Standing waves in the Gulf of Finland and their relationship to the basin-wide Baltic seiches

• A linear shallow-water model was used to study different harmonic oscillations in the Baltic Sea. The model was initialized using a linear sea-surface slope from east to west, and was hereafter run without forcing. In our results, we could identify three different local oscillatory modes: one in the Gulf of Finland, with the two distinct periods 23 and 27 hours, one in the Danish Belt Sea, with a less distinct period in the range 23-27 hours, and one in the Gulf of Riga, with the period 17 hours. The most pronounced mode is that in the Gulf of Finland. No clear indications of basin-wide seiches in the Baltic could be found from our simulations. These results were further corroborated by a frequency analysis of sea-level observations from the Baltic. This shows an amplification of the K1 and O1 tidal modes in the Gulf of Finland, but not of the M2 and S2 modes. No such amplification was seen in the rest of the Baltic Sea. On the basis of our model simulations, we propose that sea-level oscillations of the Baltic be regarded as a ensemble of weakly coupled local oscillators. Each oscillator corresponds to a ''fjord mode" or "harbour mode" in a particular bay or sub-basin. These are not proper eigenmodes since their energy gradually leaks out to the rest of the Baltic Sea, resulting in radiation damping. Nevertheless, their resonance may in fact be sharper than that of the proper basin-wide eigenmodes.

Ämnesord

NATURVETENSKAP  -- Geovetenskap och miljövetenskap -- Geofysik (hsv//swe)

NATURAL SCIENCES  -- Earth and Related Environmental Sciences -- Geophysics (hsv//eng)

Nyckelord

Geophysics

Geofysik

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