Changing Coastal oceanography of the Black Sea. I: Northwestern Shelf

This article describes the hydrography of the Northwestern Shelf (NWS), of the Black Sea emphasizing the changes induced by water management in the Dniejer and Dniester river basins. The existing literature and previously unpublished data have been reviewed and synthesized to describe water property fields and transport mechanisms of the NWS and the Dnieper and Dniester estuaries before the early 1960s, or the so-called precontrol period, when the effect of artificial river flow control upon the coastal waters was insignificant.After the hydroenergy complexes and water withdrawal and disposal systems on rivers became fully operational in the early 1970s (the so-called postcontrol period), the annual river discharge from the Dnieper and Dniester had noticeably decreased and seasonal river flow patterns had been artificially modified. Instead of a powerful and short early spring flood, typical for the natural conditions in the Dnieper river, the hydrographs in the postcontrol period exhibit two smaller peaks of river discharge of much longer period. One of them (winter-early spring) is caused by intense hydroenergy generation and weir discharges through the cascade of storage reservoirs. Another is associated with spring flood, modified by intense water consumption and storage in this period. High average river discharge in late May—early June strengthened the summer pycnocline which inhibits vertical mixing in the estuaries and coastal waters. Owing to a slow summer circulation, the rate of natural purification of the entire coastal system has been reduced. This coupled with the increased nutrient, organic and pollutant transport, decreased the dissolved-oxygen concentration and led to anoxic events and mass mortalities of marine organisms in the previously productive regions. These effects have primarily plagued the benthic communities along the entire western coast of the NWS since 1973.Winter convective overturn in the Black Sea reaches its maximum depth at the southern boundary of the NWS. Thus, the NWS waters descend beneath the seasonal and main thermoclines in the open sea and are spread by the prevailing currents across the entire sea in the cold intermediate layer (CIL). By this dynamic mechanism the projected man-made modifications in the riverine-estuarine systems of the NWS will affect and change the large-scale thermohaline structure and marine life of the Black Sea.     

秦皇岛河流-海岸水动力和水质耦合模拟分析

基于MIKE FLOOD建立秦皇岛入海河流及其近岸海域一维、二维耦合河流-海岸水动力和水质模型,研究了秦皇岛海域和入海河流的水动力和污染物分布规律。结果表明:(1)海域潮流为半日潮,其中石河口南北支入海口流速变化过程差别较大,但水位变化过程基本一致;(2)整体上河流入海口化学需氧量(COD)与流速呈正相关关系;(3)COD在近岸海域的扩散方向与涨落潮潮流方向一致,各入海河口海域落潮流期间的COD高于涨潮流。如上结论为赤潮爆发机理和应急处置研究提供科学依据和技术支持。     

The effect of seasonal and inter-annual variability of river run-off on the salinity of coastal waters in the north-western Black Sea

The paper considers the correlation between the variability of river discharges in the northwestern Black Sea and water salinity (from 1962 to 1994). As the most complete series, we have chosen salinity data collected at the port of Odessa. The dominant oscillations in the intra-annual variability of river discharges (Danube, Dniester, Dnieper, Yuzhny Bug) and salinity attain about 2–3 months and one year, respectively. In the inter-annual variability of river discharges and water salinity, cyclicities equal to about 4–6 months and 9–12 years, respectively, have been identified. Through analysing the inter-annual variations, an inversely proportional dependence has been found between the overall river discharges and salinity (between discharges in April and salinities in May, the correlation coefficient has amounted to −0.61). For each river, we have obtained the following dependences: for Odessa-Dniester, −0.72; and for Odessa-Danube, −0.65. Translated by Vladimir A. Puchkin.     

River discharges of water and nutrients to the Mediterranean and Black Sea: Major drivers for ecosystem changes during past and future decades?

