Major Baltic Inflow

Major Baltic inflows cause a renewal process in the central Baltic deepwater. Salinity and oxygen concentration increase below the permanent halocline. The increase in salinity depends on the amount and salinity of the inflowing water and on the salinity of the ambient... 

Matthaus, W., Franck, H., 1992. Characteristics of major Baltic inflows—a statistical analysis. Continental Shelf Research, 12, 1375-1400. 

Matthaus, W., Schinke, H., 1994. Mean atmospheric circulation patterns associated with major Baltic inflows. Deutsche Hydrographische Zeitschrift, 46, 321-339. 

Schinke, H., Matthaus, W, 1998. On the causes of major Baltic inflows—an analysis of long time series. Continental Shelf Research, 18, 67-97. 

Zhurbas, V. M., Paka, V. T., 1997. Mesoscale thermohaline variabihty in the Eastern Gotland Basin following the 1993 major Baltic inflow. Journal of Geophysical Research, 102(C9), 20,917-20,926. 

In the summer of 2003, an Omega situation led to the second ever recognized important baroclinic inflow of warm saline water into the central Baltic Sea that substituted entirely the cold water of the Major Baltic Inflow of January 2003 residing there (Feistel et al., 2004b, 2006). 

FIGURE 10.3 Major Baltic inflows (MBls) between 1880 and 2007 and their seasonal distribution (upper right) shown in terms of their relative intensity (Matthaus and Franck, 1992 Fischer and Matthaus, 1996 supplemented and updated by Matthaus, 2006a) and 5-year running means of river runoff to the Baltic Sea (inside the entrance sills) averaged from September to March (shaded). Black boxes on the time axis MBls arranged in clusters. 

For the first time. Wolf (1972) analyzed major Baltic inflows by means of a quantitative definition. To distinguish between regular inflows and MBIs, he suggested empirical criteria for their identification in the entrance area to the Baltic Sea using limiting values of stratification and bottom salinity at the 1/v Gedser Rev (GR) in the Darss Sill area ... 

Major Baltic inflows identified between 1880 and 2007, shown in terms of the relative intensity G96, and their seasonal distribution are given in Fig. 10.3. The characteristics of the 30 most intensive MBls between 1880 and 2007 ranked according to G96 are compiled in Table 10.2. 

Fischer, H., Matthaus, W., 1996. The importance of the Drogden Sill in the Sound for major Baltic inflows. Journal of Marine Systems, 9, 137-157. 

Kleine, E., 1993. Numerical simulation ofthe recent (1993) major Baltic inflow. ICES Statutory Meeting, Paper C.M.1993/C 48, 12 pp. 

Lass, H. U., Mohrholz, V., Seifert, T.. 2005. On pathways and residence time of saltwater plumes in the Arkona Sea. Journal of Geophysical Research, 110, C11019, doi 10.1029/2004 JC 00 2848. Lehmann, A., 1994a. A model study of major Baltic inflows. Proceedings of the 19th Conference of... 

Lehmann, A., 1994b. The major Baltic inflow in 1993—a numerical model simulation. ICES Statutory Meeting, Paper C.M.1994/Q 9, 17 pp. 

The nutrient distribution in the deepwaters of the central basins of the Baltic Sea is mainly determined by inflow events and stagnation periods characterized by strong variations in oxygen conditions. The general behavior of inorganic phosphorus and nitrogen compounds in the deep basins below the halocline and their reaction to Major Baltic Inflows (MBIs) is described in Chapter 10.6.2. In this chapter, the interaction between nutrients accumulated below the halocline and their influence on the surface layer and thus on eutrophication processes is studied in more detail. 

Huber, K., Kleine, E., Lass, H. U., Matthaus, W., 1995. The major Baltic inflow in January 1993 -Measurements and modeling results. Deutsche Hydrografische Zeitschrift 46(2), 103-114. 

Meier, H. E. M., Doscher, R., Broman, B., Piechura, J., 2004. The major Baltic inflow in January 2003 and preconditioning by smaller inflows in summer/autumn 2002 a model study. Oceanologia, 46, 557-579. 

The sea-level difference between Hornbsk and Gedser and the related pressure gradient along the Danish Straits is a appropriate measure for the water exchange between the Kattegat and the Baltic Proper. In particular, it is the chief driving force for Major Baltic Inflow events, see Chapter 10. With the actual time series, an almost gap-free, continuous record of these events between 1891 and 2005 has become available, see Section 20.3.6. A total of 915 245 valid difference values are provided in the file Diff H G.asc. The mean difference is... 

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