Description / Table of Contents:
The Baltic Sea is surrounded by land, thus exchanges with the open ocean only take place through the North Sea. The Baltic Sea is divided into different deep basins connected by narrow sills and channels. Compared to the open ocean and the North Sea the salinity in the Baltic Sea is generally low due to large amounts of fresh water provided by river discharges. Inflowing saline water from the North Sea travels along the bottom and therefore produces a permanent halocline, separating the surface water from the deep water in the basins. Saline and also often oxygen-rich inflows are essential for the deep water renewal in the largest basin of the Baltic Sea, the Eastern Gotland Basin (EGB). These inflows occur only under certain meteorological conditions and thus so-called stagnation periods (periods without inflows) can occur for several years, oxygen depletion can lead to the formation of hydrogen sulfide in the Baltic deep water.
Pages:
Online-Ressource (XIII, 122 Seiten)
URL:
http://www.io-warnemuende.de/tl_files/forschung/meereswissenschaftliche-berichte/mebe88_2012-deepcirculationgotlandbasin.pdf
Language:
English