Oil Transport in the Turkish Straits System, Part II: A Simulation of Contamination in the Dardanelles Strait

Abstract

In this study, we present a numerical model of contaminant movement in the Dardanelles Strait. The model is based on a flow field computed by finite element discretization of the Shallow Water equations. The Lagrangian particle tracking approach is adopted for the simulation of the oil spill movement. It is shown that the time scale of a major spill is as short as a few hours.It is a well-known fact that the development of the Caspian and Central Asian oil and gas resources, added to the already existing Russian resources, transformed Turkey into a major energy hub of the world energy supplies routes. The Turkish Straits system, made up of the 2 narrow straits of Istanbul and Dardanelles connected by the inner sea of Marmara, is taking the major part of this traffic for now and the next few years. Therefore it is certainly timely to develop a mathematical model as an environmental management tool for pollution prevention, prediction, and risk assessment. We hope that this study can be used to highlight the level of risk associated with the transport of oil in this fragile environment and to compare different response strategies for contingency planning and human natural resources damage assessment.