Responses of the stratified flows to their driving conditions—A field study

The Bosphorus is oceanographically very complicated two-layer stratified strait where denser water from the Marmara Sea flows towards North under the lighter water which is frequently flowing from the Black Sea towards South. The water level difference between both ends of the Bosphorus varies seasonally within the range of ?0.2 and 0.6 m. The seasonal variability depends mainly on the water level changes in the adjacent basins related to the hydrological cycle, short-term changes in the atmospheric pressure and the wind characteristics. These variations together with the depth and alignment of the cross section along the strait dominate the spatial and temporal variations and sometimes sharp changes in the flow pattern in three dimensions. Although these hydrodynamic conditions are critical for all marine and hydraulic works along the Bosphorus, there was not continuous long-term measurement for a sufficient time span in the strait for detailed evaluation of the current climate. An extensive site surveying work including current, wind, pressure and water level measurements was carried out between September 2004 and January 2006 in relation to the design and construction requirements of the Bosphorus Tube Crossing Project. In this study, the characteristics of stratified flow in the Bosphorus Strait and their relation to local and regional, short- and long-term changes in the meteorological parameters are studied by using the measurement data and the results are discussed comparatively.     

Hydraulic calculations of postglacial connections between the Mediterranean and the Black Sea

A series of simple hydraulic calculations has been performed to examine some of the questions associated with the reconnection of the Black Sea to the Mediterranean through the Turkish Strait System during the Holocene. Ryan et al.’s catastrophic flood scenario, whereby the erosive power of the marine in-fluxes, initiated after eustatic sea level reached the sill depth, opened up the Bosphorus, allowing saline water to pour into the Black Sea and filling it on a short time scale, is examined. The calculations show that although it might be possible to fill the palaeo-Black Sea within the order of a decade, a 1–2 year filling time scale is not physically possible. A hydraulic model is also used to examine the more traditional connection hypothesis of (near-)continuous freshwater outflow from the Black Sea, with a slowly increasing saline inflow from the Mediterranean beginning around 8–9 kyr BP. The model considers two forms for the structure of the Bosphorus: a shallow sill as seen today and a deep sill associated with no sediments filling the 100 m gorge above the bedrock in the strait. Sensitivity experiments with the hydraulic model show what possible strait geometric configurations may lead to the Black Sea reaching its present-day salinity of 18 psu. Salinity transients within the Black Sea are shown as a function of time, providing for values that can be validated against estimates from cores. To consider a deep, non-sediment-filled Bosphorus (100 m deep), the entry of Mediterranean water into the Sea of Marmara after 12.0 kyr BP is examined. A rapid entry of marine water into the Sea of Marmara is only consistent with small freshwater fluxes flowing through the Turkish Strait System, smaller than those of the present day by a factor of at least 4. Such a small freshwater flux would lead to the salinification of the Black Sea being complete by an early date of 10.2–9.6 kyr BP. Thus the possibility of a deep Bosphorus sill should be discounted.     

Evidence and implications of massive erosion along the Strait of İstanbul (Bosphorus)

The Strait of İstanbul (SoI) (Bosphorus) is a narrow valley, which has evolved tectonically from a stream, and in which thick sediment deposits have accumulated in the course of its evolution. Detailed seismic and multi-beam bathymetric data have revealed that the upper parts of the deeper channel deposits consist of parallel strata, which have mostly been eroded subsequently to their deposition. The resulting erosion surface is represented by the present channel floor in the strait, the estimated volume of the eroded material being approximately 2×10⁸ m³ . Erosion rate and seafloor morphology indicate that the flow direction was from the south to the north. This inner channel may have been formed by an abrupt flooding of the Black Sea by Mediterranean waters at the beginning of the latest connection between the Marmara and the Black seas. Subsequently, the Mediterranean bottom current of the modern two-way flow system, which was established at about 5–4 ka b.p., has given the latest shape to the strait floor.     

