Author(s): Kari Lampela; Jorma Rytkonen
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Abstract: Baltic Sea area in the Northern part of the Europe is a largest brackish water area of the world. As a sea area Baltic Sea is a very shallow, having the average depth of only 55 m. The sea is covering approximately an area of 337 000 km2. The sea is linked to the Atlantic Ocean through narrow and shallow Danish Straits, thus it is also characterized by a great sensitivity and vulnerability against environmental impacts and pollution. Baltic Sea is also known by the presence of ice during the winter. Baltic Sea is also one of the most dense maritime traffic areas in the world. Currently there are more than 2000 ships in every time sailing across the sea area. Seagoing oil transportations from Russian oil terminals cross the sea have also put the oil combating authorities and specialists to develop oil combating technology for ice conditions. Alone in the Gulf of Finland waters, in the North-Eastern corner of the Baltic Sea, more than 150 million tons of crude oil is transported annually. Finland, being one of the Baltic Sea States, is strongly dependent of marine transport. About 80% of Finnish exports and imports are carried by maritime transport. Finland is also the only country in the world, where all harbors can freeze in the winter, so it has been essential especially in Finland to develop adequate ability to respond oil spills in ice as well. This paper summarizes the recent lessons learned in oil combating in ice conditions in Baltic States. First a brief introduction on the winter time conditions and traffic patterns will be presented, following a discussion on winter time risks and accidents in the area. The oil recovery methods used in the area will be presented with the lessons learned in ice conditions.
Year: 2012