Satellite remote sensing of oil spill pollution in the southeastern Baltic Sea

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 and coastal zone. Oil discharges from ships represent a significant threat to marine ecosystems. Oil spills cause the contamination of seawater, shores, and beaches, which may persist for several months and represent a threat to marine resources. One of the main tasks in the ecological monitoring of the Baltic Sea 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. Since 1993 there is no regular aerial surveillance of the oil spills in the Russian sector of the southeastern Baltic Sea. In June 2003 LUKOIL-Kaliningradmorneft initiated a pilot project, aimed to the complex monitoring of the southeastern Baltic Sea, in connection with a beginning of oil production at continental shelf of Russia. It was performed on the base of satellite remote sensing (AVHRR NOAA, SeaWiFS, MODIS, TOPEX/Poseidon, Jason-1, SAR imagery of ERS-2 and ENVISAT) of SST, sea level, chlorophyll concentration, mesoscale dynamics, wind and waves, and oil spills. A number of oil spills have been detected in the period between June 2003 and July 2004