The oxygen dynamics during Baltic inflow events in 2001 to 2003 and the effect of different meteorological forcing — A model study

The unusual inflow events into the Baltic Sea from 2001 to 2003 are studied with the aid of a three-dimensional ecosystem model, which consists of a circulation model and a biogeochemical model component. The inclusion of the biogeochemical processes allows in particular to simulate how the oxygen dynamics is affected by the inflows. To compare model results and observations, several data sets, both time series of directly measured parameters, e.g. temperature, salinity and oxygen, and estimated quantities, such as reproduction volumes of cod and the habitat volume of Pseudocalanus, are used. The study gives an analysis of the effect of different forcing fields, such as BALTEX data and ERA-40 data. It can be shown that many physical quantities, e.g. mixed layer depth and transports, but also ecological relevant parameters as habitat volumes vary considerably in response to different meteorological forcing data sets.