The 125th scientific cruise on board the RV “Professor Vodyanitsky” for a comprehensive study of jet methane gas emissions near the coast of Crimea
From November 2 to 26, 2022, the staff of LIN SB RAS Mikhail Makarov and Konstantin Kucher participated in the 125th scientific cruise on the board the RV “Professor Vodyanitsky”. The scientific cruise was devoted to the search and biogeochemical exploration of jet methane gas emissions in the Black Sea in the area of the southern coast of Crimea. For this purpose a hydroacoustic complex "Echo-Baikal" and teleoperated unmanned underwater vehicle "Rovbilder" RB 300 were brought to Sevastopol.
The main tasks of the November expedition were searching and mapping of jet methane gas emissions located on the shelf near the southern coast of Crimea using the hydroacoustic complex and also a complex of hydrological, hydrochemical and hydrobiological studies of these areas, visual inspection of the bottom using "Rovbilder" RB 300.
Hydroacoustic survey of the shelf zone was carried out on 14 sites from Laspi Bay to Feodosiya Bay, which covered the depths from 30 to 80 meters on pre-planned transects. The total length of the hydroacoustic track was more than 1,000 kilometers, which corresponded to an area of the surveyed bottom of more than 7 km2.
Exploration works were performed using "Rovbilder" RB 300, which spent underwater more than 30 hours. As a result, the representatives of benthic communities, sponges and sections of shells were lifted aboard the research vessel, as well as photo and video fixation of the bottom was done, and sulfur-oxidizing bacterial communities (sulfurs) were found.
In the course of these works, the new gas discharge zones were discovered in the area of Martyan, Cape Plaka, Cape Bashenny, and Cape Ai-Todor. Good weather during 25 days of the expedition enabled to conduct double surveys at several sites, which allowed to evaluate further the periodicity of active phases of jet gas emissions.
The results of the expeditionary research during the 125th scientific on board the RV “Professor Vodyanitsky” will allow scientists to advance in the study of the phenomenon of shallow-water jet methane gas emissions in the Black Sea shelf and also to understand their environment-forming, biogeochemical and resource role.
