Vol:.(1234567890)
Research Article
SN Applied Sciences
(2023) 5:158
| https://doi.org/10.1007/s42452-023-05376-x
NCC
National Climatological Center
NOAA
National Oceanic and Atmospheric
Administration
1 Introduction
Oil pollution, mainly caused by tanker accidents, is a primary concern for marine environmental protection [50].
Oil spills are one of the most significant risks to coastal
waters [45]. They will be subjected to various physical,
chemical, and biological oil weathering processes that
alter their chemical composition, physical properties, and
environmental fate [15]. These are the processes of evaporation, emulsification, natural dispersion, dissolution,
photooxidation, spreading, sedimentation, interaction
with fine particles, and biodegradation [55]. The relative
rates of these processes determine the degradation levels
of marine waters. The fact that the oil remains at sea or
comes ashore also influences its fate.
Algeria is geographically, economically, politically, and
strategically located on one of the Mediterranean Sea’s
main coastlines. Indeed, it is strategically located in the
Western Mediterranean. It is the largest country in the
Mediterranean, with a surface area of 2.4 million km
2
, or
about 4.5 times the size of France and 8 times the size
of Italy, and a maritime facade of about 1200 km, facing
Europe, its main economic partner, particularly for exporting most of its oil and gas and importing most of its capital
and consumer goods. The Mediterranean coasts are home
to more than twenty states and over 400 million people, of
which about 130 million, or 35%, live in the coastal zone
[5–24, 59]. The coast hosted about 300 million tourists in
2014, or 30% of global tourism flows; about 50% of these
visits took place on the coast [58]. The coastal zone is a
very sensitive environmental area [24] and is the seat of
many maritime activities, mainly the maritime transport of
hydrocarbon [25], anarchic urbanization, and intense port
activities associated with various industrial activities[52].
Pollution accidents can have catastrophic impacts on the
marine environment in the long term.
Crude oil is essential for global development [8, 14, 27,
33, 35, 51]. Over time, the increase in world population
[21, 53] multiplied the oil production rate to about 9947
billion ton-miles [23]. Oil production in Algeria reached
about 48.3 million tons in 2018. The number of exploration
drillings in 2019 reached 80 wells [11]. Algeria occupies the
3rd rank among the oil-producing countries in Africa and
the 12th rank globally. A significant portion of it is transported by sea yearly [27]. Two billion tons of goods are
circulating in the Mediterranean [4, 5], including 370 million tons of hydrocarbons transiting annually. Twenty-six
(26) million tons of general cargo are destined for Algerian
ports, from which one hundred (100) million tons of hydrocarbons are loaded for export. The latter, being the economic and political will of the State, aims to create a large
industrial zone near Oran, which has transformed the city,
and the port of Arzew, a small fishing port, has become, in
a few years, a large hydrocarbon port [3]. The latter is still
the largest and the main source of the national economy,
where the choice of application lies. Maritime transport is
a market worth nearly €1.5 trillion representing 80% of the
world’s commercial traffic [19, 42].
Several works have been done in this context [38, 51].
Different mathematical models of oil slick drift have been
developed to simulate their trajectories, and these models have been applied in different studies worldwide [8],
including OSCAR, webGNOME, Medslik-II and SIMAP [8,
20–22]. The most comprehensive and successful models
used in the trajectory and fate of oil spills due to their high
predictive accuracies are General NOAA Operational Modeling Environment (webGNOME), Automated Data Inquiry
for Oil Spills (ADIOS) and Oil Modeling Application Package (OILMAP) [9, 13, 34, 35, 43, 51, 58]. Compared to other
models, the webGNOME model can be used worldwide,
requiring fewer input parameters [12]. What, we used
webGNOME for this study. webGNOME has been validated
based on observations of many oil spills worldwide [2, 18,
28].
Section 1 presents a brief introduction, and Sect. 2,
materials and methods, which includes 4 subsections
including the study area, the modeling systems used, the
entrance data and boundary conditions, and the modeling
scenarios; this subsection presents the results found during the different tests of the different possible scenarios in
the Gulf of Arzew. Section 3 presents the results and discussion, and Sect. 4 the conclusion and recommendations.
It is important to estimate the vulnerability of marine
waters to oil pollution, which has become a significant
problem worldwide. Solutions are needed to contain this
pollution and avoid future damage to the marine and
coastal environment [41]. To this end, the main objective
of this study aims to use predictive simulations of the oil
slick drifts, which can occur at the level of the coastal zone
of Arzew in Oran, northwestern Algeria.
