Acceleration of Climate Change in the Upper Layer of the Black Sea

The thermohaline regime trends of the Black Sea basin in the period 2000–2021 were studied based on the data from three retrospective analyses (reanalyses) of the hydrophysical fields of the Black Sea. It is shown that the cumulative effect of an increase in the average sea surface temperature (SST) and increasingly milder winter conditions in the Black Sea over the last seven to eight years led to a record-breaking warming and then to the disappearance of the ventilated cold intermediate layer (CIL) of the Black Sea in its traditional meaning by 2020. In addition, in the past seven to eight years, accelerated warming of seawaters has been observed within the permanent (main) pycnocline. Changes in the thermal regime of the upper layer of the sea are accompanied by a continuing increase in salinity in the main pycnocline.