Hydrog on what happened in Kamchatka

2024 Author: Seth Attwood | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 15:55

For a long time there was no such situation when phenomena in nature caused such contradictory rumors. In 2020, our dictionary was replenished not only with the words "self-isolation" and "zoom", but also "red tide". These words are our new reality. First, let's briefly talk about the most striking environmental problem of recent times.

Sergei Chalov, associate professor of the Department of Land Hydrology, Faculty of Geography, Moscow State University, on October 11 and 12, together with his colleagues, conducted a survey of the water area of Avacha Bay, where a toxic spill supposedly occurred, from which surfers suffered.

August 2020

Avachinsky Bay is a part of the Pacific Ocean, adjacent to Avacha Bay (do not confuse them), where Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky is located. Its territory north of Avacha Bay to the Nalychevo River is the most popular tourist destination in Kamchatka. The famous Khalaktyrsky beach, where the surfer base is located.

The neighboring cove is wilder. In August 2020, my children and I walked and swam on one of the beaches of this coast - its most southern part, a bay near Lake Prilivnoye, near Cape Vertical: clean and cold water, black sand. There weren't even any signs of the horrors that everyone was talking about in September.

The beach of the Avacha Bay of the Pacific Ocean, adjacent to the Khalaktyrsky beach from the south (at Cape Vertical) in August 2020. Photos taken on August 16, 2020 - three weeks before the event - Sergey Chalov

The beach of the Avacha Bay of the Pacific Ocean, adjacent to the Khalaktyrsky beach from the south (at Cape Vertical) in August 2020. Photos taken on August 16, 2020 - three weeks before the event - Sergey Chalov

September 2020

In September, they started talking about the poisoned ocean on the Khalaktyr beach. A week ago, the versions were as follows:

1. This oil slick- fuel that came into the ocean from any of the facilities of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation, which are widespread in Kamchatka and adjacent to the affected sea. There are three such objects here: the 90th aviation training ground, the Radygino training ground, the Wet Sand training field. The version of fuel discharges or some other unidentified pollutants was actively sounded, for example, here.

2. This discharge of pesticides from the Kozelsk polygon of pesticides. This version looked convincing after a review in Meduza.

I am a hydrologist. Specialist in rivers, river water quality, channel processes. A week ago, I didn't hear anything about red tides. But I know that any major accident, any discharge of wastewater, especially oil products, discharge of pesticides, leaves a trail in the form of a dead ecosystem: dead or gone fish, contaminated bottom sediments, man-made silts, and so on. Moreover, the accident does not fall from the sky. According to satellite images, images from drones, the source of the accident will be visible, and it is impossible to “bury” it.

To confirm one of the two hypotheses above, it is enough to visit the site to understand: yes, there was pollution. And in order to establish the scale of pollution, special analyzes are needed.

And the most important thing. The conclusions of the authorities regarding various emergencies evoke, to put it mildly, not much confidence. Therefore, it seemed obvious to us that an accident had occurred. A week ago, some biological processes in the ocean seemed incredible to explain the massive death of marine animals.

It was clear that one had to come, see, find and prove.

October 2020

On October 11-12, employees of the Faculty of Geography and Biology of Moscow State University, IPEE RAS named after A. N. Severtsova and VNIRO surveyed all watercourses draining the eastern slopes of the Kozelsky volcano, between the Radygino military training ground and the Nalychevo river. It is the objects within this territory - the 90th aviation training ground, the Radygino training ground, the Wet sand training and tactical field, as well as the Kozelsk pesticide training ground - that we considered as potential sources of anthropogenic impact, from which it was assumed that unidentified pollutants would be dumped into the ocean.

The main objects of the Avacha Bay area to the north of the Avacha Bay

Our drones' reconnaissance photography covered about ten kilometers of the lower course of the Nalycheva River, a stream. Rusty, river Mutnushka, brook Kozelsky. There are no traces of any impacts on the channel network from the territories of military facilities: there are no visual traces of the movement of equipment, the bottom soil is clean, there are no man-made silts (that is, there are no specific formations of thin silt that are inherent in contaminated objects), there are no impurities and odors, occurs in rivers salmon fry. These are typical Kamchatka mountain rivers.

This text has been revised

In the previous version of the text, the author spoke about “several tens of kilometers of the lower course of the Nalycheva River, a stream. Rusty, river Mutnushka, brook Kozelsky”, surveyed by him and his colleagues from drones. He now considers this estimate to be overestimated. The text has been corrected to reflect this fact.

