Thermohaline Structure of Western Crimea Shelf Waters

O. A. Lukashova, V. N. Belokopyto*

Marine Hydrophysical Institute of RAS, Sevastopol, Russia

* e-mail: belokopytov.vn@mhi-ras.ru

Abstract

The paper uses oceanographic observations and climatic values at the grid 10′ × 15′ for 1950–2023 to investigate spatial distribution and seasonal course of the thermohaline structure of Western Crimea shelf waters. In the cold season, the regional spatial thermal structure had a pronounced zonal distribution with cold northern and warm southern parts. During the spring–summer period, the relative location of warm/cold zones changed to the meridional one. The regional haline structure was characterized by a saltier tongue spreading from the open sea and separating brackish waters of the north-western shelf and coastal waters. Over the greater part of the year, the coastal zone was colder and less saline than the outer shelf part. The opposite distribution, when the coastal zone was warmer than the outer shelf part, was observed in the surface layer in April–May and below the seasonal thermocline in the summer–autumn period. Due to frequent upwelling events in summer, salinity in the subsurface layers of the coastal zone from May to September becomes higher than in the outer shelf part. In general, in terms of the thermohaline water structure, the Western Crimea shelf is an intermediate zone between the north-western shelf and the deep part of the Black Sea, the water exchange with which depends of the intensity of the Rim Current and the Sevastopol anticyclonic eddy. Regional water masses or sub-types of main Black Sea water masses were not identified in the study area.

Keywords

thermohaline structure, sea temperature, salinity, climate, shelf, coastal zone, Western Crimea

Acknowledgments

The work was performed under state assignment of MHI RAS on topic FNNN-2024-0014 “Fundamental studies of interaction processes in the sea-air system that form the physical state variability of the marine environment at various spatial and temporal scales”.

For citation

Lukashova, O.A. and Belokopytov, V.N., 2025. Thermohaline Structure of Western Crimea Shelf Waters. Ecological Safety of Coastal and Shelf Zones of Sea, (2), pp. 36–52.

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