Assessment of the Black Sea Steric Level Variability: New Approaches and Prospects for the Use of Satellite Information

V. P. Novitskaya*, E. М. Lemeshko, V. N. Belokopytov

Marine Hydrophysical Institute of RAS, Sevastopol, Russia

* e-mail: victory.novitskaya@mhi-ras.ru

Abstract

Based on satellite altimetry and gravimetric data, the time series of steric level oscillations averaged over the Black Sea for 2002–2016 is reconstructed. The steric sea level oscillations were calculated as the difference between the total sea level measured by altimeters and the manometric (barystatic) component determined from gravimetric measurements GRACE. A good agreement was obtained between the steric component of the sea level and the estimates obtained from archival hydrological data and Argo floats. The maxima of the range of the seasonal variation of the steric component of the level are noted in the areas with maximum seasonal vertical displacements of the main pycnocline. Estimates of the steric level seasonal cycle were obtained, the range of oscillations was up to 12 cm. The minimum is reached in the winter period (March), and the maximum – in the summer period (August). It is noted that the seasonal cycle of the manometric component of the sea level is in good agreement with the seasonal cycle of the freshwater balance of the Black Sea constructed according to climatic hydrometeorological data. The estimate of the linear trend of the reconstructed steric oscillations is –0.6 ± 0.2 cm/year. This indicates that, despite the positive trend in water temperature in the main pycnocline and desalination of the surface layer, the contribution of the modern increase in salinity in all layers of the sea to the changes in water density in the Black Sea generally predominates.

Keywords

Black Sea, steric level, manometric level, water balance, altimetry, gravimetry, GRACE, climate

Acknowledgments

The work was performed under state assignment of MHI RAS on topics no. FNNN-2021-0005, FNNN-2021-0002. The authors gratefully acknowledge the GSFC for providing the GRACE RL06 mascon data and Copernicus Marine Environment Monitoring Service for altimetry data.

For citation

Novitskaya, V.P., Lemeshko, E.M. and Belokopytov, V.N., 2023. Assessment of the Black Sea Steric Level Variability: New Approaches and Prospects for the Use of Satellite Information. Ecological Safety of Coastal and Shelf Zones of Sea, (3), pp. 6–21.

References

  1. Malinin, V.N., Gordeeva, S.M. and Shevchuk, O.I., 2019. Changes in the Global Sea Level in the Current Century. Sovremennye Problemy Distantsionnogo Zondirovaniya Zemli iz Kosmosa = Current Problems in Remote Sensing of the Earth from Space, 16(5), pp. 9–22 (in Russian).
  2. Gregory, J.M., Griffies, S.M., Hughes, C.W., Lowe, J.A., Church, J.A., Fukimori, I., Gomez, N., Kopp, R.E., Landerer, F. [et al.], 2019. Concepts and Terminology for Sea Level: Mean, Variability and Change, both Local and Global. Surveys in Geophysics, 40, pp. 1251–1289. doi:10.1007/s10712-019-09525-z
  3. Ponte, R.M., 1999. A Preliminary Model Study of the Larger-Scale Seasonal Cycle in Bottom Pressure over the Global Ocean. Journal of Geophysical Research: Oceans, 104(C1), pp 1289–1300. doi:10.1029/1998JC900028
  4. Arkhipkin, V.S. and Berezhnoi, V.Yu., 1995. Steric Oscillations of the Black Sea Level. Oceanology, 35(6), pp. 735–741.
  5. Stanev, E.V., Peneva E. and Chtirkova, B., 2019. Climate Change and Regional Ocean Water Mass Disappearance: Case of the Black Sea. Journal of Geophysical Research: Oceans, 124(7), pp. 4803–4819. doi:10.1029/2019JC015076
  6. Knysh, V.V., Korotaev, G.K., Moiseenko, V.A., Kubryakov, A.I., Belokopytov, V.N. and Inyushina, N.V., 2011. Seasonal and Interannual Variability of Black Sea Hydrophysical Fields Reconstructed from 1971–1993 Reanalysis Data. Izvestiya, Atmospheric and Oceanic Physics, 47(3), pp. 399–411. doi:10.1134/S000143381103008X
  7. Polonsky, A.B., Shokurova, I.G. and Belokopytov, V.N., 2013. The Decadal Variability of Temperature and Salinity in the Black Sea. Morskoy Gidrofizicheskiy Zhurnal, (6), pp. 27–41 (in Russian).
  8. Miladinova, S., Stips, A., Garcia-Gorriz, E. and Macias Moy, D., 2017. Black Sea Thermohaline Properties: Long-Term Trends and Variations. Journal of Geophysical Research: Oceans, 122(7), pp. 5624–5644. doi:10.1002/2016JC012644
  9. Belokopytov, V.N., 2018. Retrospective Analysis of the Black Sea Thermohaline Fields on the Basis of Empirical Orthogonal Functions. Physical Oceanography, 25(5), pp. 380–389. doi:10.22449/1573-160X-2018-5-380-389
  10. Roquet, F., Madec, G., McDougall, T. and Barker, P., 2015. Accurate Polynomial Expressions for the Density and Specific Volume of Seawater using the TEOS-10 Standard. Ocean Modelling, 90, pp. 29–43. doi:10.1016/j.ocemod.2015.04.002
  11. Simonov, A.I. and Altman, E.N., 1991. [Hydrometeorology and Hydrochemistry of Seas of the USSR. Vol. 4. The Black Sea. Iss. 1. Hydrometeorological Conditions]. Saint Petersburg: Gidrometeoizdat, 429 p. (in Russian).
  12. Avsar, N.B., Jin, S. and Kutoglu, S.H., 2018. Recent Sea Level Changes in the Black Sea from Satellite Gravity and Altimeter Measurements. In: T. Tanzi, M. Chandra, O. Altan and F. Sunar, eds., 2018. The International Archives of the Photogrammetry, Remote Sensing and Spatial Information Sciences. 18–21 March 2018, Istanbul, Turkey. Istanbul. Vol. XLII-3/W4, pp. 83–85. doi:10.5194/isprs-archives-XLII-3-W4-83-2018
  13. Lemeshko, E.E., Lemeshko, E.М. and Novitskaya, V.P., 2021. Influence of the Arctic Oscillation on the Formation of Water Circulation Regimes in the Sector of the North, Norwegian and Barents Seas. Ecological Safety of Coastal and Shelf Zones of Sea, (2), pp. 47–64. doi:10.22449/2413-5577-2021-2-47-64 (in Russian).
  14. Volkov, D.L. and Landerer, F.W., 2015. Internal and External Forcing of Sea Level Variability in the Black Sea. Climate Dynamics, 45(9–10), pp. 2633–2646. doi:10.1007/s00382-015-2498-0
  15. Loomis, B.D., Luthcke, S.B. and Sabaka, T.J., 2019. Regularization and Error Characterization of GRACE Mascons. Journal of Geodesy, 93(9), pp. 1381–1398. doi:10.1007/s00190-019-01252-y
  16. Fenoglio-Marc, L., Rietbroek, R., Grayek, S., Becker, M., Kusche, J. and Stanev, E., 2012. Water Mass Variation in the Mediterranean and Black Seas. Journal of Geodynamics, 59–60, pp. 168–182. doi:10.1016/j.jog.2012.04.001
  17. Podymov, O.I., Zatsepin, A.G. and Ocherednik, V.V., 2021. Increase of Temperature and Salinity in the Active Layer of the North-Eastern Black Sea from 2010 to 2020. Physical Oceanography, 28(3), pp. 257–265. doi:10.22449/1573-160X-2021-3-257-265

Full text

English version (PDF)

Russian version (PDF)