Hurricane Irene generated strong near-inertial currents in ocean waters when passing over the Mid-Atlantic Bight of the US East Coast in late August 2011. It is demonstrated that a combination of valuable field data and detailed model results can be exploited to study the development and decay mechanism of this event. The near-inertial kinetic energy is shown to mainly have been gained from wind power during the hurricane event. Its decay, however, depends on several factors.

This high-resolution model-based study investigates the variability in the generation, propagation, and sea height signature (SSH) of the internal tide off the Amazon shelf during two contrasted seasons. ITs propagate further north during the season characterized by weak currents and mesoscale eddies and a shallow and strong pycnocline. IT imprints on SSH dominate those of the geostrophic motion for horizontal scales below 200 km; moreover, the SSH is mainly incoherent below 70 km.

The goal of the study is to evaluate the predictability of the ocean circulation at a kilometric scale, in order to anticipate the requirements of the future operational forecasting systems. For that purpose, ensemble experiments have been performed with a regional model for the Western Mediterranean (at 1/60° horizontal resolution). From these ensemble experiments, we show that it is possible to compute targeted predictability scores, which depend on initial and model uncertainties.

Oceanic eddies are ubiquitous in the ocean, and their dynamics are key components in the evolution of water column properties. This study combines sea surface height and the thermohaline field to understand the seasonal variation of eddy activity and associated heat/salt transport in the Bay of Bengal. Eddy activity in the Bay of Bengal has evident seasonal variation; the eddy-induced heat and salt transport in different seasons also changes substantially.

Obtaining accurate results from wave models in coastal regions is typically more difficult. This is due to the complex interactions between waves and the local environment characteristics like complex shorelines, sea bottom topography, the presence of strong currents, and other processes that include wave growth and decay. In the present study we analyze which elements can be adjusted and/or included in order to reduce errors in the modeled output.

Quantifying spatial–temporal water level dynamics is essential for water resources management in estuaries. In this study, we propose a simple yet powerful regression model to examine the influence of the world’s largest dam, the Three Gorges Dam (TGD), on the spatial–temporal water level dynamics within the Yangtze River estuary. The presented method is particularly useful for determining scientific strategies for sustainable water resources management in dam-controlled estuaries worldwide.

The south-eastern Bay of Biscay is an accumulation zone for marine litter. Yet, the behaviour of the riverine litter fraction reaching the sea is poorly understood. We resolve this by studying litter buoyancy and transport, based on high-frequency radar observations and Lagrangian simulations. We show large seasonal and regional differences between items' behaviour, particularly in summer when highly buoyant litter beaches faster and Gipuzkoa and Pyrénées-Atlantiques regions are mostly affected.

River engineering measures greatly changed tidal dynamics in the Weser estuary. We studied the effect on saltwater intrusion with numerical models. Our analysis shows that a deepening of the navigation channel causes saltwater to intrude further into the Weser estuary. This effect is mostly masked by the natural variability of river discharge. In our study, it proved essential to recalibrate individual hindcast models due to differences in sediments, bed forms, and underlying bathymetric data.

Ocean and atmosphere dynamics redistribute heat and freshwater, which drives regional sea level changes. This study reports on the east-to-west propagation of sea level anomalies in the subpolar North Atlantic as an important component of the interannual to decadal regional sea level variability. It is demonstrated that this variability is the result of a complex interplay between the local wind forcing, surface heat fluxes, and the advection of heat and freshwater by ocean currents.

In the western tropical South Atlantic, coastward currents spread oceanic cnidarians over the continental shelf. While both coastal and oceanic communities co-occur in scenarios of higher runoff and weaker boundary current intensity, oceanic species dominate almost the entire shelf during the dry season characterized by stronger currents. Meanwhile, offshore, when the mixed-layer depth is shallower, the enhanced primary productivity supports larger populations of planktonic cnidarians.

In a context of climate change, having sea level data all along the coast is essential. However, tide gauges yield pointwise observations, and satellite altimetry has limitations at the coast. We present a method that, learning from a years-long model output and using tide gauge observations only, is able to reconstruct sea level all along the coast. The accuracy of the reconstruction has been validated against independent observations and proven to be better than that of satellite altimetry.

We studied the long-term mean flow through the Marsdiep tidal inlet in the Dutch Wadden Sea. We found that this flow, which is important for sediment, salt and nutrient balances, is reversing from net outflow to inflow. We hypothesise changes in tides in the North Sea caused this, due to increased stratification in response to global warming. Hence, we expect permanent inflow conditions within 1 decade, with potential effects on the sediment balance and the ecosystem of this World Heritage Site.