Journal of Marine Science and Engineering Article Modeling of the Turkish Strait System Using a High Resolution Unstructured Grid Ocean Circulation Model Mehmet Ilicak 1,* , Ivan Federico 2 , Ivano Barletta 2,3 , Sabri Mutlu 4 , Haldun Karan 4 , Stefania Angela Ciliberti 2 , Emanuela Clementi 5 , Giovanni Coppini 2 and Nadia Pinardi 3 1 Eurasia Institute of Earth Sciences, Istanbul Technical University, Istanbul 34469, Turkey 2 Fondazione Centro Euro-Mediterraneo sui Cambiamenti Climatici, Ocean Predictions and Applications Division, 73100 Lecce, Italy;
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[email protected] Abstract: The Turkish Strait System, which is the only connection between the Black Sea and the Mediterranean Sea, is a challenging region for ocean circulation models due to topographic constraints and water mass structure. We present a newly developed high resolution unstructured finite element grid model to simulate the Turkish Strait System using realistic atmospheric forcing and lateral open boundary conditions. We find that the jet flowing from the Bosphorus Strait into the Marmara creates Citation: Ilicak, M.; Federico, I.; an anticyclonic circulation. The eddy kinetic energy field is high around the jets exiting from the Barletta, I.; Mutlu, S.; Karan, H.; Ciliberti, S.A.; Clementi, E.; Coppini, Bosphorus Strait, Dardanelles Strait, and also the leeward side of the islands in the Marmara Sea.