COMPLEX MONITORING OF OIL POLLUTION IN THE BALTIC, BLACK ANDCASPIAN SEAS

Kostianoy A.G.(1), Lavrova O.Yu.(2), Mityagina M.I.(2), Bocharova T.Yu.(2), Litovchenko K.Ts.(3),Lebedev S.A.(4, 5), Stanichny S.V.(6), Soloviev D.M.(6), Sirota A.M.(7)

(1) P.P. Shirshov Institute of Oceanology, Russian Academy of Sciences, 36 Nakhimovsky Pr., Moscow, 117997, Russia,E-mail: kostianoy@mail.mipt.ru

(2) Russian Space Research Institute, Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow, Russia, E-mail: olavrova@iki.rssi.ru(3) Russian Research Institute for Space Instrument-Making, Moscow, Russia, E-mail: konlit@mail.ru(4) Geophysical Center, Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow, Russia, E-mail: lebedev@wdcb.ru

(5) State Oceanographic Institute, Moscow, Russia(6) Marine Hydrophysical Institute, National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, Sevastopol, Ukraine

E-mail: sstanichny@mail.ru(7) Atlantic Research Institute for Fishery and Oceanography, Kaliningrad, Russia E-mail: amsirota@dialoglan.ru

ABSTRACT

Since 1993 there is no regular aerial surveillance of theoil spills in the Russian sector of the southeastern BalticSea and in the Gulf of Finland, as well as in the Blackand Caspian seas. In June 2003 LUKOIL-Kaliningradmorneft initiated a pilot project, aimed tothe complex monitoring of the southeastern Baltic Sea,in connection with a beginning of oil production atcontinental shelf of Russia in March 2004. Satellitemonitoring in operational regime was performed in June2004 – November 2005 on the base of daily satelliteremote sensing (AVHRR NOAA, MODIS,TOPEX/Poseidon, Jason-1, ENVISAT ASAR andRADARSAT SAR imagery) of SST, sea level,chlorophyll concentration, mesoscale dynamics, windand waves, and oil spills. As a result a complexinformation on oil pollution of the sea, sea surfacetemperature, distribution of suspended matter,chlorophyll concentration, sea currents andmeteorological parameters has been received.

1. INTRODUCTION

As highlighted by Oceana in its report “The Other Sideof Oil Slicks”, chronic hydrocarbon contamination fromwashing out tanks and dumping bilge water and otheroily waste represents a danger at least three times higherthan that posed by the oil slicks resulting from oil tankeraccidents [1, 2]. For example, in the North Sea thevolume of illegal hydrocarbon dumping is estimated at15,000–60,000 tons per year, added to which areanother 10-20,000 tons of authorized dumping. Oil andgas platforms account for 75% of the oil pollution in theNorth Sea via seepage and the intentional release of oil-based drilling muds [3]. In the Mediterranean Sea it hasbeen estimated at 400,000–1,000,000 tons a year. Ofthis about 50% comes from routine ship operations andthe remaining 50% comes from land-based sources via

surface runoff [3]. In the Baltic Sea this volume isestimated at another 1,750–5,000 tons a year [1, 2]. But,according to Finnish Environment Institute(http://www.ymparisto.fi, 2004), the total annualnumber of oil spills into the Baltic Sea may reach10,000 and the total amount of oil running into the seacan be as much as 10,000 tons which is considerablymore than the amount of oil pouring into the sea inaccidents.

