MARIE (Modelling and Assimilation In Rofi Environments)

This European-funded Marie-Curie Transfer of Knowledge project is studying the interactions between waves and currents in the ROFI (Region of Freshwater Influence) caused by the outflow of the Ebro River into the NW Mediterranean. Local wind effects cause interesting combinations of wind-sea and swell due to the NW wind, the Mistral, which is funnelled between the mountains. This area will also be compared with the ROFIs due to the Dee and the Mersey in Liverpool Bay and the Douro in Portugal. The POLCOMS (POL Coastal Ocean Modelling System) model has been implemented for the sea area around the Ebro Delta on the Catalan coast of the NW Mediterranean, including full wave-current interaction based on new theoretical work.

Other partners in the project are the Faculdade de Engenharia da Universidade do Porto (FEUP), Portugal; the Katholieke Universiteit of Leuven (KUL), Belgium and Delft University of Technology, TUD, Netherlands. The project is being managed by Prof. Agustin Sanchez-Arcilla of Laboratori d'Enginyeria Maritima (LIM) of UPC.

 Download MARIE leaflet

POL personnel: Judith Wolf, Rodolfo Bolanos Sanchez (exchange scientist from UPC).

Bathymetry in the NW Mediterranean (top panel) and Catalan coast (bottom panel), circles show the locations used for the evaluation of the model. Scale in metres.