A preliminary hydrodynamical study around the island of Comino

Abstract

The island of Comino is sought after by many tourists, especially in the warmer months between May and September. Its main attraction is the crystal-clear turquoise waters of the Blue Lagoon. Whilst being very picturesque, the water has been a struggle for many tourists over the years. The occasional strong and rapidly changing currents between Comino and Cominotto led to this unrepresented study to better understand the dynamics of the waters surrounding Comino. To carry out this study, two main data sources were utilised: a hydrodynamical coastal numerical model, which provided a three-dimensional hydrodynamic data around Comino, and the in-situ data from the deployed drifters. The sea surface currents and temperatures are processed through tailor-made MATLAB scripts to create trajectories based on the model output data and compared with drifters’ paths. When comparing the tracks produced by a 3 day spin up SHYFEM model and a 5 day spin up SHYFEM model, it was observed that the 5 day spin up modelled was able to reproduce tracks similar to those produced by the drifters. The sea surface temperature data as predicted by the 5 day spin up model was seen to be around 0.5◦C higher when compared to measurements from the deployed drifters.