LOW-FREQUENCY ATMOSPHERIC CIRCULATION VARIABILITY AND CASPIAN SEA LEVEL IN THE SECOND HALF OF THE 20TH CENTURY

E. S. Nesterov

Connection between interannual increments of the Caspian Sea level and indices of major global atmospheric circulation patterns has been studied for the period from 1950 to 2000. The impact on the Caspian Sea level is found to be from the Southern Oscillation and also from the patterns centered in the eastern North Atlantic and in the Caspian Sea. The long-term variations of the EA-Jet index, which characterizes the atmospheric circulation in the Atlantic-European region in the warm part of the year, are most similar to the Caspian Sea level variation. Composite anomalies of 500-hPa geopotential height, surface pressure, air temperature, and wind, and sea surface temperature in the Atlantic-European region are constructed for periods with maximum and minimum EA-Jet values and also for sea-level fall and rise. The conclusion is that warm-season processes play an important role in Caspian Sea level variability.