DATE2019-01-08 12:44:23
IDABSTRACT2014/403
CONTACTgianmaria.sannino@enea.it
PRESENTATIONORAL
INVITED0
IDSESSION4
TITLEON THE IMPROVEMENT OF THE SIMULATED MEDITERRANEAN SEA INTER-ANNUAL VARIABILITY
AUTHORSGianmaria Sannino (1)|Adriana Carillo (1)|Giovanna Pisacane (1)|Mario Adani (1)|Massimiliano Palma (1)|Cristina Naranjo (2)
AFFILIATIONS
  1. ENEA, Rome, Italy
  2. Univeristy of Malaga, Malaga, Spain
ABSTRACTThe inter-annual variability of the Mediterranean Sea has been investigated by means of the eddy-permitting MITgcm (MIT General Circulation Model). The model has been implemented at the horizontal resolution of 1/12º and has been forced at the surface through the air sea fluxes derived by a dynamical downscaling of the ERA40 reanalysis (ECMWF) for the period 1958-2004. The model output has been validated through a systematic comparison with most of the available observed data. The overall surface and intermediate circulation simulated by the model reproduces the main features of the basin-scale circulation reasonably well. Heat and salt contents in the different layers show good agreement with observations from the MEDATLAS database. The simulated volume transport through the main straits and channels of the Mediterranean agree with most of the available in situ observations, while the model is also capable of reproducing the inter-annual variability of the Mediterranean basin and in particular the evolution of the EMT (Eastern Mediterranean Transient). However, despite the encouraging results from the 1/12° simulation, additional higher resolution experiments performed with and without tidal forcing showed that there is still room for improving the representation of the basin circulation. Results will be presented that in fact support the hypothesis of non-negligible effects of both tidal forcing and resolution.
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