Propagation of Waters from the Kerch Strait in the Black Sea

A. A. Aleskerovа✉, A. A. Kubryakov, Yu. N. Goryachkin, S. V. Stanichny

Marine Hydrophysical Institute, Russian Academy of Sciences, Sevastopol, Russian Federation

✉ e-mail: annette08@mail.ru

Abstract

Turbid and brackish Azov waters penetrating through the Kerch Strait significantly modify the biooptical and thermohaline features in North-Western part of the Black Sea. The Kerch Strait itself is another additional powerful source of suspended matter. Analysis of the high-resolution Landsat imagery and MODIS satellite data on the total suspended matter (TSM) concentration and sea surface temperature is carried out in the present work to study the Kerch waters propagation in the Black Sea.

It is shown that Kerch waters most frequently propagate westward from the strait in the form of a narrow jet having a width of 1-10 km. Turbid waters are mainly observed in shallow areas do not crossing isobaths of 20 meters. In winter such jets are observed in both optical (turbid) and infrared measurements (cold water). On average, they stretch from the Kerch Strait to Cape Meganom and cover the whole Feodosia Bay. Strong north-east storms increase the outflow of the Azov waters from the strait and intensify the western propagation of Azov waters. The propagation area and distance from the source of waters with high TSM are related to the strength and duration of storms.

During southern storms, vast areas with large turbidity, which are not related to the penetration of Kerch waters, are observed in the vicinity of the Kerch Strait along the shores of the Kerch and Taman Peninsulas. Such increase of turbidity is a result of wave action, that lead to the coast erosion and resuspension of bottom sediments near the clay cliffs. High values of TSM are mostly observed up to the isobath of 50 meters. In some cases, Kerch waters can be transported offshore on the large distances upon the action of mesoscale eddies advection.

Keywords

remote sensing, the Black Sea, the Azov Sea, the Kerch Strait, suspended matter, thermohaline structure, turbidity

For citation

Aleskerovа, A.A., Kubryakov, A.A., Goryachkin, Yu.N. and Stanichny, S.V., 2017. Propagation of Waters from the Kerch Strait in the Black Sea. Physical Oceanography, (6), pp. 47-57. doi:10.22449/1573-160X-2017-6-47-57

DOI

10.22449/1573-160X-2017-6-47-57

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