Air-sea interactions in the Adriatic basin: simulations of Bora and Sirocco wind events

Abstract

Two simulations of the response of Adriatic Sea to severe wind performed by an atmosphere-ocean coupled model and the comparisons with observed data and modelled fields published in literature are presented.

The model RAMS-DieCAST was applied to simulate the variations of sea currents and temperature profiles, from surface to bottom, induced by two episodes of intense wind over the Adriatic sea: a Bora wind event that occurred in January 1995 and a Sirocco wind event in November 2002.

The results of the simulations are compared with observed data at the sea surface. In the Bora episode, the computed surface temperatures are compared with satellite SSTs and in situ observed temperatures; in the Sirocco event the simulated surface currents and temperatures are compared with experimental data collected by surface drifters released in different regions of the Adriatic Sea during the same Sirocco event.

In both episodes the simulated temperature trends agree with the observed values and during the Sirocco episode the current fields are in quite good agreement with the drifter data.

The modelled sea temperature and velocity fields show also a good concordance with other simulation results in literature.