A Case Study of Heat Budget in the Southern Caspian Sea, Gorgan Bay, Iran

Abstract

Abstract Gorgan Bay is one of the unique closed basins in the world and has a special geological and environmental status from a physical oceanographic perspective. In the present case study, local coefficients for heat budget of the area were extracted using in-situ measurements. According to the obtained findings in this study, the shortwave radiation flux, net longwave radiation flux, sensible heat flux, and latent heat flux have been estimated to be about 155 W/m2, −66 W/m2, −20 W/m2, and −187 W/m2, respectively. The rate of heat transfer through Caspian Sea to Gorgan Bay is estimated to be about 1.2 × 109 W. In addition, the rate of the heat transfer through rivers to Gorgan Bay is approximately 2.2 × 106 W, which is negligible. In addition, it was concluded that heat balance, which was investigated for different seasons, is caused by the heat loss through river flows as well as heat exchanges between the Caspian Sea and Gorgan Bay gaps. The amount of advection heat flux is about −31 W/m2, which is equal to the surface heat flux. The mentioned finding indicates that storms not only affect the latent heat flux and sensible heat flux but also have a significant impact on the total heat budget.