Rivers are important sources of freshwater and nutrients for the Mediterranean and Black Sea. We present a reconstruction of the spatial and temporal variability of these inputs since the early 1960s, based on a review of available data on water discharge, nutrient concentrations and climatic parameters. Our compilation indicates that Mediterranean rivers suffer from a significant reduction in freshwater discharge, contrary to rivers of the Black Sea, which do not have clear discharge trends. We estimate this reduction to be at least about 20% between 1960 and 2000. It mainly reflects recent climate change, and dam construction may have reduced discharge even further. A similar decrease can also be expected for the fluxes of dissolved silica (Si), strongly controlled by water discharge and potentially reduced by river damming as well. This contrasts with the fluxes of nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P) in Mediterranean and Black Sea rivers, which were strongly enhanced by anthropogenic sources. Their total inputs to the Mediterranean Sea could have increased by a factor of >5. While N still remained at elevated levels in 2000, P only increased up to the 1980–1990s, and then rapidly dropped down to about the initial values of the 1960s. With respect to the marine primary production that can be supported by the riverine nutrient inputs, Mediterranean and the Black Sea rivers were mostly phosphorus limited during the study period. Their anthropogenic nutrient enrichment could only have had a fertilizing effect before the general decline of the P loads. When also considering Si as a limiting element, which is the case for siliceous primary producers such as diatoms, silica limitation may have become a widespread phenomenon in the Mediterranean rivers since the early 1980s. For the Black Sea rivers, this already started the late 1960s. Gross primary production sustained by rivers (PPR) represents only less than 2% of the gross production (PP) in the Mediterranean, and less than 5% in the Black Sea. Possible ecological impacts of the changing river inputs should therefore be visible only in productive coastal areas, such as the Gulf of Lions, where PPR can reach more than two thirds of PP. Reported ecosystem changes both in the Adriatic Sea and the Black Sea are concomitant with major changes in the reconstructed river inputs. Further work combining modelling and data collection is needed to test whether this may also have been the case for coastal ecosystems at other places in the Mediterranean and Black Sea.     

Contemporary state of the investigation of the influence of the discharge of rivers on the hydrologic structure of the Black Sea

We generalize and analyze the state of investigations of the influence of river waters on the hydrologic structure of the Black Sea. Specific features of the water, regime and hydrography of rivers flowing into the sea, data on the discharge of rivers, and intrayear and interyear variability of the discharge are presented. We discuss and analyze works studying the transformation of river waters, routes of desalinized sea waters, and their influence on the thermohaline structure and dynamic regime of the sea. Translated by Peter V. Malyshev and Dmitry V. Malyshev     

Analysis of the spatial evolution of the 2003 algal bloom in the Voordelta (North Sea)

Phaeocystis blooms in the Southern Bight of the North Sea may cause damage to the aquatic ecosystem and to commercial mussel cultures at the entrance of the Oosterschelde estuary. In this paper the potential for early detection of Phaeocystis blooms in Dutch coastal waters is studied, using a combination of field data, satellite observations and hydrodynamic- and biological modelling. For the spring bloom period in the year 2003 MERIS chlorophyll-a maps, derived with the HYDROPT algorithm for coastal waters, were compared to in-situ measurements at stations off the coast in de Voordelta and the results of the GEM biogeochemical model.The analysis shows that the spatial and temporal variability in Phaeocystis abundance and total biomass (expressed by the Chl-a concentration) during spring is large. It is confirmed that blooms may develop off shore and show a tendency to accumulate within 10 km from the coastline, giving rise to rapid biomass accumulation at the mouth of the multiple estuaries in the Voordelta. Based on the outcome of this study an early warning system is proposed that notifies local water managers and shellfish growers for potentially harmful Phaeocystis bloom formation.     

Transitional waters: A new approach, semantics or just muddying the waters?

