Studying the Fluxes of the Marine Ecosystem Components from the Northwestern Shelf to the Deep Part of the Black Sea

Abstract

Purpose. The study represents analysis of the features of the Black Sea ecosystem components transfer from the northwestern shelf to the deep-sea part and its dependence on circulation in the sea upper layer. Methods and Results. The fluxes of water mass, nutrients and bioproduction from the shelf zone to the deep part of the sea were calculated using the current fields and biogeochemical ones resulted from the reanalysis, which, in its turn, was carried out due to the Black Sea ecosystem model including assimilation of remote sensing data both in the numerical circulation model and in the biogeochemical block. Numerical modeling permitted to calculate the fluxes through three sections that bound the shelf zone (by the capes Kaliakra and Chersonesus, and along the 200 m isobath). Behavior of the RIM Current jet and, consequently, direction and magnitude of the flows through the boundaries of the northwestern shelf depend on the wind stress vorticity over the western part of the Black Sea. The type of circulation with the intense RIM Current jet pressed to the shelf edge, is characterized by the pattern of distribution of the inorganic nitrogen and phytoplankton surface concentration as a narrow strip of its high values along the Black Sea western and partially southern coasts. When the RIM Current jet is weak or moves from the shelf edge (that corresponds to the low values of the wind stress vorticity) the increased concentration values are located on the northwestern shelf. Conclusions. Direction, magnitude and character of horizontal distribution of the nutrient and bioproduction fluxes are determined mainly by circulation in the sea upper layer. The magnitude of these flows is significantly affected by difference between the nutrient and bioproduction concentrations in the shelf zone and in the deep part of the Black Sea.