M., and Tintore, J.: Recent advances in observing the physical oceanography of the western Mediterranean Sea, Prog. Oceangr., 44, 37–64, 1999.

Shea, K. and Chesson, P.: Community ecology theory as a framework for biological invasions, TRENDS in Ecology Evolution, 17, 170–176, 2002.

Signell, R. P., Carniel, S., Cavaleri, L., Chiggiato, J., Doyle, J., Pullen, J., and Sclavo, M.: Assessment of wind quality for oceanographic modeling in semi-enclosed basins, J. Marine Syst., 53, 217–233, doi:10.1016/j.jmarsys.2004.03.006, 2005.

Siokou-Frangou, I., Zervoudaki, S., Christou, E. D., Zervakis, V., and Georgopoulos, D.: Variability of mesozooplankton spatial distribution in the North Aegean Sea, as influenced by the Black Sea waters outflow, J. Marine Syst., 78, 557–575, 2009.

Sprovieri, M., Pelosi, N., Sprovieri, R., Incarbona, A., and Ribera d'Alcalà, M.: L'elevuazione del clima nell'area mediterranea durante l'intervallo 20000-70000 anni, in Clima e Cambiamenti Climatic: le Attività di Ricerca del CNR, edited by: Carli, B., Cavarretta, G., Colacino, M., and Fuzzi, S., Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche, Rome, 177-180, 2007.

Stammer, D.: Global characteristics of ocean variability estimated from regional TOPEX/POSEIDON altimeter measurements, J. Phys. Oceanogr., 27, 1743–1769, 1997.

Stommel, H.: Thermohaline convection with two stable regimes of flow, Tellus, 2, 224–230, 1961.

Sullivan, J. M., McManus, M. A., Cheriton, O. M., Benoit-Bird, K. J., Goodman, L., Wang, Z., Ryan, J. P., Stacey, M., Van Holliday, D., Greenlaw, C., Moline, M. A., and McFarland, M.: Layered organization in the coastal ocean: an introduction to planktonic thin layers and the LOCO project, Cont. Shelf Res., 30, 1–6, 2010.

Sur, H., Özsoy, E., and Ünlüata, Ü.: Simultaneous deep and intermediate depth convection in the Northern Levantine Sea, Winter 1992, Oceanol. Acta, 16, 33–43, 1993.

Taupier-Letage, I., Puillat, I., Millot, C., and Raimbault, P.: Biological response to mesoscale eddies in the Algerian Basin, J. Geophys. Res., 108, 3245, doi:10.1029/1999JC000117, 2003.

Theocharis, A., Balopolos, E., Kioroglou, S., Kontoyannis, H., and Iona, A.: A synthesis of the circulation and hydrography of the South Aegean Sea and the Straits of the Cretan Arc (March 1994–January 1995), Prog. Oceanogr., 44, 469–509, 1999a.

Theocharis, A., Nittis, K., Kontoyannis, H., Papageorgiou, E., and Balopoulos, E.: Climatic changes in the Aegean Sea influence the Eastern Mediterranean thermohaline circulation (1986–1997), Geophys. Res. Lett., 26, 1617–1620, 1999b.

Theocharis, A., Klein, B., Nittis, K., and Roether, W.: Evolution and status of the Eastern Mediterranean Transient (1997–1999), J. Mar. Syst., 33–34, 91–116, 2002a.

Theocharis, A., Lascaratos, A., and Sofianos, S.: Variability of sea water properties in the Ionian, Cretan and Levantine seas during the last century, in: Tracking Long-Term Hydrological Change in the Mediterranean Sea, CIESM Workshop Series, 16, edited by: Briand, F. and Millot, C., Monaco, CIESM, 16 boulevard de Suisse, MC-98000, Monaco, 71–78, 2002b.

Tintoré, J., Vizoso, G., Casas, B., Renault, L., Ruiz, S., Garau, B., Pascual, A., Martínez-Ledesma, M., Gomez-Pujol, L. L., and Orfila, A.: Designing Med-SHIP: a Program for Repeated Oceanographic Surveys, CIESM Workshop Monographs, 43, edited by: Briand, F., CIESM, 16 boulevard de Suisse, MC-98000, Monaco, 164 pp., 2012.

Tonani, M., Pinardi, N., Dobricic, S., Pujol, I., and Fratianni, C.: A high-resolution free-surface model of the Mediterranean Sea, Ocean Sci., 4, 1–14, doi:10.5194/os-4-1-2008, 2008.

Triantafyllou, G., Hoteit, I., Korres, G. and Petihakis, G.: Ecosystem modeling and data assimilation of physical-biogeochemical processes in shelf and regional areas of the Mediterranean Sea, App. Num. Anal. Comp. Math., 2, 262–280, 2005.

Triantafyllou, G., Korres, G., Hoteit, I., Petihakis, G., and Banks, A. C.: Assimilation of ocean colour data into a Biogeochemical Flux Model of the Eastern Mediterranean Sea, Ocean Sci., 3, 397–410, doi:10.5194/os-3-397-2007, 2007.

