Abstract
Abstract. In this study, the Adriatic Sea and Coast (AdriSC) kilometre-scale atmosphere–ocean climate model covering the Adriatic Sea and northern Ionian Sea is presented. The AdriSC ocean results of a 31-year-long (i.e. 1987–2017) climate simulation, derived with the Regional Ocean Modeling System (ROMS) 3 km and 1 km models, are evaluated with respect to a comprehensive collection of remote sensing and in situ observational data. In general, it is found that the AdriSC model is capable of reproducing the observed sea surface properties, daily temperatures and salinities, and the hourly ocean currents with good accuracy. In particular, the AdriSC ROMS 3 km model demonstrates skill in reproducing the main variabilities of the sea surface height and the sea surface temperature, despite a persistent negative bias within the Adriatic Sea. Furthermore, the AdriSC ROMS 1 km model is found to be more capable of reproducing the observed thermohaline and dynamical properties than the AdriSC ROMS 3 km model. For the temperature and salinity, better results are obtained in the deeper parts than in the shallow shelf and coastal parts, particularly for the surface layer of the Adriatic Sea. The AdriSC ROMS 1 km model is also found to perform well in reproducing the seasonal thermohaline properties of the water masses over the entire Adriatic–Ionian domain. The evaluation of the modelled ocean currents revealed better results at locations along the eastern coast and especially the northeastern shelf than in the middle eastern coastal area and the deepest part of the Adriatic Sea. Finally, the AdriSC climate component is found to be a more suitable modelling framework to study the dense water formation and long-term thermohaline circulation of the Adriatic–Ionian basin than the available Mediterranean regional climate models.
Highlights
Due to the temporal and spatial sparsity of in situ observations, the study of the dynamics and variability of the ocean processes mostly relies on constant developments and improvements of the available numerical modelling tools
The implementation by Janekovicet al. (2014) of a modelling system based on the Regional Ocean Modeling System (ROMS; Shchepetkin and McWilliams, 2009) at 2 km of resolution forced by the operational atmospheric model ALADIN/HR (Aire Limitée Adaptation Dynamique développement InterNational; Tudor et al, 2013) has allowed for a better representation of the atmosphere–ocean dynamics during bora events in the northern Adriatic (Vilibicet al., 2016; Mihanovicet al., 2018; Vilibicet al., 2018), which is substantially influenced by the ocean feedback to the atmosphere (Pullen et al, 2006, 2007; Licer et al, 2016)
The main novelties of the work are, first, the implementation for the very first time – at least to the author’s knowledge – of a kilometre-scale one-way coupled atmosphere–ocean model for long-term climate studies, which still presents many challenges (Schär et al, 2020), and, second, the amount of in situ data collected to perform the evaluation of both daily thermohaline (CTD measurements) and hourly dynamical (ADCP and regional climate models (RCMs) observations) properties of the AdriSC ocean models
Summary
Due to the temporal and spatial sparsity of in situ observations, the study of the dynamics and variability of the ocean processes mostly relies on constant developments and improvements of the available numerical modelling tools. P. Pranicet al.: Performance of the Adriatic Sea and Coast (AdriSC) climate component the Adriatic, with ocean model resolutions up to 3 km, were mainly focused on the North Adriatic Dense Water NAdDW) formation within the northern Adriatic shelf (Bergamasco et al, 1999; Beg-Paklar et al, 2001) and the Adriatic Deep Water (AdDW) formation within the southern Adriatic Pit and its interannual variability (Mantziafou and Lascaratos, 2004, 2008). Many studies have demonstrated that the ECMWF reanalyses, due to their spatial homogeneity and coarse resolution, could not properly reproduce the extreme bora events driving the dense water formation in the northern Adriatic Sea. In particular, Cavaleri and Bertotti (1997) highlighted the fact that the underestimation of the bora wind speed could reach up to 50 %, which led to a strong underestimation of NAdDW production rates (Vilibicand Supic, 2005). The implementation by Janekovicet al. (2014) of a modelling system based on the Regional Ocean Modeling System (ROMS; Shchepetkin and McWilliams, 2009) at 2 km of resolution forced by the operational atmospheric model ALADIN/HR (Aire Limitée Adaptation Dynamique développement InterNational; Tudor et al, 2013) has allowed for a better representation of the atmosphere–ocean dynamics during bora events in the northern Adriatic (Vilibicet al., 2016; Mihanovicet al., 2018; Vilibicet al., 2018), which is substantially influenced by the ocean feedback to the atmosphere (Pullen et al, 2006, 2007; Licer et al, 2016)
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