Kozelskoe burial of pesticides is also in a stable state, there are no possible ways of penetration of pesticides into adjacent territories and water bodies. The quality of water and sediments of all streams is within normal limits, in the Nalycheva River there are juveniles of salmonids, organoleptic properties are normal, background ph values (from 7 to 8.5), electrical conductivity (from 5 to 80 μS / cm), oxygen (saturation conditions in all rivers about 100 percent), the turbidity of water in the rivers is within 5 mg / l.

Everyone learned about the Nalychev River from space images of September. On them, excellent turbidity plumes were considered as a sign of a man-made accident. But during the period of our survey, the turbidity of the water was less than the average long-term background values: 3-4 mg / l.

Low turbidity values are generally uncharacteristic for the streams of the Avacha group of volcanoes; however, there was no precipitation at the beginning of October, which determined the reduced erosion activity in the territory. The turbidity plumes from the Nalycheva River, widely discussed earlier, are typical and will recur regularly after rains and during periods of snowmelt.

Mouth of the Nalychev River on October 12, 2020. There are no traces of anthropogenic emissions in the water and bottom sediments

The Kozelsk polygon of pesticides was examined - I tell about its origin in the article mentioned above. It is in a stable condition. And although there are weak erosion cuts on the surface of the burial ground, they are completely isolated from the adjacent territory and no traces of destruction of the burial ground have been revealed.

Accordingly, there is no reason to say that some kind of pollution occurs from here. Local departments carry out routine monitoring, no problems have ever been identified. It is impossible to attribute the problem to the generally standard disposal site simply due to the fact that this landfill exists on the territory - moreover, at a distance of several kilometers from the nearest streams and several tens of kilometers from the ocean - it is impossible.

Pollutants can overcome such a distance only along the river network, and the landfill is not connected to this river network in any way. And the rivers, as mentioned above, are clean.

Kozelskiy polygon of pesticides, located in a forest area, which does not have any connection paths with the channel network. Photo 12 October 2020

Thus, there are no traces of catastrophic, massive flows of pollutants of technogenic origin into the channel network of the tributaries of the Avacha Bay.

The same "red tide"

To give an obvious version of what happened, you should shift your attention to the beach and assess the situation on it. So, my colleagues from the IPEE RAS named after A. N. On October 11-12, 2020, Severtsova and VNIRO noted massive storm emissions at the level of the upper lithorapi-supralittoral in the southeastern part of the bay in a strip about 20 meters long (50 centimeters wide), represented by shells of sea urchins, fragments of sea stars, shells of gastropods, single specimens of chitons (shell molluscs) and crabs.

According to biologists, the release occurred more than two weeks ago. Presumably, it was from this place that the resonant photographs were taken and leaked to the Internet. Fresh emissions are dominated by algae, as well as sea urchin shells and single crabs. In addition, live mussels, balanus, hermit crabs were found, and representatives of amphipods are found in the upper littoral. No deaths of seabirds, marine mammals or fish were found in all studied points.

I am quoting my colleagues again: "The absence of death of large vertebrates allows us to say that the amount of toxins in the tissues of aquatic organisms was insignificant."

But what about the larga (Far Eastern seal), which was sent to Moscow for tests? Well, animals die and their corpses are thrown ashore by curtains. Nobody saw the coast strewn with corpses. And among the sea urchins, which are immobile, cannot escape from the zone where they feel bad, and as a result they died and were thrown ashore, there may have been individual mammals. And in general, the emissions of sea inhabitants on the beaches is a normal phenomenon in stormy weather. In Kamchatka, everyone can tell stories when massive emissions of even spawning salmon were observed.

And the analysis of water and sand samples taken on October 6, 2020 on the tidal strip of Khalaktyrsky beach, showed a massive settling of dead and dying cells of planktonic dinoflagellates of various species onto the ground.

Further, all biologists generally agree on one thing: the reason for the death of previously discarded aquatic organisms is probably oxygen starvation due to the death that arose after the mass development of microalgae - or the "red tide". Algae grow, breathe in all the oxygen, oxygen becomes scarce - those sea inhabitants who cannot leave perish - even more oxygen is spent on their decomposition.

