HR: 14:30h
AN: OS52E-03    [PDF]
TI: Circulation Dynamics in the Northern Adriatic as Measured by Surface Drifters
AU: * Poulain, P
EM: ppoulain@ogs.trieste.it
AF: Oceanography Department, OGS , Trieste, Italy
AU: Ursella, L
EM: lursella@ogs.trieste.it
AF: Oceanography Department, OGS , Trieste, Italy
AU: Barbanti, R
EM: rbarbanti@ogs.trieste.it
AF: Oceanography Department, OGS , Trieste, Italy
AB: As part of the ONR-sponsored DOLCEVITA program more than 120 surface drifters were deployed in the Northern Adriatic starting in September 2002 to monitor the surface circulation in most areas of the Northern Adriatic basin until the end of 2003. Two versions of the CODE drifters were used, the standard type with Argos telemetry and positioning and the same drifter fitted with a GPS receiver. Position sampling with the GPS was programmed at 0.5 hour or hourly intervals. The majority of the drifters were deployed in triplets for which the nearest distance between the drifters was less than 10 km. Most drifters were deployed during oceanographic cruises conducted onboard NRV Alliance and R/V Knorr. The data provided by the GPS drifters were used to study the high-frequency surface currents, namely the tidal and inertial components of the drifter velocities. Inertial currents with rather small horizontal scales appear to be dominant in late spring and in summer. The drifter data were low-passed filtered to study the kinematic properties of the mesoscale circulation in the Northern Adriatic and study the effects of forcing by winds and river run-offs. The data were binned in circles of 10 km radius and maps of mean circulation and eddy variability were produced for the entire period of study and for the four seasons of the year. Similar statistical maps were created separating the data into different river discharge and wind forcing categories. The temporal variations and the spatial structure of the Po River plume, the Western Adriatic Current and North Adriatic Filament are described in more details
UR: http://doga.ogs.trieste.it/doga/sire/dolcevita
DE: 4223 Descriptive and regional oceanography
DE: 4243 Marginal and semienclosed seas
DE: 4512 Currents
DE: 4520 Eddies and mesoscale processes
SC: Ocean Sciences [OS]
MN: 2004 Ocean Sciences Meeting