Forecasting circulation in the Cilician Basin of the Levantine Sea

Abstract

The Cilician Basin / Shelf Model is adapted for studying the shelf circulation in the Cilician Basin – Gulf of Iskenderun region of the Levantine Basin of the eastern Mediterranean between the Turkish Mediterranean coast, Syria and the island of Cyprus. The model initial conditions and open boundary conditions are supplied by the ALERMO regional model of the Levantine Sea, while interactive surface flux boundary conditions are specified by an atmospheric boundary layer sub-model using calculated water properties and surface atmospheric variables supplied by the Skiron atmospheric model, within the nested modelling approach of the MFSTEP (Mediterranean Forecasting System: Towards Environmental Predictions) project. Sensitivity tests are performed for alternative surface boundary conditions. Model performance for shelf / meso-scale forecasts is demonstrated.