Web-based GIS dedicated for marine environment surveillance and monitoring

Abstract

Maritime and port areas throughout the world are exposed to many different hazards, like pollution, terrorism and natural disasters. Early detection, identification and preparation of appropriate response strategies is especially important in the case of semi-enclosed Basins like the Southern Baltic Sea, mainly due to the marine ecosystems' continuous absorption of pollutants including oil, heavy metals and chemicals. Many of those agents are characterised by great toxicity and cause devastation of the natural environment. The recent development in the information technology provides the means and possibilities for much faster and more efficient access to survey data, allowing their remote, nearly real-time management, processing and visualisation. Several approaches and techniques of measurements are available in marine environment monitoring. These consist of direct sampling, airborne and satellite imagery, hydrological measurements using CTD probes, remote sensing with the use of electromagnetic waves, acoustic methods based on the data acquired by multi-beam and side-scan sonars and single-beam echosounders.