Environmental Management System for the Analysis of Oil Spill Risk Using Probabilistic Simulations. Application at Tarragona Monobuoy

Abstract

Oil spill accidents during port operations are one of the main hydrocarbon pollution threats for coastal waters. Appropriate environmental risk assessment and pollution events management tools are needed to achieve sustainability and environmental protection in port activity. Recent developments in monitoring techniques and accurate meteo-oceanographic prediction systems have been implemented in many ports, providing tools for environmental management. A novel method based on meteo-oceanographic operational services, in conjunction with Monte Carlo experiments using an oil spill model, is implemented to perform probabilistic maps of potential pollution events. Tarragona port area was chosen as the study case for three reasons: it accommodates a hub of petrochemical industry, the availability of high-resolution wind and water current data, and previous studies at the area offer the possibility to check the results’ accuracy. The interpretation of the impact probability maps reveals a specific pattern explained by the mean hydrodynamic conditions and the energetic north-westerly wind conditions. The impact probability maps may enhance efficiency in the environmental management of port waters and nearby coastal areas, reducing the negative impact of pollutant discharges.

Study of Atmospheric Forcing Influence on Harbour Water Renewal

“…The availability and development of more advanced forecasting systems with different domains and scales have made it possible to use the models in a wide range of areas. The most frequent areas of application are those related to the simulation of accidental spills [8]; the physical impacts of storms and climate change [9][10][11]; the study of dominating harbours hydrodynamics [12,13]; the influence of tides on port water quality [14]; and the effects of port activity on nearby urban areas [15]. These forecasting systems make it possible to study currents in different situations and under different environmental conditions.…”

Use of Neural Networks and Computer Vision for Spill and Waste Detection in Port Waters: An Application in the Port of Palma (MaJorca, Spain)

“…Additionally, real-time or near real-time measurement and monitoring methods for marine pollutants and waste are necessary for managing their environmental impacts and understanding the processes governing their spatial distribution [7]. These techniques offer a complementary perspective on marine pollution to hydrodynamics-based environmental management techniques [8][9][10]. Thus, real-time pollution monitoring techniques can be linked with hydrodynamic models to obtain improved environmental management systems [11].…”

Oil spill discrimination of multi-time-domain shipborne radar images using active contour model

“…Oil spillages caused by many critical steps can damage the marine environment and disrupt the health and economy of coastal communities seriously. Much of oil spills resided at the surface of the ocean (Novelli et al 2020), having a very long-term harmfulness (Soares et al 2020;Magris and Giarrizzo 2020;Villalonga et al 2020;Colvin et al 2020;Yim et al 2017). In 2010, the Macondo deep-sea well blowout, commonly known as the Deepwater Horizon disaster, caused an estimated 507 million liters of crude oil spill into the Gulf of Mexico (U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana 2010).…”