There was a decrease in the oxygen level at depths of approximately 5-15 meters due to the massive reproduction of unicellular algae (dinoflagellates and cyanobacteria), as well as the presence in the water of toxins secreted by some types of unicellular algae. According to Galina Konovalova's book "Red Tides" off Eastern Kamchatka ", which will be discussed further below, dinoflagellates are typical inhabitants of the seas and oceans.

The overwhelming majority of the species of these organisms live in sea waters. They often outnumber planktonic diatoms in number of species, but they are often inferior to them in population density. About 20 species of dinoflagellates capable of producing toxins were found in the Far Eastern coastal waters of Russia for the period from 1968 to 1991.

These algae are still visible in the coastal zone, where they feel warm and well. What caused the death to a greater extent - death (i.e. oxygen starvation) or toxins - I do not know. But the fact that this topic was invented long before us is for sure: here is the report of the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN).

Algae bloom along the coast of Avacha Bay October 12, 2020 - Sergey Chalov

It remains to be understood what these toxins are.

Thus, the rapid bloom of microalgae is a logical and scientifically confirmed reason for the deaths and deaths of marine inhabitants in the coastal zone of Kamchatka near Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky.

What about exceeding maximum permissible concentrations in rivers?

Economic activity is carried out on this territory. Exercises at training ranges, tourists, fishing boats and ships leave traces. These traces were found by various laboratories, which took a huge number of samples and recorded the excess of the standard level of technogenic pollutants - for example, oil products.

I am sure that even one exercise at a training ground close to the ocean should leave noticeable traces that are created by equipment, shells, and so on. And these traces must be read (and read) in the samples.

In the beautiful Kozelsky stream, flowing across the territory towards the ocean, there are tires near the road. Ironically, on the day of our work, October 12, a tire collection was announced in Kamchatka - 100 rubles are given for a tire at the collection points. Cars loaded with tires plowed Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky all day. The next day, the action was closed - the collection points were overflowing with tires. Because garbage and waste - household, food, military - they are all around.

And all these tires wonderfully "shine". This means that a person influences nature, and where there are people, such excess should be. But this is not an accident, not a discharge of tons of oil, not a man-made disaster.

In addition, the territory adjacent to Avacha Bay is an area of modern volcanism. Here, as a result of erosion of loose pyroclastic deposits, leaching of effusive rocks, dissolution of fine ash, and the influx of thermal solutions into rivers, toxic elements enter. This is a natural background. In many respects, the maximum permissible concentration in the rivers of Kamchatka is exceeded where a person has not even appeared close.

The scientific community is widely discussing the problem of determining the MPC: how it should correlate with the natural background (and what to do when the natural background is higher than the MPC?); and what to believe if MPC in the Russian Federation, USA, Europe differs tenfold. Therefore, when we compare something with the MPC, we must not forget about the conventionality of this comparison.

Why did we believe that people suffered from algae?

Dinophysis has been scientifically proven to be toxic. There are tons of articles on this topic. In addition, in water and tissue samples of mussels taken on October 5, 2020 and analyzed by TIBOCh FEB RAS, the presence of okadaic acid methyl ester toxin produced by microalgae of the genus Dinophysis was found.

Dangerous in this region are "water blooms" in summer from June to August, caused by individual flagellate algae from dinoflagellates, producing the strongest nerve poison - saxitoxin.

How does it get to a person? These are food chains that have very tough manifestations: ate a crab - burned your mouth. Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky is full of such stories today.

Human infection can occur in cases of eating bivalve molluscs (especially mussels), since in the process of filtration feeding on plankton, mollusks accumulate poison contained in microalgae in their bodies. The primary accumulators of neurotoxins in dinoflagellates are not only mollusks, such as mussels, oysters, scallops, but also zooplankton, as well as herbivorous fish, that is, pelagic animals living in the water column.

Moreover, these organisms can accumulate poisons, and therefore be toxic, not only during the flowering period of dinoflagellates, but also when visually red tides are not observed, but toxic algae are in a sufficiently high concentration. And the problem itself is typical - we read scientific articles, and we find a lot of studies on the toxic effects of dinoflagellates: they get into trophic chains and move to humans.

Routes of entry of toxicants from algae of the genus Dinophysis along the trophic chains

Elisa Berdalet et al. / Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom, 2015

These algae do well in warm waters. They are well known and feared along the entire coast of Southeast Asia. As the ocean warms, their occurrence gradually shifts northward. In 2015, all along the west coast of the United States, all the way to Alaska, there were record production of toxic diatoms microalgae.

