Satellite Monitoring of Pollution in the Russian Sector of the Azov and Black Seas in 2003–2007

A. I. Bedritskii, V. V. Asmus, V. A. Krovotyntsev, O. Yu. Lavrova, and A. G. Ostrovskii

The results of satellite monitoring of pollution in the Russian sector of the Azov–Black Sea basin in 2003–2007 are considered. Within the framework of this work, a technology of monitoring the state and pollution of the water environment from satellite information received during this period from Russian and foreign satellites has been developed. With this technology, the coastal pollution parameters and hydrometeorological characteristics of the water environment in the area of observation were mapped operationally; 14 types of different satellite information products were issued daily; and the results were generalized over 3 days, ten days, a month, and a period of observation. Long-term satellite monitoring makes it possible to determine and analyze typical situations of pollution distribution in the coastal waters and to detect new circulation elements that transport pollutants, thus purifying the water environment. For example, for the first time, it was found from satellite data that the contribution of a small-scale circulation of waters of the Russian sector of the Black Sea to the transport and distribution of pollutants is commensurable with the contribution of the Main Black Sea Current and coastal anticyclonic eddies. The regularities in the dynamics of pollution distribution promote the increased reliability of charting of the environmental situation, including the prediction of dynamics of pollution spreading.

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