Response of the Adriatic Sea to an intense cold air outbreak: Dense water dynamics and wave-induced transport

Benetazzo, Alvise; Bergamasco, A.; Bonaldo, Davide; Falcieri, Francesco Marcello; Sclavo, Mauro; Langone, Leonardo; Carniel, Sandro

doi:10.1016/j.pocean.2014.08.015

Cited by 83 publications

(63 citation statements)

References 85 publications

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Section: Wave Modelmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Typical output fields are the significant wave height, hereafter denoted as H s , the peak and mean wave periods, and the mean wave propagation direction. In our simulations covering the whole Mediterranean Sea, we used a consolidated configuration for the coupled use of SWAN in the COAWST system, as discussed in [18,19,36,37]. In detail, SWAN has been implemented with the same horizontal resolution adopted for ROMS (in order to be coupled in COAWST, SWAN and ROMS models must use the same grid), being the wave action spectrum discretized with 36 equally spaced directions and 24 geometrically distributed frequencies f, such that f n = f n + 1/1.1, with f n = 0.05 Hz.…”

Section: Wave Modelmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Sensitivity of a Mediterranean Tropical-Like Cyclone to Different Model Configurations and Coupling Strategies

et al. 2017

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Abstract:In November 2011, an Atlantic depression affected the Mediterranean basin, eventually evolving into a Tropical-Like Cyclone (TLC or Mediterranean Hurricane, usually designated as Medicane). In the region affected by the Medicane, mean sea level pressures down to 990 hPa, wind speeds of hurricane intensity close to the eye (around 115 km/h) and intense rainfall in the prefrontal zone were reported. The intensity of this event, together with its long permanence over the sea, suggested its suitability as a paradigmatic case for investigating the sensitivity of a numerical modeling system to different configurations, air-sea interface parameterizations and coupling approaches. Toward this aim, a set of numerical experiments with different parameterization schemes and levels of coupling complexity was carried out within the Coupled Ocean Atmosphere Wave Sediment Transport System (COAWST), which allows the description of air-sea dynamics by coupling an atmospheric model (WRF), an ocean circulation model (ROMS), and a wave model (SWAN). The sensitivity to different initialization times and Planetary Boundary Layer (PBL) parameterizations was firstly investigated by running a set of WRF standalone (atmospheric-only) simulations. In order to better understand the effect of coupling on the TLC formation, intensification and trajectory, different configurations of atmosphere-ocean coupling were subsequently tested, eventually including the full coupling among atmosphere, ocean and waves, also changing the PBL parameterization and the formulation of the surface roughness. Results show a strong sensitivity of both the trajectory and the intensity of this TLC to the initial conditions, while the tracks and intensities provided by the coupled modeling approaches explored in this study do not introduce drastic modifications with respect to those resulting from a fine-tuned standalone atmospheric run, though they provide by definition a better physical and energetic consistency. Nevertheless; the use of different schemes for the calculation of the surface roughness from wave motion, which reflects the description of air-sea interface processes, can significantly affect the results in the fully coupled runs.

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Section: Wave Modelmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Wave Modelmentioning

confidence: 99%

Sensitivity of a Mediterranean Tropical-Like Cyclone to Different Model Configurations and Coupling Strategies

et al. 2017

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“…Two-way atmosphere-ocean coupling approach to modeling the Adriatic was to the best of our knowledge first implemented to achieve realistic simulations of the Adriatic baroclinic circulation during bora episodes in the winter and spring 2001 and to study marine atmospheric conditions over the Adriatic during February 2003 (Dorman et al, 2006). A coupled atmospherewave-ocean modeling system (without ocean feedback to the atmosphere) over the Adriatic domain was recently used to simulate the formation and relaxation of Adriatic dense water during and after February 2012 bora event (Benetazzo et al, 2014). All these studies indicate that two-way atmosphereocean coupling could be beneficial for modeling the air-sea state during periods of intense atmosphere-ocean interactions.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Modeling the ocean and atmosphere during an extreme bora event in northern Adriatic using one-way and two-way atmosphere–ocean coupling

