The Problem of Detection of Flooded Chemical Ammunition in the Baltic Sea

Abstract

Under subterranean economic operations (geological prospecting, fishing, ecological control of the Nord Stream pipeline), a specific problem arises in the Baltic Sea due to the presence of a mass accumulation of captured chemical amunition on the bottom of the Bornholm Basin flooded after the World War II.
Shirshov Institute of Oceanology of the Russian Academy of Sciences periodically conducts expeditions to survey submarine potentially dangerous objects using ship geophysical and geochemical means. The paper analyzes the features of conducting underwater economic operations in a number of water areas of the Baltic Sea associated with the presence of submerged chemical munitions. Theoretical aspects of the search for underwater potentially dangerous objects in shallow water areas are presented. In the process of prospecting, it became possible to classify underwater potentially hazardous objects according to their magnetograms. An analysis of the magnetograms of the detected underwater object allows us to classify it as a «set of chemical munitions» or as a «sunken ship».
Practical recommendations have been developed on the integrated use of sonar and magnetometric means for detecting chemical bombs, taking into account the specificity of the bottom relief and soil characteristics.
According to the concept of environmental monitoring, the location of flooded ships and vessels, as well as the burial of chemical warfare agents — chemical amunition are considered as zones of especially dangerous natural and technogenic complexes at the bottom of the Baltic Sea.