The analysis, closely coupling in situ measurements and model results, provides information that would not have been obtained using data separately. The great variability of the oceanic circulation at this scale is well evidenced. Winds are the main forces, not only locally but also at a larger scale. North winds generate coherent structures interacting with the general Mediterranean circulation. The explanation of the induced currents is then not straightforward, some of them being, for example, northward. South and southeast winds reinforce the sloping surface, the latter allowing the geostrophic equilibrium with longshore currents. This study, focused on the end of winter 2004–2005, also enhances the heat fluxes from offshore to nearshore, as well as the initiation of shelf dense waters.
The knowledge of the midshelf oceanic circulation is then applied to run a numerical experiment which describes both the dispersion of a fictive contaminant from a point S (at the centre of the GAM), and evaluates the risk of contamination of the beaches along the GAM shores.