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Ann. Geophys., 21, 251-265, 2003
www.ann-geophys.net/21/251/2003/
© European Geosciences Union 2003
High resolution simulations on the North Aegean Sea seasonal circulation
V. H. Kourafalou1 and K. Barbopoulos2
1National Center for Marine Research, Institute of Oceanography, Athens, Greece
2University of Thessaloniki, Division of Environmental Mechanics, Thessaloniki, Greece
Abstract. The seasonal
characteristics of the circulation in the North Aegean Sea are examined with
the aid of a climatological type simulation (three-year run with perpetual year
forcing) on a fine resolution grid (2.5 km by 2.5 km). The model is based on
the Princeton Ocean Model with a parameterisation of plume dynamics that is
employed for the input of waters with hydrographic properties that are
different than the properties of basin waters, as the Black Sea Water (BSW)
outflow through the Dardanelles Strait and riverine sources. The model is
nested with a sequence of coarser regional and basin-wide models that provide
for the long-term interaction between the study area and the Eastern
Mediterranean at large. The results are employed to discuss the response of the
North Aegean to the important circulation forcing mechanisms in the region,
namely wind stress, heat and salt fluxes, buoyancy due to rivers and the BSW
outflow (which is low in salinity and occasionally low in temperature) and the
interaction with the Southern Aegean. The high resolution allows for the
detailed representation of the complicated topography that presides in the
region. This helps produce a rich eddy field and it allows for variability in
the pathways of BSW that has implications in the basin hydrography and
circulation.
Key words. Oceanography: general
(continental shelf processes; numerical modeling)
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