ABSTRACT
Shipping activities in the Baltic Sea, including increasing oil transport and oil handled in harbors, have a number of negative impacts on the marine environment and coastal zone. Oil discharges from ships represent a significant threat to marine ecosystems. Oil spills cause the contamination of seawater, sediments, shores, and beaches, which may persist for several months and represent a threat to marine resources. Among the main tasks in the ecological monitoring of the Baltic Sea are an operational satellite and aerial detection of oil spillages, determination of their characteristics, establishment of the pollution sources, and forecast of probable trajectories of the oil spill transport. In this entry, we show the results of recent investigations of oil pollution in the Baltic Sea, including the application of satellite remote-sensing technology.
