THREE DIMENSIONAL HYDRODYNAMICMODELING OF THE CASPIAN SEA

The three dimensional General Estuarine Transport Model (GETM) is applied to simulate the hydrodynamics of the Caspian Sea. The effects of realistic meteorological forcing and riverinflows are considered. The model results including salinity, temperature and sea level variations are compared against observational data, demonstrating the ability of the numerical model in reproducing the Caspian Sea hydrodynamics. Seasonal variability of the thermohaline structureof the Caspian Sea is studied using the model simulations. Furthermore, the performance of the applied vertical adaptive coordinates is evaluated against sigma coordinates. It is shown that the application of adaptive coordinates leads to better resolved thermohaline structures and improved simulations

Keywords:

Caspian Sea , Circulation , Thermohaline Structure , Seasonal variability