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Sea surface height (SSH) variability is presented over the Black Sea during 1993–2005. The 1/4° × 1/4° resolution daily SSH fields are formed using optimal interpolation of available altimeter data. SSH variability reveals distinct maxima in the eastern and western basins, reflecting variations in the corresponding gyres. A joint examination of SSH and sea surface temperature (SST) indicates strong relationship between the two only in winter, with correlations as high as 0.6 or more. This would reflect a steric change in sea surface height due to thermal expansion averaged over a relatively deep winter mixed layer. Newly developed SSH fields also demonstrate a switch to the positive mode of SSH starting from the end of 1996 lasting ≈4 yr. Such a climatic shift is found to be strongly related to large-scale teleconnection patterns. Finally, the daily SSH and SST anomaly fields presented in this paper can supplement various applications in the Black Sea, such as examination of biological production and mesoscale eddy dynamics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper investigates the mean spatial features of the winds in the Mediterranean and Black Seas using the wind fields observed by the SeaWinds scatterometer. Five years (2000–04) of data have been analyzed on annual and seasonal basis, with particular attention paid to the meso- and local scales. The fields show the existence of structured regional wind systems—in particular, the mistral in the western Mediterranean and the etesians in the Levantine Basin, which are characterized, respectively, by high wind variability and moderate steadiness and by low wind variability and high steadiness. Estimated seasonal mean wind stress τ fields show that the values falling in the top range 0.15 < τ < 0.20 N m-2 affect a large portion of the Mediterranean Basin in winter, in the belt extending from the Gulf of Lion up to the Levantine Basin and the northern Black Sea. In the other seasons, only few regions experience such high values of τ. The analysis of the wind vorticity shows and quantifies the main cyclonic and anticyclonic circulations, and the study of the joint features of wind stress and vorticity has identified the strongest and most persisting local-scale wind circulations produced by the interaction between the wind flow and the orography. They occur at the lee side of Sardinia–Corse and Crete–Rhodos Islands and persist in all seasons, with some seasonal variation in strength and extent. The areas affected by the orographic disturbances are characterized by high values of wind stress and by a structure of vorticity showing alternating areas of cyclonic and anticyclonic circulations, whose strength is comparable to those of the regional-scale cyclones. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]