FORMATION OF THE COLD INTERMEDIATE LAYER IN THE SHELF-SLOPE NORTHEASTERN PART ZONE OF THE BLACK SEA

The paper presents an overview of the existing hypotheses about the formation areas and the distribution mechanisms of the cold intermediate layer (CIL) in the Black Sea. The testing of the statistical hypothesis about the relationship of the CIL parameters in the shelf-slope zone of the Black Sea Northeastern part with the temperature of the atmosphere surface layer in the central part of the eastern cyclonic gyre is performed. The obtained high values of the correlation coefficients (~0.98) confirmed the dependence of the CIL parameters during its formation period from the air temperature over the Northeastern part of the Black Sea. One of the concepts of the “convective-advective” hypothesis by Ovchinnikov and Popov (1987) about approximately 2 months time shift between the processes of cold air masses invasion into the water area of the Black Sea and the developed CIL waters appearance in the coastal zone of the Gelendzhik area is also confirmed.