Sea Waterways Research Articles

Oil Discharge Trajectory Simulation at Selected Baltic Sea Waterway under Variability of Hydro-Meteorological Conditions

The paper deals with an important issue related to the identification, modelling, and prediction of environmental pollution in aquatic ecosystems of the Baltic Sea caused by anthropopressure. Water ecosystems are in danger nowadays because of the negative influence of chemical releases in seas, oceans, or inland waters. The crucial issue is to prevent the oil spills and mitigate their consequences. Thus, there is a need for methods capable of reducing the water pollution and enhancing the effectiveness of port and marine environment preservation. The challenge in implementing actions to remove and prevent horizontal oil discharge lies in accurately determining its shape and direction of oil spreading. The author employed a self-designed software utilizing modified and developed mathematical probabilistic models to forecast the movement and dispersion of an oil spill in diverse hydrological and meteorological conditions. This involved determining the trajectory and movement of a spill domain, which consists of elliptical sub-domains undergoing temporal changes. The research results obtained are the initial results in the oil spill simulation problem. This approach represents an expanded and innovative method for determining the spill domain and tracking its movement, applicable to oceans and seas worldwide. It expands upon the methodologies firstly discussed, thereby broadening the range of available techniques in this field. A simple model of an oil spill trajectory simulation and a surface oil slick as an ellipse is illustrated using a time-series of selected hydro-meteorological factors that change at random times. The author proposes a Monte Carlo simulation method to determine the extent of an oil spill in an aquatic ecosystem, taking into account the influence of varying hydro-meteorological conditions. A semi-Markov model is defined to capture the dynamics of these conditions within the spill area and develop an enhanced algorithm for predicting changes in the shape and movement of the spill domain under changing these conditions. By applying the algorithm, a simulation is conducted to provide short-term prediction of the oil discharge trajectory in a selected Baltic Sea waterway. To enhance the accuracy of predicting the process of changing conditions, uniformly tested joint datasets from the open sea water area were incorporated. Finally, the potential future prospects and directions for further research in this field are discussed.

Assessment of ship manoeuvring safety in waterway systems by relative navigational risk

The safety of vessels navigating in the sea waterway system is ensured by fulfilling the acceptable restrictions called safe ship operation conditions in that system. The assessment of navigation safety is particularly important when the conditions for safe operation of ships in the waterway system are changed concerns increasing the maximum parameters of vessels, increasing the allowable hydrometeorological conditions or changing the minimum tug assistance. The article presents a method for assessing navigation safety when the conditions for the safe operation of vessels in the waterway system get changed. The method uses two indicators, which are difference in navigation risks and relative navigation risk. To determine the navigational risk, algorithms were developed for calculating the probability of accidents caused by the deterioration of navigation conditions and technical failure of ship equipment and tugs. Another algorithm was developed for calculating the consequences of the accidents that involve blocking a waterway by a ship anchoring in an emergency, grounding, impact of the ship against a port structure or moored ship and a collision with another ship in motion. The method developed for assessing navigation safety by means of relative navigation risk can be used in practice when changing the conditions for safe operation of vessels in the waterway system and when the system is modernized. Navigational safety management is a decision process that is implemented in the loop presented in the article. The acceptable risk is determined on the basis of vessel traffic intensity and ship parameters defined by safe operation conditions for a given waterway system. Relative navigational risk may be used in assessment and comparison of various conditions of safe ship operation. The probability of an accident caused by ship's moving outside the available navigable area due to technical failures of ship equipment or tugs is determined, depending on the type of port waterway and the manoeuvres performed.

