The influence of shelfbreak forcing on the alongshelf penetration of the Danube buoyant water, Black sea

The buoyancy-driven coastal current propagating along the western coast in the Black Sea is forced by the discharge of several major European rivers including the Danube, Dnepr and South Bug. In this study, observational evidence that the buoyant water alongshelf penetration is strongly affected by shelfbreak mesoscale features associated with the Rim Current dynamics is presented. The Rim Current is a major element of the Black Sea general circulation, typically following isobaths over the upper-to-middle slope. Two hydrographic surveys conducted in 1992 and 1994 have been chosen among available archive data for the detailed analysis. In both years, though Danube buoyant discharge was similar prior to the beginning of shipboard observations (varying around 7000m super(3) s super(-1)), the buoyant water exhibited very different downstream (that is, in the direction of Kelvin wave) penetration. In 1992, it spread all the way around the southwestern corner of the Black Sea basin and then further eastward past the Bosporus Strait. In contrast, its downstream penetration was blocked in 1994 and buoyant water did not even reach Cape Kaliakra on the Bulgarian coast. This difference was related to the shelfbreak processes. In 1992, the cyclonic meander of the Rim Current merged with the coastal buoyant water thus promoting its advection from Cape Kaliakra downstream. In 1994, a strong anticyclone in the southwestern corner of the Black Sea completely blocked the propagation of a buoyancy-driven current past Cape Kaliakra. In addition, another anticyclone in the northwestern part of the sea advected buoyant water offshore to the central area of the northwestern shelf. The positions of anticyclonic eddies during a period of observations was confirmed by remote sensing data. As these and other examples indicate, coastal buoyancy driven currents can be effectively blocked and dispersed offshore by the shelfbreak anticyclones if the shelf width allows their interaction with buoyant water. Previous observational studies suggested an upwelling-favorable wind as the principal forcing agent that arrested downstream penetration of buoyancy-driven coastal currents.