Environmental damage assessment of conflict-affected coastal waters in Eastern Ukraine using ocean color Contact information Tetyana Kuchma, PhD, tanyakuchma@gmail.com +38-050-587-2066 Tetyana Kuchma National University of Kyiv-Mohyla Academy, Institute of agroecology and natural management, Kyiv, Ukraine Motivation The military action in Donbas region (eastern Ukraine) started from May 2014 among other devastating consequences affected the inland and coastal ecosystems. The recovery measures highly depend on the effectiveness of impact and da-mage assessment, but to this day the large area remains inaccessible for ground field studies. The objective of the research was to use the осеan color for the environmental changes detection due to hostilities influence. Result Time series of month-averaged values of SST, Chlorophyll-a, NO2, SO2 та CO were analyzed. A seasonal variability was demonstrated with the highest values between April-September and the minimum in October-March for most of the parameters, except of NO2. Thus the seasonal-averaged dynamics and trends was also analyzed. seasonal mean Methodology and study area In conflict zone the considerable anthropogenic pressure on the environment due to coal and ore mining and metallurgical production was multiplied by massive use of shell artillery. Based on satellite imagery analysis the 15,505 shell bursts craters were detected on the territory of 225 km2 over the period of 2014-2015. Thus a significant amount of chemical compound, such as CO, CO2, NO, N2O, CH2О, and SO2, has been released into the atmosphere. Water and soil samples revealed a considerable amount of heavy metals, sulfates and nitrates at the shell explosion sites [1,2] It should also be emphasized that armed confrontation zone is located in close proximity to the Sea of Azov coastal waters (in 100-km distance) and the hydrological conditions of the Sea of Azov due to its inland situation, are largely formed by external factors such as temperature, river run-off, etc. The methodology was based on the analysis of the variability of sea upper layer parameters and its relation to the atmospheric factors which affect them. The dynamics of Sea Surface Temperature (SST), Chlorophyll-a (Chl-a) and Particulate organic carbon (POC) concentration over 12-year period (2005- 2016) were studied using Modis imagery as the sea upper layer parameters and the dynamics of NO2, SO2 and CO concentration, obtained using OMI and AIRS sensors were used as indicators of atmospheric change. Data was downloaded from https://giovanni.gsfc.nasa.gov A significant decrease in Chl-a concentration in summer period was showed, starting in 2007 and followed by slight increase in 2014. SST positive trend showed a sea surface water warming, especially in summer period. The sharp increase in CO concentration was evident in August 2014, which could be associated with the beginning of intense artillery shelling and fires, as about 3,000 fires occurred in summer of 2014 in eastern Ukraine [1]. The increasing of NO2 and SO2 concentration in winter, and decrease in warm season was showed in recent years. References 1. Military Conflict in Eastern Ukraine - Civilization Challenges to Humanity - «Environment-People-Law», 2015. http://epl.org.ua/wp- content/uploads/2017/04/1817_EPL_Posibnuk_ATO_English.pdf 2. Civilization Challenges to Humanity»Assessment of the Environmental Impact of Military Activities during the Yugoslavia Conflict. Preliminary findings. — The regional Environmental Center for Central and Eastern Europe, 1999. http://www.monde-diplomatique.fr/cahier/kosovo/ecologie-rapport The analysis of year-averaged spatial distribution in 2015 showed that the highest Chl-a concentration is observed in northern-eastern coastal waters, and the highest SO2 and NO2 values are revealed in Donbas area and around big cities. Conclusion 1. Based on the regression analysis the relationship between coastal water parameters and atmospheric variability is