Density currents in the two-layer flow: an example of Dardanelles outflow

Observations from hydrographic surveys are used to describe the density current flowing through the Dardanelles strait into the Marmara Sea. Aegean water plunges below the surface and flows into the Marmara Sea. This flow joins into the Marmara Sea as a negatively buoyant plume and sinks through the deeper parts. Seasonal variation in the incoming water density results in the observing mainly two different forms of the density current in this area. These two forms are boundary currents and intrusion. Boundary currents were observed as a dense bottom current during the winter when the inflowing water density attains to annual maxima and as an overflow during the autumn when the inflowing water density drops to annual minimum. Intrusion form of the density current was observed during the summer.     

Analysis of the influence of water exchange through the Kerch Strait on the surge processes and currents in the Azov Sea

We present the results of numerical modeling of the influence of water exchange through the Kerch Strait on the stationary motions in the Azov Sea. We use a three-dimensional nonlinear numerical model to perform the analysis of extreme deviations of the sea level and the surface and deep-water currents depending on the direction and velocity of constant wind with and without regard for the water exchange through the strait. It is shown that the influence of water exchange with the Black Sea leads to the increase in the maximum deviations of the sea level and the velocities of stationary currents. Thus, in particular, it is shown that, for a wind velocity of 10 m/sec, the maximum values of the surge and current velocities in the presence of the strait are higher than in the absence of the strait by 36 and 42%, respectively. In this case, the highest current velocities are induced by the south wind.     

Last Glacial - Holocene stratigraphic development at the Marmara Sea exit of the Bosphorus Strait,Turkey

High resolution Chirp and Sparker data allowed definition and mapping of distinct seismic units in the shallow sediment record (~100 ms) acquired from the southern exit of the Bosphorus Strait; a dynamic depositional environment. The bottommost unit observed in the Chirp data (unit-3) is made up of marine-lacustrine sediments thinning seaward and onlaps the basement rocks which are represented by folded strata in the Sparker data, possibly lower to middle Pleistocene age. It is overlain by a series of prograding deposits along the shelf (unit-2) referring to sediment input from the northern sector depending on the water levels of the paleo Marmara lake’s during MIS 3. The uppermost deposits (unit-1) close to the Bosphorus Strait were represented by three separate subunits, unlike to relatively thin drape of sediments observed at the other places in the surrounding regions. The detailed definition of these subunits deduced from the closely-spaced reflection profiles and available radiocarbon ages helped to explain the history of the latest stratigraphic development depending on the connections between the Black Sea and the Sea of Marmara. In addition to the previously proposed major conduits, which controlled the sedimentary deposition at the southern exit of the Bosphorus, namely the Bosphorus Strait and Kurba?al?dere River, another submarine sedimentary pathway at the eastern bank of the strait’s channel seems to have delivered sediments directly into the basin.     

Model of the water exchange through the Bosphorus (a hydrodynamic estimate of blocking conditions for the Bosphorus undercurrent

A three-dimensional linear model of the stationary water circulation in the Bosphorus due to the river's outflow, density differences at the ends of the straits, and win is considered allowing for the earth's rotation and the bottom topography. The channel approximation and the method of the separation of variables are used to obtain the analytical solution of the problem. The solution obtained describes the main circulation elements which are know from observations. The influence of different parameters on the formation of vertical and horizontal structures of the velocity field is analysed.Blocking conditions for the Bosphorus undercurrent are estimated. Possible variations in the structure of flows in the straits related to the regulated outflow of the rivers of the Black Sea basin are discussed.Translated by Mikhail M. Trufanov.     