2 Materials and methods
2.1 Study area
The study area is located in the northwestern region of
Algeria. The Gulf of Arzew is located about 350 km West of
Algiers and 40 km East of Oran in a semi-arid region. Its climate is characterized by a moderate winter and a dry and
humid summer. Algeria is geographically, economically,
Research Article
SN Applied Sciences
(2023) 5:158
| https://doi.org/10.1007/s42452-023-05376-x
NCC
National Climatological Center
NOAA
National Oceanic and Atmospheric
Administration
1 Introduction
Oil pollution, mainly caused by tanker accidents, is a primary concern for marine environmental protection [50].
Oil spills are one of the most significant risks to coastal
waters [45]. They will be subjected to various physical,
chemical, and biological oil weathering processes that
alter their chemical composition, physical properties, and
environmental fate [15]. These are the processes of evaporation, emulsification, natural dispersion, dissolution,
photooxidation, spreading, sedimentation, interaction
with fine particles, and biodegradation [55]. The relative
rates of these processes determine the degradation levels
of marine waters. The fact that the oil remains at sea or
comes ashore also influences its fate.
Algeria is geographically, economically, politically, and
strategically located on one of the Mediterranean Sea’s
main coastlines. Indeed, it is strategically located in the
Western Mediterranean. It is the largest country in the
Mediterranean, with a surface area of 2.4 million km
2
, or
about 4.5 times the size of France and 8 times the size
of Italy, and a maritime facade of about 1200 km, facing
Europe, its main economic partner, particularly for exporting most of its oil and gas and importing most of its capital
and consumer goods. The Mediterranean coasts are home
to more than twenty states and over 400 million people, of
which about 130 million, or 35%, live in the coastal zone
[5–24, 59]. The coast hosted about 300 million tourists in
2014, or 30% of global tourism flows; about 50% of these
visits took place on the coast [58]. The coastal zone is a
very sensitive environmental area [24] and is the seat of
many maritime activities, mainly the maritime transport of
hydrocarbon [25], anarchic urbanization, and intense port
activities associated with various industrial activities[52].
Pollution accidents can have catastrophic impacts on the
marine environment in the long term.
Crude oil is essential for global development [8, 14, 27,
33, 35, 51]. Over time, the increase in world population
[21, 53] multiplied the oil production rate to about 9947
billion ton-miles [23]. Oil production in Algeria reached
about 48.3 million tons in 2018. The number of exploration
drillings in 2019 reached 80 wells [11]. Algeria occupies the
3rd rank among the oil-producing countries in Africa and
the 12th rank globally. A significant portion of it is transported by sea yearly [27]. Two billion tons of goods are
circulating in the Mediterranean [4, 5], including 370 million tons of hydrocarbons transiting annually. Twenty-six
(26) million tons of general cargo are destined for Algerian
ports, from which one hundred (100) million tons of hydrocarbons are loaded for export. The latter, being the economic and political will of the State, aims to create a large
industrial zone near Oran, which has transformed the city,
and the port of Arzew, a small fishing port, has become, in
a few years, a large hydrocarbon port [3]. The latter is still
the largest and the main source of the national economy,
where the choice of application lies. Maritime transport is
a market worth nearly €1.5 trillion representing 80% of the
world’s commercial traffic [19, 42].
Several works have been done in this context [38, 51].
Different mathematical models of oil slick drift have been
developed to simulate their trajectories, and these models have been applied in different studies worldwide [8],
including OSCAR, webGNOME, Medslik-II and SIMAP [8,
20–22]. The most comprehensive and successful models
used in the trajectory and fate of oil spills due to their high
predictive accuracies are General NOAA Operational Modeling Environment (webGNOME), Automated Data Inquiry
for Oil Spills (ADIOS) and Oil Modeling Application Package (OILMAP) [9, 13, 34, 35, 43, 51, 58]. Compared to other
models, the webGNOME model can be used worldwide,
requiring fewer input parameters [12]. What, we used
webGNOME for this study. webGNOME has been validated
based on observations of many oil spills worldwide [2, 18,
28].
Section 1 presents a brief introduction, and Sect. 2,
materials and methods, which includes 4 subsections
including the study area, the modeling systems used, the
entrance data and boundary conditions, and the modeling
scenarios; this subsection presents the results found during the different tests of the different possible scenarios in
the Gulf of Arzew. Section 3 presents the results and discussion, and Sect. 4 the conclusion and recommendations.
It is important to estimate the vulnerability of marine
waters to oil pollution, which has become a significant
problem worldwide. Solutions are needed to contain this
pollution and avoid future damage to the marine and
coastal environment [41]. To this end, the main objective
of this study aims to use predictive simulations of the oil
slick drifts, which can occur at the level of the coastal zone
of Arzew in Oran, northwestern Algeria.
2 Materials and methods
2.1 Study area
The study area is located in the northwestern region of
Algeria. The Gulf of Arzew is located about 350 km West of
Algiers and 40 km East of Oran in a semi-arid region. Its climate is characterized by a moderate winter and a dry and
humid summer. Algeria is geographically, economically,