Detection of oil pollution is among most importantgoals of monitoring of the European seas. After a tankeraccident or illegal oil discharge the biggest problem isto obtain an overall view of the phenomenon, getting aclear idea of the extent of the slick and predicting theway it will move. For natural and man-made oil spills itis necessary to operate a regular and operationalmonitoring. Oil pollution monitoring in theMediterranean, North and Baltic Sea is normally carriedout by aircrafts or ships. This is expensive and isconstrained by the limited availability of theseresources. Aerial surveys over large areas of the seas tocheck for the presence of oil are limited to the daylighthours, good weather conditions and borders betweencountries. Satellite imagery can help greatly identifyingprobable spills simultaneously over very large areas andthen guiding aerial surveys for precise observation ofspecific locations. The Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR)instrument, which can collect data almost independentlyof weather and light conditions, is an excellent tool tomonitor and detect oil on water surfaces. This type ofinstrument is currently on board the European SpaceAgency's ENVISAT and ERS-2 satellites, and theCanadian Space Agency’s RADARSAT-1 satellite.

The application of satellite SAR technology to theinvestigation of oil pollution in the Mediterranean,Black, North and Baltic seas was done in theOCEANIDES Project (2003-2005), which was an EC

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Proc. ‘Envisat Symposium 2007’, Montreux, Switzerland 23–27 April 2007 (ESA SP-636, July 2007)

5th Framework project and corresponded to the theme“Environmental Stress in Europe”. The aim ofOCEANIDES was to understand the number, locationand impact of oil slicks deposited annually in Europeanwaters and to lay the foundations for a monitoringsystem that will provide this information in acontinuous manner (http://oceanides.jrc.cec.eu.int/).

2. THE BALTIC SEA

One of the main tasks in the ecological monitoring ofthe Baltic Sea is an operational satellite and aerialdetection of oil spillages, determination of theircharacteristics, establishment of the pollution sourcesand forecast of probable trajectories of the oil spilltransport. According to HELCOM [4], a total yearlynumber of confirmed oil spills in the Baltic Sea detectedby aerial surveys in 1989-2002 ranges between 350 and750.

Since 1993 there is no more regular aerial surveillanceof the oil spills in the Russian sector of the southeasternBaltic Sea and in the Gulf of Finland. In June 2003LUKOIL-Kaliningradmorneft initiated a pilot project,aimed to the complex monitoring of the southeasternBaltic Sea, in connection with a beginning of oilproduction at continental shelf of Russia in March 2004(Fig.1). In June 2004 we organized daily service formonitoring of oil spills in the southeastern Baltic Seabased on the operational receiving and analysis ofASAR ENVISAT and SAR RADARSAT data as wellas of other satellite IR and VIS data, meteo informationand numerical modelling of currents required foridentification of slick nature in the sea and forecast ofoil spills drift [5-14]. The principal difference with theabove mentioned OCEANIDES Project was anoperational regime of monitoring 24 hours/day, 7days/week during 18 months, and a complex approachto oil spills detection and forecast of their drift.

Figure 1. D-6 oil platform

Operational monitoring of oil pollution in the sea(Fig.2-4) was based on the processing and analysis ofASAR ENVISAT (every pass over the southeasternBaltic Sea, 400x400 km, 75 m/pixel resolution) andSAR RADARSAT (300x300 km, 25 m/pixel resolution)images received from KSAT Station (KongsbergSatellite Services, Tromsø, Norway) in operationalregime (1-2 hours after the satellite’s overpass). Forinterpretation of ASAR ENVISAT imagery and forecastof oil spills drift IR and VIS AVHRR (NOAA) andMODIS (Terra and Aqua) images were received,processed and analyzed, as well as the QuikSCATscatterometer and the JASON-1 altimeter data. Satellitereceiving station at Marine Hydrophysical Institute(MHI) in Sevastopol (Ukraine) was used for operational24 hours/day, 7 days/week receiving of AVHRRNOAA data for construction of sea surface temperature,optical characteristics of sea water and currents maps.SST variability (Fig.5) and intensive algae bloom (highconcentration of blue-green algae on the sea surface inthe summertime) (Fig.6) allow to highlight meso- andsmall-scale water dynamics in the Baltic Sea and tofollow movements of currents, eddies, dipoles, jets,filaments, river plumes, and outflows from the Vistulaand the Curonian bays. Sequence of daily MODIS IRand VIS imagery allows to reconstruct a real field ofsurface currents (direction and velocity) with 0.25-1 kmresolution, which is very important for a forecast of adirection and velocity of potential pollution driftincluding oil spills.

