Modeling chronic oil pollution from ships

S Liubartseva; G Coppini; G Verdiani; T Mungari; F Ronco; M Pinto; G Pastore; R Lecci

doi:10.1016/j.marpolbul.2023.115450

Modeling chronic oil pollution from ships

Mar Pollut Bull. 2023 Oct:195:115450. doi: 10.1016/j.marpolbul.2023.115450. Epub 2023 Sep 2.

Authors

S Liubartseva¹, G Coppini², G Verdiani³, T Mungari³, F Ronco³, M Pinto⁴, G Pastore³, R Lecci²

Affiliations

¹ Ocean Predictions and Applications Division, Euro-Mediterranean Center on Climate Change, Bologna, Italy. Electronic address: svitlana.liubartseva@cmcc.it.
² Ocean Predictions and Applications Division, Euro-Mediterranean Center on Climate Change, Lecce, Italy.
³ Civil Protection Department of the Apulia Region, Bari, Italy.
⁴ Orange Public Management srl, Ostuni, Italy.

PMID: 37666136
DOI: 10.1016/j.marpolbul.2023.115450

Abstract

Stochastic simulations of virtual oil spills from ships were performed for the Adriatic Sea over 2017-2020, applying the European Marine Observation and Data Network vessel densities as a proxy for starting locations of operational spillage. The MEDSLIK-II oil spill model was run using high-resolution currents provided by the Copernicus Marine Service and the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts winds. Chronic exposure to operational oil spills was reported in terms of hazard indices for five vessel groups: pleasure and passenger ships, cargo and service vessels, the fishing fleet, tankers, and other ships. The northernmost Adriatic expectedly showed the highest hazard values, including the areas of Trieste and Venice, where cargo and service ships were the dominant polluters. The Croatian coastal waters were more chronically polluted than the Italian coastal waters; the predominant contribution was from coastwise pleasure and passenger ships.

Keywords: Adriatic Sea; EMODnet-derived vessel densities; Hazard maps; MEDSLIK-II oil spill model; Operational oil pollution; Territorial waters of Italy and Croatia.