OCEANOLOGICAL CONDITIONS IN THE AREA OF SOTH KURIL ISLANDS ACCORDING TO SHIP AND SATELLITE OBSERVATIONS

Abstract

The materials of satellite observations of the sea surface temperature in the study area (1998–2020) were also analyzed by statistical methods and by decomposition according to the EOF. The amplitude of the averaged curve of the annual variation of the ocean surface temperature (SST) as a whole for the region was estimated, which was 7° (the contribution of the semiannual component with an amplitude of 1°С is small), as well as the most significant anomalies that reached 4°С in cold August 2002 and 3°С in warm September 2012. A quasiperiodic course of the envelope of summer maximums with a period of 5–6 years was revealed. It is shown that there is negligible trend in the thermal regime in the study area. Based on the analysis of materials from 10 oceanological surveys, seasonal variations in hydrological conditions in the area of South Kuril Islands were studied. It is shown that the areas of the Kunashirsky and Yuzhno-Kurilsky Straits in the warm season are filled with warm and salty waters of the Soya Current, and in winter and spring - with freshened modified water from the Amur River runoff transported by the East Sakhalin Current. Annual salinity variations exceed 1.5 psu here.