et al. 2016

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Abstract.We have studied the performances of (a) a two-way coupled atmosphere-ocean modeling system and (b) one-way coupled ocean model (forced by the atmosphere model), as compared to the available in situ measurements during and after a strong Adriatic bora wind event in February 2012, which led to extreme air-sea interactions. The simulations span the period between January and March 2012. The models used were ALADIN (Aire Limitée Adaptation dynamique Développement InterNational) (4.4 km resolution) on the atmosphere side and an Adriatic setup of Princeton ocean model (POM) (1 • /30 × 1 • /30 angular resolution) on the ocean side. The atmosphere-ocean coupling was implemented using the OASIS3-MCT model coupling toolkit. Two-way coupling ocean feedback to the atmosphere is limited to sea surface temperature. We have compared modeled atmosphere-ocean fluxes and sea temperatures from both setups to platform and CTD (conductivity, temperature, and depth) measurements from three locations in the northern Adriatic. We present objective verification of 2 m atmosphere temperature forecasts using mean bias and standard deviation of errors scores from 23 meteorological stations in the eastern part of Italy. We show that turbulent fluxes from both setups differ up to 20 % during the bora but not significantly before and after the event. When compared to observations, two-way coupling ocean temperatures exhibit a 4 times lower root mean square error (RMSE) than those from one-way coupled system. Two-way coupling improves sensible heat fluxes at all stations but does not improve latent heat loss. The spatial average of the two-way coupled atmosphere component is up to 0.3 • C colder than the one-way coupled setup, which is an improvement for prognostic lead times up to 20 h. Daily spatial average of the standard deviation of air temperature errors shows 0.15 • C improvement in the case of coupled system compared to the uncoupled. Coupled and uncoupled circulations in the northern Adriatic are predominantly wind-driven and show no significant mesoscale differences.

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“…The extreme intensity of this DW event motivated many studies, with a large collection of in situ data, providing insights on the hydrodynamic features that occurred. Therefore, this case serves as an interesting test to assess the models, allowing us to compare our results with previous study efforts Vilibić and Mihanović, 2013;Benetazzo et al, 2014), while having an opportunity to complement the understanding of how these events affect coastal hydrodynamic processes and, in particular, probing into what are the most suitable modeling strategies to reproduce them.…”

Section: W J Mckiver Et Al: Vertical Hydrodynamic Coastal Processesmentioning

confidence: 98%

“…This makes it prone to DW events, when cold north-easterly winter winds induce water sinking in the shallow northern Adriatic (Vested et al, 1998;Vilibić and Supić, 2005;Mihanović et al, 2013;Vilibić and Mihanović, 2013;Durrieu de Madron et al, 2013). These extreme DW events have many complex influences and thus are particularly challenging to understand and model, though their impact on the general circulation has made them an important topic of research (Querin et al, 2013;Janeković et al, 2014;Benetazzo et al, 2014). Here we focus on one particularly strong DW formation event that occurred in the beginning of 2012.…”

Section: W J Mckiver Et Al: Vertical Hydrodynamic Coastal Processesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Investigation of model capability in capturing vertical hydrodynamic coastal processes: a case study in the north Adriatic Sea

et al. 2016

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Abstract. In this work we consider a numerical study of hydrodynamics in the coastal zone using two different models, SHYFEM (shallow water hydrodynamic finite element model) and MITgcm (Massachusetts Institute of Technology general circulation model), to assess their capability to capture the main processes. We focus on the north Adriatic Sea during a strong dense water event that occurred at the beginning of 2012. This serves as an interesting test case to examine both the models strengths and weaknesses, while giving an opportunity to understand how these events affect coastal processes, like upwelling and downwelling, and how they interact with estuarine dynamics. Using the models we examine the impact of setup, surface and lateral boundary treatment, resolution and mixing schemes, as well as assessing the importance of nonhydrostatic dynamics in coastal processes. Both models are able to capture the dense water event, though each displays biases in different regions. The models show large differences in the reproduction of surface patterns, identifying the choice of suitable bulk formulas as a central point for the correct simulation of the thermohaline structure of the coastal zone. Moreover, the different approaches in treating lateral freshwater sources affect the vertical coastal stratification. The results indicate the importance of having high horizontal resolution in the coastal zone, specifically in close proximity to river inputs, in order to reproduce the effect of the complex coastal morphology on the hydrodynamics. A lower resolution offshore is acceptable for the reproduction of the dense water event, even if specific vortical structures are missed. Finally, it is found that nonhydrostatic processes are of little importance for the reproduction of dense water formation in the shelf of the north Adriatic Sea.

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Response of the Adriatic Sea to an intense cold air outbreak: Dense water dynamics and wave-induced transport

Cited by 83 publications

References 85 publications

Sensitivity of a Mediterranean Tropical-Like Cyclone to Different Model Configurations and Coupling Strategies

Sensitivity of a Mediterranean Tropical-Like Cyclone to Different Model Configurations and Coupling Strategies

Modeling the ocean and atmosphere during an extreme bora event in northern Adriatic using one-way and two-way atmosphere–ocean coupling

Investigation of model capability in capturing vertical hydrodynamic coastal processes: a case study in the north Adriatic Sea

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