ISSN 0097�8078, Water Resources, 2011, Vol. 38, No. 5, pp. 686–688. © Pleiades Publishing, Ltd., 2011.Original Russian Text © S.I. Shaporenko, 2011, published in Vodnye Resursy, 2011, Vol. 38, No. 5, pp. 635–637.

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1 In 2008, the Sakhalin State University issued themanual on modeling the biotransformation of organicand mineral compounds of organogenic elements (C,N, P, and Si) and O2 in the aquatic environment and inthe surface layer of bottom sediments. This eventseems remarkable for the author of this review, becausethe manual is the first (or one of the first) manual inRussia covering the problem in question; it is meantfor training students specialized in geographic disci�plines and, in particular, specialists in ecology andenvironmental management.

The model proper is used by the author of thismanual as an instrument of water and environmentalresearch and is included into the training course Mod�eling of Natural Processes (in this particular case, mod�eling of processes of substance transformation in theaquatic environment). This course is based on scien�tific data obtained at the junction of a series of naturaldisciplines. Therefore, to master the subject it is nec�essary to have a detailed knowledge of many adjacentsubjects such as geography, chemistry, biology, phys�ics, and mathematics; mastering this knowledge maybe very difficult for many students.

For about five years, lectures on this subject havebeen delivered at the Sakhalin State University at theFaculty of Environmental Management and Oil andGas Engineering by Pishchal’nik V.M. (Sakhalin StateUniversity) and Leonov A.V. (Institute of Oceanology,Russian Academy of Sciences). Within the limits ofthis subject, the lectures provide the students with nec�essary theoretical knowledge; as for the practical work,the students become acquainted with modern elec�tronic instruments of analysis and generalization ofoceanographic data, i.e., the GIS Sakhalin Shelf(author Pishchal’nik V.M.) and hydroecologicalCNPSi�model (author Leonov A.V.).

The hydroecological model is the basic instrumentof researches (fundamental and applied) of the author;it results from the integration of several complicated

1 Leonov A.V. Modeling of Natural Processes Based on SimulationHydroecological Model of Transformation of C, N, P, and Si Com�pounds: Manual, Yuzhno�Sakhalinsk: Sakhalin State University,2008, 168p.

ecological models worked out earlier (simulationmodel of phosphorus system; transformation of Ncompounds; joint transformation of N, P compoundsand O2 regime; transformation of organic substanceand compounds of biogenic elements; joint biotrans�formation of C, N, P compounds and O2 regime ininterconnected shallow eutrophic water bodies). Eachof these models was used to study the processes of sub�stance transformation (in particular, in analyzing thedata of numerous experiments), while the model ofphosphorus system was used to study the conditions oftransformation of P forms in lakes and reservoirs(more than ten water objects). A series of models wasworked out by the author during his work at the Inter�national Institute of Applied Systems Analysis (Aus�tria). These models are briefly mentioned by theauthor of this manual in the first chapter and thus, maybe not intentionally, they draw the attention to the restof the text.

The structure of the hydroecological simulationCNPSi�model is represented on the basis of the simu�lation model of phosphorus system, which is the mostperfect from the standpoint of software organizationand permits the model improvement (to supplementand extent some blocks) not disturbing its internalstructures. The CNPSi�model describes the processesof substance transformation (organic and mineralfractions of N, P, and Si) and reproduces the biohy�drochemical cycles of N, P, and Si, the transformationof dissolved organic C, which are related to the func�tioning of communities of aquatic microorganisms(bacteria, phyto� and zooplankton, and macro�phytes), depending on the regime of O2 dissolved inwater. The environment characteristics, such as thetemperature, light intensity, transparency of theaquatic environment, water regime indices, atmo�spheric precipitation, substance exchange at the inter�faces of water–bottom, water–air, water body–tribu�tary (river or any man�made water source) are used asinput data. They adjust the values of substance trans�formation rates in the aquatic environment and bot�tom sediments.

REVIEWS

Modeling of Biohydrochemical Processes Becomes an Educational Discipline1

S. I. ShaporenkoInstitute of Geography, Russian Academy of Sciences, Staromonetnyi per. 29, Moscow, 119017 Russia

Received May 12, 2010

DOI: 10.1134/S0097807811050137

WATER RESOURCES Vol. 38 No. 5 2011

MODELING OF BIOHYDROCHEMICAL PROCESSES BECOMES 687

The model is highly universal, because it can beapplied to freshwater ecosystems and to marine eco�systems; it has no dimensional limitations in the mor�phometric features of water bodies (depth, area, vol�ume of water in water bodies). When being used, themodel has some limitations (up to ten) in the numberof simultaneously studied water bodies (or in the num�ber of water areas outlined in water body under study).The model can be applied to a vertical singly�layerwater system (if there is no vertical stratification) andto a double�layer water system (if it is available). Themodel has a unified hydrodynamic block of waterregime, which eliminates the necessity of the internaladjusting of the model and, using the input data, itpermits the assignment of the required regime of inter�actions of water areas and the intensity of substancetransfer by water masses through the particular bound�aries between the areas outlined in the water bodyunder study. The communities of aquatic microorgan�isms, responsible for substance transformation in theaquatic environment, include different groups of bac�teria (heterotrophic, ammonium�, nitrite�, petro�leum�, and phenol�oxidizing groups), three predomi�nant groups of phytoplankton, herbivorous and pred�atory zooplankton, and algae�macrophytes. Theecosystem functioning is described by 283 equations,which are subdivided into auxiliary equations (theyreproduce the instantaneous rates of individual pro�cesses, the internal and external matter fluxes, andother processes) and ordinary differential equationsmeant to calculate changes in substance concentra�tions (the total of 29 variables) per unit of time.

