High-resolution nested model for the Lebanese coastal area, Eastern Mediterranean: implementation and climatological runs

Abstract. As a part of the project Mediterranean Network to Assess and Upgrade Monitoring and Forecasting Activity in the Region (MAMA) we implemented a high resolution nested hydrodynamic model (1/40° horizontal grid, 16 sigma levels) for the coastal, shelf and open sea areas off the Lebanese coast, East Levantine Basin of the Eastern Mediterranean Sea. The Lebanese Shelf Model (LSM) is a version of the Princeton Ocean Model (POM). It is nested in a coarse resolution model the Aegean Levantine Eddy Resolving Model (1/20° horizontal grid, 25 sigma levels), ALERMO, that covers the Eastern Mediterranean. The nesting is one way so that velocity, temperature, and salinity along the open boundaries are interpolated from the relevant coarse model variables. Numerical simulations have been carried out under climatological surface and lateral forcing. Due to the relatively small domain, the results closely follow the simulation of the intermediate model with more details especially over the narrow shelf region. Simulations reproduce main circulation features and coastal circulation characteristics over the eastern Levantine shelf. This paper describes the modeling system setup, compares the simulations with the corresponding results of the coarse model ALERMO, and with the observed climatological circulation characteristics in the Levantine Basin off the Lebanese coast.