Open sea in the wide area of the island Dugi otok, Zadar region

Sea level; Air pressure; Air temperature; Atmospheric humidity; Wind strength and direction; Horizontal velocity of the water column (currents)

Anemometers; sea level recorders; current profilers; CTD

The project concentrates on the East Adriatic Coastal Current (EACE), on its core as it is observed in the Middle Adriatic and a broader flow usually found in the North Adriatic. That the EACE, which inflows into the Adriatic along the Croatian coast, has a maximum speed in a core usually positioned ca 20 km from the Middle and South Adriatic coast has been documented by early geostrophic computations (Acta Adriatica, Vol. 8/6, 1956, p. 3) as well as by recent employment of satellite-tracked drifters (Journal of Marine Systems, Vol. 20, 1999, p. 231). A simple model has shown that the current-speed maximum may occur in winter and that it is probably controlled by buoyancy gain concentrated at the coast and buoyancy loss distributed over the Adriatic Sea surface (Geofizika, Vol. 13, 1996, p. 61). The EACE is more uniform in the North Adriatic, whose eastern coast is almost devoid of river inputs, and apparently is to a considerable extent controlled by the Middle Adriatic flow. The project aims at describing in some detail the EACE throughout a winter season on a polygon off Zadar, i. e. in the area in which it may be expected that the current transforms from a concentrated vein into a broad flow. Empirical findings will be reproduced with a model, which would allow not only for the buoyancy forcing but for the wind influence as well.

Andrija Mohorovicic Geophysical Institute, University of Zagreb
Horvatovac 95
Zagreb

10000
Croatia