Spatial Analysis of Oil Spills from Marine Accidents in Greek Waters

Abstract

Greek marine spatial area is located in the Mediterranean Sea with semi-enclosed characteristics. Thus the maritime traffic is undoubtfully significant for political and economic reasons, arousing particular interest unceasingly, because of its specific geographical location, the increasing improvements of freight services and port infrastructure and, the upcoming regional drillings. Marine incidents and accidents that often happen, vary from rather insignificant to serious ones, affecting both humans and environment. This research aims to examine the implementation of a framework analysis of shipping-based oil pollution (accidental and operational) by using spatial analysis and geographical information system. It makes use of data gathered from marine accidents that occurred from 2001 to 2011 in the Greek marine waters. The analysis of the thematic maps introduces firstly marine accidents’ data as points in a dot map. Then, the implementation of spatial analysis approach to mapping these accidents, including the identification of hot spot areas, is elaborated, so that frequency and density might appear versus time over a limited geographical area. This study presents the oil-spills distribution in Greek marine waters through thematic maps and proposes both a methodological and analytical framework for marine accidents evolving into oil spills and combining GIS techniques and spatial analysis.
JEL Classifications: R41; C19.
Keywords: spatial analysis; GIS; oil spills; marine pollution; marine incidents; marine accidents.