Marine Biogeochemistry

Marine Biogeochemistry

The department was founded as a structural unit of the Institute in 2006. Since then and up to May, 2015 the Department was headed by Dr.Sci. (Geography), Corresponding Member of the Russian Academy of Sciences and National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine Sergey K. Konovalov.

Major research directions

The main aims of the department: fundamental research of processes that determine the variability of hydrophysical and hydrochemical fields of the seas and oceans and the atmosphere and the ocean interaction in a wide range of spatial-temporal scales.

Monitoring of the Black Sea biogeochemical features including oxygen, elements of nutrients’ and sulfur cycles, carbon and state of carbonate system, content and forms of heavy metals, and microelements. These investigations imply expeditionary studies in coastal and deep water parts of the Black Sea.

Major scientific directions:

  • the study of processes and factors that determine the evolution of biogeochemical structure of the Black Sea, Sea of Azov and other seas of the Russian Federation under the conditions of observed climate change and anthropogenic load according to the monitoring of hydrochemical structure of the Black Sea waters for regions with different redox conditions. Analysis of impact of substance fluxes on the hydrochemical structure of waters and the intensity of primary production processes.
  • The study of long-term dynamics of radioactive isotope concentration in the Black Sea waters, including the analysis of the spatial-temporal structure of radioactive isotope concentration fields in environmental objects and their use as tracers for studying various processes in the atmosphere and ocean.
  • Monitoring of hydrological and hydrochemical characteristics of the Azov-Black Sea basin shelf zone and coastal regions of Crimea; monitoring and analysis of nutrient content and isotopic composition of atmospheric precipitation; the study of coastal marine ecosystems functioning in modern conditions.

Department Personnel

The department has 16 employees in the following positions:

  • 1 Chief research associate, Dr.Sci., (Geogr.)
  • 1 Leading Research Associate, Ph.D. (Geogr.)
  • 4 Senior Research Associate: 2 Ph.D. (Chem.), 1 Ph.D. (Geogr.), 1 Ph.D. (Phys.-Math.);
  • Research Associate, no degree;
  • 1 Junior Research Associate, Ph.D. (Geogr.);
  • 6 Junior Research Assocate, no degree;
  • 1 Leading Engineer-Researcher;
  • Engineer.

Head of the department: Ph.D. in Geography Natalia A. Orekhova

Natalia A. Orekhova

The most significant results of the work

  1. Our hypothesis about the sub-oxygen zone nature and the characteristics of its spatial-temporal changes is confirmed.
  2. A model of the vertical exchange and biogeochemical processes of the vertical hydrochemical structure formation of the entire water column of the Black Sea is constructed.
  3. New unique results on polarographic profiling of bottom sediments in the deep water part of the Black Sea as well as in the coastal areas and bays of Crimea were obtained. The results of these studies permitted to propose new hypotheses on formation of hydrochemical characteristics of pore and bottom waters of the Black Sea; oxygen and hydrogen sulfide fluxes on the water-sediment boundary and in the sediment column were calculated; the period of sulfides renovation and the period of total oxygen exhaustion in the bottom water layer were defined.
  4. The data on oxygen content and distribution in the Black Sea waters for the whole period of observations were generalized. Based on the results of expeditionary studies, the atlas of oceanographic characteristics of the Sevastopol Bay was published; changes of oxygen content in the bay waters, characteristics of variations in the carbonate system and the carbon cycle stability were estimated. TCO2 and CO2 in seawater and pCO2 in the atmosphere were first directly measured with the purpose of investigating CO2 fluxes in the Black Sea coastal area.
  5. The data base of observational data on content of radionuclides in the near-surface atmosphere of the Black Sea region and in the Black Sea waters was created.
  6. The assessments of effect of various factors on the spatioal-temporal variability of radionuclide concentration fields in the studied regions based on observational materials and the results of numerical experiments were obtained.
  7. Methods for estimating the influx of radionuclides from the atmosphere to the underlying surface and boundary conditions for a model that allows one to calculate the concentration fields of 7Ве in the Black Sea waters was developed.
  8. Based on long-term observations, quantitative estimates of nutrient (inorganic nitrogen, phosphorus and silicon) content in the atmospheric precipitation of the coastal regions of Crimea and estimates of the fluxes of these elements up to the surface of the Black Sea were obtained.

