Numerical Modeling of Oil Pollution in the Western Mediterranean Sea

In this chapter we analyze the last 15 years of oil spill numerical modeling applications in the Western Mediterranean Sea. From the literature, around 17 different scientific papers were published between the years 2001-2016 with a focus on this same subject, but using different ocean and atmospheric forecasting systems as well as of weathering and particle tracking models. All the considered applications were classified in relation to the type of adopted numerical tools, the covered area, and the system accessibility. Besides this analysis, a summary of the major oil pollution events that occurred in the Western Mediterranean subbasins and a comparison between the number and the types of numerical applications carried out for each Mediterranean subregions (western, central, and eastern) were reported. Finally, two different operational systems characterized by different numerical tools, the one developed at Meteo-France, the MOTHY system, and the one developed at the Italian National Research Council, the BOOM system, were described in details along with their applications to two pollution events, the Haven accident that occurred in 1991 in the Ligurian Sea and the Porto Torres spill event in 2011 in the Strait of Bonifacio. With this chapter, the authors want also to provide an overview on the capability of the Western Mediterranean countries to respond in case of oil pollution events by adopting oil spill trajectory forecasting systems.