Hydrodynamic basis of formation of large-scale water circulation in the Caspian Sea: 2. Numerical calculations

Abstract

The contributions of wind, water baroclinicity, and evaporation to the formation of water circulation over the depressions of the Middle and Southern Caspian are calculated numerically. The results show that all three factors—the wind, baroclinicity, and evaporation—are involved in the formation and maintenance of cyclonic water circulation over the depressions. The hydrodynamic basis of the formation of upwelling at the western and eastern coasts of the Middle Caspian are analyzed. A hypothesis is proposed regarding a more complicated, binuclear structure of the upwelling at the eastern shore of the Middle Caspian, and a theoretical substantiation of this hypothesis is given. From theoretical considerations, it is derived that the upwelling at the western shore of the Middle Caspian is of wind nature, but is governed by the integral effect of the spatial distribution of wind, rather than local alongshore wind.