Impact of tides in a baroclinic circulation model of the Adriatic Sea

Several hypothetical cases of oil spills from tankers in the Kvarner and Rijeka Bay were analyzed using three-dimensional circulation models coupled with oil spill model. Two circulation models—local one covering the area of Kvarner Bay, Rijeka Bay, and Vinodol channel along with the basin-wide one covering the whole Adriatic Sea—are connected through the one-way nesting procedure by imposing the results from the Adriatic model to the open boundaries of the local one. Oil spill model relays on the current fields obtained by the local circulation model during all our simulations. Spreading of the oil pollution from three hypothetical positions of tanker accidents in the local model domain was simulated for the periods of 10 “winter-season” and “summer-season” days. The oil spill model results show that the hypothetical tanker accidents in the center of the Rijeka Bay are the most dangerous for the studied area in both seasons. Summer-season case shows significantly worse situation from the ecological point of view, oil spills spread on the larger area simply because stratification and mixing present during the winter period reduce oil slick effect.

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Drivers of the decadal variability of the North Ionian Gyre upper layer circulation during 1910–2010: a regional modelling study

Climate Dynamics ◽

10.1007/s00382-021-05714-y ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Feifei Liu ◽

Uwe Mikolajewicz ◽

Katharina D. Six

Keyword(s):

Ocean Circulation ◽

Adriatic Sea ◽

Decadal Variability ◽

Eastern Mediterranean ◽

Circulation Model ◽

Atmospheric Forcing ◽

Sensitivity Experiment ◽

Data Set ◽

The North ◽

Upper Layer Circulation

AbstractA long simulation over the period 1901–2010 with an eddy-permitting ocean circulation model is used to study the variability of the upper layer circulation in the North Ionian Gyre (NIG) in the Eastern Mediterranean Sea (EMed). The model is driven by the atmospheric forcing from the twentieth century reanalysis data set ERA-20C, ensuring a consistent performance of the model over the entire simulation period. The main modes of variability known in the EMed, in particular the decadal reversals of the NIG upper layer circulation observed since the late 1980s are well reproduced. We find that the simulated NIG upper layer circulation prior to the observational period is characterized by long-lasting cyclonic phases with weak variability during years 1910–1940 and 1960–1985, while in the in-between period (1940–1960) quasi-decadal NIG circulation reversals occur with similar characteristics to those observed in the recent decades. Our simulation indicates that the NIG upper layer circulation is rather prone to the cyclonic mode with occasional kicks to the anticyclonic mode. The coherent variability of the NIG upper layer circulation mode and of the Adriatic Deep Water (AdDW) outflow implies that atmospheric forcing triggering strong AdDW formation is required to kick the NIG into an anticyclonic circulation 1–2 years later. A sensitivity experiment mimicking a cold winter event over the Adriatic Sea supports this hypothesis. Our simulation shows that it is the multi-decadal variability of the salinity in the Adriatic Sea that leads to periods where low salinity prevents strong AdDW formation events. This explains the absence of quasi-decadal NIG reversals during 1910–1940 and 1960–1985.

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Assessment of a three-dimensional baroclinic circulation model of the Tagus estuary (Portugal)

AIMS Environmental Science ◽

10.3934/environsci.2017.6.763 ◽

2017 ◽

Vol 4 (6) ◽

pp. 763-787 ◽

Cited By ~ 4

Author(s):

Marta Rodrigues ◽

◽

André B. Fortunato

Keyword(s):

Three Dimensional ◽

Circulation Model ◽

Tagus Estuary ◽

Baroclinic Circulation

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Modeling the Environmental Dynamics of the Northern Adriatic Sea with an explicit benthic-pelagic coupling.

10.5194/egusphere-egu21-10691 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Marco Zavatarelli ◽

Isabella Scroccaro ◽

Tomas Lovato

Keyword(s):

