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| Titel |
Wave-Current Interactions in the Southern North Sea: The Impact on Salinity |
| VerfasserIn |
Emil Stanev, Sebastian Grashorn |
| Konferenz |
EGU General Assembly 2017
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| Medientyp |
Artikel
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| Sprache |
en
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| Digitales Dokument |
PDF |
| Erschienen |
In: GRA - Volume 19 (2017) |
| Datensatznummer |
250150205
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| Publikation (Nr.) |
 EGU/EGU2017-14640.pdf |
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| Zusammenfassung |
| The interplay between wind waves and currents in the coastal
zone of southern North Sea along with the resulting changes in the
salinity distribution there are quantified using simulations with the
unstructured-grid ocean model SCHISM coupled with the wind wave model WWM. The wave-induced transport of salt leads
to changes in the horizontal salinity distribution. These are most
pronounced in front of barrier islands where coherent patterns caused by
the coupling between tides, surface drift and wind waves reveal salinity
changes up to 0.5. The weak stratification dominating the patterns of
salinity in the coastal zone is mostly destroyed by wind waves. Thus,
effects created by wind waves tend to substantially modify the estuarine
circulation. An explanation of these important processes in the coastal
zone has been given based on analysis of ratio between significant wave
height and tidal range. This control-parameter, which is relatively small
under mild weather conditions, can exceed under strong-wind condition 1
in the coastal zone, thus mixing due to waves becomes dominant. The
effect of fresh water fluxes from subterranean estuaries is relatively
small and confined only in the vicinity of corresponding sources. |
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