Abstract
Several hypothetical cases of oil spills from tankers in the Kvarner and Rijeka Bay were analyzed using three‐dimensional circulation models coupled with oil spill model. Two circulation models—local one covering the area of Kvarner Bay, Rijeka Bay, and Vinodol channel along with the basin‐wide one covering the whole Adriatic Sea—are connected through the one‐way nesting procedure by imposing the results from the Adriatic model to the open boundaries of the local one. Oil spill model relays on the current fields obtained by the local circulation model during all our simulations. Spreading of the oil pollution from three hypothetical positions of tanker accidents in the local model domain was simulated for the periods of 10 “winter‐season” and “summer‐season” days. The oil spill model results show that the hypothetical tanker accidents in the center of the Rijeka Bay are the most dangerous for the studied area in both seasons. Summer‐season case shows significantly worse situation from the ecological point of view, oil spills spread on the larger area simply because stratification and mixing present during the winter period reduce oil slick effect.
Highlights
An intensive tanker transport in the Adriatic Sea potentially endangered the whole basin and forces the development of efficient protecting service with high-quality oil spill simulation and prediction system being one of the important ingredients
High ecological vulnerability of Kvarner and Rijeka Bay, due to geospatial characteristics as semiclosed basin along with intensive tanker transport and oil transshipment in the Omisalj port were a reason to select this Adriatic area for application of the oil spill modelling system Figure 1
Dynamics of physical oceanography parameters with oil spreading in the regions of Kvarner, Rijeka Bay, and Vinodol channel is reproduced with advanced numerical models
Summary
An intensive tanker transport in the Adriatic Sea potentially endangered the whole basin and forces the development of efficient protecting service with high-quality oil spill simulation and prediction system being one of the important ingredients. High ecological vulnerability of Kvarner and Rijeka Bay, due to geospatial characteristics as semiclosed basin along with intensive tanker transport and oil transshipment in the Omisalj port were a reason to select this Adriatic area for application of the oil spill modelling system Figure 1 . 46◦
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