Climate Detectives Projects 2019-2020

Project topic: Oceans

Project title: “When people care, the Black Sea survives”

Team: Ovidius

2019-2020   Ovidius High school   Constanta   Romania   6 Student’s age: 14-15


Summary of the project

We performed a mapping activity of the local communities impact on the Black Sea water qualities. We have selected 5 spots on the local shore and we compared our data with the recordings of the satellites and the databases available. For each spot we’ll see how the the weather data changed over the last years. We set 5 station at the Romanian Black Sea shore in order to collect water samples and to record air quality parameters, 2-4 times per month, as follows: – sample spots selection (in Constanta, Agigea, techirghiol, Tuzla, Murfatlar) -identification of the air parameters (temperature, wind direction, wind speed, air humidity, cloud cover index) -identification of the water parameters (water temperature, pH, oxygen, turbidity, oxygen saturation percent, conductivity) -recordings of physic-chemical data (3 months, december 2019 to february 2020) -recording of human activity) (air/water pollution, solid wastes) -recordings on sea/shore biodiversity events (algal blooms etc) -satellite recordings (temperatures, humidity, winds) – Sentinel, EO Browser -correlation of the land with satellite data and production of graph and tables -comparative of our data with the multi-annual recordings from the local research institutes and satellite information -contact the local community in order to suggest ways to reduce their impact on the environment

Main results

By comparing the data we registered in our observations, with the data found in the databases (such as the DB offered by the Romanian Marine Research Institute and the Meteorology Institute). We have noticed a clear increse of the average air temperatures, but also of the water temperature. We had some parameters with no recordings at local or national level (such as conductivity). The data for the wind speed and direction were very heterogenous, so we didn’t indetify a trend. For the pH we used our own data, recorded in pervious projects, during the last 5 years in our school, by our older peers students. The most intriguing features we investigated were the changes occured on the shore after the beach extension project, developed by the local authorities. Several species of molusks, characteristic for the bottoms, were identified on the beach, changing in a very spectacular way the aspects of the biocenosys. Regarding the pH evolution, we noticed an acidification of the waters, in a very small extent, it is true, but we consider it is a trend for the Black Sea waters. In our registrations, the pH was slighlty acid (6-7) but in the past the average value is over 7 (alcaline). We consider that the increase of CO2 in the atmosfere might end up in changing the pH of the sea water, with important consequences in the sea life, from algae to fish.

Actions to help lessen the problem

– reduction the the solid waste on the beach – reduction of the turism impact on the shoreline – increasing of the controls for the waste water teh flows into the water – a better control of the beach constructions – works on the beaches to reduce the erosion impact


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