Had the Eastern Mediterranean transient an impact ore the new production in the Southern Adriatic?

The Southern Adriatic represents a key area for the entire Eastern Mediterr anean, being a site where the thermohaline cell originates through open-oce an deep water formation processes. The nutrient pool of the basin is mainly controlled by the inflow of nutrient-rich intermediate water fi om south a nd by the autotrophic consumption during the spring bloom. In this work, tw o new production estimates are given: the first from the post-convection de crease of the nutrient pool, and the second from surface nitrate consumptio n. The new production does not seem to be affected by the increase of the n utrient amount imported from south during the last decade as a result of th e new deep circulation pattern in the Eastern Mediterranean. On the other h and, the winter climatic conditions act as year-to-year controlling mechani sms in determining the magnitude of the convective mixing, and, ultimately of the amount of new nutrients available to the autotrophs.