V. M. Zhurbas1, T. Stipa2, P. Mälkki2, V. T. Paka3,
N. P. Kuz’mina1, and V. E. Sklyarov1
1Shirshov Institute of Oceanology, Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow, Russia
2Finland Institute for Marine Research, Helsinki, Finland
3Atlantic Branch, Shirshov Institute of Oceanology, Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow, Russia
Received August 4, 2003; in final form, December 9, 2003
Abstract—The mesoscale structure of the upwelling near the Russian coast and in the adjacent regions of the
southeastern Baltic Sea is studied from the results of numerical experiments on the basis of the Princeton Ocean
Model and satellite IR images. The IR images reveal that the easterly and northerly winds generate a perturba-
tion of the longshore upwelling front in the middle of the Curonian Spit in the form of a transverse filament
inclined downstream. The numerical model simulates the transverse filament rather well and suggests that it is
associated with a detachment of the longshore jet current from the coast. Model calculations show that the
detachment of the current from the coast off the middle of the Curonian Spit is caused by a submarine rise. A
permanent perturbation of the upwelling front and jet current associated with it is also predicted by the model
in the region of the Hel Spit/Peninsula. Under the easterly wind, a cyclonic meander is formed here, which is
then transformed into a transverse stream and, eventually, into a mushroom-shaped structure composed of an
eddy pair. A similar mushroom-shaped structure with the same size and orientation was found at the same site
in one of the IR images.
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