xiv
The BalticWay Project
these areas. As a first approximation, coastal areas were used as a generic model
for valuable regions.
The extreme complexity of water motions in marine environment calls for the use
of nontraditional mathematical methods to identify the persistence, properties, and
potential effect of favourable patterns of transport, and to establish generic criteria
for the existence of areas of reduced risk in different sea regions from the massive
pool of the results of numerical simulations. Moreover, the desired quantification
of offshore domains involves solving an inverse problem of pollution propagation.
Such problems are frequently ill-posed and no universal method exists for solving
them. An approximate solution was obtained by means of statistical analysis of
a large number of particular solutions (Lagrangian trajectories) of the associated
direct problem of propagation of water or pollution parcels.
The resulting quantification of the offshore areas was applied for optimization of
ship routes in terms of minimizing the risk of coastal pollution. For example, in the
Gulf of Finland the gain from the use of the optimum fairway is about 40.
The BalticWay team believes that information derived using the developed technology is of vital importance for institutions responsible for environmental protection and maritime spatial planning. It is directly usable in the decision-making process in a crisis situation, e.g., about different search-and-rescue issues. It can also
be used as a tool supporting decisions about how far the fairway for ships carrying
dangerous cargo should be located from any vulnerable areas facing the open ocean.
In brief, by studying transport of pollution driven by surface currents, wind and
waves in the Baltic Sea, BalticWay has developed a new method to determine how
shipping as well as offshore and coastal engineering activities can be made environmentally safer. This research identifies areas that are safer to use, distinguishing
them from those where marine activities are better avoided.
Last but not least, while addressing such complicated, frequently transboundary environmental problems caused by industrial activities, it is also important that
BalticWay was not only driven by the needs of scientific research alone; rather it was
an initiative of the scientific community reflecting the cooperative research needs
towards sustainable development and effective stewardship of the fragile sea areas. The core objective was to establish key components of a reliable, robust and
low-cost technology for the environmental management of shipping, offshore, and
coastal engineering activities. In essence this means integrating marine ecosystem
management with other needs of society, and linking scientists, stakeholders and
decision-makers in the process of elaborating a scientific base for political and economical decisions.
Tarmo Soomere
Wave Engineering Laboratory
Institute of Cybernetics at Tallinn University of Technology
Tallinn, Estonia
Estonian Academy of Sciences, Tallinn, Estonia
The BalticWay Project
these areas. As a first approximation, coastal areas were used as a generic model
for valuable regions.
The extreme complexity of water motions in marine environment calls for the use
of nontraditional mathematical methods to identify the persistence, properties, and
potential effect of favourable patterns of transport, and to establish generic criteria
for the existence of areas of reduced risk in different sea regions from the massive
pool of the results of numerical simulations. Moreover, the desired quantification
of offshore domains involves solving an inverse problem of pollution propagation.
Such problems are frequently ill-posed and no universal method exists for solving
them. An approximate solution was obtained by means of statistical analysis of
a large number of particular solutions (Lagrangian trajectories) of the associated
direct problem of propagation of water or pollution parcels.
The resulting quantification of the offshore areas was applied for optimization of
ship routes in terms of minimizing the risk of coastal pollution. For example, in the
Gulf of Finland the gain from the use of the optimum fairway is about 40.
The BalticWay team believes that information derived using the developed technology is of vital importance for institutions responsible for environmental protection and maritime spatial planning. It is directly usable in the decision-making process in a crisis situation, e.g., about different search-and-rescue issues. It can also
be used as a tool supporting decisions about how far the fairway for ships carrying
dangerous cargo should be located from any vulnerable areas facing the open ocean.
In brief, by studying transport of pollution driven by surface currents, wind and
waves in the Baltic Sea, BalticWay has developed a new method to determine how
shipping as well as offshore and coastal engineering activities can be made environmentally safer. This research identifies areas that are safer to use, distinguishing
them from those where marine activities are better avoided.
Last but not least, while addressing such complicated, frequently transboundary environmental problems caused by industrial activities, it is also important that
BalticWay was not only driven by the needs of scientific research alone; rather it was
an initiative of the scientific community reflecting the cooperative research needs
towards sustainable development and effective stewardship of the fragile sea areas. The core objective was to establish key components of a reliable, robust and
low-cost technology for the environmental management of shipping, offshore, and
coastal engineering activities. In essence this means integrating marine ecosystem
management with other needs of society, and linking scientists, stakeholders and
decision-makers in the process of elaborating a scientific base for political and economical decisions.
Tarmo Soomere
Wave Engineering Laboratory
Institute of Cybernetics at Tallinn University of Technology
Tallinn, Estonia
Estonian Academy of Sciences, Tallinn, Estonia