Hydrodynamic Processes on the Sakhalin Shelf in the Coastal Piltun Area of the Grey Whale Feeding and Their Correlation with Atmospheric Circulation

A. N. Rutenko and V. A. Sosnin

Discussed are the results of long-term hydrophysical studies carried out on the northeastern shelf of Sakhalin Island in the area of summer-autumn fattening of the Okhotsk-Korea population of grey whales. It is demonstrated that the inflow of water desalinated by the Amur River runoff and the coastal upwelling caused by the summer monsoon are of great importance for the hydrological regime in the given area. These phenomena are interrelated and depend on interannual variations of atmotspheric circulation. Presented are the results of studying the parameters of internal waves obtained using the anchored autonomous vertical system of measurement. Measured are the velocities of the orbital movement of water particles in the propagating nonlinear internal waves and the respective vertical dis¬placements of water layers. Demonstrated are the peculiarities of the thermohaline structure of water under the slick formed on the sea surface by the internal wave.