Spatial Composition of the Diahaline Overturning Circulation in a Fjord–Type, Non–Tidal Estuarine System

Abstract

In this study we present new insights into the overturning circulation in non‐tidal, fjord‐type estuarine systems associated with diahaline mixing. As a realistic example we analyze 2 years of numerical model results for the Baltic Sea, a brackish semi‐enclosed marginal sea, characterized by strong freshwater surplus. An isohaline water mass transformation framework is applied to quantify and decompose the diahaline exchange flow. Time‐averaged effective vertical diahaline velocity is directly calculated from the divergence of the transports below the respective isohaline surface. It is furthermore indirectly estimated from the gradient of local mixing per salinity class with respect to salinity. Under the assumption of negligible horizontal diffusive salt transports both estimates should be identical. Our analysis shows a high correlation between the spatial patterns of the two estimates for the diahaline exchange flow. Two dominant types of diahaline exchange flow are analyzed. First of all there is a large scale overturning circulation with inflow at places where the isohaline surface is close to the bottom and with outflow at places where the isohaline is surfacing. Secondly, there is the well‐known small‐scale overturning circulation localized inside the bottom boundary layer over sloping bathymetry, associated with boundary mixing. Both types of circulation are visualized across selected vertical transects in physical and in salinity space. One major result is that about 50% of the diahaline exchange flow patterns are generated by numerical mixing caused by the truncation error of the advection scheme, despite the fact that an anti‐diffusive advection scheme and vertically adaptive coordinates are used.