UNEP-MAP-RAC/SPA: Classification of Benthic Marine Habitat Types for the Mediterranean Region, UNEP RAC SPA, Tunis, 2006.

Van Wambeke, F., Lefèvre, D., Prieur, L., Sempéré, R., Bianchi, M., Oubelkheir, K., and Bruyant, F.: Distribution of microbial biomass, production, respiration, dissolved organic carbon and factors controlling bacterial production across a geostrophic front (Almeria-Oran, SW Mediterranean Sea), Mar. Ecol. Prog. Ser., 269, 1–15, 2004.

Vervatis, V. D., Sofianos, S. S., and Theocharis, A.: Distribution of the thermohaline characteristics in the Aegean Sea related to water mass formation processes (2005.2006 winter surveys), J. Geophys. Res., 116, C09034, doi:10.1029/2010JC006868, 2011.

Vilibić, I. and Supić, N.: Dense water generation on a shelf: the case of the Adriatic Sea, Ocean Dynam., 55, 403–415, 2005.

Volpe, G., Banzon, V. F., Evans, R. H., Santoleri, R., Mariano, A. J., and Sciarra, R.: Satellite observations of the impact of dust in a low-nutrient, low-chlorophyll region: Fertilization or artifact?, Global Biogeochem. Cy., 23, GB3007, doi:10.1029/2008GB003216, 2009.

Wang, F., Vieira, M., Salat, J., Tintoré, J., and La Violette, P. E.: A shelf/slope filament off the Northeast Spanish Coast, J. Mar. Res., 46, 321–332, 1988.

Winters, K. B. and Young, W. R.: Available potential energy and buoyancy variance in horizontal convection, J. Fluid Mech., 629, 221–231, 2009.

Winters, K. B., Lombard, P. N., Riley, J. J., and D'Asaro, E. A.: Available potential energy and mixing in density stratified fluids, J. Fluid Mech., 289, 115–128, 1995.
Wunsch, C.: The vertical partition of oceanic horizontal kinetic energy, J. Phys. Oceanogr., 27, 1770–1794, 1997.

Wunsch, C. and Stammer, D.: The global frequency-wave number spectrum of oceanic variability estimated from TOPEX/POSEIDON altimetric measurements, J. Geophys. Res., 100, 24895–24910, 1995.

Xoplaki, E., Gonzalez-Rouco, F. J., Luterbacher, J., and Wanner, H.: Mediterranean summer air temperature variability and its connection to the large-scale atmospheric circulation and SSTs, Clim. Dynam., 20, 723–739, 2003.

Xoplaki, E., Gonzalez-Rouco, F. J., Luterbacher, J., and Wanner, H.: Wet season Mediterranean precipitation variability: influence of large-scale dynamics, Clim. Dynam., 23, 63–78, doi:10.1007/s00382-004-0422-0, 2004.

Yacobi, Y. Z., Zohary, T., Kress, N., Hecht, A., Robarts, R. D., Waiser, M., Wood, A. M. and Li, W. K. W.: Chlorophyll distribution throughout the southeastern Mediterranean in relation to physical structure of the water mass, J. Marine Syst., 6, 179–190, 1995.

Yılmaz, A. and Tuğrul, S.: The effect of cold and warm-core eddies and the distribution and stoichiometry of dissolved nutrients in the Northeastern Mediterranean, J. Marine Syst., 16, 253–268, 1998.

Yılmaz, A., Ediger, D., Baştırk, Ö., and Tuğrul, S.: Phytoplankton fluorescence and deep chlorophyll maxima in the northeastern Mediterranean, Oceanol. Acta, 17, 69–77, 1994.

Zavatarelli, M. and Mellor, G. L.: A numerical study of the Mediterranean Sea circulation, J. Phys. Oceanogr., 25, 1384–1414, 1995.

Zervakis, V., Geogopoulos, D., and Deakopoulos, P. G.: The role of the North Aegean in triggering the recent Eastern Mediterranean climatic changes, J. Geophys. Res., 105, 26103–26116, doi:10.1029/2000JC900131, 2000.

Zoccolotti, L. and Salusti, E.: Observation of vein of very dense water in the southern Adriatic Sea, Cont. Shelf Res., 7, 535–551, 1987.

Zodiatis, G., Drakopoulos, P., Brenner, S., and Groom, A. S.: Variability of the Cyprus warm core eddy during the CYCLOPS project, Deep-Sea Res. Part II, 52, 2897–2910, 2005.

Zodiatis, G., Hayes, R. D., Lardner, R., and Georgio, G.: Subregional forecasting and observing system in the Eastern Mediterranean Levantine Basin: the Cyprus Coastal Ocean Forecasting and Observing System (CYCOFS), in: Towards an integrated system of Mediterranean marine observatories, edited by: Briand, F. CIESM Workshop Monographs, 34, 101–106, 2008.