Estuarine, Coastal and Shelf Science has throughout its history considered a diverse range of habitats including estuaries and fjords, brackish water and lagoons, as well as coastal marine systems. Its articles have reflected recent trends and developments within the estuarine and coastal fields and this includes the changing use of well-accepted terms. The term “transitional waters” first came to prominence in 2000 with the publication of the Water Framework Directive of the European Communities [European Communities, 2000. Directive 2000/60/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 23 October 2000 establishing a framework for Community action in the field of water policy. Official Journal of the European Communities 43 (L327), 75 pp.], where “transitional waters” are defined as “bodies of surface water in the vicinity of river mouths which are partially saline in character as a result of their proximity to coastal waters but which are substantially influenced by freshwater flows”. The inclusion of the term transitional waters in our own aims and scope reflects the evolution of language in this subject area, encompassing tidal estuaries and non-tidal brackish water lagoons. This article reflects on some of the difficulties posed by the use of the term and its attempts to be inclusive by incorporating fjords, fjards, river mouths, deltas, rias and lagoons as well as the more classical estuaries. It also discusses the problems of including in the term river mouths discharging either into predominantly brackish areas such as the Baltic Sea, or into freshwater-poor areas bordering the Mediterranean.     

Influence of intermittent estuary outflow on coastal sediments of adjacent sandy beaches

Outflows from estuaries potentially contribute to the productivity of adjacent coastal waters, although most previous work has been on estuaries with considerable river discharge. We investigated the influence of estuary outflow on aspects of coastal sediments adjacent to two seasonally intermittent estuaries, the Curdies and Anglesea Rivers, in southwest Victoria, Australia. For each estuary, we measured sediment organic matter, microphytobenthic chlorophyll a and microbial utilization of carbon sources at three locations associated with each estuary: (1) inside estuary mouth, (2) estuary swash and (3) control swash (an open beach distant from any estuarine influences). Sampling occurred one week before and at one and nine weeks after both an artificial mouth opening and a separate natural flood at both estuaries. Significant temporal changes were detected for all three variables at the estuary mouth and estuary swash but the direction of change was inconsistent across the two estuaries and between the artificial mouth opening and natural flood. Organic matter in both estuaries showed no difference after the artificial mouth openings. Only Anglesea showed an increase in organic matter in the estuary mouth and estuary swash after the floods. Microphytobenthic chlorophyll a concentrations were highest when the estuary mouths were closed. Concentrations decreased at all locations at Curdies after the mouth was artificially opened. The estuary mouth at Anglesea sustained high chlorophyll concentrations and the estuary swash increased one week post artificial opening. The flood event resulted in an increase in chlorophyll a at the estuary mouth and swash at both estuaries, one week post flood. At Curdies, the microbial utilization of different carbon sources changed after both mouth events; estuary mouth and estuary swash showed similar patterns at one and nine weeks post opening. At Anglesea, the bacteria utilized different carbon sources between locations and the only significant interaction between location and time was post flood with change in carbon sources utilized by bacteria in the estuary mouth and estuary swash for one and nine weeks post flood. The southern coastline of Australia is characterized by estuaries with small catchments. This study highlights the spatial and temporal variability in the effects of the output of relatively small, intermittent estuaries on coastal sediment of adjacent beaches, particularly during prolonged periods of drought.     

Influence of the Po River runoff on the bacterioplankton community along trophic and salinity gradients in the Northern Adriatic Sea

The Po River runoff strongly affects the oceanographic and ecological characteristics of the Northern Adriatic Sea. Catalysed reported deposition ‐ fluorescence in situ hybridization (CARD‐FISH) analysis was employed to assess how the composition of the coastal bacterioplankton community is influenced by the river runoff in two different seasons (spring and autumn). Samples were collected from the water column along a coastal–offshore transect in the Northern Adriatic Sea at different depths. Four clone libraries were then constructed from coastal (0 m) and offshore waters (?65 m). Higher abundances of bacteria were recorded in coastal waters as compared with the offshore samples. This result was mainly due to the trophic state of the water column, and it was related to salinity. Particularly, Actinobacteria and Gammaproteobacteria were affected by the riverine inputs, whereas Bacteroidetes and Alphaproteobacteria showed only minor responses. This was particularly clear in the autumn sample, in which a clear difference between the coastal and the offshore samples was found due to a strong influence of the less saline river water with high nutrient concentrations. Analysis of 205 partial length 16S rRNA gene sequences indicated a high diversity with the dominance of Alphaproteobacteria, Bacteroidetes and Gammaproteobacteria mainly affiliated to coastal and marine bacterioplankton clades. Actinobacteria were also detected and, together with Gammaproteobacteria, strongly follow the freshwater intrusion. Overall, our results indicate that the seasonal difference in the Po River discharge greatly affects the bacterioplankton community. In spring we observed a smooth transition from coastal to open‐sea conditions owing to the more superficial freshwater plume. In autumn the deeper freshwater intrusion in the coastal site and thermal stratification offshore resulted in a marked difference between the coastal and offshore microbial communities.     

