Decision support system for emergency management of oil spill accidents in the Mediterranean Sea

This paper presents an innovative web-based decision support system to facilitate emergency management in the case of oil spill accidents, called WITOIL (Where Is The Oil). The system can be applied to create a forecast of oil spill events, evaluate uncertainty of the predictions, and calculate hazards based on historical meteo-oceanographic datasets. To compute the oil transport and transformation, WITOIL uses the MEDSLIK-II oil spill model forced by operational meteo-oceanographic services. Results of the modeling are visualized through Google Maps. A special application for Android is designed to provide mobile access for competent authorities, technical and scientific institutions, and citizens

Monitoring and assessment guidelines for marine litter in Mediterranean MPAs

As part of the AMARE project, the main purpose of this report is to provide advice and practical guidance, for establishing programmes to monitor and assess the distribution and abundance of marine litter in MPAs. The present document build on relevant existing monitoring and assessment practices in the Mediterranean, such as the existing monitoring practices in UNEP/MAP and within the Marine Strategy Framework Directive. The proposed strategy (defining the sampling scheme, the environmental compartment to monitor and the protocols to be used) is also following the recommendations of the UN GESAMP report on monitoring marine litter (GESAMP, 2019). In addition, it is based on the experience of ongoing monitoring and assessment activities under various scientific projects in the Mediterranean Sea (CleanSea, Marelitt, Perseus, Marlisco, Ac4forlitter, INDICIT, MEDseaLitter, Plastic Buster MPA, PANACEA, Life projects, etc.), and also considers the available scientific literature.peer-reviewe

Numerical modeling of oil pollution in the Eastern Mediterranean Sea

This chapter presents a summary of major applications in numerical oil spill predictions for the Eastern Mediterranean Sea. Since the trilateral agreement between Cyprus, Egypt, and Israel back in 1997, under the framework of the subregional contingency plan for preparedness and response to major oil spill pollution incidents in the Eastern Mediterranean Sea, several oil spill models have been implemented during real oil pollution accidents and after oil spills that were detected from satellite remote sensing SAR data. In addition, several projects cofinanced by the European Commission addressed particularly issues with oil spill modeling, taking the advantage of developments in operational oceanography, as well as collaboration with the Mediterranean Oceanographic Network for Global Ocean Observing System (MONGOOS), with the European Maritime Safety Agency CleanSeaNet (EMSA-CSN), and Regional Marine Pollution Emergency Response Centre for the Mediterranean Sea (REMPEC). Major oil pollution incidents in the Eastern Mediterranean and the oil spill modeling applications carried out are summarized in this work. Three well-established operational oil spill modeling systems – two of them characterized by different numerical tools MEDSLIK, MEDSLIK II, and the POSEIDON oil spill models – are described in terms of their applicability to real oil spill pollution events, the Lebanon oil pollution crisis in summer 2006, the case Costa Concordia accident, and the spill event associated with the collision of two cargo vessels in the North Aegean Sea in June 2009. Finally, an overview of the present-day capability of Eastern Mediterranean countries in oil spill modeling is provided in this chapter

Tracking plastics in the Mediterranean: 2D Lagrangian model

Drift of floating debris is studied with a 2D Lagrangian model with stochastic beaching and sedimentation of plastics. An ensemble of >1010 virtual particles is tracked from anthropogenic sources (coastal human populations, rivers, shipping lanes) to environmental destinations (sea surface, coastlines, seabed). Daily analyses of ocean currents and waves provided by CMEMS at a horizontal resolution of 1/16° are used to force the plastics. High spatio-temporal variability in sea-surface plastic concentrations without any stable long-term accumulations is found. Substantial accumulation of plastics is detected on coastlines and the sea bottom. The most contaminated areas are in the Cilician subbasin, Catalan Sea, and near the Po River Delta. Also, highly polluted local patches in the vicinity of sources with limited circulation are identified. An inverse problem solution, used to quantify the origins of plastics, shows that plastic pollution of every Mediterranean country is caused primarily by its own terrestrial sources.Published151-1624A. Oceanografia e climaJCR Journa

Monitoring and Assessment guidelines for Marine Litter in Mediterranean MPAs

As part of the AMARE project, the main purpose of this report is to provide advice and practical guidance, for establishing programmes to monitor and assess the distribution and abundance of marine litter in MPAs. The present document build on relevant existing monitoring and assessment practices in the Mediterranean, such as the existing monitoring practices in UNEP/MAP and within the Marine Strategy Framework Directive. The proposed strategy (defining the sampling scheme, the environmental compartment to monitor and the protocols to be used) is also based on recommendations of the UN GESAMP report on monitoring marine litter (GESAMP, 2019). In addition, it is based on the experience of ongoing monitoring and assessment activities under various scientific projects, including in the Mediterranean Sea (CleanSea, Marelitt, Perseus, Marlisco, Ac4forlitter, INDICIT, MEDseaLitter, Plastic Buster MPA, PANACEA, Life projects, etc.), and also considers the available scientific literature

NECCTON Technical specification of the pollutants and stressors products (D8.1)

<p>This report contains detailed information on the novel products for the Copernicus Marine Service concerning pollutants (mercury, plastic, oil, and different families of POPs) and stressors (bottom trawl fishery, climate change, and multiple stress) that will be delivered by NECCTON WP8. It provides specifications about the variables embedded in each product (Section 3). The different products are applied to different geographic areas (North-West European Shelf, Mediterranean Sea, Black Sea, and Arctic), as described in the dataset tables (Section 4).</p&gt