Figure 2: A release of oil from the ship movingnorthward (white dot) on 11 January 2005 (ASAR

Envisat, ESA). Length of the spill is 31 km, surface –9.6 km2.

Figure 3. A release of oil from three ships on 25 August2005 (ASAR Envisat, ESA). Length of the spill in front

of Klaipeda is 33.6 km, surface – 8.6 km2. Length ofanother long spill – 22 km.

Figure 4. An oil spill released from the ship movingalong Gotland Island on 18 October 2005 (ASAR

Envisat, ESA). Length of the spill chain is 50 km, totalsurface 33 km2.

Combination of ASAR ENVISAT images with high-resolution VIS and IR MODIS images allows tounderstand the observed form of the detected oil spillsand to predict their transport by currents.

Figure 5. Sea surface temperature in the Baltic Sea on 1September 2005 (NOAA-18).

Figure 6. Algae bloom in the Baltic Sea on 13 July 2005(MODIS-Terra).

Sea wind speed fields were derived from scatterometerdata from every path of the QuikSCAT satellite over theBaltic Sea (twice a day). These data were combinedwith data from coastal meteorological stations inRussia, Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, Sweden, Denmark,Germany, Poland, and numerical weather models.Satellite altimetry data from every track of Jason-1 overthe Baltic Sea were used for compilation of sea waveheight charts, which include the results of the FNMOC(Fleet Numerical Meteorology and Oceanography

Center) WW3 Model. Both data were used for theanalysis of the ASAR ENVISAT imagery and estimatesof oil spill drift direction and velocity.

In total 274 oil spills were detected in 230 ASARENVISAT images and 17 SAR RADARSAT imagesreceived from 12 June 2004 till 30 November 2005(Fig. 7). Oil spills clearly revealed the main ship routesin the Baltic Sea directed to Ventspils, Liepaja,Klaipeda (routes from different directions), Kaliningrad,and along Gotland Island (Fig. 7). No spills originatedfrom D-6 oil platform were observed. The interactivenumerical model Seatrack Web SMHI [15] was used fora forecast of the drift of: (1) all large oil spills detectedby ASAR ENVISAT in the southeastern Baltic Sea and(2) virtual (simulated) oil spills from the D-6 platform.

Figure 7. Map of all oil spills detected by the analysis ofthe ASAR ENVISAT and SAR RADARSAT imagery in

June 2004 – November 2005.

3. THE BLACK AND MEDITERRANEAN SEAS

Increased oil exports from the Caspian Sea region toRussian and Georgian ports and across the Black Seahas led to increased oil tanker traffic (and risks of anaccident) through the narrow, winding Turkish Straits(including the Dardanelles, Marmara Sea, and BosporusStraits). The result of this high level of traffic is a highrisk of pollution and even ecological disaster in theBlack and Mediterranean seas. According to EnergyInformation Administration (www.eia.doe.gov) around50,000 vessels per year (nearly one every 10 minutes)now pass through Turkish Straits. Around one-tenth ofthese are oil or liquefied natural gas tankers. Thisincreased congestion has led to a growing number ofaccidents; between 1988 and 1992, there were 155collisions in the straits, some of them resulting inspilling thousands tons of oil into the straits.

Serious ecological situation has built up in the region ofNovorossiisk. The city homes the largest Russian porton the Black Sea with an annual oil export from threeoil terminals of about 32 mln. tons, which is expected totriple in the coming 10 years. Moreover, the shore zoneof the northeastern Black Sea is a unique environmentalcomplex and the only Russia’s recreation area on theBlack Sea. All these factors represent a real danger forthe region’s environment causing seawater pollutionwith industrial and domestic discharges. The accidentwith Greek tanker Georgios III occurred inTsemesskaya Bay on August 7, 2004 is an example(Fig.8).

