On the large-scale and mesoscale variability of thermohaline characteristics in the north-eastern part of the Black Sea

The data collected during an 18-day station and nine hydrologic surveys have been analysed. Mesoscale and large-scale temperature and salinity oscillations were revealed. Mesoscale oscillations in the sea surface layer are induced by the diurnal course of solar radiation, and in the seasonal thermocline layer by internal waves with a predominant 6–10 h periodicity. Large-scale fluctuations are related to the passage of clockwise (cold) and anticlockwise (warm) meanders and vortices. It has been determined that the contribution of large-scale temperature and salinity oscillations to the total variability is 1·5 to 3-fold larger than that of the mesoscale ones.Translated by Vladimir A. Puchkin.