2008 , Volume 13, Special issue, p.39-46

The present study aims to develop an effective numerical model of Baltic Sea that will be used to carry out multi-year simulations of wind-generated sea level variations in the Gulf of Finland. Here we present some results including 1 model verification by comparing statistical characteristics of the observed and simulated time series and 2) physical analysis of the observed statistical characteristics of sea surface variability. A wind-driven 2D version of the Princeton Ocean Model (POM) has been developed and tested for the Baltic Sea. We adopted a forcing mechanism of uniform wind that is randomly changing in time, with zero mean and standard deviation of 3 m/s. This approach is similar to the well known Monte-Carlo method. This simple statistical model allows studying resonant sea-level response that is related to seiche modes in the Baltic Sea. Spectra of simulated sea level records demonstrate a clear peak with a period of 27-29 hours, a well-known period of a natural oscillation mode for the Baltic Sea.