SALINITY MODELS OF THE SOUTHERN NORTH-SEA

With the recent acquisition of a detailed set of salinity measurements in the southern North Sea as a result of the U.K. North Sea Project ( 1988-1989), it is now feasible to test a fine resolution model of the area thus superseding the bulk box models used hitherto. A series of f ine resolution, two-dimensional, advection-diffusion salinity models o f the U.K. shelf and North Sea have been constructed. By comparison wi th the North Sea Project data these have inferred the most important i nfluences on the salinity of the North Sea, in particular the importan ce of advection, of salinities on the open boundaries and of the evapo ration/precipitation balance in the central North Sea. One of the mode ls was also used in an attempt to explain the salinity anomaly seen du ring the North Sea Project. A mechanism for this is suggested.