Seatrack Web: A numerical tool to protect the Baltic Sea marine protected areas

Abstract

Shipping activities in the Baltic Sea, including oil transport and oil handled in harbors, have a number of negative impacts on the marine environment, marine protected areas (MPAs) and coastal zone. One of the main tasks in the ecological monitoring of the MPAs in the European seas is an operational satellite and aerial detection of oil spillages, determination of their characteristics, establishment of the pollution sources and forecast of probable trajectories of the oil spill transport. The interactive numerical model Seatrack Web SMHI is a powerful operational tool that can be used for a forecast of the oil spill drift in the vicinity of MPAs and for assessment of ecological risks related to potential oil pollution of every MPAs in the Baltic Sea. Three examples of oil spill drift modelling and of calculation a probability of the oil drift for specific points along main ship routes in the Gulf of Finland and southward of Gotland for July and August 2007 are shown.