A tidally driven fjord-like strait close to an amphidromic region
The strait studied in this paper, “Sundalagið Norður”, is the northern part of a narrow body of seawater separating the two largest islands in the Faroe Islands (Faroes). It has shallow sills in both ends and considerably deeper waters in between. South of the southern end of the strait there is an...
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2021
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ftdoajarticles:oai:doaj.org/article:2adce85fe8764593a76000e561b8fad4 2023-05-15T16:11:03+02:00 A tidally driven fjord-like strait close to an amphidromic region S. V. Erenbjerg J. Albretsen K. Simonsen E. L. Olsen E. Kaas B. Hansen 2021-11-01T00:00:00Z https://doi.org/10.5194/os-17-1639-2021 https://doaj.org/article/2adce85fe8764593a76000e561b8fad4 EN eng Copernicus Publications https://os.copernicus.org/articles/17/1639/2021/os-17-1639-2021.pdf https://doaj.org/toc/1812-0784 https://doaj.org/toc/1812-0792 doi:10.5194/os-17-1639-2021 1812-0784 1812-0792 https://doaj.org/article/2adce85fe8764593a76000e561b8fad4 Ocean Science, Vol 17, Pp 1639-1655 (2021) Geography. Anthropology. Recreation G Environmental sciences GE1-350 article 2021 ftdoajarticles https://doi.org/10.5194/os-17-1639-2021 2022-12-31T09:07:40Z The strait studied in this paper, “Sundalagið Norður”, is the northern part of a narrow body of seawater separating the two largest islands in the Faroe Islands (Faroes). It has shallow sills in both ends and considerably deeper waters in between. South of the southern end of the strait there is an amphidromic region for the semidiurnal tides so that the tidal range is much lower south of the strait than north of it. The resulting tidal forcing generates periodically varying inflow of seawater across the northern sill, but only a part of that manages to cross the narrow and shallow southern sill. Combined with a large input of freshwater, this gives the strait a fjord-like character. To investigate how this fjord-like character affects the circulation within the strait and its exchanges with outside waters, a pilot project was initiated to simulate the dynamics of the strait with a high-resolution ocean model for a month. The model simulations show clearly the dominance of tidal forcing over freshwater (estuarine) and wind on timescales up to a day. On longer timescales, the simulations indicate systematic variations in the net flows (averaged over a diurnal tidal period) through both the upper and deeper layers. These long-period variations of net flow in the model simulations are forced by sea level differences between both ends of the strait generated by the dominant fortnightly and monthly tidal constituents (Mf, MSf, Mm, MSm). Harmonic analysis of sea level records from two tide gauges located off each end of the strait demonstrates that this behaviour is not a model artefact and it has pronounced effects on the strait. Not only does it induce long-period (mainly fortnightly) variations in the net flow through the strait, but it also generates variations in the estuarine characteristics. According to the model simulations, periods with net southward flow, typically lasting a week, have a strait-like character with net southward flow almost everywhere. Periods with net northward flow, in contrast, have a ... Article in Journal/Newspaper Faroe Islands Faroes Directory of Open Access Journals: DOAJ Articles Faroe Islands Sundalagið ENVELOPE(-7.000,-7.000,62.200,62.200) Ocean Science 17 6 1639 1655 |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
Directory of Open Access Journals: DOAJ Articles |
op_collection_id |
ftdoajarticles |
language |
English |
topic |
Geography. Anthropology. Recreation G Environmental sciences GE1-350 |
spellingShingle |
Geography. Anthropology. Recreation G Environmental sciences GE1-350 S. V. Erenbjerg J. Albretsen K. Simonsen E. L. Olsen E. Kaas B. Hansen A tidally driven fjord-like strait close to an amphidromic region |
topic_facet |
Geography. Anthropology. Recreation G Environmental sciences GE1-350 |
description |
The strait studied in this paper, “Sundalagið Norður”, is the northern part of a narrow body of seawater separating the two largest islands in the Faroe Islands (Faroes). It has shallow sills in both ends and considerably deeper waters in between. South of the southern end of the strait there is an amphidromic region for the semidiurnal tides so that the tidal range is much lower south of the strait than north of it. The resulting tidal forcing generates periodically varying inflow of seawater across the northern sill, but only a part of that manages to cross the narrow and shallow southern sill. Combined with a large input of freshwater, this gives the strait a fjord-like character. To investigate how this fjord-like character affects the circulation within the strait and its exchanges with outside waters, a pilot project was initiated to simulate the dynamics of the strait with a high-resolution ocean model for a month. The model simulations show clearly the dominance of tidal forcing over freshwater (estuarine) and wind on timescales up to a day. On longer timescales, the simulations indicate systematic variations in the net flows (averaged over a diurnal tidal period) through both the upper and deeper layers. These long-period variations of net flow in the model simulations are forced by sea level differences between both ends of the strait generated by the dominant fortnightly and monthly tidal constituents (Mf, MSf, Mm, MSm). Harmonic analysis of sea level records from two tide gauges located off each end of the strait demonstrates that this behaviour is not a model artefact and it has pronounced effects on the strait. Not only does it induce long-period (mainly fortnightly) variations in the net flow through the strait, but it also generates variations in the estuarine characteristics. According to the model simulations, periods with net southward flow, typically lasting a week, have a strait-like character with net southward flow almost everywhere. Periods with net northward flow, in contrast, have a ... |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
S. V. Erenbjerg J. Albretsen K. Simonsen E. L. Olsen E. Kaas B. Hansen |
author_facet |
S. V. Erenbjerg J. Albretsen K. Simonsen E. L. Olsen E. Kaas B. Hansen |
author_sort |
S. V. Erenbjerg |
title |
A tidally driven fjord-like strait close to an amphidromic region |
title_short |
A tidally driven fjord-like strait close to an amphidromic region |
title_full |
A tidally driven fjord-like strait close to an amphidromic region |
title_fullStr |
A tidally driven fjord-like strait close to an amphidromic region |
title_full_unstemmed |
A tidally driven fjord-like strait close to an amphidromic region |
title_sort |
tidally driven fjord-like strait close to an amphidromic region |
publisher |
Copernicus Publications |
publishDate |
2021 |
url |
https://doi.org/10.5194/os-17-1639-2021 https://doaj.org/article/2adce85fe8764593a76000e561b8fad4 |
long_lat |
ENVELOPE(-7.000,-7.000,62.200,62.200) |
geographic |
Faroe Islands Sundalagið |
geographic_facet |
Faroe Islands Sundalagið |
genre |
Faroe Islands Faroes |
genre_facet |
Faroe Islands Faroes |
op_source |
Ocean Science, Vol 17, Pp 1639-1655 (2021) |
op_relation |
https://os.copernicus.org/articles/17/1639/2021/os-17-1639-2021.pdf https://doaj.org/toc/1812-0784 https://doaj.org/toc/1812-0792 doi:10.5194/os-17-1639-2021 1812-0784 1812-0792 https://doaj.org/article/2adce85fe8764593a76000e561b8fad4 |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.5194/os-17-1639-2021 |
container_title |
Ocean Science |
container_volume |
17 |
container_issue |
6 |
container_start_page |
1639 |
op_container_end_page |
1655 |
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1765996177672634368 |