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Recent advances in Adriatic meteotsunamis research

Although being very rare and impacting limited areas, the meteotsunamis (tsunami-like waves generated by the atmosphere) may be destructive with large economic losses and even human casualties. The Adriatic Sea is one of the worldwide regions where several meters large meteotsunamis may occur in some harbors and bays, such as Vela Luka Bay (6-m high), Island of Ist (4-m high), Stari Grad Bay (3-m high). The problem is not just the height of these waves but also the fact that the coastal infrastructure is not adapted to these changes due to a low (20-40 cm) tides in the area. In addition, the currents may be vigorous and damage the coastal infrastructure. For example, the Adriatic meteotsunami event of 27 June 2003 resulted in substantial damage of shellfish farms in its natural habitat, being swept out by quite strong currents. The 2003 event reinforced the investigations of the physical mechanisms of the generation, propagation and amplification of resonantly generated waves. Although a fairly good reproduction of the dynamics was achieved in these studies, the problem arose from a lack of high-frequency (a minute temporal resolution) air pressure data, which are non-standard in meteorological measurements. Fortunately, the meteorological mesoscale non-isostatic models are constantly improving, being at least capable to qualitatively reproduce the atmospheric conditions necessary for the generation of the meteotsunamis. Therefore, it is expected that quantitative simulations will be performed in the near future, enabling the prediction of these events and the building of the forecasting/warning system in the affected coastal areas.

meteotsunami; Adriatic Sea; overview

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