Purpose. Results of hydrological characteristics observations in the Zmiinyi Island coastal waters carried out by research group of the Regional Center for Integrated Monitoring and Environmental Studies (Odessa National I.I. Mechnikov University) in 2016-2017 have been summarized. Methods. Primary data on transparency, temperature and salinity of marine water have been collected using standard methods. Data processing, calculation of statistics, producing of graphs and maps have been carried out using Excel and ArcGIS software. Results. Temporal and spatial distributions of transparency, temperature and salinity of marine waters near the Zmiinyi Island for the period from April 2016 to December 2017 have been presented and analyzed. Using the results of analysis of the accumulated experimental data on transparency, temperature and salinity of sea water the peculiarities of those characteristics’ seasonal changes have been revealed. Conclusions. Impact of desalinated water masses advection from the Danube River mouth and from the North Western part of the Black Sea has been revealed. Well-visible seasonal variation was revealed in the sea water temperatures distribution near the Zmiinyi Island in 2016-2017, which reflected seasonal changes in radiation balance and heat exchange processes at the sea / atmosphere boundary, as well as the influence of water masses advection from other areas of the sea. It was shown that salinity seasonal variation in the sea water near the Zmiinyi Island, which ranged from 7.48 to 18.34 PSU, in 2016-2017 had the disturbance as the result of migration of the frontal zone of the Danube River waters distribution in the Zmiinyi Island area, as well as advection of desalinated water masses from the NWBS. Forming of stable two-layer vertical density stratification of the Zmiinyi Island coastal waters in spring-summer periods of 2016-2017 has been traced. An earlier (compared to Odessa Bay) spring vertical thermal stratification of water (May) and smoother, till late autumn, seasonal temperature decrease were revealed.
Study of marine waters hydrological characteristics near the Zmiinyi Island in 2016-2017