Modelling of seasonal exchange flows through the Dardanelles Strait

The Dardanelles Strait is a remarkable example of a long, narrow, shallow, and strongly stratified strait with bidirectional exchange that is governed by both baroclinic and barotropic forcing with a wide spectrum of variability. A three-dimensional free surface primitive equation model is applied to study seasonal hydrodynamics variability in this strait. The calculated vertical structure of temperature, salinity, and velocity fields agrees well with available survey data. Seasonal monthly values of the volume exchange at the Aegean and Marmara exits are estimated. It is found that the seasonal exchange dynamics is governed by the turbulent friction and entrainment at the Nara Passage area. The mean annual water transport in the upper layer is increased by 80% after the Nara Passage. About 25% of water entering in the Dardanelles bottom layer reaches the Marmara Sea in winter, and 50% reaches it in summer. The estimate of the Dardanelles hydrodynamics according to hydraulic and viscous–advective–diffusive regime classification shows significant deviation from the two-layer hydraulic asymptotic. However, according to three-layer hydraulic theory, the flow is found to be critical in the Nara Passage area.     

Fate of the Black Sea Acartia clausi and Acartia tonsa (Copepoda) penetrating into the Marmara Sea through the Bosphorus

In October 2005 spatial distribution of live and dead Acartia clausi and Acartia tonsa was studied in the Black and Marmara Seas and near the Marmara Sea inlet of the Bosphorus, in order to understand their fate upon transportation between two seas. The morphometric characteristics in both species from all studied areas, and the decreased abundance of A. clausi and A. tonsa from the Black Sea towards the Marmara Sea indicate that the Marmara Sea Acartia populations are formed by recruitment from the Black Sea. We observed mass mortality of A. clausi in the Marmara Sea near the Prince Islands. The majority of carcasses (66% of total A. clausi numbers in the Marmara Sea) were found in the salinity gradient layer.     

Numerical Analysis of the Effect of Active Wind Speed and Direction on Circulation of Sea of Azov Water with and without Allowance for the Water Exchange through the Kerch Strait

The effect of seawater movement through the Kerch Strait for extreme deviations in the level and speed of currents in the Sea of Azov caused by the action of climate wind fields has been studied using the Princeton ocean model (POM), a general three-dimensional nonlinear model of ocean circulation. Formation of the water flow through the strait is caused by the long-term action of the same type of atmospheric processes. The features of the water dynamics under conditions of changing intensity and active wind direction have been studied. Numerical experiments were carried out for two versions of model Sea of Azov basins: closed (without the Kerch Strait) and with a fluid boundary located in the Black Sea. The simulation results have shown that allowance for the strait leads to a significant change in the velocities of steady currents and level deviations at wind speeds greater than 5 m/s. The most significant effect on the parameters of steady-state movements is exerted by the speed of the wind that generates them; allowance for water exchange through the strait is less important. Analysis of the directions of atmospheric circulation has revealed that the response generated by the movement of water through the strait is most pronounced when a southeast wind is acting.     

Oscillating Quaternary water levels of the Marmara Sea and vigorous outflow into the Aegean Sea from the Marmara Sea–Black Sea drainage corridor

Detailed interpretation of single-channel air-gun and deep-tow boomer profiles demonstrates that the Marmara Sea, Turkey, experienced small-amplitude (∼70 m) fluctuations in sea level during the later Quaternary, limited in magnitude by the sill depth of the Strait of Dardanelles. Moderate subsidence along the southern shelf and Quaternary glacio-eustatic sea-level variations created several stacked deltaic successions, separated by major shelf-crossing unconformities, which developed during the transitions from global glacial to interglacial periods. Near the Strait of Dardanelles, a series of sand-prone deposits are identified beneath an uppermost (Holocene) transparent mud drape. The sandy deposits thicken into mounds with the morphology and cross-sectional geometries of barrier islands, sand waves, and current-generated marine bars. All cross-stratification indicates unidirectional flow towards the Dardanelles prior to the deposition of the transparent drape which began ∼7000 years BP, in strong support of the notion that the Marmara Sea flowed westwards into the Aegean Sea through the Dardanelles at times of deglaciation in northern Europe. The global sea-level curve shows that, at ∼11,000 and ∼9500 years BP, sea level rose to the sill depths of the Straits of Dardanelles and Bosphorus, respectively. The effect from ∼11,000 to ∼9500 years BP was seawater incursion into the Marmara Sea, drowning and formation of algal-serpulid bioherms atop lowstand barrier islands, and transgression of shelves and lowstand deltas. At ∼9500 years BP, glacial meltwater temporarily stored in the Black Sea lake, developed into a vigorous southward flow toward the Aegean Sea, forming west-directed sandy bedforms in the western Marmara Sea and initiating deposition of sapropel S1 in the Aegean Sea. This strong outflow persisted until ∼7000 years BP, after which a mud drape began to accumulate in the Marmara Sea and euryhaline Mediterranean mollusks successfully migrated into a progressively more saline Black Sea where sapropel deposition began. Most eastern Mediterranean sapropels from S1 to S11 appear to correlate with periods of rising sea level and breaching, or near-breaching, of the Bosphorus sill. These events are believed to coincide with times of vigorous outflow of low-salinity (?fresh) surface waters transiting the Black Sea–Marmara Sea corridor, and ultimately derived from melting of northern European ice sheets.     

