Abstract
The role of meso-scale eddies and coastal currents in marine and climatic environmental studies is of great importance. In this study, the coastal currents of the Persian Gulf and their effect on the formation of meso-scale eddies and the spread of pollution were simulated using the COHERENS numerical model with a horizontal resolution of longitude and latitude of 2 min. The simulation results indicated that the velocity of the currents was low from January to March and began to increase in May. This trend continued until June and July and then began to decline in August. The most activity of eddies was in the inlet parts of the Persian Gulf starting including the Strait of Hormuz and the northwest of the Persian Gulf; therefore, they were the most dangerous parts of the region regarding the spread of pollution. Moreover, sea surface height field data were extracted from AVISO dataset for 5 years (2015–2019), and meso-scale eddies were identified and tracked based on sea surface height using Arc GIS software. The strongest eddies were observed in summer. According to the simulation results, the currents of the Iranian coast extended to the northwest from January to April and reached their maximum intensity from June to August. Therefore, the pollution was spread in the north of the Persian Gulf along the coasts of Iran, and July was recognized as the most dangerous time for the spread of pollution.
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Abbreviations
- c p :
-
Specific heat of water at constant pressure
- f :
-
Coriolis parameter
- I :
-
Absorption of sunlight in the water column (W/m2)
- P :
-
Pressure (N/m2)
- S :
-
Salinity (psu)
- t :
-
Time (s)
- T :
-
Temperature (C)
- \(\upsilon_{{\text{T}}}\) :
-
Eddy viscosity
- \(\rho\) :
-
Density (kg/m3)
- \(\rho_{0 } \) :
-
Reference density (kg/m3)
- \(\lambda_{{\text{H}}}\) :
-
Horizontal diffusion coefficient for salinity and temperature
- \(\lambda_{{\text{T}}}\) :
-
Vertical diffusion coefficient for salinity and temperature
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Acknowledgements
We also thank Dr. Amir Siah Sarani (Ocean Modeling Office, Tehran Forecasting Center, I.R.IRAN of Meteorological Organization) for providing us technical supports.
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Mehrfar, H., Raeisi, A., Azad, M.T. et al. Numerical study of the effects of coastal currents and meso-scale eddies on the spread of pollution in the Persian Gulf. Int. J. Environ. Sci. Technol. 20, 7099–7116 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13762-023-04920-x
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s13762-023-04920-x