Analysis of the basic classes of organic compounds dissolved in seawater and their behaviour in the estuaries of rivers and coastal zone of the sea

On the basis of the available literature data, we analyze basic classes of organic compounds dissolved in seawater and study the transformations of proteins, carbohydrates, and lipids produced in the process of photosynthesis in seawater and their behaviour in river water and estuaries of the Black Sea. We also discuss the causes and distinctive features of the processes of production and destruction in the Black Sea. Translated by Peter V. Malyshev and Dmitry V. Malyshev     

Hydrophysical and hydrochemical characteristics of the sea areas adjacent to the estuaries of small rivers of the Russian coast of the Black Sea

This paper presents the results of long-term in situ and satellite measurements at shelf areas adjacent to the estuaries of the small rivers of the Russian coast of the Black Sea (Mezyb, Pshada, Vulan, Tuapse, Bitkha, Sochi, Cudepsta, Mzymta). The quantitative characteristics of the response of the hydrophysical and hydrochemical fields at the sea shelf on the influence of the continental river discharge are presented for each of these areas. A number of indicators of the water quality (the concentrations of the nitrate and nitrite forms of nitrogen, the phosphorus, the silica, the dissolved oxygen, the value of the total alkalinity and pH, the mineral and organic suspended matter, and the chlorophyll a) are considered in the context of the anthropogenic and terrigenous influence. In this paper, the emphasis was placed on the Mzymta River plume at the shelf area adjacent to the city of Sochi, where the measurements were repeatedly performed during the spring flooding conditions in the period from 2007 until 2012. The interannual variability of the water quality indicators and the seasonal and short-term variability of the area and the configuration of the plume, which transports suspended matter and anthropogenic pollution, were considered.     

黄河口悬浮泥沙时空动态及其驱动机制

受径流输沙、风浪、潮汐等影响,河口近岸海域悬浮泥沙具有显著的时空变化。本文基于小时分辨率的GOCI遥感影像,利用最优遥感反演算法,结合空间分析和统计方法,深入研究黄河口及邻近海域悬沙时空动态特征及驱动机制。结果表明,径流输沙对悬沙浓度的影响以河口近岸区为主,高径流输沙对悬沙浓度分布影响可达距岸约20 km,并向孤东近岸方向扩散。大风可引起清水沟老河口区泥沙强烈再悬浮,形成高浓度悬沙区。涨落潮对小时尺度的悬沙浓度影响显著,并影响悬沙的南北扩散。大潮悬沙浓度变化和扩散范围均大于小潮,潮流流速不同是造成该差异的主要原因。水深与悬沙浓度之间存在较明显的负相关关系,根据不同驱动因素的差异,悬沙浓度随着水深的增加呈现出指数型、幂函数型、线性3种关系。     

Nutrient land–sea fluxes in oligothrophic and pristine estuaries of the Gulf of Bothnia,Baltic Sea

