| Mean-annual characteristics of thermohaline fields (1990-1996; Janssen et al., 1999) of the
Baltic Sea along the section “Gdansk bay – Gotland sea” under conditions of early-spring
heating are analyzed. Location of water with temperature of maximum density (hereafter
Tmd; Tmd ~2.4C for S=7.6 psu) is identified. Under the same conditions of heating from
the surface, shallow parts are stably thermally stratified, whilst waters in deeper
regions have temperature near the Tmd throughout the upper layer of the thickness of
about 30 m. Mean-annual horizontal density gradient between these parts is about
10-6-10-7kg/m4, what is of the same order than in Ladoga lake (Drabkova, Rumiantsev,
2002) under corresponding conditions. Mean-annual speed of propagation of the
isotherm, corresponding to the Tmd (accounting for the salinity variations) is about 15
km/day.
Analysis of field measurements, performed by Leibniz Institute for Baltic Sea Research
(Institut f |