This sketch visualizes the exposure of the Euroregion Galicia (Spain) - North Portugal coasts to potential oil spills coming from the Finisterre Traffic Separation Scheme. These navigation corridors are used by ~40,000 ships per year, and more than 30% of these vessels transport dangerous substances.

Results summarize conditions during 2012 and were obtained by running 8,868 lagrangian simulations. In each simulation 2,345 virtual particles were deployed and followed during the next 96 hours. Particles were transported by sea surface currents obtained from a realistic high resolution ocean model and also dragged by the wind.

The four corridors that integrate the traffic scheme and the approaching regions are shown. The number over the corridor is the total probability of reaching the coast during the first, second, third or fourth day after the spill. Circles along the coastline are the probability of arriving that specific region. Setting the mouse pointer over one corridor, you can filter the data to get a much simpler visualization.

Source code: CoastalRisk. Built with Processing and Processing.js

Otero, P., M. Ruiz-Villarreal, S. Allen-Perkins, B. Vila and J. M. Cabanas. 2013. Coastal exposure to oil spill impacts from the Finisterre Traffic Separation Scheme. In preparation.