Estuaries are often seen as important filters between land and the sea for inorganic and organic nutrients. This paper aims at estimating the estuarine fluxes of dissolved inorganic nitrogen (DIN), dissolved inorganic phosphorus (DIP) and dissolved silicate for the major oligothrophic and pristine rivers running into the Bothnian Bay (BB) and the Bothnian Sea (BS), the northern subarctic subbasins of the Baltic Sea. Long-term data sets for these rivers and their estuaries as well as for the BB and BS were analyzed to assess whether these estuaries are sinks for inorganic nutrients. Most studied estuaries can be characterized as salt wedge estuaries with little exchange between the fresh seaward-flowing river water and the inward-flowing seawater. Estimates of water transit times ranged between 1 and 14 days. In most estuaries of the BB, N-depleted river water meets P-depleted seawater during the growth period. These findings were corroborated by mixing diagrams showing that the inner areas of the estuaries were N-depleted in summer. In the BS, on the other hand, both rivers and seawater were mostly N-depleted during summer. Thus, for most estuaries of this region of the Baltic Sea, primary productivity is presumably lower than or equal to that of offshore. The low productivity is also reflected in the sediments. The coastal sediments did not differ from the offshore stations in accumulation rates as well as the content of organic matter and nutrients, indicating that estuarine nutrient burial is not always higher as normally observed in other temperate systems. Finally, the estuaries of the pristine rivers in the northernmost part of the BB import DIN during summer, whereas the estuaries of the rivers in the BS import DIP during winter, from the sea.     

Isotope parameters (δD, δ<Superscript>18</Superscript>O) and sources of freshwater input to Kara Sea

The isotope characteristics (δD, δ¹⁸О) of Kara Sea water were studied for quantitative estimation of freshwater runoff at stations located along transect from Yamal Peninsula to Blagopoluchiya Bay (Novaya Zemlya). Freshwater samples were studied for glaciers (Rose, Serp i Molot) and for Yenisei and Ob estuaries. As a whole, δD and δ¹⁸O are higher in glaciers than in river waters. isotope composition of estuarial water from Ob River is δD =–131.4 and δ18O =–17.6‰. Estuarial waters of Yenisei River are characterized by compositions close to those of Ob River (–134.4 and–17.7‰), as well as by isotopically “heavier” compositions (–120.7 and–15.8‰). Waters from studied section of Kara Sea can be product of mixing of freshwater (δD =–119.4, δ¹⁸O =–15.5) and seawater (S = 34.9, δD = +1.56, δ¹⁸O = +0.25) with a composition close to that of Barents Sea water. isotope parameters of water vary significantly with salinity in surface layer, and Kara Sea waters are desalinated along entire studied transect due to river runoff. concentration of freshwater is 5–10% in main part of water column, and <5% at a depth of >100 m. maximum contribution of freshwater (>65%) was recorded in surface layer of central part of sea.     

Impact of atmospheric and physical forcings on biogeochemical cycling of dissolved oxygen and nutrients in the coastal Bay of Bengal

Time-series observations were conducted off Visakhapatnam, central west coast of Bay of Bengal, from October 2007 to April 2009 to examine the influence of physical and atmospheric processes on water column nutrients biogeochemistry. The thermal structure displayed inversions of 0.5 to 1.0° C during winter and were weaker in summer. The water column was vertically stratified during the entire study period and was stronger during October–November 2007 and August–December 2008 compared to other study periods. High concentrations of chlorophyll-a and nutrients were associated with the extreme atmospheric events. The strong relationship of nutrients with salinity indicates that physical processes, such as circulation, mixing and river discharge, have a significant control on phytoplankton blooms in the coastal Bay of Bengal. Phosphate seems to be a controlling nutrient during winter whereas availability of light and suspended matter limits production in summer. Formation of low oxygen conditions were observed in the bottom waters due to enhanced primary production by extreme atmospheric events; however, re-oxygenation of bottom waters through sinking of oxygen-rich surface waters by a warm core (anticyclonic) eddy led to its near recovery. This study reveals that atmospheric and physical processes have significant impacts on the water column biogeochemistry in the coastal Bay of Bengal.     

