Toward monitoring and estimating the size of the HFO-contaminated seabed around a shipwreck using MBES backscatter data

Loading...
Thumbnail Image

Access rights

openAccess
publishedVersion

URL

Journal Title

Journal ISSN

Volume Title

A1 Alkuperäisartikkeli tieteellisessä aikakauslehdessä

Date

2021-10

Major/Subject

Mcode

Degree programme

Language

en

Pages

9

Series

Marine Pollution Bulletin, Volume 171

Abstract

Despite a progressive reduction of oil spills caused by the activity of maritime transportation, the latent sources of pollution still exist. Although the harmful impact of heavy fuel oil (HFO) on the marine environment is widely known, many shipwrecks cause contamination of the surrounding areas. In this paper, an approach to monitor the area of the HFO spill around a shipwreck is made using a bottom backscattering strength (BBS) obtained by a multibeam echosounder (MBES). As a case study, the s/s Stuttgart wreck located in the Gulf of Gdansk (Poland) is verified. Two different measurement campaigns have been carried out in shallow waters using low (190 kHz) and high (420 kHz) MBES frequency. The results indicate that the polluted area around s/s Stuttgart was estimated at 49.1 ha, which is around 18.3% more in comparison to the geological surveys made four years earlier.

Description

Funding Information: The authors are grateful to three anonymous reviewers for their constructive criticism and valuable comments. The authors express their gratitude to the Maritime Institute in Gdansk for making the final version of the report (Maritime Institute in Gdansk, 2016) available. The second author appreciates the support of the Gdynia Maritime University in funding this research through internal grant WN/PZ/2021/02. Funding Information: The second author appreciates the support of the Gdynia Maritime University in funding this research through internal grant WN/PZ/2021/02 . Publisher Copyright: © 2021

Keywords

Backscatter, Heavy fuel oil (HFO), Marine pollution monitoring, Multibeam echosounder (MBES), Shipwreck, Submerged oil

Other note

Citation

Szafrańska, M, Gil, M & Nowak, J 2021, ' Toward monitoring and estimating the size of the HFO-contaminated seabed around a shipwreck using MBES backscatter data ', Marine Pollution Bulletin, vol. 171, 112747 . https://doi.org/10.1016/j.marpolbul.2021.112747