Scientific publications

The article presents and discusses the results of satellite observations of water quality in the White Sea (WS) during the growing season from 2003 to 2020. For the first time, statistical data were obtained over an almost twenty-year time interval on the spatio-temporal dynamics of phytoplankton chlorophyll (CHL), chromophoric/refractory dissolved organic matter (DOM), and suspended mineral matter concentrations in conjunction with sea surface temperature (SST) and river discharge. The magnitude and sign of changes in these parameters proved to vary between the traditionally distinguished sub-areas of the sea. However, in percentage terms, the shifts in CHL concentrations were relatively small. In Onega and Mezen Bays, as well as in Voronka and Gorlo, growing-season’s CHL concentrations increased in the range of 4–8 % from 2003 to 2020. At the same time, in the Gulf of Kandalaksha and the Basin, primary productivity decreased by ~3 – ~4 %. That is, no major change has occurred in the productivity level of the White Sea. The rise in the SST (2 – ~7 %), however, points to climate warming in the WS region. The 11–13 % increase in the March to October total runoff of the WS main rivers (reflected in the DOM increase by ~2–10 %) is in line with the ongoing climate change. There being no indications of a multiplier effect in the dynamics of primary production under the moderate change in environmental factors, the WS ecological system can presently be assumed to remain quite stable.