COMPARISONS BETWEEN OBSERVATIONS AND MODEL SIMULATIONS OF DISSOLVED TRACE-METAL CONCENTRATIONS IN THE SOUTHERN NORTH-SEA

As part of the NERC North Sea Project (1987-92), dissolved concentrati ons of the metals Cd, Cu, Pb, Ni and Zn were determined at over 100 lo cations on each of four survey cruises. Model simulations are used to relate these observed distributions to their sources, namely: 1. inflo ws from the northern North Sea and the English Channel, 2. atmospheric and 3. riverine. A multiple linear regression technique is used to de termine the dissolved concentration in each of the inflow sources. The se derived values are shown to be in fairly good agreement with values cited in the 1987 Quality Status Report. The present study illustrate s the relative contribution of each source in differing regions of the southern North Sea and also provides a quantitative assessment of the agreement between model and observed dissolved metal distributions.