DATE2019-01-08 12:44:23
IDABSTRACT2014/226
CONTACTozsoy@ims.metu.edu.tr
PRESENTATIONPOSTER
INVITED0
IDSESSION2
TITLEEFFECTS OF THE ETESIAN WIND REGIME ON COASTAL UPWELLING, FLOODS AND FOREST FIRES IN THE SEAS OF THE OLD WORLD
AUTHORSOzan Mert Gokturk (1,4)|Sinan Cevik (2)|Nathalie Toque (1)|Robinson Hordoir (3)|Hazem Nagy (1,5)|Emin Ozsoy (1)
AFFILIATIONS
  1. Institute of Marine Sciences, Erdemli, Mersin, Turkey
  2. Turkish Meteorology Service, İnebolu, Turkey
  3. Swedish Meteorolgical and Hydrological Institute, Norrkoping, Sweden
  4. Istanbul Technical University, Istanbul, Turkey
  5. Oceanography Department, University of Alexandria, Alexandria, Egypt
ABSTRACTThe Etesian wind regime dominates the Aegean Sea in summer, often with gale force winds, fed by the north to northeasterly winds over the Balkan gap and the Black Sea. This seasonal wind regime, with inter-annual modulations connected with spatial and temporal climatic patterns intensifies during the months of July and August, and its steady pattern over the entire region has important consequences in the Aegean and Black Seas. Case studies are performed by making use of surface wind and sea surface temperature data measured at the coast, cruise and satellite data, operational forecasts obtained with a regional atmospheric model (WRF), and from ocean models (ROMS, NEMO and POM) for the Black Sea. Air-sea interactions are all too significant in this sensitive region of continental/marine climates. Strong jet currents in the western part of the Aegean and upwelling along its eastern shores as well as the southeastern Black Sea are associated with this wind regime. The most intense and continuous upwelling occurs along the southwest coast of the Black Sea, where the upwelled waters have surface temperatures of about 11°C in July-August, in contrast to the warm waters of up to 28°C elsewhere, leading to shocks to living fish which are then founded stranded on the coast. Often the strengthening of the winds in the southern Aegean by topographic-geometric effects, and warm dry air pumped from inland areas of the Balkans, northern steppes of Black Sea and Anatolia makes forests vulnerable to fires and hits both sides of the Aegean and the islands. The steady flow of northern originated warm dry air picks up moisture from the Black Sea and upon meeting on the steep mountain ranges on the southern coast, intense precipitation often leads to summertime coastal floods and landslides, such as those recently observed in 2012 and 2013. Often the upwelling, fires and floods occur as a striking sequence of events in different parts of the region triggered by the same wind system.
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