TY - JOUR
T1 - River plume development in semi-enclosed Mediterranean regions
T2 - North Adriatic Sea and Northwestern Aegean Sea
AU - Kourafalou, Vassiliki H.
N1 - Funding Information:
The first part of this study was performed during the author's visit at CNR-IMGA (Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche, Istituto per lo Studio delle Metodologie Geofisiche Ambientali) in Modena, Italy, under the European Union Human Capital and Mobility programme, contract no. MAS2CT-94-5018. The second part of the study was funded by the MAST-III ELOISE European Union Project METRO-MED, CT 960049. The author wishes to thank the following colleagues. Dr. Marco Zavatarelli of CNR kindly provided the Adriatic model grid and helpful comments on the climatology of the Adriatic Sea. The northwestern Aegean model domain was provided by Prof. Yannis Krestenitis of the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Thessaloniki, Greece. Dr. Brice Albuisson and Prof. Michel Anselme of the Ecôle des Mines de Paris constructed the annual pigment concentration for the northwestern Aegean. The reviewers' suggestions improved the manuscript.
Copyright:
Copyright 2008 Elsevier B.V., All rights reserved.
PY - 2001
Y1 - 2001
N2 - The Mediterranean Sea has many coastal regions with complex topography. The study concentrates on semi-enclosed regions that receive freshwater input from rivers. The development of the river plumes under the influence of the important circulation forcing mechanisms and under the guidance of the topographic controls is examined. The study rivers are the Po (North Adriatic) and the Axios (North Aegean). They both provide important inputs of low-salinity waters and land-drained materials for their respected shelf regimes. The rivers are parameterised as sources of zero salinity in the three-dimensional, primitive equation Princeton Ocean Model (POM). The river plumes are studied in the presence of realistic topography and idealised winds. The influence of the general basin circulation on the plume structure is also examined. The development and evolution of the two river plumes exhibit the following common characteristics. The buoyancy-driven flow is characterised by an anticyclonic bulge seaward of the river mouth and a coastal current south of the discharge site contained within a narrow strip along the coast. The coastal current has a southward direction, as both rivers discharge at the west side of the basin. The "meandering" along this dynamic region is due to a baroclinic instability process. Downwelling-favorable winds enhance the buoyancy-driven coastal current and restrict offshore removal of low-salinity waters, while the opposite holds for upwelling-favorable winds. The circulation is influenced by the presence of three coastal boundaries. Differences in the modeled phenomena for the two study regions arise from (a) interaction with ambient flow, which may substantially influence the behavior of the plumes, and (b) the topography and geometry of each basin. For instance, the presence of strong neighboring rivers influences the Po River plume. On the other hand, the narrowness of the basin near the discharge site of the Axios River allows for offshore expansion of the plume all the way to the east coast and the establishment of anticyclonic flow over a large part of the shelf, regardless of wind conditions.
AB - The Mediterranean Sea has many coastal regions with complex topography. The study concentrates on semi-enclosed regions that receive freshwater input from rivers. The development of the river plumes under the influence of the important circulation forcing mechanisms and under the guidance of the topographic controls is examined. The study rivers are the Po (North Adriatic) and the Axios (North Aegean). They both provide important inputs of low-salinity waters and land-drained materials for their respected shelf regimes. The rivers are parameterised as sources of zero salinity in the three-dimensional, primitive equation Princeton Ocean Model (POM). The river plumes are studied in the presence of realistic topography and idealised winds. The influence of the general basin circulation on the plume structure is also examined. The development and evolution of the two river plumes exhibit the following common characteristics. The buoyancy-driven flow is characterised by an anticyclonic bulge seaward of the river mouth and a coastal current south of the discharge site contained within a narrow strip along the coast. The coastal current has a southward direction, as both rivers discharge at the west side of the basin. The "meandering" along this dynamic region is due to a baroclinic instability process. Downwelling-favorable winds enhance the buoyancy-driven coastal current and restrict offshore removal of low-salinity waters, while the opposite holds for upwelling-favorable winds. The circulation is influenced by the presence of three coastal boundaries. Differences in the modeled phenomena for the two study regions arise from (a) interaction with ambient flow, which may substantially influence the behavior of the plumes, and (b) the topography and geometry of each basin. For instance, the presence of strong neighboring rivers influences the Po River plume. On the other hand, the narrowness of the basin near the discharge site of the Axios River allows for offshore expansion of the plume all the way to the east coast and the establishment of anticyclonic flow over a large part of the shelf, regardless of wind conditions.
KW - Adriatic Sea
KW - Aegean Sea
KW - Numerical modeling
KW - River plume
KW - Wind-density interaction
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U2 - 10.1016/S0924-7963(01)00058-6
DO - 10.1016/S0924-7963(01)00058-6
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:0035661522
VL - 30
SP - 181
EP - 205
JO - Journal of Marine Systems
JF - Journal of Marine Systems
SN - 0924-7963
IS - 3-4
ER -