FORMATION OF THE COLD INTERMEDIATE LAYER STRUCTURE IN THE BLACK SEA

O. I. Prokopov

It is noted that the investigation of the structure of the cold intermediate layer (CIL) in the Black Sea in the framework of a traditional approach to identification of layer boundaries is not possible. An alternative scheme is developed for calculating the layer and components of the structure and CIL boundary position at the depth of maximum vertical variability of thermohaline characteristics. On the basis of this scheme and results of hydrophysical sounding carried out in R/V Vityaz (1991) and Aquanaut (1996) cruises the formation, evolution, and degeneration of the CIL and its structural components are studied. Basic features are found for identification of source regions of advective cold intermediate waters (CIW) in the Black Sea, selection of advective and thermal CIW in the active layer, and determination of CIL components of the multilayer.