A simple model of a water column applied to the deep water formation in the Northern Catalan Sea

In this paper an attempt to reproduce the evolution of the thermal structure of water columns by a simple one-dimensional model is presented. The model is based on the heat balance between the sea and the atmosphere and it is specially sensitive to air temperature and wind speed. The model is used to study the influence of these atmospheric forcings on the deep water formation process in the Northern Catalan Sea. It is applied using meteorological and oceanographic data collected during the ALPEX Special Observation Period (SOP) and the results are compared to temperature profiles obtained during the CARON 82 cruise (MEDALPEX)Publicado