ARTWEI kick-off meeting Warnemuende 25th – 27th April 2010

Curonian Lagoon

Arturas Razinkovas1, Boris Chubarenko2

1- Coastal Research & Planning Institute, Klaipėda University, Klaipeda, [email protected]

2 – Atlantic Branch of P.P.Shirshov Institute of Oceanology of Russian Academy of Sciences, Kaliningrad, Russia [email protected] Klaipeda Klaipeda Strait – the single inlet

CuronianCuronian LagoonLagoon it Sp ian ron Nemunas Cu River Delta

Kaliningrad

Deima Pregolia River River KAIPEDA STRAIT 55.70 •

55.60 °

BALTIC SEA

55.50

55.40

Area: 1584 km² 55.30 ° Volume: 6.2 km³ 55.20 North-South dimension: 95 km 55.10 KURŠIŲ MARIOS LAGOON Max depth: 5.8 m 55.00 Mean depth: 3.8 m

54.90

Salinity: 0-8 psu 20.60 20.80 21.00 21.20 URBAN GRASSLAND AND FARMLAND WOODLAND

BARE DUNES SPRING SUMMER ANNUAL III-IV VII-VIII

INPUT

OUTPUT

Water gain: Water loss: River runoff - 20.75 km3/year Evaporation - 0.92 km3/year Precipitation - 1.28 km3/year Outflow to the sea - 26.18 km3/year Inflow from the sea - 5.07 km3/year KlaipedaKlaipeda straitstrait

Seasonal volumes (km3/ month)

Stream velocity in the straight varies in a range 0.4 - 0.7 m/s, with From the sea extremes, 2.0 m/s To the sea Typical hydrograph

MAXIMAL EXTENSION OF THE FLOOD

FLOODED AREAS Total - 1310 km2 Lithuanian side - 570 km2 Curonian lagoon water level raise - 1.64 m Maximal overflow through Klaipeda Strait – 4500 m3/ s

FLOOD RISK AREAS IN REGION AND CURONIAN LAGOON LITORAL ZONE Polder system: 1. Areas protected from 1% probability floods 2. Areas protected from common (10% probability) floods 3. Unprotected areas Areas of seasonal flood risk - 570 km2 NEMUNAS CATCHEMENT BASIN & RUNOFF Annual discharge since 1910 year and runnig 5-year average

Minimal summer run-off Maximal run-off

MEAN MAXIMAL SNOW WATER EQUIVALENT (mm)

NEMUNAS RIVER CATCHMENT AREA 97924 KM2 Monitoring

Monitoring stations in the Curonian Lagoon, which belong to national hydrometeorological agencies. Km* and Rm* - are stations of Lithuanian and Russian monitoring networks respectively. Water level variations are measured in four points: L1 (Klaipeda), L2 (), L3 (Nida) and L4 (). Meteorological stations are located in Klaipeda (Mt1) and Nida (Mt2).

Chubarenko B.V., Umgiesser, G., Chubarenko, I., Davulienė, L., Razinkovas, A., Feike, M. Numerical modeling of the Curonian and Vistula lagoons revisited. / Transboundary waters and basins in the South-Eastern Baltic. Chubarenko B.V. (Ed.). – Kaliningrad: Terra Baltica, 2008.- Pp. 177-192.

Lt-Bs-1B Lt-Bs-1 Lithuanian state

Lt-Bs-2 monitoring stations •Zooplankton (species, abundance) - Lt-Bs-3 •Phytoplankton (species, abundance) Lt-Bs-4 Lt-Bs-5Lt-Cl-1 Lt-Cl-2 •Chlorophyll A Lt-Cl-3 •Bacterioplankton (abundance, Lt-Bs-6 Lt-Cl-5 biomass, production) •Zoobenthos (species, abundance)

Lt-Cl-8 •Primary production (CL-10, BS-4 and

Lt-Cl-12 Lt-Bs-7 BS-7 stations only ) Lt-Cl-10

Lt-Cl-14 •BOD7 (Curonian lagoon only) •Macrophytes (surveys, Curonian lagoon only) FishFish monitoringmonitoring

ƒƒ AbundanceAbundance andand biomassbiomass (Curonian(Curonian lagoonlagoon && CoastalCoastal zone)zone) ƒƒ MigrationsMigrations (Klaipeda(Klaipeda portport area)area)

BirdBird andand mammalmammal monitoringmonitoring

ƒƒ WinteringWintering birdsbirds (abundance)(abundance) ƒƒ NestingNesting birdsbirds (abundance)(abundance) CASECASE STUDIESSTUDIES && OTHEROTHER MONITORINGMONITORING PROGRAMMESPROGRAMMES

ƒƒ KlaipedaKlaipeda portport environmentalenvironmental monitoringmonitoring programmeprogramme ƒƒ ButingeButinge oiloil terminalterminal monitoringmonitoring programmeprogramme ƒƒ NATONATO CCMSCCMS CuronianCuronian LagoonLagoon studystudy ƒƒ InstitutionalInstitutional researchresearch programmesprogrammes POM Pelagic Nannoplankt CuronianCuronian INPUTS bacteria on lagoonlagoon,, principalprincipal Predatory Zooplankton zooplankton Leptodora Phytoplankton kindti

Piscivorous foodfood fish

Nektobenthos (introduced chainschains mysids)

Benthic Benthic suspension Bentofagous feeders fish detritus

Benthic detritus feeders

Benthic bacteria Meiofauna Main problem - euthrophication !!!

The riverine load of N to the lagoon is composed of 85- 90% ammonia and the other 10-15 % are other forms (inorganic). Stankevicius (1995) estimated the average total riverine N load to the lagoon in 4.6x104 tons/y (period 1985-1992).

Photo – B. Chubarenko Photo – B. Chubarenko

H2S

Summer problems

with H2S release and influence on recreational areas Cyanobacteria blooms

ƒ Phytoplankton biomass up to 260 mg/l ƒ Total N up to 450 µmol/l ƒ Total P up to 20 µmol/l ƒ Chlorophyll a up to 460 µg/l ƒ Recreation & commercial fishing are the key business of the local population ƒƒ WaterWater qualityquality issuesissues && fishfish killskills duringduring anoxiaanoxia eventsevents !!!!!! SectorialSectorial conflicsconflics

ƒƒ BirdBird protectionprotection vs.vs. fisheryfishery ƒƒ RecreationRecreation vsvs naturenature protectionprotection ƒƒ OilOil drillingdrilling vsvs recreationrecreation Climate changes

Probable synergetic effect may bring an abnormal response !!! `

Estuary or Sea Lagoon Land

Anthropogenic influences THANK YOU !

Photo – B. Chubarenko

Photo – B. Chubarenko