Numerical Simulations of the Black Sea Hydrophysical Fields Below the Main Pycnocline: Validation by ARGO Data

Abstract

Modeling of hydrophysical fields of the Black Sea for the one year period (2011) is carried out using the MHI z-coordinate nonlinear model with a spatial resolution of 1.6 km. Comparison of the simulation results with ARGO floats data shows a quite satisfactory agreement between the model and the measured parameters below the main pycnocline up to the maximum profiling depth of the floats equal to 1500 m in 2011. The greatest differences for temperature and salinity are in the seasonal thermocline, which is reproduced by the model a few meters deeper in comparison with the data of measurements. In most cases the shift of the thermocline reconstructed is the main reason of the discrepancy between the model and in-situ data in the upper layer. It is shown, that in the layer below 300 m, the circulation features are simulated in a quite sufficient agreement with ARGO data and allow us to describe the field of the deep Black Sea currents.