engleski

What supports occasional anticyclonic bottom flow in the Adriatic?

A simple diagnostic model, reproducing circulation generated in a marginal sea by variable density, has been developed. The model's domain is a 2D transverse section for which analytical solution has been obtained. It employs Boussinesq-type parameterization of friction and linear slip at the bottom, meanwhile assuming that the Boussinesq and hydrostatic approximations are valid and that the alongshore variability vanishes. The results obtained reproduce cyclonic surface flow, as well as downwelling in the central and larger part of the basin compensated by upwelling in the coastal zone. A conspicuous feature of the model results is anticyclonic circulation which may develop in the bottom layer. Its dependence on the frictional processes and the basin dimensions has been analyzed. The anticyclonic circulation is found to be supported by the weak bottom and vertical friction and by the moderate lateral friction, as well as by the basin being narrow and deep. The results are related to observations, particularly those originating from the Adriatic Sea where cyclonic circulation usually extends throughout the vertical but may occasionally top anticyclonic circulation developed in the bottom layer, as well as to previous modeling results.

Adriatic; bottom flow; anticyclonic

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