Numerical modeling of the influence of exchange through the Bosporus and Dardanelles Straits on the hydrophysical fields of the Marmara Sea

A long-term (18 years) prognostic experiment on the formation of the Marmara Sea hydrodynamic structure driven by the exchange through straits with zero atmospheric forcing is carried out using a numerical nonlinear circulation model. The seasonal variability is taken into account by specifying the water temperature in the Bosporus. It is shown that the mutual adaptation of hydrophysical fields and their adjustment to the physical and geographical conditions of the sea are caused by rapid (tens of days) and slow (several tens of years) adjustment mechanisms. An S-shaped jet current directed from the Bosporus Strait to the Dardanelles is formed in the upper 20-m layer. A cyclonic eddy is periodically formed near the northern boundary of the Marmara Sea. An anticyclonic pattern is well defined in the central part of the sea. In deeper layers there is an abyssal jet current formed by the inflow of the high-density Aegean water to the Marmara Sea. These features of the Marmara Sea circulation are confirmed by observational data.     

Spatial patterns of biodiversity in the Black Sea: An assessment using benthic polychaetes

The current study broadens the biodiversity information available for the Black Sea and neighbouring regions and improves our knowledge about the polychaete biogeographic patterns to be discerned in them. There appears to be a well-defined zoogeocline from the Marmara Sea and Bosphorus Strait to the inner parts of the region (Azov Sea), depicted both as a multivariate pattern and in terms of species (or taxa) numbers. The emergent multivariate pattern complies, to a certain extent, with Jakubova’s (1935) views: three main sectors can be defined in the basin: (a) Prebosphoric, (b) the Black Sea and, (c) the Azov Sea, whereas the Bosphorus Strait and Marmara Sea show less faunal affinities with the afore-mentioned sectors. Patterns derived both from the cosmopolitan and Atlanto-Mediterranean species closely follow the one coming from the polychaete species and genera inventories. As a general trend, species numbers decrease along with the decrease in salinity towards the inner parts of the region. The trend is homologous to that seen in the benthic invertebrate inventories of all the major European semi-enclosed regional seas. Salinity and food availability appear to be the dominant abiotic factors correlated, though weakly, with the various patterns deriving from the taxonomic/zoogeographic categories. With the exception of the Anatolia, polychaete inventories from all sectors appear to be random samples of the total inventory of the region, in terms of taxonomic distinctness values. Therefore, these sectoral inventories can be used for future biodiversity/environmental impact assessment studies. A massive invasion of Mediterranean species after the opening of the Black Sea, in the lower Quaternary period, appears to be the likely biogeographic mechanism through which the old Sarmatic fauna was almost completely replaced by species of marine origin.     

