Operational satellite monitoring of oil spill pollution in the Southeastern Baltic Sea: 1.5 Years experience

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 in March 2004. Operational monitoring was performed in June 2004–November 2005 on the base of daily satellite remote sensing (AVHRR NOAA, MODIS, TOPEX/Poseidon, Jason-1, ENVISAT ASAR and RADARSAT SAR imagery) of sea surface temperature (SST), sea level, chlorophyll concentration, mesoscale dynamics, wind and waves, and oil spills. As a result a complex information on oil pollution of the sea, SST, distribution of suspended matter, chlorophyll concentration, sea currents and meteorological parameters has been received. In total 274 oil spills were detected in 230 ASAR ENVISAT images (400×400 km, 75 m/pixel resolution) and 17 SAR RADARSAT images (300×300 km, 25 m/pixel resolution) received during 18 months. The interactive numerical model Seatrack Web SMHI (The Swedish Meteorological and Hydrological Institute) was used for a forecast of the drift of (1) all large oil spills detected by ASAR ENVISAT in the southeastern Baltic Sea and (2) virtual (simulated) oil spills from the D-6 platform. The latter was done daily for operational correction of the action plan for accident elimination at the D-6 and ecological risk assessment (oil pollution of the sea and the Curonian Spit). Probability of the oil spill drift directed to the Curonian Spit equals to 67%, but only in a half of these cases oil spills could reach the coast during 48 h after an accidental release of 10 m³ of oil.