Tolimųjų klimatodaros ryšių poveikis Baltijos jūros vandens temperatūrai ir druskingumui

• Main Authors: Bajerčiūtė, Asta, Pupienis, Donatas
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: Lithuanian; English
• Published: 2012
• Subjects: The Baltic Sea; Water salinity; Water temperature; NAO and AO indices; Long-distance climate teleconnection; Arctic; Pacific; Climate change; North Atlantic; North Atlantic oscillation
• Online Access: http://vu.lvb.lt/VU:ELABAPDB4579690&prefLang=en_US

Despite the fact that the Baltic Sea is a semi-enclosed sea of the North Atlantic Ocean, it is characterized by variability of different hydrophysical and hydrochemical parameters according to the recent studies. Over one hundred years of observations of water temperature and salinity variations have shown that thermohaline regime (circulation, system) has begun to change: trends of increasing water temperature and decreasing water salinity were determined. Scientists from the Baltic countries seek to attract societies’ attention to the possible structures of the Baltic Sea hydrology and changes in water balance associated with climate change. This paper searches for the impact of low-frequency atmospheric fluctuations in Atlantic and Pacific surface temperature on water temperature and salinity changes in the Baltic Proper in 1960–2009. The previous studies have shown that there are weak links between the Baltic Sea water temperature, salinity and NAO (North Atlantic oscillation) and AO (Arctic oscillation) that affect the Baltic region. Recently, it was also found that the Baltic Sea hydrophysical and chemical parameters depend on large distance relationships between climate anomalies teleconnection. The determined relationships between the multi-annual average temperature and salinity of the Baltic Sea water column and seasonal, annual indices of the Atlantic Ocean (AMO, AMM, Atlantic Tripole) are weak, whereas links between the Baltic Sea investigated parameters and Pacific index: ONI (Oceanic Nino Index) are very weak (r ≤ −0.32). The strongest correlation exists between water temperature and the NAO (0.36 ≥ r ≤ 0.45), AMM (0.37 ≥ r ≤ 0.40) and between water salinity and NAO (–0.38 ≥ r ≤ –0.51), PNA (Pacific- North American index) (0.27 ≥ r ≤ 0.34).