Oil spillrisk in the Adriatic Sea: an example of operational support capability in aid to the management of the emergency.

Abstract

The Turkish cargo ship “Und Adriyatik” took fire in the early morning of the 6th of February 2008 (see figure 1) due to unknown reasons, only some 13 miles offshore the coasts of Rovinj, in Northern Croatia. The ship was sailing from Istanbul to Trieste. Such an accident was a real threat to the Adriatic Sea, as the ship tanks were full of engine fuel and many trucks were on board: the risk of explosion was high at any time. At mid-morning of the same day, on behalf of the Slovenian Authorities the University of Port Rose (Slovenia) contacted the “Gruppo Nazionale di Oceanografia Operativa” of the “Istituto Nazionale di Geofisica e Vulcanologia” (GNOO-INGV) to get information on the hypothetical dispersion and fate of the oil in case of spillage from the ship. From several years, GNOO-INGV is running a daily marine forecast system of the Mediterranean Sea (MFS) and of a nested higher resolution Adriatic Sea Forecasting Systeml (AFS) with an off-line coupled oil spill model (Medslik). INGV receives atmospheric forecast from the Ufficio Generale Spazio Aereo e Meteorologia (USAM) of the Italian Air Force and it is establishing an agreement with REMPEC (Regional Marine Pollution Emergency Response Centre for Mediterranean Sea) to help for management of oil spill emergencies.