Ra. Ibrayev et al., Seasonal variability of circulation in the Caspian Sea reconstructed from normal hydrological data, IZV ATM O P, 37(1), 2001, pp. 96-104
Seasonal variability of climatic circulation in the Caspian Sea is examined
from the reconstructed sea currents with the use of a three-dimensional mo
del of sea dynamics based on the primitive equations of fluid dynamics. The
reconstruction of three-dimensional currents is carried out by the method
of fluid-dynamic adjustment. This work is based on the arrays of 12-month n
ormal data on temperature and salinity computed from the data of 65 000 oce
anographic stations. It is shown that the dynamics of sea currents is stron
gly affected by drift currents, by the interaction between the drift curren
ts and the bottom topography, by the transport of water masses in both the
horizontal and the vertical, and by local heat fluxes through the sea surfa
ce. The yearly average surface currents over the deep-sea parts of the midd
le Caspian Sea form a cyclonic gyre; however, because of high seasonal vari
ability, the cyclonic character of large-scale circulation can be regarded
only as qualitative information about surface currents.