General Circulation ◽

Adriatic Sea ◽

Circulation Model ◽

Open Boundary ◽

Biogeochemical Model ◽

Northern Adriatic Sea ◽

Po River ◽

Northern Adriatic ◽

Benthic Pelagic Coupling ◽

The Impact

In the framework of the European Project H2020 "ODYSSEA" (Operating a network of integrated observatory systems in the Mediterranean SEA,&#160;http://odysseaplatform.eu/) a forecasting modeling system of the coupled physical and biogeochemical conditions&#160;of the Northern Adriatic Sea is under development.The modeling system consists of the on-line coupling of the European general circulation model - NEMO (Nucleus for European&#160;Modeling of the Ocean,&#160;https://www.nemo-ocean.eu/), with the marine biogeochemical model - BFM (Biogeochemical Flux Model,&#160;bfm-community.eu/). The biogeochemical component of the model includes the simulation of the biogeochemical processes of both water column and sediments and their coupling. The model is run for the first time in the Northern Adriatic Sea with an explicit benthic-pelagic coupling.The horizontal spatial discretization is defined by a rectangular grid of 315 &#215; 278 cells, having a horizontal resolution of about 800 m. The vertical resolution is defined at 2 m, with 48 z-levels regularly spaced. Currently the atmospheric forcing are the ECMWF 6hr analysis atmospheric fields. The river supplies of fresh water and nutrient salts consider the daily runoff of the Po river, while the other&#160;rivers within the study area are included as climatological values. The open boundary conditions of the modeling system come from the Copernicus Marine Environment Monitoring Service (CMEMS,&#160;http://marine.copernicus.eu/).In this work, the hindcast simulations encompassing the period 2000 &#8211; 2009 are validated against available observations from in situ and satellite platforms for sea surface temperature, chlorophyll-a and dissolved inorganic nutrients and, in order to evaluate the impact of a resolved benthic biogeochemical dynamics,&#160; compared against simulations results obtained utilising a simple benthic closure parameterisation.

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Calculating the development of the thermal vertical stratification in the North Sea with a three-dimensional baroclinic circulation model

Continental Shelf Research ◽

10.1016/0278-4343(95)00018-v ◽

1996 ◽

Vol 16 (2) ◽

pp. 163-194 ◽

Cited By ~ 37

Author(s):

Thomas Pohlmann

Keyword(s):

North Sea ◽

Three Dimensional ◽

Circulation Model ◽

Vertical Stratification ◽

The North ◽

Baroclinic Circulation ◽

The North Sea

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Multi-Platform, High-Resolution Study of a Complex Coastal System: The TOSCA Experiment in the Gulf of Trieste

Journal of Marine Science and Engineering ◽

10.3390/jmse9050469 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 9 (5) ◽

pp. 469

Author(s):

Stefano Querin ◽

Simone Cosoli ◽

Riccardo Gerin ◽

Célia Laurent ◽

Vlado Malačič ◽

...

Keyword(s):

High Resolution ◽

General Circulation ◽

Large Scale ◽

Adriatic Sea ◽

Circulation Model ◽

Discharge Data ◽

Coastal System ◽

Northern Adriatic ◽

Gulf Of Trieste ◽

Lagrangian Drifter

Although small in size, the Gulf of Trieste (GoT), a marginal coastal basin in the northern Adriatic Sea, is characterized by very complex dynamics and strong variability of its oceanographic conditions. In April–May 2012, a persistent, large-scale anticyclonic eddy was observed in the GoT. This event was captured by both High Frequency Radar (HFR) and Lagrangian drifter observations collected within the European MED TOSCA (Tracking Oil Spill and Coastal Awareness) project. The complexity of the system and the variety of forcing factors constitute major challenges from a numerical modeling perspective when it comes to simulating the observed features. In this study, we implemented a high-resolution hydrodynamic model in an attempt to reproduce and analyze the observed basin-wide eddy structure and determine its drivers. We adopted the Massachusetts Institute of Technology General Circulation Model (MITgcm), tailored for the GoT, nested into a large-scale simulation of the Adriatic Sea and driven by a tidal model, measured river freshwater discharge data and surface atmospheric forcing. Numerical results were qualitatively and quantitatively evaluated against HFR surface current maps, Lagrangian drifter trajectories and thermohaline data, showing good skills in reproducing the general circulation, but failing in accurately tracking the drifters. Model sensitivity to different forcing factors (wind, river and tides) was also assessed.

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Numerical models sea surface wind compared to scatterometer observations for a single Bora event in the Adriatic Sea

Advances in Science and Research ◽

10.5194/asr-11-41-2014 ◽

2014 ◽

Vol 11 (1) ◽

pp. 41-48 ◽

Cited By ~ 5

Author(s):

F. De Biasio ◽

M. M. Miglietta ◽

S. Zecchetto ◽

A. della Valle

Keyword(s):

Adriatic Sea ◽

Numerical Models ◽

Single Case ◽

Surface Wind ◽

Circulation Model ◽

Sea Surface ◽

Limited Area ◽

Global Circulation Model ◽

Statistical Parameters ◽

Sea Surface Wind

Abstract. We compare the sea surface wind fields forecasted by a Global Circulation Model (GCM) and three Limited Area Models (LAMs) in an operational-like set-up, with the wind remotely sensed by the NASA QuikSCAT scatterometer. The comparison is performed for a single case of Bora wind in the Adriatic Sea, with the purpose to understand the ability of the model forecasts in reproducing the mesoscale features captured by the scatterometer, and to investigate on the suitability of LAM and GCM forecasts as possible forcing in storm surge models (SSMs). The performance is evaluated by means of statistical parameters regarding wind speed and direction showing that, at least in terms of classical statistical parameters, the GCM offer the most advantageous choice in terms of cost/benefit.

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