Regime of the Currents in the Southern Part of the Kerch Strait

The paper presents the results of continuous measurements of vertical current velocity profiles at two moored autonomous stations near the southern section of the Kerch Strait, in the eastern and western parts of the strait. Measurements with a time averaging interval of 20 min were carried out for 81 days in the fall of 2022. The relationships between currents and wind forcing conditions are analyzed. A high correlation was found between the current velocity and the zonal component of the wind speed throughout the entire measurement period at both stations. The data obtained do not confirm the idea of the typicality of the two-layer stratification of currents in the Kerch Strait along the vertical, but indicate an almost constant presence of zonal stratification of currents along the coordinate transverse to the strait axis. Based on the measurement results, three main current regimes in the Kerch Strait are identified depending on wind conditions.