Figure 8. The oil spill from tanker Georgios III on 7August 2004. The optical image from helicopter is

courtesy of the Specialized Center forHydrometeorology and Environmental Monitoring of

the Black and Azov Seas.

The application of satellite SAR technology to theinvestigation of oil pollution in the Black andMediterranean seas was done in the OCEANIDES

Project (2003-2005). In the Black Sea it was detectedabout 200-250 oil spills yearly (in 2000-2002), in theMediterranean Sea – 1700 oil spills yearly (1999-2002)(http://oceanides.jrc.cec.eu.int/).

In April-October 2006 we performed a complexmonitoring of ecological state of the northeastern part ofthe Black Sea. Like in the OCEANIDES Project, it wasdone not in operational regime. An example of oilpollution derived from ASAR Envisat imagery on 19September 2006 is shown in Fig.9. Red squares show 5oil spills of the size of 0.5-9.2 km2.

Figure 9. Oil spills in the northeastern Black Sea (ASAREnvisat, 19 September 2006, 19:19 GMT, ESA).

Figure 10. Oil spills along the Lebanese coast on 3August 2006 derived from MODIS-Aqua.

We have to note that under certain conditions it’spossible to observe oil slicks in the visible band also.Such a case is shown in Fig. 10 where large oil spillswere detected in August 2006 along the Lebanese coastfrom the analysis of MODIS-Aqua imagery. Damage tothe Jiyyeh Power Station in mid-July 2006 duringmilitary conflict between Israel and Lebanon spilled15,000 tons of oil into the Mediterranean Sea. The slickspreads from the power plant northward of the city ofBeirut as it easier to see in the enlarged areas (Fig. 10).The spill was expected to affect fishing and tourismindustries, as well as local wildlife.

4. THE CASPIAN SEA

The Caspian Environment Programme (CEP) reportsthat the Caspian Sea is currently undergoing increasinganthropogenic pressure. As a result, there is an increaseof eutrophication, water pollution by oil, heavy metals,chemicals and overexploitation of the Caspian biota[16]. Main sources of the Caspian Sea pollution are: (1)river run-off; (2) industrial and municipal waste waters;(3) offshore and onshore oil production; (4) oiltransportation; and (5) flooded coastal zone due to sealevel rise.

ASAR image shows an area covering the AbsheronPeninsula in Azerbaijan (Fig.11). Baku, appearing as alarge bright area at the southern coast of peninsula, isthe Azerbaijan's capital and one of the chief ports on theCaspian Sea. The oil platforms of Baku, built in the1950s and 1960s appear as bright dots in the image.Some oil slicks (black patches) are visible in the imageon the Caspian Sea. The largest one of the size of theBaku City is related to Neftyanye Kamni oil rigs. Thecontamination of the Caspian Sea due to oil drilling inBaku has been a problem since the 19 th century. Thereis no long-term statistics for oil spills in the Caspian Seayet, because regular satellite monitoring of oil spills isabsent in this region.

Figure 11. Oil pollution around Absheron Peninsula on10 September 2004 (ASAR Envisat, ESA).

5. CONCLUSIONS

ASAR ENVISAT and SAR RADARSAT provideeffective capabilities to monitor oil spills, in particular,in the Baltic Sea, as well as in the other European seas.Combined with satellite remote sensing (AVHRRNOAA, MODIS-Terra and -Aqua, QuikSCAT, Jason-1)of SST, sea level, chlorophyll concentration, mesoscaledynamics, wind and waves, this observational systemrepresents a powerful method for long-term monitoringof ecological state of semi-enclosed seas especiallyvulnerable to oil pollution. Our experience in complexoperational monitoring could be easily transferred to theCaspian, Black, Mediterranean and other Europeanseas.

6. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

This study was supported by LUKOIL-Kaliningrad-morneft, INTAS “MOPED” Project № 06-1000028-9091, NATO SfP “MACE” Project № 981063, RFBRProject № 06-05-08072-ofi.

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