For calibration, we first measured the angular distributions of fetches with a step of 20° from the nautical charts for our study locations of Kõiguste and Matsi. However, it was difficult to assess the exact influences of islands, shoals and the coastline on waves, and the comparisons of results between the measured and modelled hourly time MEK inhibitor series were not good enough. New distributions of fetches were created by maximizing the correlation coefficient and minimizing the root square error (RMSE) in the procedure, where the fetches are adjusted separately in all 20° sectors. The procedure also appears to enhance the fetches from the directions where the measured

wind forcing is restricted or distorted compared to the undisturbed wind properties at the wave measuring and modelling site. The calibration results are discussed in section 3.2. As the measuring period at Kõiguste was longer (221.2 days) than at Matsi (80.8 days), it included weather conditions over a larger range of variability. Variability ranges in sea level fluctuations measured as ‘instrument depth’ (1.23 m vs. 0.78 m, Table 1), salinity (1.18 vs. 0.83) and maximum wave heights (2.93 vs. 2.46 m) were also larger. Average properties of waves and currents at Kõiguste

were somewhat influenced by sea ice (Figure 2), which covered the measuring site for the first time at the end of December BMS387032 2010. For a short period in February, the whole Gulf of Riga was ice-bound and ice forms of some kind were present until the end of April. Because of the proximity

to the coast, the measured currents tended to be polarized and modified by the coastline. Especially at Matsi, most of the velocity readings lay within two narrow directional intervals of 210–350 and 140–170 degrees: the v (S-N component) described 80–90% of the total variability ( Figure 3b). At Kõiguste, longshore (SW-NE) currents dominated as well, but as a result of the microfjord-like bottom topography, the directional scatter was considerably larger. Both currents and waves largely depended on wind conditions; no remarkable storm events occurred. At Matsi, however, both vertical distributions of currents ( Figure Megestrol Acetate 3a) and variations in thermohaline properties ( Figure 2h) indicated upwellingrelated changes in water column properties and coastal jets. It was discovered that, like the conditions on the Letipea Peninsula (Suursaar and Aps, 2007 and Suursaar, 2010) and some other specific Baltic locations (e.g. Jankowski, 2002 and Leppäranta and Myrberg, 2009), the straight coastal section near Matsi-Sõmeri is upwelling-prone when persistent northerly winds are blowing. Salinity increased and temperature decreased in summer (Figure 2h), and surprisingly high velocities were found in the surface layer.