47. Regional Assessment of Groundwater Discharge into Seas: Present-day Concepts and Methods

Studies of groundwater discharge into the seas and oceans are part of a complex hydrological-hydrogeological problem of undergrond water exchange between land and sea. Submarine discharge into seas and oceans is the least studied element of the present and prospective water and salt balance of the seas. Primarily, this is because groundwater inflow is the only water balance component that cannot be measured, and data needed for a well-grounded calculation of a water balance underground component are often missing. Therefore, it is important to determine this directly by hydrogeological methods. These methods permit areas of submarine groundwater discharge to be singled out and quantitatively characterized and, in some cases, make it possible to calculate the value of groundwater discharge causing these anomalies. The results of estimating the groundwater discharge to some seas and major lakes are considered.