The model output data include design quantitativeindices of substance concentrations (individual com�ponents and in the aggregate form), the biomass ofmicroorganisms and their production, internal andexternal fluxes of substances (their decrease or inflowinto the aquatic environment), the turnover time ofindividual compounds, the balances (separately inwater, bottom sediments, and generally in the outlinedwater areas). Due to the proper organization of fieldobservations, this series of design parameters permitsthe user to carry out their analysis, verification of themodel and, if necessary, to make the necessary correc�tion of the most important parameters.

The presentation of output data is organized in aconvenient way for the user: special files are formed foreach group of characteristics and for each outlinedwater area. All results can be represented either in theform of tables or in the form of graphs. It can be statedwithout exaggeration that the model made byA.V. Leonov has no analogs in the world (so far) as tothe coverage of reproduced biochemical processes,thorough account of the impact of environmental fac�tors up to the particular numerical values of modelparameters of the studied stages in transformation ofbiogenic substances. The reviewer is aware of the factthat the manual in question has been marked by theDiploma of the All�Russia Exhibition of the Russian

Academy of Natural Science Golden Fund of NativeScience as the best teaching and methodical publica�tion in the field of education; the exhibition was heldin February 2009, Moscow, in the Academy of NaturalScience).

By the present time, this model has been alreadyused in studying the conditions of functioning of eco�systems of the Sea of Okhotsk, the Caspian and Whiteseas as well as in some freshwater objects.

A few words about the quality of this edition shouldbe said. The author of this review believes that the firstedition of this manual is quite adequate. It includeseverything: an insight into the history of modelingdevelopment, a brief overview of other possibleapproaches to mathematical modeling, and, naturally,instructions for model use at all stages of its applica�tion (from the rules of initial data input up to readingthe output data). Without going into details of thestructure of input and output data files, the reading ofthis manual gives a clear view of the essence of theproblems to be solved and the structure of the modelproper represented on a CD�disk. This permits, if nec�essary, the independent application of the model forany chosen water body or seawater area.

In the opinion of the reviewer, there are possibili�ties for certain improvements in the model descriptionin this manual. First, certain corrections are needed inindividual fragments of the model description and inthe cited examples of its application;

not all the variables included into the model areproperly explained in the course of characterizing themodel components; for example, the concentrationsof hydrosulfides and phenols are included into the fileof given initial parameters but nothing is said aboutthese variables in the text;

water salinity is mentioned among the variablesthat characterize the aquatic environment conditionin the input data; however, changes in its values are notcalculated in the model;

fish biomass (five groups, which differ in thetrophic interactions with chemical and biological vari�ables) is represented in the list of indices within thedisplay system; however, equations for calculation offish biomass dynamics are not formulated;

it is not clear, why two external sources of input(CZ16 and CZ17) are given for hydrosulfides and howhydrosulfides participate in the interactions with theenvironmental components in the lack of sulfur andsulfate�reducing bacteria in the bacterial community;

in describing the wind regime, the use is made of anontraditional format of wind velocity values (with anaccuracy up to thousandth fractions of m/s) and winddirection (34 points instead of 8);

when estimating the water pollution of the AnivaBay with petroleum hydrocarbons, minimum rates ofpossible pollution of the aquatic environment aretaken and the predicted values of such pollution areignored;

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in analyzing the dynamics of design variables, theauthor uses both calendar calculation for the year sea�son or ordinal numbers of days within a year (from 0 to365 days); this complicates the reading of the text andthe analysis of calculation results;

the computer code and the built�in system of dis�play of modeling results have been prepared on DOSplatform; currently, WINDOWS OS is mainly used forpersonal computers. This means that it is possible tomake calculations and preview the results on the dis�play under WINDOWS; however, because of theincompatibility of these two systems, the printing outof modeling results in the form of graphs and diagramsbecomes feasible only after certain transformations ofthe working digital files.

The remarks concerning data presentation in thismanual can be easily eliminated. The second editionof such manual is advisable, and the author of thisreview has no doubt as to the possibility of its publica�

tion. It is reasonable that one of the central publishinghouses would publish the second edition and, ofcourse, in a hard cover. This publication should beprinted with color illustrations (as on the book’s cover)for better identification of data in the figures. It is alsodesirable that students and professors of other insti�tutes could have the opportunity to read this manual,for example, at the chairs of oceanology and hydrologyof the Faculty of Geography, Moscow State University(Moscow and Sevastopol), Institutes of Hydrometer�orology in St. Petersburg and Odessa, at the facultiesfor physics and chemistry of different universities. Thisedition may be helpful in such institutes in view of theincreasing interest to the use of electronic instrumentsof analysis and data generalization in the course ofsolving water environmental problems as well as inconnection with studies of biochemical and physicalprocesses in the aquatic environment using the meth�ods of mathematical modeling.