Nutrient Content Seasonal Dynamics and Local Sources in the Heracleian Peninsula Coastal Waters
E.E. Sovga✉, S.I. Kondrat’ev, E.A. Godin, K.A. Slepchuk
Marine Hydrophysical Institute, Russian Academy of Sciences, Sevastopol, Russian Federation
✉ e-mail: science-mhi@mail.ru
Abstract
The long-term inter-annual and seasonal variability in 1960–2010 is assessed for certain hydrochemical parameters of the surface and near-bottom layers in the Heracleian Peninsula coastal waters on the basis of the analysis of hydrological and hydrochemical data from the Oceanographic Data Bank of Marine Hydrophysical Institute. The performed analysis allowed one to assess the impact of different nature processes on the distribution of phosphate phosphorus and silicic acid by the annual variation of content of these nutrients. It is shown that for phosphate phosphorus this is the impact of biological processes, and for silicic acid – natural processes related to an increase in fresh water inflow due to spring floods and the presence of submarine fresh water sources. The analyzed long-term data represent the values which are mostly averaged and can be used for this water area as background data.
Complex oceanographic survey of the Heracleian Peninsula water area, carried out in summer and early autumn of 2015 in the area where deep-water sewage discharge of Sevastopol is located, provided an assessment of ecologic situation in this water area. Surface spots of increased turbidity with abnormal values of temperature, salinity and a series of hydrochemical parameters were found. It is determined that these anomalies are related to the outflow of polluted sewage waters to the surface due to the peculiarities of seasonal thermocline formation in the water area under study and possible leakages in case of sewage discharge line rupture. The need for further environmental monitoring of the Heracleian Peninsula coastal zone for developing the scientifically grounded recommendations for improving the ecological situation in the water area under study is confirmed.
Keywords
the Heracleian Peninsula, water area, nutrients, inter-annual variability, seasonal variability, expeditionary studies, deep-water discharge
For citation
Sovga, E.E., Kondrat’ev, S.I., Godin, E.A. and Slepchuk, K.A., 2017. Nutrient Content Seasonal Dynamics and Local Sources in the Heracleian Peninsula Coastal Waters. Physical Oceanography, (1), pp. 53-61. doi:10.22449/1573-160X-2017-1-53-61
DOI
10.22449/1573-160X-2017-1-53-61
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