Space Study of a Red Tide-Related Environmental Disaster near Kamchatka Peninsula in September–October 2020

摘要

The results of space monitoring of an extreme ecological situation near Kamchatka Peninsula, which was responsible for a mass death of hydrobionts in autumn 2020, are presented. The analysis of long-term series of satellite data (>15?000 scenes) on sea surface temperature (from 1981 to 2020) and concentration of chlorophyll a (from 2000 to 2020) showed strong positive temperature anomalies (deviations from a climate norm 3–6°C) in the studied region in July–September 2020, which resulted in anomalous increase in the concentration of chlorophyll a (5–8 times higher than the background values) in the end of September–the beginning of October 2020. As a result, a significantly changed biogenic regime led to harmful bloom of algae (red tide), which caused death of hydrobionts both in Avacha Bay and coastal regions of the entire Kamchatka Peninsula.