EDMERP Details

General

Project Title: Sviluppo di un sistema di osservazione e previsione dell'inquinamento da idrocarburi nel mar Mediterraneo
Project Acronym: OLIO
Project Reference: Global Earth Observation System of Systems (GEOSS)
Associated programme: ASI Agenzia Spaziale Italiana
Start Date: 2004-06-01
End Date: 2007-05-31

Abstract: The final objective of OLIO is to construct an innovative and efficient system for the monitoring of and emergency response to oil spills in the Mediterranean Sea. This system will include modules devoted to the detection and real-time monitoring of oil slicks resulting from spills, as well the forecast of their displacement in order to give early warnings to coastal areas at risk of ecological disaster. The necessity to improve the existing systems resides in the failure of such systems to prevent disaster, as was seen e.g. in the case of the Exxon Valdez (1989) and Prestige (2002) tanker incidents. This proposal reduces the uncertainties in forecasting the oil slick evolution combining advanced oil spill monitoring with a state of the art marine currents forecasting system, already operational at the Mediterranean basin scales. Moreover, it is known that single large disasters are not the major source of marine pollution from petroleum products: a continuous release of oil comes from drilling platforms at sea, land sources and illegal practices at sea. Finally, the Mediterranean Sea is an enclosed basin, this feature obviously dramatically enhances the negative environmental impact of such disasters in this marine system and consequently the necessity to improve oil spill prevention, monitoring and containment know-how
Project website: http://gos.ifa.rm.cnr.it/olio/index.html

Coordinator: ISAC - Institute of Atmospheric Sciences and Climate (Rome)
Contact name: Santolieri R.
Fax: +39-06-20660291
E-mail: r.santoleri@isac.cnr.it
Other Partners: ISAC - Institute of Atmospheric Sciences and Climate (Rome); ENEA Centro Ricerche Casaccia - Roma; Istituto Nazionale di Geofisica e Vulcanologia – INGV, Sede di Bologna; CNR, Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche - Istituto per lo Studio del MARe; OGS (Istituto Nazionale di Oceanografia e di Geofisica Sperimentale), Division of Oceanography; Stazione Zoologica Anton Dohrn of Naples; University of Lecce; CLU S.r.l.