Leibniz Institute for Baltic Sea Research A baroclinic 3D model for the entire Wadden Sea Hans Burchard Leibniz Institute for Baltic Sea Research Warnemünde, Germany 1: IOW, 2: HZG, 3: NIOZ, 4: Uni Eindhoven, 5: ICBM, 6: IFREMER JGR, 2016.
Motivation: Wind straining in tidal inlet tides buoyancy gradient wind Exploiting a validated 3D model of the Sylt-Rømø-Bight tidal inlet … Purkiani et al. (2015, 2016)
Estuarine circulation Warming Precipitation Land Ocean Downward surface buoyancy flux Sea bed Weak tidal mixing: vertically stratified Wind straining River Estuarine circulation Strong tidal mixing: horizontally stratified
Motivation: Wind straining in tidal inlet Up-channel wind Down-channel wind Longitudinal buoyancy gradient classical circulation exchange flow Exchange flow intensity 1 Feb 2008 10 Feb 2008 20 Feb 2008 Exchange flow intensity M: z inverse circulation M=u0 <u> -u0 u0 Purkiani et al. (2016)
Motivation: Wind straining in tidal inlet buoyancy gradient wind stress February 2008 strong wind March 2008 medium wind How does this look like in other inlets? April 2008 exchange flow intensity weak wind down- up- channel Purkiani et al. (2016)
Model of entire Wadden Sea: Setup General Estuarine Transport Model Fully baroclinic k-epsilon turbulence closure Cartesian, Dx=Dy=200m 30 vertical sigma layers Atmospheric forcing: DWD Runtime 2009-2011 Gräwe et al. (2016)
Model of entire Wadden Sea: Forcing Wind speed Wind direction Precipitation Ijssel runoff Elbe runoff Gräwe et al. (2016)
Model of entire Wadden Sea: SST and SSS Gräwe et al. (2016)
Model of entire Wadden Sea: Validation of M4 tide Gräwe et al. (2016)
Model of entire Wadden Sea: Validation of T & S Gräwe et al. (2016)
? Model of entire Wadden Sea: Validation of tidal transports Gräwe et al. (2016)
Model of entire Wadden Sea: Wind versus buoyancy gradient classical inverse classical inverse inverse classical classical inverse down up down up down up Gräwe et al. (2016)
Conclusions This first baroclinic model for the entire Wadden Sea allows to investigate differences in dynamics between different regions. All inlets react differently to buoyancy gradient and wind stress forcing. Residual flows strongly depend on local bathymetry. For some regions, 200m is certainly a too coarse resolution. Need for an unstructured grid model for the entire Wadden Sea with Dx<30m locally? We should start using this model for investigating sediment dynamics and biogeochemistry of the entire Wadden Sea.