Maximum Safe Parameters of Ships in Complex Systems of Port Waterways

Context: From the perspective of marine traffic engineering, a system of port waterways is composed of a set of waterways (port areas), such as approach channels, port entrance, inner fairways (port channels, rivers, lakes), turning basins and port basins of various terminals. The sea waterway must be adjusted to the navigation of specific types of ships, characterized by length, breadth, draft and airdraft. The primary requirement for shipping in sea waterways is the safety of navigation. Each sea waterway has traffic restrictions for the ships using it. These restrictions are called conditions of sea waterway operation or conditions of ship operation in the sea waterway. Problem: There are a number of empirical, deterministic or probabilistic methods to determine the safe width of maneuvering areas on port waterways. The direct application of empirical methods to determine the conditions for the safe operation of ships on the complex waterway, such as the Świnoujście–Szczecin fairway, was impossible due to the complexity of the waterway and various restrictions on its individual parts. Method: The paper presents the assumptions and calculation procedure of a method allowing for the determination of maximum safe parameters of ships in existing complex waterways. Results: The proposed method was used in the preparation of port regulations for the dredged and widened Świnoujście–Szczecin waterway. The results of these calculations are presented as a practical application of the method. Conclusions: This article defines conditions for the safe operation of ships in complex port waterways systems and presents the methodology for determining maximum safe parameters of ships in existing complex port waterways systems.

Example of Coastline Changes from the Last Glacier Maximum to the Present: Çanakkale Strait

Climate change emerges as an important problem for the earth today. Although the negative effects of this problem are not directly reflected in the time we live in, it is revealed by the scientists working on the subject that it will be observed in human life for decades-centuries and will be observed in detail on the earth for thousands of tens of thousands of years later. This predicted climate change can be considered a normal situation when considering the time that has passed from the formation of the earth to the present, approximately 4.5 billion years (except that the difference between the reasons for climate changes in the past geological times and the predicted climate change is the human effect). The effects of Quaternary climate change can be observed on the earth both on a global scale and on a regional scale. As an example of global climate change, the continuous change of sea level can be given, and the best indicators of this change are geological/geomorphological structures such as marine terraces or submarine canyons observed on the coasts on the regional scale. On the local scale, stalactites and stalagmites observed in caves, lake sediments, deep sea sediments, glacial cores are among the best examples of climate change. In this study, the land-sea boundary (coastal line) changes of the coasts of the Çanakkale Strait, which is the southern branch of the Turkish Straits System, have been investigated, considering the sea level changes that show the climate change best in the last 25 thousand years. In this context, the coastal changes of the Çanakkale Strait coasts from the Late Pleistocene to the present are modeled using geographic information systems programs, by using different global and regional sea level change charts showing climate changes. The most striking of these new maps is the one from 20 thousand years ago. At this time, it is known that the global sea level is 120 meters lower than today and the deepest point of the Çanakkale Strait is around -113 meters today. Therefore, it is not possible to mention a Mediterranean-Black Sea waterway connection through the Çanakkale Strait at these times.

К вопросу о существовании «пути из варяг в греки»

The ‘route from the Varangians to the Greeks’ is widely known and often mentioned in research, popular science and educational literature. Much less often is it mentioned that the existence of the trade route is seriously doubted and needs additional evidence. The discussion about the actuality of a ‘route from the Varangians to the Greeks’ has intensified in the recent decade; it mostly involves historians who draw on chronicles, archive materials and literary sources. Although relevant geographical studies focus on small territories and have a limited scope, only they can give a definitive answer to the question of whether it was possible to sail the rivers of the East European Plain between the Baltic and Black Seas in the 8th-11th centuries AD. Of particular importance are studies on the watersheds marking the principal legs of the route. If the watersheds were traversable, the ‘route from the Varangians to the Greeks’ was navigable, and the impassability of watersheds would preclude navigation along the route. Methodologically, the study employs methods and approaches used in physiographical field studies, which have not been applied earlier to the watershed sections of the ‘route from the Varangians to the Greeks’. The central result of the research is the reconstruction of the hydrological features and hydrographic situation of the watershed between the basins of the Neva (River Lovat) and the Western Dvina (River Usvyacha) during the existence of the ‘route from the Varangians to the Greeks’. This reconstruction and the study of the watershed territories, the system of land communication routes and toponymic features of this territory conclusively demonstrate that the ‘way from the Varangians to the Greeks’, or the Baltic-Black Sea waterway, could actually exist.

