Results of Monitoring the Surface Fields Dynamics in the Black Sea Waters Using a Ferry Box System

Abstract

The purpose of the paper is to discuss practical results of pilot running of a domestic ship ferry box system. Methods and Results. The results were obtained in course of in situ studies of structure and spatialtemporal variability of optical, hydrological and hydrochemical fields of surface water during the complex cruises in which the scientists from Marine Hydrophysical Institute, Russian Academy of Sciences, participated in 2015-2017. The considered polygons were of different scales and located nearby the Southern Coast of Crimea. The ferry box measurements were carried out continuously in real time with high spatial resolution and showed good reliability. Based on the contact ferry box surveys carried out at the test sub-satellite polygons near the Herakleian Peninsular, the background structure of the surface water hydrophysical fields was mapped. In the polygon surface layer, small-scale water lenses were authentically identified. They accompany the intensive hydrological torch-type formations that arise in an outbreak of industrial and sewage waters discharge near the bottom and then reach the surface. Conclusions. The information of the ferry box system surveys carried out at the large-scale polygons during the cruises of R/V Professor Vodyanitsky (the 89 th-October, 2016 and the 98 th-November, 2017) nearby the Southern Coast of Crimea provided new in situ data that were impossible to obtain by contact methods. The represented results demonstrate high information content of the ferry box measurements, its efficiency and possibility of its further application for studying hydrophysical processes and phenomena in a wide range of their variability and in various weather conditions. The principle possibilities and further prospects of the ferry box system in obtaining new notions on submeso-and small-scale hydrodynamic processes are confirmed. Besides, the system implies development both of the approaches for rational use of marine resources near the Crimean and Sevastopol coasts and the elements of the advanced technology for the instrumental shelf monitoring in critical situations.

NOBEL-BOX: Development of A Low-cost Ship-Based Instrument for Ocean Monitoring

“…The goals of this project are to make small sizes that can be installed on various ships, reduce operational cost, and no need for high human resources to operate. This approach has already been implemented in European countries, especially for installation on ferries, with a cost of around 50,000 Euros (Kuznetsov et al, 2019;Peterson, 2019). Furthermore, this instrument has been able to produce data that can map several phenomena, such as upwelling (Irion, 1998;Langis, 2015), water quality monitoring (Gunia et al, 2022) and carbon sink analysis (Macovei et al, 2021).…”

NOBEL-BOX: Development of a Low-Cost Ship-Based Instrument for Ocean Monitoring

“…This instrument was designed to be a cost-effective solution and offers a budget-friendly option for accurate measurements and a small size that can be installed on various type of ships, reducing operational costs and the need for extensive human resources. This approach has already been implemented in European countries, especially for installation on ferries, with a cost of around EUR 50,000 [ 20 , 21 ]. Furthermore, this instrument has been able to produce data that can map several phenomena, such as upwelling [ 22 , 23 ], water-quality monitoring [ 19 , 24 ], and carbon sink analysis [ 25 ].…”

Structure of the Coastal Current Direction Bimodality at the Southern Coast of Crimea in 2002–2008

“…Введение В последние годы Морской гидрофизический институт РАН (МГИ) и Институт океанологии РАН активизировали экспедиционные исследования натурных особенностей волновой, вихревой и турбулентной динамики вод шельфовой и глубоководной зон Черного моря с использованием новых информационных технологий и перспективных океанологических комплексов (например, [1][2][3][4][5][6]). Представленные в настоящей работе результаты получены МГИ в зоне прибрежного экотона моря при малых глубинах до 28 м на удалении 500 м от берега [7].…”