Patterns of current-induced transport in the surface layer of the Gulf of Finland

• The Lagrangian trajectory model TRACMASS based on an Eulerian field of velocities (calculated using the Rossby Centre Ocean Model), combined with relevant statistical analysis, is used for the identification of transport patterns in the surface layer of the Gulf of Finland from 1987-1991. The analysis of velocity fields and properties of net and bulk transport (the distance between the start and end positions of a trajectory, and the total length of the trajectory, respectively) shows the presence of semi-persistent (with a typical lifetime from a week to a few months) features of the surface-layer dynamics, a part of which evidently cannot be extracted directly from the velocity fields. The modelled surface dynamics mostly hosts an Ekman-type drift and, in yearly average, contains an anticyclonic gyre occupying the western part of the gulf. The prevailing transport directions to the east and slightly to the south match the direction of the Ekman surface drift created by predominant south-western winds. The spatial patterns of the net transport substantially vary over different seasons. The most intense net transport along the coasts occurs in the western and central parts of the gulf but contains relatively intense largely meridional transport pathways in some seasons.

Subject headings

NATURVETENSKAP  -- Geovetenskap och miljövetenskap -- Meteorologi och atmosfärforskning (hsv//swe)

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

Publication and Content Type

ref (subject category)

art (subject category)