Conditions Of Safe Ship Operations And Sea Waterway Parameters Based On The Reconstruction Of Świnoujście-Szczecin Fairway

Abstract This paper describes the state vector of safe ship operation on sea waterways. The author determines relationships between the state vector of safe ship operation and parameters of sea waterway system elements. These include three subsystems: area, navigation and traffic control. These relationships have been exemplified with the 68-kilometre Świnoujście-Szczecin fairway, presently under reconstruction. A systematic approach to sea waterway design is globally unique.

Methods for Optimization of Sea Waterway Systems and their Application

Abstract This paper presents developed optimization methods for sea waterway systems. Objective function of optimization of sea waterway systems have been formulated and its detail form for fairways has been determined. Three probabilistic methods for determining safe bed-breadth of fairway are described. Limitations of the presented methods are also discussed. The developed optimization methods for sea waterway systems have been applied to determine parameters of a modernized fairway between Świnoujście and Szczecin as well as its navigation systems

Studying Sea Waterway System with the Aid of Computer Simulation Methods

Abstract The article presents a systematic approach to studying sea waterways. Relations between the parameters of sea waterway system elements and the conditions of safe ship operation are determined. Principles of formulation of the simulation experiment research process in the sea waterway system design process at the preliminary and detailed design stages are defined.

OPTIMIZATION OF SEA WATERWAY SYSTEM PARAMETERS IN MARINE TRAFFIC ENGINEERING / OPTYMALIZACJA PARAMETRÓW SYSTEMU MORSKICH DRÓG WODNYCH W UJĘCIU INŻYNIERII RUCHU MORSKIEGO

Abstract The article defines a system of sea waterways and discusses general principles of modeling such systems. Conditions for safe operation of marine waterway systems are specified. The author's model of waterway parameter optimization herein presented was used in designing a system of approach channels leading to the outer port in Świnoujście, the LNG terminal.

The Traffic Engineering Approach to Problems of Sea Waterway System Design / Problemy Projektowania Systemu Morskich Dróg Wodnych W Ujęciu Inżynierii Ruchu

Abstract The article deals with some problems that designers of sea waterways encounter, i.e.: interrelations between parameters of waterway, ships and positioning systems used, selection of position determination systems depending on ship's operating conditions on sea waterways, and the optimization of waterway parameters.

TENT-T Priority Projects: Where do we Stand?

