Coherens Rhone simulations

A series of simulations were performed in the frame of the MAST3-MAUVE project. The figures show the plume of the Rhone in the absence of wind and for two different wind directions. In the first case a surface layer of fresh water with a thickness of ~5 m turns anticyclonically around a central bulge, then deflects towards the coast where it takes the form of a buoyancy-driven coastal jet. A northwesterly (Mistral) wind deflects the plume seawards with a tendency of coastal detachment, whereas a southwesterly wind confines the plume to the coast and strengthens the coastal current. The results are in qualitative agreement with satellite data and in situ measurements.

 
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