The divergent environmental characteristics of permanently-open,seasonally-open and normally-closed estuaries of south-western Australia

This study has compared the environmental characteristics of the basins and saline lower reaches of the tributaries of eight estuaries on the south coast of Western Australia, which differ in their degree of connectivity with the ocean. Although four estuaries between 115.1° and 121.8° E along that coast remain permanently open to the ocean, the others only become open when the volume of river discharge is sufficient to breach the prominent sand bars at their mouths, which occurs annually following heavy winter and early spring rainfall in some estuaries (seasonally open) and infrequently in others (normally closed). Estuaries to the west of 118.5° E are predominantly permanently open, e.g. Oyster Harbour, or seasonally open, e.g. Broke, Irwin and Wilson inlets, whereas those further east, e.g. Wellstead Estuary and Hamersley, Culham and Stokes inlets, where annual rainfall and thus discharge are much lower, only become open after exceptionally heavy discharge. In permanently and seasonally-open estuaries, pronounced haloclines and oxyclines are present in the narrow rivers but not the wide basins where the waters are subjected to wind-driven mixing. The extent of cyclical seasonal fluctuations in environmental conditions differed markedly among the three seasonally-open estuaries and between years in one of those systems. These differences reflected variations in the relationship between the volume of fluvial discharge, which is determined by a combination of the amount of local rainfall, catchment size and extent of clearing of native vegetation, and the amount of intrusion by marine waters, which is largely controlled by the size and duration of the opening of the estuary mouth. The mean seasonal salinities in the basins of the three normally-closed estuaries increased over three years of very low rainfall to 64 in the deepest of these estuaries (Stokes Inlet) to 145 in Hamersley Inlet and to 296 in the shallowest estuary (Culham Inlet). These results demonstrate that the environmental characteristics of estuaries on the south coast of Western Australia differ markedly, even among those of the same type, e.g. seasonally-open estuaries or normally-closed estuaries.     

Climatic and hydrophysical conditions of the development of hypoxia in waters of the northwest shelf of the Black Sea

The data of meteorological and oceanographic observations on the northwest shelf of the Black Sea for 1973–2000 are used to compute the characteristics of the entire area in the presence of hypoxia of waters under the pycnocline in the summer–autumn period and the area of surface waters with a level of salinity lower than 17.5‰ in May. The time of onset of the spring warming of air (stable transition through a temperature of 5°) is determined. A statistically significant positive trend of the air temperature (0.8° per 100 yr) is revealed in Odessa. The process of warming was observed mainly for the winter (1.5° per 100 yr) and spring (0.8° per 100 yr) periods and became especially intense since the beginning of the 1990s. On the basis of the data of correlation analyses, we establish a statistically significant relationship between the large-scale atmospheric processes [the index of North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO) and the wind conditions], the area of surface waters whose salinity is lower than 17.5‰, and the total area with hypoxia in the summer–autumn periods. For positive mean values of the NAO index (in January–March), we most often observe early spring with elevated repetition of the south and west winds with subsequent development of hypoxia in large areas of the northwest shelf. We propose an empirical regression model for the prediction of the total area of summer–autumn hypoxia of waters with predictors: the onset of the spring warming of air and the area of propagation of waters whose salinity is lower than 17.5‰ in May. The maximum error of prediction of the area with hypoxia does not exceed 5.5 ⋅ 10³ km², i.e., less than 2% of the total area of the northwest shelf in the Black Sea (to the north of 45°N).     

Evaluating groundwater discharge to tidal rivers based on a Rn-222 time-series approach