1. Introduction It is also in the quality and extension of networked transport infrastructures, although not only in this, that the character of a State can be assessed. With the single market in existence and the single currency in circulation, the progress made by the EU and its Member States in transport networks appears limited if the results are compared with the original ambitions and programs. It is, therefore, worth asking what the problems and the perspectives are of TEN-T, i.e. the core Trans European Transport Network. Section 2 provides a short overview of its main steps and achievements. The paper then focuses the funding gap, i.e. the most evident TEN-T problem (Section 3), the differences between infrastructure capital and public investment and their relations with economic growth (Section 4) and the funding implications of long-term real interest rates (Section 5). The profitability issue (Section 6) and the budgeting issue of infrastructure investment (Section 7) are also considered. Section 8 is dedicated to the governance aspects with special reference to the Italian case. Section 9 briefly concludes. 2. Pan-European Corridors, TENs, TEN-T Pan-European transport corridors are new modern routes in Central and Eastern Europe envisaged to speed up integration in the European Community, which in the early 1990s was already set to enlarge. The European Transport Network (TENT-T) was planned as part of the Trans European Networks (TENs), i.e. the infrastructure policy embedded in the Maastricht Treaty (1992). In both cases the aim basically was to allow goods and people to circulate quickly and easily across borders, and the realization of a single, multimodal network, in particular, was intended to parallel the completion of the single market and the start of the process expected to lead to the launch of the single currency. The TEN-T network was planned to comprise traditional infrastructure and equipment as well as innovative management transport systems. In December 1993 the European Council established a group of representatives chaired by the Commission Vice-President H. Cristophersen to identify a limited number of concrete projects of major importance for the EU-12. The selected 14 projects were chosen on the basis of relevance and a number of other criteria, but even then the available financial resources appeared limited. In 1994, after the completion of the internal market, at the start of Stage 2 of the convergence process to the euro and the then foreseen acceleration in the enlargement process in the east, the ten Pan-European Corridors and the TEN-T network coalesced into a single large program of infrastructure building. In 2004, i.e. just after the accession of ten new member countries, the list of priority projects was extended to 30 in order to take into account two further new entrants to what is now known as the EU-27. The series of 30 axes had already been identified in late 2004 on the basis of proposals from the Member States and was devised by concentrating on major projects capable of completing those implemented at national level. Indeed, the network was intended to deepen European integration and completion was planned for 2020. Ten years later, L. Barrot, Vice-President of the EC with responsibility for transport in the EU-25 (Barrot, 2005) unambiguously remarked that the results had fallen short of the original ambitions largely because the amount of resources required was huge. Indeed, a true trans-European network for the then still enlarging EU-25 had been estimated to amount to 900bn [euro] over the period 1996-2020 (EC-DG TREN, 2010). The 30 TEN-T priority projects form the first layer of the European network of rail, road, internal waterways and sea waterway axes. The estimated cost was 415bn [euro]. The priority projects basically pursue interconnection between national networks since road, rail and air traffic management systems or horizontal projects were added. …

A PROPOSAL FOR THE MODELS AND MEASURES OF SEARCH AND RESCUE ON INLAND WATERWAYS

Search and rescue on inland waterways are considered to be insufficiently developed. The methods of search and rescue have been developed only for sea waterways. Despite the possibilities of comparison, the specific characteristics of inland waterways are the reason why it is seriously considered to develop proposals for search and rescue models on inland waterways. The authors of this paper suggest a search and rescue model for rivers, lakes and channels regarding configuration and the current safety conditions on inland waterways. The model allows a successful quest for reduced search time. In addition, the model predicts the performance of the search.

Where to draw the line? A nuclear genetic perspective on proposed range boundaries of the crested newts Triturus karelinii and T. arntzeni

AbstractThe group of crested newts distributed from the southern Balkans to the southern shore of the Caspian Sea, Triturus karelinii sensu lato, comprises two species, T. karelinii in the east and T. arntzeni in the west. Three hypotheses have been forwarded defining the range of T. arntzeni, namely from northern Serbia eastwards i) in to Thrace, ii) up to the Aegean-Black Sea waterway including the Bosporus, or iii) into western Anatolia. We study 130 newts from 22 populations across this area with a panel of 40 enzyme nuclear genes. A combined analysis with the computer programs Structure and NewHybrids reveals the existence of two groups with admixture at two localities. The 'western group' comprises all European populations and a population at the southern shore of the Sea of Marmara in Asiatic Turkey, whereas the 'eastern group' is found at the Sakarya river valley in northern Anatolia, Asiatic Turkey. The admixed populations are also located in northern Anatolia. An analysis with the computer program BAPS resolves six genetic clusters, of which three represent the 'western group' and the other three coincide with the 'eastern group' and the two admixed populations. These analyses indicate that the species transition from T. arntzeni to T. karelinii is not in Thrace but in northern Anatolia. The presence of 'western' T. arntzeni to the east of 'eastern' T. karelinii indicates that the species' contact zone has a convoluted shape. Moreover, the spatial distribution of diagnostic allozymes only roughly coincides with that of two deeply divergent mitochondrial DNA haplotypes. A more detailed survey on the crested newt distribution in Anatolia is required to elucidate the picture further.