Employees of the department participate in research work of the State Program for the Development of Science and Technology of the Russian Federation until 2020 under projects 0827-2018-0003 “Fundamental research of oceanological processes determining the state and evolution of marine environment under effect of natural and anthropogenic factors, based on observation and modeling methods” (Code “Oceanologic processes”), 0827-2018-0004 “Comprehensive interdisciplinary studies of oceanological processes determining the functioning and evolution of ecosystems of the Black and Azov Seas coastal zones” (code “Coastal Studies”), as well as RFBR projects.

The results of the department’s work are presented by employees at international and all-Russian conferences, published in high-ranking journals included in the citation databases Web of Science and Scopus.

Recent publications

  1. A.A. Klyuvitkin, A.V. Garmashov, A.A. Latushkin, N.A. Orekhova, A.I. Kochenkova, G.V. Malafeev. Comprehensive Studies of the Black Sea during the Cruise 101 of the R/V Professor Vodyanitskiy // Published in Okeanologiya, 2019, Vol. 59, No. 2. P. 287 – 289 DOI: 10.1134/S0001437019020097
  2. Orekhova, N.A., Konovalov, S.K. and Medvedev, E.V. Features of Inorganic Carbon Regional Balance in Marine Ecosystems under Anthropogenic Pressure // Physical Oceanography, [e-journal]. 2019. 26(3). Р. 225-235. doi:10.22449/1573-160X-2019-3-225-235
  3. Bezhin N.A. Impregnated Type Sorbents for Pb2+ Recovery from Neutral and Acidic Solutions / N.A. Bezhin, I.I. Dovhyi, A.Yu. Lyapunov, V.E. Baulin, D.V. Baulin, A.Yu. Tsivadze // Russian Journal of Inorganic Chemistry. – 2019. – Vol. 64, No. 9. – P. 1178–1185. DOI: 10.1134/S0044457X19090034
  4. A. V. Varenik. Applying the Brandon Method to Estimate the Concentration of Inorganic Nitrogen in Precipitation. Russian Meteorology and Hydrology, 2019, Vol. 44, No. 5, pp. 326-330. DOI: 10.3103/S1068373919050030
  5. Kalinskaya D., Papkova A., Papkova Y., Gurov K. Quality assessment of the aerosol optical depth by AERONET, MODIS and CALIPSO over the western part of the Black Sea region // 19th International Multidisciplinary Scientific GeoConference Surveying Geology and Mining Ecology Management, SGEM 2019, Conference Proceedings, ISBN / ISSN 1314-2704, 30 June – 6 July, 2019 Albena, Bulgaria, Vol. 19, Issue 4.1, pp, 1041 – 1046. doi: 10.5593/sgem2019/4.1/S19.132
  6. Gurov K., Kotelyanets E., Tikhonova E., Kondratev S. Accumulations of trace metals in bottom sediments of the Sevastopol Bay (Black Sea) // 19th International Multidisciplinary Scientific GeoConference Surveying Geology and Mining Ecology Management, SGEM 2019, Conference Proceedings, ISBN / ISSN 1314-2704, 30 June – 6 July, 2019 Albena, Bulgaria, Vol. 19, Issue 3.1, pp, 649 – 656. doi: 10.5593/sgem2019/3.1/S15.083
  7. Gurov K., Fomin V., Alekseev D., Ivancha E. Sediments Granulometric Composition Dynamics in the Kalamitsky Gulf // Proceedings of the Fourteenth International MEDCOAST Congress on Coastal and Marine Sciences, Engineering, Management and Conservation (Editor E. Ozhan), MEDCOAST 19, 22 – 26 Oct 2019, Marmaris, Turkey, MEDCOAST, Mediterranean Coastal Foundation, Ortaca, Mugla, Turkey, 2019, vol. 2. – P. 597–606.
  8. Gurov, K.I., Udovik, V.F. and Fomin, V.V. Modeling of the Coastal Zone Relief and Granulometric Composition Changes of Sediments in the Region of the Bogaily Lake Bay-Bar (the Western Crimea) during Storm. Physical Oceanography, [e-journal] 26(2), pp. 170-180 doi:10.22449/1573-160X-2019-2-170-180
  9. Kotelyanets, E.A., Gurov, K.I., Tikhonova, E.A. and Kondratev, S.I., 2019. Pollutants in Bottom Sediments in the Balaklava Bay (the Black Sea). Physical Oceanography, [e-journal] 26(5), pp. 414-424. doi:10.22449/1573-160X-2019-5-414-424

Contacts

Marine Biogeochemistry Department
FSBSI FRC MHI
2, Kapitanskaya St.
299011, Sevastopol
Russian Federation