Oceanographic research activities focus on the numerical and interdisciplinary modeling of the ocean, aimed at understanding the dynamics and spatiotemporal variability of physical ocean processes, as well as the dynamics of the marine ecosystem and its synergy with ocean physics.
The main research topics include:
- Analysis of time series of interdisciplinary oceanographic data from coastal and offshore areas, to describe and understand ocean climate variability in the Mediterranean and global oceans.
- Analysis of atmospheric data time series, with particular attention to air-sea interactions (heat and momentum exchanges).
- Development of numerical models to simulate circulation in the Mediterranean and Adriatic Seas.
- Development of relocatable numerical models for studying mesoscale and sub-mesoscale processes.
- Numerical modeling of the marine ecosystem and its implementation in the Adriatic and Mediterranean Seas.
- Development of numerical models that simulate the transport and fate of marine pollutants.
The group is active at DIFA and the SINCEM laboratory on the Ravenna Campus. There are close collaborations with the INGV group in Bologna in the field of operational oceanography of the Mediterranean Sea, as well as with the Bologna and Lecce branches of the Euro-Mediterranean Center on Climate Change (CMCC). Group members are involved in several EU research projects aimed at developing the COPERNICUS Mediterranean Sea Marine Service (http://marine.copernicus.eu/).
Group members also coordinate research units in the EU FP7 projects:
- EMODNET-MEDSEA (European Marine Observation and Data Network - Mediterranean Sea),
- PERSEUS (Policy Oriented Environmental Research in the Southern European Seas),
- MIUR-PON projects such as TESSA (Technologies for the Situational Sea Awareness),
- and H2020 AtlantOS (Optimizing and Enhancing the Integrated Atlantic Ocean Observing System).
They coordinate the development of the Biogeochemical Flux Model (BFM) (http://bfm-community.eu/) and contribute to the development of a numerical model for oil transport and fate (http://medslikii.bo.ingv.it/).
Since 2022, the Interdepartmental Center Decade Collaborative Center for Coastal Resilience (DCC-CR) has been active at DIFA.
The DCC-CR provides essential support to the United Nations Ocean Decade Coordination Unit. Its mission is to coordinate efforts to enhance coastal resilience within the framework of the Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainable Development. In this context, the DCC-CR focuses on Challenge 6: Enhancing community resilience to ocean hazards. It aims to achieve this by supporting UN-led Actions, launching new initiatives, engaging stakeholders, and initiating communication, awareness, resource mobilization, and careful progress monitoring activities.