Non-negligible impact of Stokes drift and wave-driven Eulerian currents on simulated surface particle dispersal in the Mediterranean Sea
<p>Numerical simulations of marine surface particle dispersal are a crucial tool for addressing many outstanding issues in physical oceanography of societal relevance, such as marine plastic pollution. However, the quality of these Lagrangian simulations depends on the ability of the underlyin...
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Copernicus Publications
2025-01-01
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| Series: | Ocean Science |
| Online Access: | https://os.copernicus.org/articles/21/217/2025/os-21-217-2025.pdf |
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| author | S. Rühs S. Rühs T. van den Bremer E. Clementi M. C. Denes A. Moulin E. van Sebille |
| author_facet | S. Rühs S. Rühs T. van den Bremer E. Clementi M. C. Denes A. Moulin E. van Sebille |
| author_sort | S. Rühs |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | <p>Numerical simulations of marine surface particle dispersal are a crucial tool for addressing many outstanding issues in physical oceanography of societal relevance, such as marine plastic pollution. However, the quality of these Lagrangian simulations depends on the ability of the underlying numerical model to represent prevailing ocean circulation features. Here, we investigate how simulated marine surface particle dispersal changes if the – often omitted or only approximated – impact of wind-generated surface waves on upper-ocean circulation is considered. We use velocity fields from a high-resolution coupled ocean–wave model simulation and a complementary stand-alone ocean model simulation for the Mediterranean Sea to answer the following questions: (1) how does the explicit representation of waves impact simulated surface particle dispersal, and what is the relative impact of Stokes drift and wave-driven Eulerian currents? (2) How accurately can the wave impact be approximated by the commonly applied approach of advecting particles with non-wave-driven Eulerian currents and Stokes drift from stand-alone ocean and wave models? We find that the representation of surface waves tends to increase the simulated mean Lagrangian surface drift speed in winter through the dominant impact of Stokes drift and tends to decrease the mean Lagrangian surface drift speed in summer through the dominant impact of wave-driven Eulerian currents. Furthermore, simulations that approximate the surface wave impact by including Stokes drift (but ignoring wave-driven Eulerian currents) do not necessarily yield better estimates of surface particle dispersal patterns with explicit wave impact representation than simulations that do not include any surface wave impact. Our results imply that – whenever possible – velocity fields from a coupled ocean–wave model should be used for surface particle dispersal simulations.</p> |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-3463ac8ca8fe49af80211d1e8469869a |
| institution | Kabale University |
| issn | 1812-0784 1812-0792 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2025-01-01 |
| publisher | Copernicus Publications |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Ocean Science |
| spelling | doaj-art-3463ac8ca8fe49af80211d1e8469869a2025-01-28T09:04:19ZengCopernicus PublicationsOcean Science1812-07841812-07922025-01-012121724010.5194/os-21-217-2025Non-negligible impact of Stokes drift and wave-driven Eulerian currents on simulated surface particle dispersal in the Mediterranean SeaS. Rühs0S. Rühs1T. van den Bremer2E. Clementi3M. C. Denes4A. Moulin5E. van Sebille6Institute for Marine and Atmospheric research Utrecht (IMAU), Utrecht University, 3584 CS Utrecht, the Netherlandsnow at: Leibniz Institute for Baltic Sea Research Warnemünde, 18119 Rostock, GermanyFaculty of Civil Engineering and Geosciences, Delft University of Technology, 2628 CD Delft, the NetherlandsCMCC Foundation – Euro-Mediterranean Center on Climate Change, 40127 Bologna, ItalyInstitute for Marine and Atmospheric research Utrecht (IMAU), Utrecht University, 3584 CS Utrecht, the NetherlandsCMCC Foundation – Euro-Mediterranean Center on Climate Change, 40127 Bologna, ItalyInstitute for Marine and Atmospheric research Utrecht (IMAU), Utrecht University, 3584 CS Utrecht, the Netherlands<p>Numerical simulations of marine surface particle dispersal are a crucial tool for addressing many outstanding issues in physical oceanography of societal relevance, such as marine plastic pollution. However, the quality of these Lagrangian simulations depends on the ability of the underlying numerical model to represent prevailing ocean circulation features. Here, we investigate how simulated marine surface particle dispersal changes if the – often omitted or only approximated – impact of wind-generated surface waves on upper-ocean circulation is considered. We use velocity fields from a high-resolution coupled ocean–wave model simulation and a complementary stand-alone ocean model simulation for the Mediterranean Sea to answer the following questions: (1) how does the explicit representation of waves impact simulated surface particle dispersal, and what is the relative impact of Stokes drift and wave-driven Eulerian currents? (2) How accurately can the wave impact be approximated by the commonly applied approach of advecting particles with non-wave-driven Eulerian currents and Stokes drift from stand-alone ocean and wave models? We find that the representation of surface waves tends to increase the simulated mean Lagrangian surface drift speed in winter through the dominant impact of Stokes drift and tends to decrease the mean Lagrangian surface drift speed in summer through the dominant impact of wave-driven Eulerian currents. Furthermore, simulations that approximate the surface wave impact by including Stokes drift (but ignoring wave-driven Eulerian currents) do not necessarily yield better estimates of surface particle dispersal patterns with explicit wave impact representation than simulations that do not include any surface wave impact. Our results imply that – whenever possible – velocity fields from a coupled ocean–wave model should be used for surface particle dispersal simulations.</p>https://os.copernicus.org/articles/21/217/2025/os-21-217-2025.pdf |
| spellingShingle | S. Rühs S. Rühs T. van den Bremer E. Clementi M. C. Denes A. Moulin E. van Sebille Non-negligible impact of Stokes drift and wave-driven Eulerian currents on simulated surface particle dispersal in the Mediterranean Sea Ocean Science |
| title | Non-negligible impact of Stokes drift and wave-driven Eulerian currents on simulated surface particle dispersal in the Mediterranean Sea |
| title_full | Non-negligible impact of Stokes drift and wave-driven Eulerian currents on simulated surface particle dispersal in the Mediterranean Sea |
| title_fullStr | Non-negligible impact of Stokes drift and wave-driven Eulerian currents on simulated surface particle dispersal in the Mediterranean Sea |
| title_full_unstemmed | Non-negligible impact of Stokes drift and wave-driven Eulerian currents on simulated surface particle dispersal in the Mediterranean Sea |
| title_short | Non-negligible impact of Stokes drift and wave-driven Eulerian currents on simulated surface particle dispersal in the Mediterranean Sea |
| title_sort | non negligible impact of stokes drift and wave driven eulerian currents on simulated surface particle dispersal in the mediterranean sea |
| url | https://os.copernicus.org/articles/21/217/2025/os-21-217-2025.pdf |
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