Annual sea surface oil pollution of the south–eastern part of the Baltic Sea by satellite data for 2006–2013

Abstract

The annual average features of the spatial distribution of oil pollution at the sea surface in the south–eastern part of the Baltic Sea were determined for the first time. It was shown that the most polluted areas are the seawaters west of the Sambian Peninsula and Vistula Spit, including the coastal zone that is connected to the Baltiysk, Gdansk, and Gdynia ports. The sea surface near the oilfield Kravtsovskoye D-6 (Russia) and oil terminal Būtingė (Lithuania), as well as the coastal zone near the Curonian Spit, do not suffer from oil pollution. A lower estimation of the annual average amount of oil products at the sea surface was performed. The lack of correlation between the location of the oil slicks and main navigation routes by Automatic Identification System (AIS) was explained by the infrequent but large spillages from ships that occur outside of the main traffic lanes. A significant contribution to the oil pollution of the sea surface from nonconventional ships not equipped with AIS was discovered.