Chapter 29 - Reconstruction of 2001 Ecological Disaster in the Azov Sea on the Basis of Precise Hydrophysics Models

Abstract

This chapter discusses reconstruction of great ecological 2001 disaster—forming of huge anaerobic zone in the Azov Sea—using modeling. The anoxia zone in Azov Sea was located in 1–4 m bottom layer in the eastern part of the sea. This layer was characterized by increased density and detached from above layers by transition layer. Concentration of hydrogen sulfide in depths of 7–8 m and more exceeded its concentration in the Black Sea in depths of below the 350-m mark. As a result of this phenomenon massive death of fishes was observed. The modeling discussed in this chapter was realized on the basis of precise hydrophysics models, including hydrodynamics and diffusion–advection–aggregation suspensions models for shallow water basins. The main reasons of such phenomena are stable structure of currents in eastern part of the Azov Sea (theoretically detected) and consequences of global climate warming. The modeling results were obtained in parallel numerical experiments on PC cluster and were in good agreement of expedition results and other experimental data.