This theory is confirmed by the specific synoptic situation of this year. The temperature anomaly map compiled by KamchatNIRO employee Vladimir Kolomeitsev perfectly illustrates the situation in which the Pacific Ocean found itself near Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky in September.

Average water temperatures are several degrees above normal - excellent conditions for the spread of algae. The absence of strong wave activity and storms, contributing to mixing and aeration of water, was noted.

Water temperature anomaly map for September 2020. The entire eastern coast of Kamchatka is a red zone. The water temperatures here are several degrees higher than the norm - Compiled by Vladimir Kolomeitsev

Here, the phenomenon of the presence of these microalgae in the water dust, which spreads during storms along the coast in the surface air layer, arises. And from here, these algae get into the eyes and cause the symptoms that surfers have complained about.

By the way, such events have already been registered in Kamchatka. The already mentioned reference book “Red Tides off Eastern Kamchatka” was published back in 1995. The atlas contains information about cases of water bloom in the sea off the coast of Eastern Kamchatka, also known as red tides.

Illustrations and descriptions of microscopic organisms that cause red flushes and / or are poisonous are given. The reasons and possible consequences of this phenomenon, which threaten the life of people, marine animals and the welfare of coastal ecosystems in general, are considered.

We read the annotation on the third page: “In the Kamchatka region, 'red tides' were not perceived as dangerous for a long time. Not because they weren't there, or because they weren't toxic. “Red tides” occurred off the coast of Kamchatka, they were observed, but due to the episodic nature of these phenomena and the low population density of the coast, contacts with them were not frequent.

And the negative consequences of such contacts, even fatal ones, did not attract sustained attention due to the peculiarities of the developed region, in particular, much higher and, in contrast to the impact of the “red tides”, stable mortality from accidents."

It was written in 1995!

The theory of red tides, both to many scientists and people, seemed like a fiction aimed at hiding the problem. Commissions are working, there is a search for the guilty. But in the same book Konovalova gives a lot of examples of the development of red tides - starting with the tragedy of 1945, when the crew of the fishing ship Aleut, having landed on the coast in the north of Kamchatka (Olyutorsky district), had breakfast with mussels baked over a fire. As a result, 6 people were poisoned, two died from respiratory arrest.

What will happen next?

Now the ocean floor is full of dead stars and shellfish. Those who could not swim away died. There will be a storm - they will be washed ashore again, and again it will be possible to take a lot of scary photographs.

What will happen in the future? The ocean will be warm, and such algal stuffing will be the norm. This must be understood. This needs to be monitored. Then it will be possible not to close the beach, but to introduce a temporary warning mode in case of a repetition of such situations.

We are faced with a new form of manifestation of global climate change. A good reason to think about nature, about the world, about our influence on the world in which we will live. The algae problem is much broader than the death of starfish and gastropods.

Because, firstly, climate change, contributing to the arrival of dinoflagellates in Kamchatka, has a powerful anthropogenic cause - greenhouse gas emissions, the most famous of them.

Secondly, because you can worry as much as you want about the lost fauna, but for 10 dead sea urchins on the beaches of Kamchatka, there will definitely be one thrown plastic bottle, not to mention small debris. All this will now for centuries be a part of this ocean for which we are experiencing. We cannot change the temperature of the ocean, we cannot turn the secular curve of climate change, but people can make the ocean coast clean.

The article uses materials from participants in the work on the coast of the Avacha Bay of Kamchatka and the adjacent territory on October 11-12:

Polina Dgebuadze, Candidate of Biological Sciences, Senior Researcher at the Institute of Ecology and Evolution. A. N. Severtsov RAS

Elena Mekhova Candidate of Biological Sciences, Researcher at the Institute of Ecology and Evolution. A. N. Severtsov RAS

Alexey Orlov, Doctor of Biological Sciences, Chief Researcher of the All-Russian Research Institute of Fisheries and Oceanography, Chief Specialist of the Institute of Ecology and Evolution named after A. N. Severtsov RAS

Alexander Semyonov, Leading Engineer, Head of the Scientific Diving Group of the Belomorsk Biological Station, Moscow State University named after M. V. Lomonosov

Sergey Chalov, Ph. D., Associate Professor of the Department of Land Hydrology, Faculty of Geography, Moscow State University named after M. V. Lomonosov

Olga Shpak, Candidate of Biological Sciences, Researcher at the Institute of Ecology and Evolution. A. N. Severtsov RAS