Observed and modeled surface Lagrangian transport between coastal regions in the Adriatic Sea with implications for marine protected areas

• Surface transport connects coastal regions in the Adriatic Sea.
• Coastal currents are responsible for the strongest connections.
• Cross-Adriatic transport occurs via cyclonic sub-gyres.
• East-to-west cross-Adriatic transport is stronger than west-to-east.
• Southeasterly Sirocco winds drive west-to-east transport.

Surface drifters and virtual particles are used to investigate transport between seven coastal regions in the central and southern Adriatic Sea to estimate the degree to which these regions function as a network. Alongshore coastal currents and cyclonic gyres are the primary circulation features that connected regions in the Adriatic Sea. The historical drifter observations span 25 years and, thus, provide estimates of transport between regions realized by the mean surface circulation. The virtual particle trajectories and a dedicated drifter experiment show that southeasterly Sirocco winds can drive eastward cross-Adriatic transport from the Italian coast near the Gargano Promontory to the Dalmatian Islands in Croatia. Southeasterly winds disrupt alongshore transport on the west coast. Northwesterly Mistral winds enhanced east-to-west transport and resulted in stronger southeastward coastal currents in the western Adriatic current (WAC) and export to the northern Ionian Sea. The central Italian regions showed strong connections from north to south, likely realized by alongshore transport in the WAC. Alongshore, downstream transport was weaker on the east coast, likely due to the more complex topography introduced by the Dalmatian Islands of Croatia. Cross-Adriatic connection percentages were higher for east-to-west transport. Cross-Adriatic transport, in general, occurred via the cyclonic sub-gyres, with westward (eastward) transport observed in the northern (southern) arms of the central and southern gyres.