Postglacial floodings of the Marmara Sea: molluscs and sediments tell the story

The early Holocene marine flooding of the Black Sea has been the subject of intense scientific debate since the “Noah’s Flood” hypothesis was proposed in the late 1990s. The chronology of the flooding is not straightforward because the connection between the Black Sea and the Mediterranean Sea involves the intermediate Marmara Sea Basin via two sills (Dardanelles and Bosphorus). This study explores the chronology of late Pleistocene–Holocene flooding by examining sedimentary facies and molluscs from 24 gravity cores spanning shelf to slope settings in the southern Marmara Sea Basin. A late Pleistocene Ponto-Caspian (Neoeuxinian) mollusc association is found in 12 of the cores, comprising 14 mollusc species and dominated by brackish (oligohaline–lower mesohaline) endemic taxa (dreissenids, hydrobiids). The Neoeuxinian association is replaced by a Turritella–Corbula association at the onset of the Holocene. The latter is dominated by marine species, several of which are known to thrive under dysoxic conditions in muddy bottoms. This association is common in early Holocene intervals as well as sapropel intervals in younger Holocene strata. It is an indicator of low-salinity outflows from the Black Sea into the Marmara Sea that drive stratification. A marine Mediterranean association (87 species) represents both soft bottom and hard substrate faunas that lived in well-ventilated conditions and upper mesohaline–polyhaline salinities (ca. 25 psu). Shallower areas were occupied by hard substrate taxa and phytopdetritic communities, whereas deeper areas had soft bottom faunas. The middle shelf part of the northern Gemlik Gulf has intervals with irregular and discontinuous sedimentary structures admixed with worn Neoeuxinian and euryhaline Mediterranean faunas. These intervals represent reworking events (slumping) likely related to seismic activity rooted in the North Anatolian Fault system. The core data and faunas indicate an oscillating postglacial sea-level rise and phases of increased/decreased ventilation in the Marmara Sea during the Holocene, as well as palaeobiogeographic reorganisations of Ponto-Caspian and Mediterranean water bodies since the latest Pleistocene (<30 ka). The findings contribute to arguments against a single catastrophic flooding of the Black Sea at about 7.5 ka (Noah’s Flood).     

Peculiarities of the currents field in the north-western part of the Black Sea

On the basis of the results derived by theoretical analysis [1] and laboratory physical modelling [2] of the circulation seawater and stratification, induced by buoyancy fluxes, the suggestion has been made that, possibly, the Black Sea currents system is three-layered. It has been supposed that an anticyclonic current flows in the basin. To verify this deduction, the data from MHI's archived dataset have been treated, and results from twoad hoc expeditions are submitted here. Analysis of the vertical structure of currents, based on thein situ velocity measurements, using various means and calculations of the geostrophic circulation, has confirmed that a flow with the theoretically predicted parameters may exist in the Black Sea. Translated by Vladimir A. Puchkin.     

Numerical simulation of currents in a basin of variable depth with two straits

Within the framework of the linear theory of long waves, with regard for the turbulent viscosity, we study the development of tidal currents in a basin of variable depth with two straits. The problem is solved numerically. The velocity field on the strait-basin boundary is regarded as known. The numerical analysis is performed for different depths of the straits. We study the influence of the geometric characteristics of the basin on the amplitudes of the profile of free surface and wave velocity and establish the dependences of the wave characteristics on the period of current velocities in the strait and the parameters of the basin. In particular, it is shown that the increase in the period of current velocities in the strait leads to significant changes in the level and structure of currents. __________ Translated from Morskoi Gidrofizicheskii Zhurnal, No. 4, pp. 3–12, July–August, 2007.     

