Ecological information system "Onega"

Lake Onega, the second largest freshwater reservoir in Europe, is a strategic source of fresh water of high quality. The value of the water body determines the need for constant monitoring of its condition under the impact of anthropogenic factors and climate change. The complexity of the limnetic structure of the reservoir has determined the need for the development of a special system for collecting and processing different information about the lake - the ecological information system “Onega” (EISO). The first block of the system was created in the MS Access. This block is a description of the composition, structure and functioning of the database on the different characteristics of Lake Onega, including hydrochemical, hydrological, hydrobiological, meteorological and geographical characteristics of the lake ecosystem, as well as the sources and levels of anthropogenic impact. In the MS Access, the relationships between different blocks of information are arranged. The types of queries and methods of their construction for the extraction of data samples to be further processed are discussed. In the second block of the EISO information system, all data are linked on the basis of cartographic information about the location of sampling points (geoinformation system) formatted in the QGIS. The information system allows solving scientific problems (describing the dynamics of the ecosystem), it also helps to solve practical problems, for example, to assess water quality. With the help of the EISO the distribution of total iron (a marker of river water) in the water of the Petrozavodsk Bay of Lake Onega was considered, which made it possible to assess the impact of river water on the reservoir in new climatic conditions. The processes of eutrophication in the Kondopoga bay of Lake Onega contaminated by waste water from pulp and paper mill were studied. The prospects of the development of the EISO for the development of the model of the formation of the bioproductivity of Lake Onega are discussed.