(20) Mali LoŔinj, 15 August 2008
The main source of information in this case is Zoran TomiÄ, harbor master, who was interviewed by the author on 21 August 2008. The descriptions of the event in newspaper articles (VeÄernji list, 16 August 2008; Slobodna Dalmacija, 17 August 2008; Vjesnik, 18 August 2008) corroborate his observations and also mention a thunderstorm that occurred in the wider Mali loÅ”inj area at the time.
An increase in high-frequency variability was also recorded by a number of digital tide gauges concurrently operating in the North Adriatic, but nowhere did the amplitudes reach the values reported for Mali loŔinj. Herein we show sea level oscillations recorded by the ~80 km distanced Bakar tide gauge. High-frequency sea level oscillations in Bakar were intensified from ~18:00 to 24:00 UTC. The maximum oscillation with a 109.8 crest-to-trough height was recorded at 22:46 UTC.
The meteorological conditions coinciding with the event were studied by BeluÅ”iÄ and Strelec MahoviÄ (2009), who detected a strongly developed mesoscale convective system in the area. The synoptic setting was also assessed by VilibiÄ and Å epiÄ (2009). Idealised numeric simulations, covering the broader northern Adriatic, area were performed by Å epiÄ et al. (2015b), and a higher resolution modelling, using ADCIRC with included flooding and drying algorithm, by Bubalo et al. (2021).
A weak low was centered over Croatia, and weak sirroco wind (> 10 m/s), was blowing along the Adriatic Sea. At the 850 hPa height, tongue of warm air mass was spreading from the western Sahara, across the central Mediterranean to the middle and southern Adriatic. As a result, an upper level temperature front was present over the Adriatic Sea. At the 500 hPa level, a trough was located over the western Mediterranean and the Adriatic Sea. Associated upper level winds reached speeds of more than 25 m/s over the Adriatic Sea.
