Peculiarities of Interseasonal Variability of Alongshore Wind Circulation and Coastal Currents off the Southern Coast of Crimea

A. S. Kuznetsov

Marine Hydrophysical Institute of RAS, Sevastopol, Russia

e-mail: kuznetsov_as@mhi-ras.ru

Abstract

The paper analyses decade-average (2013–2022) statistical and spectral characteristics of mesoscale and synoptic variability of the wind field for the atmosphere surface layer and the surface current to reveal regularities and peculiarities of the wind variability and quasi-stationary alongshore current near Cape Kikineiz of the Southern Coast of Crimea. Complex instrumental monitoring was carried out under open sea conditions using clusters of hydrometeorological and oceanological meters at the stationary oceanographic platform of the Black Sea hydrophysical sub-satellite testing area of Marine Hydrophysical Institute of RAS. The author used a dataset of chronological sequences of mean-hourly vector-averaged data for May–October and November–April half-year periods to quantify the values and identify trends in the interseasonal variability of wind and current field characteristics. During the selected time periods, clear seasonal differences in the thermal structure and dynamics of both the surface wind field and coastal waters were observed near the coast. Based on instrumental monitoring materials, peculiarities of coastal water circulation under seasonal variability of local wind conditions were studied. The spectral analysis results estimate the energy contribution of breeze wind circulation to the seasonal intensification of the mesoscale variability of the alongshore current. During the entire annual cycle, multiscale alongshore reciprocating wind fluctuations, parallel to the Main Ridge of the Crimean Mountains, apart from the background large-scale wind field, were detected at the seacoast. Such wind fluctuations influence the variability of the coastal-waters alongshore circulation, which allows studying the conditions and peculiarities of the bimodal distribution formation of the direction recurrence of the quasi-stationary alongshore current near Cape Kikineiz.

Keywords

Black Sea, Southern Coast of Crimea, coastal zone, instrumental monitoring, local wind field, alongshore current, energy spectrum

Acknowledgments

The work was performed under state assignment of Marine Hydrophysical Institute of RAS on topic FNNN-2021-0005 “Complex interdisciplinary research of oceanologic processes, which determine functioning and evolution of the Black and Azov Sea coastal ecosystems”.

For citation

Kuznetsov, A.S., 2024. Peculiarities of Interseasonal Variability of Alongshore Wind Circulation and Coastal Currents off the Southern Coast of Crimea. Ecological Safety of Coastal and Shelf Zones of Sea, (1), pp. 31–44.

