The influence of the climate’s variability on the deep-water oxygen conditions in the east of the Gulf of Finland

Based on the long-term surveys in 1995–2010, the influence of the variability of the winter conditions on the interannual dynamics of the content of dissolved oxygen was studied concerning the deep waters (the 40 m isobath line) of the eastern part of the Gulf of Finland. The content of oxygen varied within a wide range with a low-pronounced trend to a decrease during the considered period. All the processes affecting the aeration of deep waters, i.e., the advection of oxygen-depleted saline waters from the Baltic Sea and the intensity of the autumnal and winter mixing, correlated with the North Atlantic oscillation index, which determined the close positive correlation between this parameter and the oxygen content (r = +0.87). The hypoxic effects in the gulf were registered in the years of negative anomalies of the North Atlantic oscillation. The conclusion is reached that the deterioration of the oxygen conditions at the inner part of the Gulf of Finland during the late 20th-early 21st century is mainly caused by the large-scale variations in the atmospheric processes.