The North Sea is a shallow shelf sea adjacent to the North Atlantic with a mean depth of 80 m (the maximum water depth in the Norwegian Trench is about 800 m) (see Figure 1). It is characterized by a broad connection to the ocean

and by strong continental impacts from north-western Europe. This results in a substantial interplay of oceanic influences (tides, the North Atlantic Oscillation NAO, North Atlantic low pressure systems) and continental ones (freshwater discharge, heat flow, input of pollutants). This interaction generates a specific physical and biogeochemical regime that requires an appropriate modelling concept. Ocean circulation models cannot be directly find more applied to the North Sea. Schematically, the bottom of the North Sea rises from a depth of 200 m at its northern entrance to 50 m at the cross-section from the Dogger Banks to northern Denmark and to 20 m and less off the Dutch-German coast. This topography influences especially the system of eigen-oscillations (and hence the resonance to tidal click here forcing) and water level rise during storm surges. Figure 2 shows the ranges and phases of the semidiurnal tides M2 + S2. It exhibits in principle the classical oscillation pattern of Taylor’s solution for a rectangular basin of constant depth. Owing to the inclined bottom, the position of the central amphidromic point is shifted southwards. Two additional amphidromies are generated

by eigen-oscillations in marginal sub-basins. The Kelvin wave penetrating from the north (with its increasing amplitudes towards the British coast) is strongly dissipated by bottom friction in the shallow southern coastal waters. Thus, the reflected wave shows significantly smaller amplitudes (off the Danish and Norwegian coasts). The effect of topography on a schematic storm surge with a constant northerly wind is shown in Figure 3 (model result by Sündermann (1966)). On the left-hand side (a) the natural depth distribution of the North Sea is chosen, on the right-hand side (b) a constant depth of 80 m (corresponding to the mean

depth) is assumed. The southward water level rise up to the 80 m isobath is nearly the same in both cases. Thereafter, SPTLC1 the piling up is much higher for the shallower real depth situation. One reason for the increased storm surge danger in the southern North Sea is therefore the specific topography of the basin. We may add that the analytical formula for the maximum water elevation in a one-ended, open, wind-driven basin ξL=λW2Lghwhere W – wind speed, L – length of the basin, h – water depth, g – the acceleration due to gravity, and λ = 3.2 × 10−6, yields for North Sea conditions with a 23.2 m s−1 wind speed the value ξL = 159.3 cm, which is in very good agreement with the 160 cm of the numerical solution. Through the vertical flux of momentum the atmosphere significantly controls the general circulation of the North Sea. Figure 4 shows the basic patterns of the wind-driven currents depending on the wind direction.