The natural flux of groundwater into coastal water bodies has recently been shown to contribute significant quantities of nutrients and trace metals to the coastal ocean. Groundwater discharge and hyporheic exchange to estuaries and rivers, however, is frequently overlooked though it often carries a distinctly different chemical signature than surface waters. Most studies that attempt to quantify this input to rivers use multiple geochemical tracers. However, these studies are often limited in their spatial and temporal extents because of the labor-intensive nature of integrating multiple measurement techniques. We describe here a method of using a single tracer, ²²²Rn, to rapidly characterize groundwater discharge into tidally-influenced rivers and streams. In less than one week of fieldwork, we determined that of six streams that empty into the Indian River Lagoon (IRL), Florida, three (Eau Gallie River, Turkey Creek, and Main Canal) did not receive substantial groundwater inputs, one canal (C-25 Canal) was dominated by groundwater exchange, and the remaining two (Sebastian River system and Crane Creek) fell somewhere in between. For more detailed discharge assessments, we focused on the Sebastian River system, a stratified tidal river estuary, during a relatively dry period (June) and a wet period (July) in 2008. Using time-series ²²²Rn and current velocity measurements we found that groundwater discharge into all three branches of the Sebastian River increased by 1–2 orders of magnitude during the wetter period. The estimated groundwater flow rates were higher than those reported into the adjacent IRL, suggesting that discharge into these rivers can be more important than direct discharge into the IRL. The techniques employed here should work equally well in other river/stream systems that experience significant groundwater discharge. Such assessments would allow area managers to quickly assess the distribution and magnitude of groundwater discharge nature into rivers over large spatial ranges.     

Predicting oxygen in small estuaries of the Baltic Sea: a comparative approach

Coastal eutrophication, manifested as hypoxia and anoxia, is a global problem. Only a few empirical models, however, exist to predict bottom oxygen concentration and percentage saturation from nutrient load or morphometry in coastal waters, which are successfully used to predict phytoplankton biomass both in lakes and in estuaries. Furthermore, hardly any empirical models exist to predict bottom oxygen from land-use. A data set was compiled for 19 estuaries in the northern Baltic Sea, which included oxygen concentration and percentage saturation, water chemistry, estuary morphometry, and land-use characteristics. In regression analyses, bottom oxygen was predicted both as a function of the percentage of watershed under agriculture and of mean depth. These models accounted for ca. 55% of the variation in oxygen. Additionally, oxygen was linked to fetch (diameter of the area in the direction of the prevailing wind), which accounted for 30% of the variation in oxygen. This suggests that shallow Finnish estuaries are wind-sensitive. In ‘pits’ (sub-thermocline waters of deep basins), near-bottom total nitrogen strongly correlated with oxygen percentage saturation (R²=0.81). Neither chlorophyll a, total phosphorus nor nutrient loading explained oxygen variation in entire estuaries or in ‘pits’, probably mainly due to annual sedimentation/sediment–water flux dynamics. On the basis of the results of cross-validation, the models have general applicability among Finnish estuaries.     

Sea ice,hydrological, and biological processes in the Churchill River estuary region,Hudson Bay

A conceptual scheme for the transition from winter to spring is developed for a small Arctic estuary (Churchill River, Hudson Bay) using hydrological, meteorological and oceanographic data together with models of the landfast ice. Observations within the Churchill River estuary and away from the direct influence of the river plume (Button Bay), between March and May 2005, show that both sea ice (production and melt) and river water influence the region's freshwater budget. In Button Bay, ice production in the flaw lead or polynya of NW Hudson Bay result in salinization through winter until the end of March, followed by a gradual freshening of the water column through April–May. In the Churchill Estuary, conditions varied abruptly throughout winter–spring depending on the physical interaction among river discharge, the seasonal landfast ice, and the rubble zone along the seaward margin of the landfast ice. Until late May, the rubble zone partially impounded river discharge, influencing the surface salinity, stratification, flushing time, and distribution and abundance of nutrients in the estuary. The river discharge, in turn, advanced and enhanced sea ice ablation in the estuary by delivering sensible heat. Weak stratification, the supply of riverine nitrogen and silicate, and a relatively long flushing time (∼ 6 days) in the period preceding melt may have briefly favoured phytoplankton production in the estuary when conditions were still poor in the surrounding coastal environment. However, in late May, the peak flow and breakdown of the ice-rubble zone around the estuary brought abrupt changes, including increased stratification and turbidity, reduced marine and freshwater nutrient supply, a shorter flushing time, and the release of the freshwater pool into the interior ocean. These conditions suppressed phytoplankton productivity while enhancing the inventory of particulate organic matter delivered by the river. The physical and biological changes observed in this study highlight the variability and instability of small frozen estuaries during winter–spring transition, which implies sensitivity to climate change.