Mass- and Salt Exchange between the Center and Periphery of the Black Sea Using Model and Satellite Data

E. A. Kubryakova, A. A. Kubryakov

Marine Hydrophysical Institute of RAS, Sevastopol, Russia

Abstract

The study is dedicated to the investigation of the impact of the large-scale Black Sea dynamics on the seasonal variability of water and salt transport. In winter, due to an increase of cyclonic wind vorticity the divergence and outflow of salt water to the periphery is observed. In summer, brackish water flows back from periphery. Based on altimetry measurements intensity of water outflow in different seasons was estimated. The box physical model has been constructed to study the horizontal exchange. The calculations are used to study the vertical structure of horizontal water and salt exchange between the central part of the basin and its periphery. It is shown that in the surface layer Ekman divergence contributes significantly to the outflow of salt from the sea center. In the deep layers of the effects of vertical circulation cells results in transport of the continental slope waters in the central part of the sea.

Keywords

horizontal transfer, box model, Ekman transfer, vertical circulation, altimetry, biogenic elements, the Black Sea

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