As mixing plays a dominant role for the physics of an estuary like the Baltic Sea (seasonal heat storage, mixing in channels, deep water mixing), different mixing parameterizations for use in 3D Baltic Sea models are discussed and compared. For this purpose two different OGCMs of the Baltic Sea are utilized.

Within the Swedish regional climate modeling program, SWECLIM, a 3D coupled ice-ocean model for the Baltic Sea has been coupled with an improved version of the two-equation k- E turbulence model with corrected dissipation term, flux boundary conditions to include the effect of a turbulence enhanced layer due to breaking surface gravity waves and a parameterization for breaking internal waves. Results of multi-year simulations are compared with observations. The seasonal thermocline is simulated satisfactory and erosion of the haloclihe is avoided. Unsolved problems are discussed. To replace the controversial equation for dissipation the performance of a hierarchy of k-models has been tested and compared with the k - E model. In addition, it is shown that the results of the mixing parameterization depend very much on the choice of the ocean model. Finally, the impact of two mixing parameterizations on Baltic Sea climate is investigated. In this case the sensitivity of mean SST, vertical temperature and salinity profiles, ice season and seasonal cycle of heat fluxes is quite large.