Abstract
The paper describes the slope convection, heat and salt intrusions, which provide key mechanisms for internal mixing and water mass formation in the Black Sea. The high salinity plume of Mediterranean origin entrains Black Sea surface and intermediate waters and carries this mixture into the intermediate and deep layers. This is potentially the most important mechanism for mixing in the interior and deep layers, which was recently confirmed by the analyses of penetration rates of Chernobyl tracers. We apply a numerical reduced gravity model with a horizontal resolution of 600m to the Bosphorus inflow area, which covers 72 km in the East-West and 54 km in the North-South directions, respectively. The ambient stratification is constant in time. Pronounced intrusions of cold waters, entrained from the cold intermediate layer, are simulated at different depths in the area of the continental slope. The model simulated mixing ratio and different characteristics of the sinking plume are compared with observations. The sensitivity of the depths of the intrusions in dependence to the magnitude of the heat inflow is studied.
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Simeonov, J.A., Stanev, E.V., Backhaus, J.O., Jungclaus, J.H., Roussenov, V.M. (1997). Heat and Salt Intrusions in the Pycnocline from Sinking Plumes. Test Case for the Entrainment in the Black Sea. In: Özsoy, E., Mikaelyan, A. (eds) Sensitivity to Change: Black Sea, Baltic Sea and North Sea. NATO ASI Series, vol 27. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-011-5758-2_32
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-011-5758-2_32
Publisher Name: Springer, Dordrecht
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