A method for retrieving sea wave spectra from space images of high spatial resolution has been developed for various conditions of wave generation based on the use of retrieving operators in the form of spatial-frequency filters, the parameters of which are adjusted to real conditions. The adequacy of the method is tested using the data of multidisciplinary experiments carried out in the coastal waters of the Black Sea and in the open waters of the Pacific Ocean near Hawaii by comparing the wave spectra in the frequency range 0.29–0.59 Hz (wavelengths 4.5–20 m) retrieved from the satellite images of the QuickBird and Resurs-P satellites with the spectra measured using wave buoys. The value of the retrieving parameter of the spatial-frequency filter for the section of the power-law decay of the wave frequency spectrum is updated based on the results of the studies. This value is estimated as –0.05 applied to complex wave formation conditions (long fetch, wave system of wind waves and various swell waves), which differs from the previously estimated values of –0.43 in the conditions of limited fetch.

The results of comprehensive studies of anthropogenic impacts caused by deep water discharge into coastal waters near the city of Sevastopol using an experimental model of a ground-space monitoring system are presented. The nature of anthropogenic pollution of the investigated basin associated with an emergency rupture of the collector of the discharge device with a design capacity of 43 800 thousand m3/year (from 2014 to 2018) and the situation after the elimination of the accident in 2019 were assessed based on an analysis of space data. The features of optical anomalies associated with the discharge of wastewater into the marine environment in the region of the collector rupture are revealed, which are manifested in the changes in the normalized indices of sea-surface color recorded from space multispectral images of various resolutions, ranging from 1.25 to 1.45, while the background values are ~1. After the recovery of the collector rupture in 2019, the values of these indices were close to 1. The length of the zone where intense pollution appeared is ~3.0 km and its width is ~0.8 km; the center of the zone is at the place of the collector rupture. Based on remote sensing data, a positive effect has been demonstrated associated with the repair, which is recommended based on the results of space monitoring.

In this paper, the possibilities of recording the spectra of spatially inhomogeneous sea waves using high-spatial-resolution satellite imagery to monitor vast water areas are analyzed. The results of comprehensive experiments to study the method for the prompt retrieval of sea wave spatial spectra from satellite imagery can be used in water areas with mixed waves, including wind waves under the conditions of intense wave fetch and swell waves. Power approximation indices for spatial inhomogeneous wave spectra retrieved using high-spatial-resolution satellite imagery are analyzed depending on the length of the wind fetch over the vast water areas. In the coastal zone, the change in the power approximation indices for sea wave elevation spatial spectra is the largest. With the increase in the distance from the coast, the indices approach the value of p χ ≈ 2.7. In the wind shadow zone at a large distance from the coast, the gradual decrease in the power exponent to p χ ≈ 2.5 is observed, which corresponds to known analytical approximations.

The authors describe features and the operation of an integrated ground to space monitoring system for studying anthropogenic effects on coastal waters of the Black Sea in the period between May 2014 and July 2020. Use is made of data from optical and radar instruments mounted on different spacecraft of a multi-satellite remote sensing constellation, and from hydrophysical, hydrooptical, hydrochemical, and hydrobiological sensors positioned on research vessels, an oceanographic platform, and moored stations. The results from registering water environment parameters help reveal and analyze such different sources of pollution as oil slicks, petroleum products, and deep wastewater discharges. Analysis of multispectral satellite imagery using color indices allows registration of 133 cases of wastewater surfacing and reveals failures of wastewater collectors in waters near the cities of Sevastopol and Gelendzhik. Improvements in the environmental state of coastal waters in the area of Sevastopol (starting from August 2019) are observed as a result of recommendations for improving their ecological conditions being implemented.

In this paper, we describe high-performance methods for recording sea-surface spectra from space images for solving problems of operational oceanography. Algorithms and research software that implement methods for the operational recovery of the characteristics of the sea surface from space images are developed. These algorithms are tested and their performance are estimated using experimental data. The research software is designed to operate with multicore processors. Based on numerical experiments, the software was found to perform within a 1% error spectra reconstruction of slopes and elevations of the sea surface using the high-performance methods that are developed. Computational experiments demonstrated a significant increase in the performance of registering the spectra of slopes and elevations of the sea surface from the spectra of space images due to the parallelization of computations: by 5 times using only the central processor of a standard desktop computer and by more than 12 times using a graphics processor with CUDA technology. Examples of the application of the developed algorithms for monitoring the vast waters of the Black Sea and the Pacific Ocean are given.

The results of comprehensive monitoring of anthropogenic impact on some coastal water areas of the Black Sea are presented. Multispectral satellite imagery and sea truth hydrooptical and hydroacoustical data acquired aboard research vessels are used as the main information sources. In the course of monitoring, more than 300 multispectral Resurs-P, GeoEye, WorldView, Landsat, Sentinel-2 and other satellite images of water areas near the cities of Sevastopol and Gelendzhik were systematized and analyzed. For processing the multispectral satellite imagery, we use an approach based on the calculation and analysis of distributions of relative variability characteristics of the backscattering signal in different regions of the electromagnetic spectrum (color indices). The sea truth measurements, which were carried out using a SIPO9 light attenuation index spectral meter and an ADCP acoustic Doppler profilometer, allowed us to detect submerged pollutant plumes and validate the results of satellite data processing. By using the suggested methods, we found and quantified the characteristics of intensive anthropogenic impacts due to submerged outfalls in the coastal waters near Sevastopol and Gelendzhik. Processing the multispectral satellite imagery and sea-truth data revealed several disruptions in the outfall collectors located in these coastal waters.

The results of satellite monitoring of the state of northern territories disturbed by oil production are presented by the example of the Usinsk oil field in the Komi Republic. The sets of vegetation indices formed by the results of processing long-term series of multispectral satellite images for the period from 1988 to 2014 are analyzed. They are used to assess long-term environmental changes, to reveal the most disturbed zones, and to estimate the dynamics of changes in the vegetation cover area caused by the extraction and transportation of hydrocarbons.