'''DEFINITION''' Ocean acidification is quantified by decreases in pH, which is a measure of acidity: a decrease in pH value means an increase in acidity, that is, acidification. The observed decrease in ocean pH resulting from increasing concentrations of CO2 is an important indicator of global change. The estimate of global mean pH builds on a reconstruction methodology, * Obtain values for alkalinity based on the so called “locally interpolated alkalinity regression (LIAR)” method after Carter et al., 2016; 2018. * Build on surface ocean partial pressure of carbon dioxide (CMEMS product: MULTIOBS_GLO_BIO_CARBON_SURFACE_REP_015_008) obtained from an ensemble of Feed-Forward Neural Networks (Chau et al. 2022) which exploit sampling data gathered in the Surface Ocean CO2 Atlas (SOCAT) (https://www.socat.info/) * Derive a gridded field of ocean surface pH based on the van Heuven et al., (2011) CO2 system calculations using reconstructed pCO2 (MULTIOBS_GLO_BIO_CARBON_SURFACE_REP_015_008) and alkalinity. The global mean average of pH at yearly time steps is then calculated from the gridded ocean surface pH field. It is expressed in pH unit on total hydrogen ion scale. In the figure, the amplitude of the uncertainty (1σ ) of yearly mean surface sea water pH varies at a range of (0.0023, 0.0029) pH unit (see Quality Information Document for more details). The trend and uncertainty estimates amount to -0.0017±0.0004e-1 pH units per year. The indicator is derived from in situ observations of CO2 fugacity (SOCAT data base, www.socat.info, Bakker et al., 2016). These observations are still sparse in space and time. Monitoring pH at higher space and time resolutions, as well as in coastal regions will require a denser network of observations and preferably direct pH measurements. A full discussion regarding this OMI can be found in section 2.10 of the Ocean State Report 4 (Gehlen et al., 2020). '''CONTEXT''' The decrease in surface ocean pH is a direct consequence of the uptake by the ocean of carbon dioxide. It is referred to as ocean acidification. The International Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Workshop on Impacts of Ocean Acidification on Marine Biology and Ecosystems (2011) defined Ocean Acidification as “a reduction in the pH of the ocean over an extended period, typically decades or longer, which is caused primarily by uptake of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, but can also be caused by other chemical additions or subtractions from the ocean”. The pH of contemporary surface ocean waters is already 0.1 lower than at pre-industrial times and an additional decrease by 0.33 pH units is projected over the 21st century in response to the high concentration pathway RCP8.5 (Bopp et al., 2013). Ocean acidification will put marine ecosystems at risk (e.g. Orr et al., 2005; Gehlen et al., 2011; Kroeker et al., 2013). The monitoring of surface ocean pH has become a focus of many international scientific initiatives (http://goa-on.org/) and constitutes one target for SDG14 (https://sustainabledevelopment.un.org/sdg14). '''CMEMS KEY FINDINGS''' Since the year 1985, global ocean surface pH is decreasing at a rate of -0.0017±0.019 decade-1 '''DOI (product):''' https://doi.org/10.48670/moi-00224

'''DEFINITION''' The OMI_EXTREME_WAVE_IBI_swh_mean_and_anomaly_obs indicator is based on the computation of the 99th and the 1st percentiles from in situ data (observations). It is computed for the variable significant wave height (swh) measured by in situ buoys. The use of percentiles instead of annual maximum and minimum values, makes this extremes study less affected by individual data measurement errors. The percentiles are temporally averaged, and the spatial evolution is displayed, jointly with the anomaly in the target year. This study of extreme variability was first applied to sea level variable (Pérez Gómez et al 2016) and then extended to other essential variables, sea surface temperature and significant wave height (Pérez Gómez et al 2018). '''CONTEXT''' Projections on Climate Change foresee a future with a greater frequency of extreme sea states (Stott, 2016; Mitchell, 2006). The damages caused by severe wave storms can be considerable not only in infrastructure and buildings but also in the natural habitat, crops and ecosystems affected by erosion and flooding aggravated by the extreme wave heights. In addition, wave storms strongly hamper the maritime activities, especially in harbours. These extreme phenomena drive complex hydrodynamic processes, whose understanding is paramount for proper infrastructure management, design and maintenance (Goda, 2010). In recent years, there have been several studies searching possible trends in wave conditions focusing on both mean and extreme values of significant wave height using a multi-source approach with model reanalysis information with high variability in the time coverage, satellite altimeter records covering the last 30 years and in situ buoy measured data since the 1980s decade but with sparse information and gaps in the time series (e.g. Dodet et al., 2020; Timmermans et al., 2020; Young & Ribal, 2019). These studies highlight a remarkable interannual, seasonal and spatial variability of wave conditions and suggest that the possible observed trends are not clearly associated with anthropogenic forcing (Hochet et al. 2021, 2023). In the North Atlantic, the mean wave height shows some weak trends not very statistically significant. Young & Ribal (2019) found a mostly positive weak trend in the European Coasts while Timmermans et al. (2020) showed a weak negative trend in high latitudes, including the North Sea and even more intense in the Norwegian Sea. For extreme values, some authors have found a clearer positive trend in high percentiles (90th-99th) (Young, 2011; Young & Ribal, 2019). '''COPERNICUS MARINE SERVICE KEY FINDINGS''' The mean 99th percentiles showed in the area present a wide range from 2-3.5m in the Canary Island with 0.1-0.3 m of standard deviation (std), 3.5m in the Gulf of Cadiz with 0.5m of std, 3-6m in the English Channel and the Irish Sea with 0.5-0.6m of std, 4-7m in the Bay of Biscay with 0.4-0.9m of std to 8-10m in the West of the British Isles with 0.7-1.4m of std. Results for this year show slight negative anomalies in the Canary Island (-0.4/0.0m) and in the Gulf of Cadiz (-0.8m) barely out of the standard deviation range in both areas, slight positive or negative anomalies in the West of the British Isles (-0.6/+0.4m) and in the English Channel and the Irish Sea (-0.6/+0.3m) but inside the range of the standard deviation and a general positive anomaly in the Bay of Biscay reaching +1.0m but close to the limit of the standard deviation. '''DOI (product):''' https://doi.org/10.48670/moi-00250

'''DEFINITION''' The CMEMS MEDSEA_OMI_tempsal_extreme_var_temp_mean_and_anomaly OMI indicator is based on the computation of the annual 99th percentile of Sea Surface Temperature (SST) from model data. Two different CMEMS products are used to compute the indicator: The Iberia-Biscay-Ireland Multi Year Product (MEDSEA_MULTIYEAR_PHY_006_004) and the Analysis product (MEDSEA_ANALYSISFORECAST_PHY_006_013). Two parameters have been considered for this OMI: * Map of the 99th mean percentile: It is obtained from the Multi Year Product, the annual 99th percentile is computed for each year of the product. The percentiles are temporally averaged over the whole period (1987-2019). * Anomaly of the 99th percentile in 2020: The 99th percentile of the year 2020 is computed from the Near Real Time product. The anomaly is obtained by subtracting the mean percentile from the 2020 percentile. This indicator is aimed at monitoring the extremes of sea surface temperature every year and at checking their variations in space. The use of percentiles instead of annual maxima, makes this extremes study less affected by individual data. This study of extreme variability was first applied to the sea level variable (Pérez Gómez et al 2016) and then extended to other essential variables, such as sea surface temperature and significant wave height (Pérez Gómez et al 2018 and Alvarez Fanjul et al., 2019). More details and a full scientific evaluation can be found in the CMEMS Ocean State report (Alvarez Fanjul et al., 2019). '''CONTEXT''' The Sea Surface Temperature is one of the Essential Ocean Variables, hence the monitoring of this variable is of key importance, since its variations can affect the ocean circulation, marine ecosystems, and ocean-atmosphere exchange processes. As the oceans continuously interact with the atmosphere, trends of sea surface temperature can also have an effect on the global climate. In recent decades (from mid ‘80s) the Mediterranean Sea showed a trend of increasing temperatures (Ducrocq et al., 2016), which has been observed also by means of the CMEMS SST_MED_SST_L4_REP_OBSERVATIONS_010_021 satellite product and reported in the following CMEMS OMI: MEDSEA_OMI_TEMPSAL_sst_area_averaged_anomalies and MEDSEA_OMI_TEMPSAL_sst_trend. The Mediterranean Sea is a semi-enclosed sea characterized by an annual average surface temperature which varies horizontally from ~14°C in the Northwestern part of the basin to ~23°C in the Southeastern areas. Large-scale temperature variations in the upper layers are mainly related to the heat exchange with the atmosphere and surrounding oceanic regions. The Mediterranean Sea annual 99th percentile presents a significant interannual and multidecadal variability with a significant increase starting from the 80’s as shown in Marbà et al. (2015) which is also in good agreement with the multidecadal change of the mean SST reported in Mariotti et al. (2012). Moreover the spatial variability of the SST 99th percentile shows large differences at regional scale (Darmariaki et al., 2019; Pastor et al. 2018). '''CMEMS KEY FINDINGS''' The Mediterranean mean Sea Surface Temperature 99th percentile evaluated in the period 1987-2019 (upper panel) presents highest values (~ 28-30 °C) in the eastern Mediterranean-Levantine basin and along the Tunisian coasts especially in the area of the Gulf of Gabes, while the lowest (~ 23–25 °C) are found in the Gulf of Lyon (a deep water formation area), in the Alboran Sea (affected by incoming Atlantic waters) and the eastern part of the Aegean Sea (an upwelling region). These results are in agreement with previous findings in Darmariaki et al. (2019) and Pastor et al. (2018) and are consistent with the ones presented in CMEMS OSR3 (Alvarez Fanjul et al., 2019) for the period 1993-2016. The 2020 Sea Surface Temperature 99th percentile anomaly map (bottom panel) shows a general positive pattern up to +3°C in the North-West Mediterranean area while colder anomalies are visible in the Gulf of Lion and North Aegean Sea . This Ocean Monitoring Indicator confirms the continuous warming of the SST and in particular it shows that the year 2020 is characterized by an overall increase of the extreme Sea Surface Temperature values in almost the whole domain with respect to the reference period. This finding can be probably affected by the different dataset used to evaluate this anomaly map: the 2020 Sea Surface Temperature 99th percentile derived from the Near Real Time Analysis product compared to the mean (1987-2019) Sea Surface Temperature 99th percentile evaluated from the Reanalysis product which, among the others, is characterized by different atmospheric forcing). Note: The key findings will be updated annually in November, in line with OMI evolutions. '''DOI (product):''' https://doi.org/10.48670/moi-00266