EVALUATING AND PREVENTING POLLUTION FROM NAVIGATION IN THE BLACK SEA COASTAL AREAS IN THE CONTEXT OF CLIMATE CHANGE

Abstract

Nowadays, studying climate change of the coastal zones is of utmost importance, due to the fact that global warming endangers in particular sea coast regions. As a matter of fact, the scientist and one of the founders of physical climatology, Budiko, in 1972, stated that first of all, due to the rising use of fossil fuels, a significant rise in the air temperature will occur, then extensive flooding of coastal areas will be caused by this appearance of climate change, ecomigration will follow, along with massive economical loss, generating a chain-reaction process.
 Taking the Black Sea into consideration, it is more than clear that pollution has reached record levels during the last decades. Hydrocarbons, which are naturally-occurring compounds that form the basis of coal, natural gas and crude oil, are responsible for more than 80% of energy consumption, but unfortunately, it is now common knowledge that using them as the primary source of energy, it contributes to increasing climate changes.
 Furthermore, marine accidents, such as collisions and explosions, contribute significantly to pollution, with consequences on coastal ecosystems and onshore human activities. This paper aims to lay emphasis on the impact that navigation, alongside with climate change has on the marine environment and analyse the available data regarding the marine accidents using satellite monitoring in order to control and prevent disasters that may occur while operating ships at sea.