Bulycheva, E., Kuzmenko, I., Sivkov, V.
Annual sea surface oil pollution of the south–eastern part
of the Baltic Sea by satellite data for 2006–2013
The annual average features of the spatial distribution of
oil pollution at the sea surface in the south–eastern part of the Baltic Sea
were determined for the first time. It was shown that the most polluted areas
are the seawaters west of the Sambian Peninsula and Vistula Spit, including the
coastal zone that is connected to the Baltiysk, Gdansk, and Gdynia ports. The
sea surface near the oilfield Kravtsovskoye D-6 (Russia) and oil terminal
Būtingė (Lithuania), as well as the coastal zone near the Curonian Spit, do not
suffer from oil pollution. A lower estimation of the annual average amount of
oil products at the sea surface was performed. The lack of correlation between
the location of the oil slicks and main navigation routes by Automatic
Identification System (AIS) was explained by the infrequent but large spillages
from ships that occur outside of the main traffic lanes. A significant
contribution to the oil pollution of the sea surface from nonconventional ships
not equipped with AIS was discovered.