Transformation of black-sea waters in the Sea of Marmara

The analysis is performed on the basis of comparison of the hydrological characteristics of prestrait regions of the Sea of Marmara. It is shown that, in summer, the Black-Sea waters are weakly mixed with the Mediterranean waters and the levels of salinity in the prestrait regions differ by 0.6–0.9‰. In winter, the indicated difference increases and the level of salinity near the entrance of Dardanelles reaches 29‰ and exceeds the level observed near the entrance of Bosporus by 5.5‰. In the analyzed regions, we observe local temperature maxima and minima near the interface of two water masses. This is explained by the presence of strong seasonal variations of temperature for the Black-Sea waters and their absence for the Mediterranean waters. The physical mechanisms responsible for the seasonal variations of the intensity of transformations of the Black-Sea waters are discussed. __________ Translated from Morskoi Gidrofizicheskii Zhurnal, No. 2, pp. 49–55, March–April, 2007.