Internal tide in the Kara Gates Strait

We observed strong internal tidal waves in the Kara Gates Strait. Internal tides are superimposed over a system of mean currents from the Barents to the Kara Sea. Field studies of internal tides in the Kara Gates were performed in 1997, 2007, and 2015. In 2015, we analyzed data from towed CTD measurements, numerical model calculations, and satellite images in the region. An internal tidal wave with a period of 12.4 h is generated due to the interaction between the currents of the barotropic tide and the bottom relief on the slopes of a ridge that crosses the strait from Novaya Zemlya to the continent. The depths of the ridge crest are 30–40 m. A constant current of relatively warm water flows from the Barents to the Kara Sea. An internal wave propagates in both directions from the ridge. In the Barents Sea, internal waves are intensified by the current from the Barents to the Kara Sea. Internal bores followed by a packet of short-period internal waves are found in both directions from the strait. Satellite images show that short-period internal waves are generated after the internal bore. A hydraulic jump was found on the eastern side of the strait. Numerical modeling agrees with the experimental results.     

Discussion: a critique of Possible waterways between the Marmara Sea and the Black Sea in the late Quaternary: evidence from ostracod and foraminifer assemblages in lakes ?znik and Sapanca, Turkey, Geo-Marine Letters, 2011

The identification of past connection routes between the Black Sea and the Sea of Marmara, other than the traditional one through to the Bosphorus Strait, would be of considerable interest to the international scientific community. Nazik et al. (Geo-Mar Lett 31:75?C86 (2011) doi:10.1007/s00367-010-0216-9) suggest the possibility of two alternative waterway connections via lakes Sapanca and ?znik. Their Black Sea to Sea of Marmara multi-connection hypothesis, which is based on undated marine fossils collected in both lakes from surficial grab samples, conflicts with many earlier studies. In this contribution, the hypothesis and the underlying data are discussed in the light of previous tectonic, sedimentological and limnological findings showing that it is impossible to have had marine connections through lakes Sapanca and ?znik during the last 11.5?ka. Global sea-level trends and tectonic uplift rates would accommodate a connection between the Sea of Marmara and Lake ?znik in the middle Pleistocene. Uplift rates for the northern block of the North Anatolian Fault, when compared with the global sea-level curve, clearly indicate that there cannot have been a connection through the ?zmit Gulf?CLake Sapanca?CSakarya Valley for at least the past 500?ka. Moreover, borehole sediments along the western shores of Lake Sapanca, which reach down to the bedrock, do not contain any marine fossils.     

日本海主要海峡体积输运的季节变化特征

利用变分资料同化技术对P矢量方法进行优化处理,并采用此优化后的P矢量方法优化计算了日本海环流和日本海主要海峡的体积输运.日本海的主要环流系统,比如对马暖流(TWC)及其分支,东朝鲜暖流(EKWC)和日本近岸分支(JNB),极地锋海流(PFC),和日本海中的反气旋式涡,都能够被很好地一一反映出来.另外,优化后的P矢量方法...     

Three-dimensional numerical experiments on tidal exchange through a narrow strait in a homogeneous and a stratified sea

We have investigated the three-dimensional Lagrangian motion of water particles related with tidal exchange between two basins with a constant depth connected through a narrow strait and the effects of density stratification on the exchange processes by tracking a number of the labeled particles. Tide-induced transient eddies (TITEs), which are similar to those in two-dimensional basin, are generated behind the headlands. Upwelling appears around the center of the eddy and sinking around the boundary. When the basins are filled with homogeneous water, a pair of vortices are produced in the vertical cross section of the strait due to bottom stress, with upwellings along the side walls of the strait and sinking in the center of the strait. These circulations form the horizontally convergent field in the cross-strait direction in the upper layers while the horizontal divergence takes place in the bottom layer. These vertical water-motions produce the three-dimensional distribution of velocity shear and phase lag of the tidal current around the strait, and the Lagrangian drifts of water particles become large. As a result, water exchange through the strait is greatly enhanced: The water exchange rate reaches 94.1% which is much larger than that obtained in the vertically integrated two-dimensional model. When the basins are stratified, the stable stratification suppresses the vertical motion so that a pair of vertical vortices are confined in the lower layers. This leads to a decrease in the exchange rate, down to 88.6%. Our numerical results show that the three-dimensional structure of tidal currents should be taken into account in tidal exchange through a narrow strait.