Oil pollution in the North Sea: the impact of governance measures on oil pollution over several decades

Oil pollution entering the marine environment has been an issue of concern for many decades. It can come from riverine or land-based sources, accidental and intentional discharges from ships, or as a by-product of offshore oil extraction. Growing awareness of the impact of oil pollution on the marine environment has led, since the late 1960s, to the introduction of measures to reduce or eliminate pollution from shipping and the offshore oil industry. A framework for environmental protection of the North Sea has developed over many decades through international agreements, regional cooperation, and national measures, while education has also played an important role with modern-day sailors being given due training to understand that dumping waste at sea is illegal in many areas, and is harmful to the marine environment. This paper presents data on trends in pollution from ships and oil installations. While significant reductions in oil pollution have been identified over more than two decades, there remain some areas where action is needed to reduce inputs still further, especially from oil and gas platforms

Программа исследовательской практики для специальности 1-25 80 03 "Финансы, налогообложение и кредит", профилизация "Финансовые технологии и банковское дело", № 7590

A free‐floating oil spill experiment (two oil types) in the open ocean is described, and the results from slick characterization through integrated analysis of drift simulations with remote sensing and in situ data are discussed. We compare oil drift simulations (OpenOil), applying various configurations of wind, wave, and current information, with the observed slick positions and shape. We describe trajectories and dynamics of the spills, slick extent, and their evolution, and the differences in detection capabilities in optical instruments versus multifrequency PolSAR acquired by Deutsches Zentrum für Luft‐und Raumfahrt F‐SAR. When using the best available forcing from in situ data and forecast models, good agreement with the observed position and extent was found. A fair agreement is obtained using only numerical forecast data as input. This case study reveals that the accuracy when using modeled current is relatively higher after one full local inertial period, as the effect of incorrectly modeled amplitude of the inertial current is then vanishing. This should be a general result applicable to any oceanic drift forecast based on the modeled current. A novelty is the comparison of viscous‐similar soybean and mineral oil. Our findings indicate that biological oil emulsions potentially could replace mineral oil emulsions in contingency and rehearsal campaigns, but this finding is only supported from an oil drift prediction perspective. Differences in mineral oil detection capabilities are found between synthetic aperture radar and optical imagery of thinner sheen regions. F‐SAR appears to be more sensitive to thinner oil and detect a larger extent, and differences between the thinner and thicker parts are observed