The Gorbush storm in the Mediterranean Sea: atmospheric and wave simulation

Abstract

The storm that disrupted the meeting between President Gorbachev and President Bush in Malta between 2 and 3 December 1989 is analyzed. The meteorological situation that caused the storm was simulated with two European Centre for Medium Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF) atmospheric numerical models - a global model (resolution T106) and a limited-area model (resolution T333) - and its effect on the sea was simulated with an advanced wave model (WAM). Verification of the wind and wave forecast shows that to obtain a realistic forecast of wave height and distribution it is necessary to increase the horizontal resolution of the model, whose grid size must be no more than 40 km. -Authors