Peculiarities of Mesoscale Water Dynamics near the South Coast of Crimea in 2008 – 2016

A. S. Kuznetsov, V. A. Ivanov, V. V. Zima

Marine Hydrophysical Institute of RAS, Sevastopol, Russia

Abstract

The main results of in situ reseach of mesoscale coastal dynamics are submited. It was implemented in 2008 – 2016 near the South Crimea coast using a spatial antenna of vector-averaged current meters located on the stationary oceanographic platform of the Black Sea Hydrophysical Polygon. According to the spectral analysis of long-term variability of coastal currents, two intensification areas of mesoscale oscillations in the ranges 10 – 13 and 5 – 6 days are reliably identified. Under these mesoscale oscillations, the orbital movements of coastal water are transformed into practically collinear reciprocating movements of the mean alongshore current. Because of a global cyclonic orientation of water circulation relative to the deep sea, such mesoscale oscillations in the coastal area are localized exclusively along the mean flow vector. The average coastal current vector makes a cyclonic turn from surface to bottom layer. The parameters of isolated mesoscale oscillation of the currents are compared with the parameters of the trapped waves on the Crimea shelf.

Keywords

the Black Sea Hydrophysical Polygon, coastal currents, velocity shift, oscillation spectrum, mesoscale dynamics

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