Do Adriatic Bora winds impact Venice?

Abstract The Jan. 2014 Adriatic Bora storm produced a measurable impact in north Adriatic, where tidal gauges recorded 5-cm sea-level fluctuations with a characteristic period of 100 min. Given the sensitivity of Venice flooding to sea-level perturbations and the localized, basin-transversal jet structure of the Bora winds, the observations are both significant and surprising. We investigate the event based on field observations off the Senigallia coast, Italy, and use simple linear analytical and numerical models. The model suggests that the oscillations observed are a mixture of edge-waves and seiches with a significant basin-transversal component, generated during the relaxation of Bora wind setup. The spatial structure of seiches explains the surprising basin-longitudinal reach of Bora storm. Despite the model simplicity, simulations results are consistent with sea-level measurements. The study suggests that Bora winds may have an impact on Venice and its surroundings and deserve more consistent monitoring and more accurate modeling.