Decision support system for emergency management of oil spill accidents in the Mediterranean Sea

Abstract

Abstract. This paper presents an innovative web-based decision support system to facilitate emergency management in the case of oil spill accidents, called WITOIL (Where Is The Oil). The system can be applied to create a forecast of oil spill events, evaluate uncertainty of the predictions, and calculate hazards based on historical meteo-oceanographic datasets. To compute the oil transport and transformation, WITOIL uses the MEDSLIK-II oil spill model forced by operational meteo-oceanographic services. Results of the modeling are visualized through Google Maps. A special application for Android is designed to provide mobile access for competent authorities, technical and scientific institutions, and citizens.

Ocean Data Product Integration Through Innovation-The Next Level of Data Interoperability

“…The goal was to provide a basis for rational decision-making, assessing the status of the Mediterranean Sea observing and modeling infrastructure, analyzing gaps, and identifying priorities to optimize regional monitoring and sampling strategies. Examples of applications of this work are oil spill management and safer professional and recreational activities (Liubartseva et al, 2016;Coppini et al, 2017). Other related but less mature EMODnet activities for different regions that are illustrative of European policy are for the Atlantic as part of the AtlantOS project (Koop-Jakobsen et al, 2016) and North Sea Checkpoint project 4 .…”

Numerical Modeling of Oil Pollution in the Eastern Mediterranean Sea

“…Due to a large number of parameters that control the oil movement and transformation in MEDSLIK-II, the number of possible uncertainty scenarios is enormous. Currently, MEDSLIK II started to implement both simple and efficient algorithms to quantify uncertainties caused by the initial oil spill conditions [48], ocean currents, and wind [49].…”

“…The latter model can be deployed at any local area of the Mediterranean in a very short time as required by the management of emergencies caused by oil spills or contaminant release(s) at sea. The accuracy of the simulations was evaluated during a field experiment with the release of four i-SPHERE drifters in the area of the Eastern Mediterranean [47,48] 10 Algorithms of uncertainty penetration through MEDSLIK-II 2015, 2017 [48,49] 11 User-oriented Web-based decision support system WITOIL 2016 [48] 10 Is the righting of a sunken vessel using rotational leverage. accident.…”

“…20) were considered representative of future events under the assumption that the traffic density distribution and the amount of oil operationally spilled were representative of the present state and will follow the estimated tendencies in the future, and the historical database of met-oceanographic conditions contained a realistic sample of possible weather and sea state conditions. This methodology was also used to quantify the hazards that caused possible accidental oil spills from six (6) oil production platforms situated on the Adriatic shelf [48]. Finally, an innovative fully operational 24/7 Web-based decision support system, WITOIL 11 (Where Is The Oil), has been developed [48].…”

“…This methodology was also used to quantify the hazards that caused possible accidental oil spills from six (6) oil production platforms situated on the Adriatic shelf [48]. Finally, an innovative fully operational 24/7 Web-based decision support system, WITOIL 11 (Where Is The Oil), has been developed [48]. To compute the oil transport and transformation, WITOIL uses MEDSLIK-II forced by operational met-oceanographic datasets provided by the Copernicus Marine Environment Monitoring Service (CMEMS 12 ).…”