References

  1. Timchenko, I.E. and Igumnova, E.M., 2011. Control over the Ecological-Economic Processes in the Integral Model of the Coastal Zone of the Sea. Physical Oceanography, 21(1), pp. 45–62. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11110-011-9103-9
  2. Kuznetsov, A.S. and Zima, V.V., 2019. Development of Observing System of the Black Sea Hydrophysical Polygon in 2001–2015. Ecological Safety of Coastal and Shelf Zones of Sea, (4), pp. 62–72. https://doi.org/10.22449/2413-5577-2019-4-62-72
  3. Toloknov, Yu.N., Garmashov, A.V., Korovushkin, A.I. and Polonsky, A.B., 2014. [Equipment for Monitoring Hydrometeorological Parameters on the Oceanographic Platform at Katsiveli]. In: V. A., Ivanov and V. A. Dulov, 2014. Monitoring of the Coastal Zone in the Black Sea Experimental Sub-Satellite Testing Area. Sevastopol: ECOSI-Gidrofizika, pp. 150–153 (in Russian).
  4. Kuznetsov, A.S., 2022. Mean Long-Term Seasonal Variability of the Coastal Current at the Crimea Southern Coast in 2002–2020. Physical Oceanography, 29(2), pp. 139–151. https://doi.org/10.22449/1573-160X-2022-2-139-151
  5. Kuznetsov, A.S. and Ivashchenko, I.K., 2023. Features of Forming the Alongcoastal Circulation of the Coastal Ecotone Waters nearby the Southern Coast of Crimea. Physical Oceanography, 30(2), pp. 171–185. https://doi.org/10.29039/1573-160X-2023-2-171-185
  6. Kuznetsov, A.S., 2023. Spectral Characteristics of Wind Variability in the Coastal Zone of the South Coast of Crimea 1997–2006. Ecological Safety of Coastal and Shelf Zones of Sea, (2), pp. 6–20. https://doi.org/10.22449/2413-5577-2022-2-6-20
  7. Koveshnikov, L.A., Ivanov, V.A., Boguslavsky, L.G., Kazakov, S.I. and Kaminsky, S.T., 2001. Problems of Heat and Dynamics Interaction in a Sea–Atmosphere–Land System of the Black Sea Region. In: MHI, 2001. Ekologicheskaya Bezopasnost' Pribrezhnoy i Shel'fovoy Zon i Kompleksnoe Ispol'zovanie Resursov Shel'fa [Ecological Safety of Coastal and Shelf Zones and Comprehensive Use of Shelf Resources]. Sevastopol: ECOSI-Gidrofizika. Iss. 3, pp. 9–52 (in Russian).
  8. Ivanov, V.A., Kuznetsov, A.S. and Morozov, A.N., 2019. Monitoring Coastal Water Circulation along the South Coast of Crimea. Doklady Earth Sciences, 485(2), pp. 405–408. https://doi.org/10.1134/S1028334X19040044
  9. Efimov, V.V., Shokurov, M.V. and Barabanov, V.S., 2002. Physical Mechanisms of Wind Circulation Forcing over the Inland Seas. Izvestiya, Atmospheric and Oceanic Physics, 38(2), pp. 217–227.
  10. Efimov, V.V., Barabanov, V.S. and Iarovaya, D.A., 2014. [Mesoscale Processes in the Atmosphere of the Black Sea Region]. In: V. A. Ivanov and V. A. Dulov, 2014. Monitoring of the Coastal Zone in the Black Sea Experimental Sub-Satellite Testing Area. Sevastopol: ECOSI-Gidrofizika, pp. 250–271 (in Russian).
  11. Efimov, V.V., 2017. Numerical Simulation of Breeze Circulation over the Crimean Peninsula. Izvestiya, Atmospheric and Oceanic Physics, 53(1), pp. 84–94. https://doi.org/10.1134/S0001433817010042
  12. Efimov, V.V. and Komarovskaya, O.I., 2019. Disturbances in the Wind Speed Fields due to the Crimean Mountains. Physical Oceanography, 26(2), pp. 123–134. https://doi.org/10.22449/1573-160X-2019-2-123-134
  13. Ivanov, V.A. and Yankovsky, A.E., 1994. Dynamics of the Crimea shelf waters in summer. Physical Oceanography, 6(3), pp. 201–217. https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02197518
  14. Ivanov, V.A. and Belokopytov, V.N., 2013. Oceanography of Black Sea. Sevastopol: ECOSI-Gidrofizika, 210 p.
  15. Bondur, V.G., Sabinin, K.D. and Grebenyuk, Yu.V., 2017. Characteristics of Inertial Oscillations According to the Experimental Measurements of Currents on the Russian Shelf of the Black Sea. Izvestiya, Atmospheric and Oceanic Physics, 53(1), pp. 120–126. https://doi.org/10.1134/S0001433816050030
  16. Khimchenko, E.E. and Serebryany, A.N., 2018. Internal Waves on the Caucasian and Crimean Shelves of the Black Sea (According to Summer-Autumn Observations 2011–2016). Journal of Oceanological Research, 46(2), pp. 69–87. https://doi.org/10.29006/1564-2291.JOR-2018.46(2).7 (in Russian).
  17. Serebryany, A., Khimchenko, E., Popov, O., Denisov, D. and Kenigsberg, G., 2020. Internal Waves Study on a Narrow Steep Shelf of the Black Sea Using the Spatial Antenna of Line Temperature Sensors. Journal of Marine Science and Engineering, 8(11), 833. https://doi.org/10.3390/jmse8110833

Full text

English version (PDF)

Russian version (PDF)