Black Sea Oceanography

Proceedings of the NATO Advanced Research Workshop, Çesme, Izmir, Turkey, October 23-27, 1989

This book underpins the geography of the Black Sea, covering topics such as morphology, morphography, geology, and history of the Black Sea. It also discusses environmental aspects affecting the population in the Black Sea's coastal settlements and looks to the future of the Black Sea region. This book covers a gap in research in the field of world regional geography of the Black Sea by providing a comprehensive methodology and terminology to readers, students and teachers in the field.

This book contains articles by oceanographic researchers from the (former) USSR and presents new data on various aspects of the Black Sea. The topics include Black Sea thermohaline, hydrochemical and optical structures, the dynamics of the Main Black Sea current and deep layers, wave phenomena in shelf areas and modelling of complex marine systems. Aslo included are some experimentally derived results which allow a deeper insight into the problem of O2 and H2S coexistence in the Black Sea. The commonplace notions about the structure of the oxic/anoxic interface are critically evaluated.

Based on a wealth of primary data collected by expeditions as well as archive data from Russia, this fascinating book features a systematic description of the knowledge accumulated on the physical oceanography, marine chemistry and pollution, marine biology and geology, meteorology and hydrology of the Black Sea. It presents the principal characteristic features of the environmental conditions of the sea and their changes in the second half of the 20th century.

This book provides information on the causes, consequences, and possible solutions to modern environmental problems associated with ocean pollution with a particular focus on the Back Sea. The oceans are a vast but fragile complex. In recent decades, it has become especially manifest when ocean pollution has reached an unparalleled situation. Meanwhile, not only the well-being of ecosystems depends on the state of ocean waters, but human civilization largely depends on the oceans as a consequence of environmental dependence. This book examines the consequences of pollutants such as oil and hydrocarbon products (including plastics and microplastics), water acidification, sewage, wastewaters discharge into the ocean, thermal pollution, nuclear pollution, and biological pollution. Beyond the types of pollutants and their consequences, this book outlines the state of the art of the legal situation internationally regarding ocean pollution. The authors also show the current pollution of the inland seas, taking as an example of the Black Sea (anthropogenic and natural sources of pollution, its shelf, and shallow waters as well as international legislation). A part of the book analyzes the main types of environmental monitoring of the oceans and their role in solving ocean pollution problems with a particular interest in the Black Sea. The book is of interest to specialists in ocean pollution, ecologists, oceanologists, students, and graduate students studying oceanography, marine ecology, current methods of environmental monitoring, and legal problems related to the oceans and seas pollution, as well as to anyone interested in modern problems of the oceans.

The Black Sea is the largest of the World meromictic basins -- those bodies of water characterized by a permanent halocline. In meromictic basins close to sea coasts, the halocline may form under the influence of saline sea water, which penetrates via shallow inlets or is seeping through the sand bars. Being more dense, this water fills deeper layers. This is the origin of the Black Sea and of numerous small meromictic estuarine lakes, lagoons, and fjords. The Black Sea is the largest meromictic basin of this type and contains the greatest amount of anoxic water on the Planet. The presence of its anoxic zone has had a drastic influence on its chemical conditions and biota. The formation of its quasi-permanent chemocline is the consequence of a constant inflow of saline Mediterranean water from the Sea of Marmara through the Bosporus strait. These waters are spreading within the deep strata of its basin, while the salinity in its upper layer is freshened by river water and by inflow from the Sea of Azov... The specific features of the Black Sea and its great economic importance stimulated intensive investigations, which began in the late 18th century. By now it is one of the best studied enclosed seas. In spite of the existence of a voluminous literature, and maybe because of it, there is a growing need for a modern monographic book, which opens the possibility to navigate around the enormous scientific material and its controversies. Over 90% has been published in Russian or Romanian languages, practically inaccessible to the Western scientific communities. This monograph presents basic scientific knowledge on all aspects of the ecological state of the Basin, united within a holistic analysis of its ecosystem. The goal of the present book is to cover the demand for a modern monographic work of all knowledge about the Black Sea. The author also wants to demonstrate in this book the power of technological humanity, able to change catastrophically the ecosystem of a whole deep sea in only a couple of decades.

This book presents topical research data in the study of the Black Sea, including the influence of the Danube River on the trophic functioning of coastal ecosystems in the north-western Black Sea; the ecotoxicological study of the Sevastopol region of the Black Sea; the environmental matrix and the impact of pollutants on marine organisms in the Black Sea; water resources, general seismicity, hydrocarbon generation; and, environmental problems of the Black Sea.