Response of temperature and sea surface circulation to a Sirocco wind event in the Adriatic basin: A model simulation

A fully coupled atmosphere-ocean model, endowed with a feedback of the ocean model on the atmospheric one, was applied in order to simulate the variations of temperature and sea currents induced by the occurrence of a late-fall episode of intense Sirocco wind over the Adriatic Sea. The coupled model was made up of the RAMS atmospheric model coupled with the DieCAST ocean model with the purpose to obtain more realistic forcing conditions of the lower winds on the underlying sea surface. The two main phenomena highlighted by the simulation are: the genesis of a 10 cm s-1north-westward current along the Italian coastline and a general cooling of the entire basin of approximately 1°C limited to the upper 40 m. The same current shows an offshore anti-cyclonic pattern at different latitude in the whole basin. The results generally agree with experimental data collected by surface drifters released in different regions of the Adriatic Sea as a part of the international DOLCEVITA project, which also includes the same Sirocco episode considered here. The simulated currents represent the drifter trajectories quite accurately, with only few exceptions in the northernmost region of the basin, characterized by shallow water conditions. The simulated SST fields fully agree with the temperature values observed by the same drifters.