Spatial Distribution of Oil Spills at the Sea Surface in the Southeastern Baltic Sea According to Satellite Sar Data

Abstract

Statistical analysis of the spatial distribution of oil spills detected using Synthetic Aperture Radars (SAR) in 2004-2015 at the sea surface in the Southeastern Baltic Sea was conducted. Number, area, and shape of oil pollution division between Exclusive Economic Zones (EEZ) of Poland, Russia, and Lithuania were estimated for the first time. The most polluted area of the Southeastern Baltic Sea is Russian EEZ, where 55% of the total amount of detected oil spills, and 52% of the total area of oil pollution were located. The average area of an oil spill detected within Territorial Sea (TS) and EEZ was estimated. Tail-shaped spills associated with oil discharge from the moving vessels are prevailed, and their amount and area within TS and EEZ were estimated.

Chronic Oil Pollution from Vessels and Its Role in Background Pollution in the Southeastern Baltic Sea

“…Synthetic aperture radar (SAR) has been successfully used for oil spill monitoring in the world ocean and inland seas [30][31][32][33][34][35][36][37][38][39][40][41][42][43][44][45][46][47][48], as well as in the Baltic Sea [3,[9][10][11][12][13][14][15][16][17][49][50][51][52][53][54][55]. Its main advantages are a wide swath and independence of sun light and clouds.…”

“…It is interesting to notice that the concentration of oil spills even highlighted several shipping routes coming to the ports from different destinations, such as the six lines to the Port of Klaipeda (see Figure 6). Large spills mainly occurred outside the territorial waters of Poland, Russia, and Lithuania [17,24]. The most polluted area was located in Gdansk Bay, with a concentration of oil spills in its part offshore of Baltiysk.…”

“…Most of the observed oil spills do not result from accidents but from intentional discharges. According to the HELCOM data for the whole Baltic Sea, data of other authors, and our own data for the southeastern Baltic Sea, oil spills are mainly located along the main shipping routes in the Baltic Sea (Figure 1) [3,[6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15][16][17]. The concentration of oil spills close to the shore in the Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) of Latvia is the result of aerial observations predominantly within its territorial waters [6] (Figure 1).…”

“…Analogs of this system do not exist for other seas of the Russian Federation. Since 2004, the data obtained within the framework of this satellite monitoring is the only source of continuous information on the sea surface oil pollution in the southeastern Baltic Sea [9][10][11][12][15][16][17].…”

“…The authors of this paper regularly publish the spatial and temporal characteristics of oil pollution in the southeastern Baltic Sea, revealed from the results of yearly satellite and in situ monitoring [9][10][11][12][15][16][17], and inform others about the unprecedented cases of oil pollution [24]. The last update of this information was published 5 years ago [11,12].…”