Modelling spatial dispersion of contaminants from shipping lanes in the Baltic Sea
Journal article, 2021

Major sources of pollution from shipping to marine environments are antifouling paint residues and discharges of bilge, black, grey and ballast water and scrubber discharge water. The dispersion of copper, zinc, naphthalene, pyrene, and dibromochloromethane have been studied using the Ship Traffic Emission Assessment Model, the General Estuarine Transport Model, and the Eulerian tracer transport model in the Baltic Sea in 2012. Annual loads of the contaminants ranged from 10-2 tons for pyrene to 100 s of tons for copper. The dispersion of the contaminants is determined by the surface kinetic energy and vertical stratification at the location of the discharge. The elevated concentration of the contaminants at the surface persists for about two-days and the contaminants are dispersed over the spatial scale of 10-60 km. The Danish Sounds, the southwestern Baltic Sea and the Gulf of Finland are under the heaviest pressure of shipborne contaminants in the Baltic Sea.

Baltic Sea

Ship pollution

Water circulation

Contaminant dispersion

Ship waste

Vertical mixing

Author

Ilja Maljutenko

Tallinn University of Technology (TalTech)

Ida-Maja Hassellöv

Chalmers, Mechanics and Maritime Sciences (M2), Maritime Studies

Martin Eriksson

Chalmers, Gothenburg Centre for Sustainable Development

Erik Ytreberg

Chalmers, Mechanics and Maritime Sciences (M2), Maritime Studies

Daniel Yngsell

Chalmers, Mechanics and Maritime Sciences (M2), Maritime Studies

Lasse Johansson

Finnish Meteorological Institute (FMI)

Jukka-Pekka Jalkanen

Finnish Meteorological Institute (FMI)

Mariliis Kouts

Tallinn University of Technology (TalTech)

Mari-Liis Kasemets

Tallinn University of Technology (TalTech)

Jana Moldanova

IVL Swedish Environmental Research Institute

Kerstin Magnusson

IVL Swedish Environmental Research Institute

Urmas Raudsepp

Tallinn University of Technology (TalTech)

Marine Pollution Bulletin

0025-326X (ISSN) 1879-3363 (eISSN)

Vol. 173 112985

Evaluation, control and Mitigation of the EnviRonmental impacts of shippinG Emissions (EMERGE)

European Commission (EC) (EC/H2020/874990), 2020-02-01 -- 2024-01-31.

Subject Categories

Meteorology and Atmospheric Sciences

Water Engineering

Oceanography, Hydrology, Water Resources

DOI

10.1016/j.marpolbul.2021.112985

PubMed

34598094

More information

Latest update

2/25/2022