GEOSTROPHIC CIRCULATION OF WATERS IN THE MEDITERRANEAN-SEA

The modern bank of data including about 20 000 hydrological stations which were arranged into one-degree squares and averaged over seasons and months, is used in this work. The geostrophic circulation is estimated by a dynamic method. The decrease in the scale of averaging of hydrophysical characteristics in time and the vast bank of data used there made it possible to get new concepts of the Mediterranean water circulation. The complex structure of currents has been received. As it is confirmed, the currents are unidirectional in the whole water column of the basin with the exception of its straits. The seasonal variation of the geostrophic circulation is observed throughout the thickness of the thermocline. Deep water circulation has also a vortex structure. Some new ideas about the circulation in the coastal zone which consists of alternating small anticyclonic and cyclonic vortexes are obtained. Anticyclonic vortexes in the coastal zone are well traced both in summer and in winter. The wind nature of the main features of quasigeostrophic circulation is confirmed.