WORLD METEOROLOGICAL ORGANIZATION
________________________
INTERGOVERNMENTAL OCEANOGRAPHIC
COMMISSION (OF UNESCO)
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JOINT WMO/IOC TECHNICAL COMMISSION FOR
OCEANOGRAPHY AND MARINE METEOROLOGY (JCOMM)
EXPERT TEAM ON MARINE ACCIDENT
EMERGENCY SUPPORT
ETMAES-I/Doc. 4.4(1)
(11.I.2007)
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ITEM 4.4
FIRST SESSION
ANGRA DOS REIS, BRAZIL, 29 TO 31 JANUARY 2007
Original: ENGLISH
MARINE ACCIDENTAL SPILL AND FLOATING OBJECTS LOST AT SEA
NEED FOR METEOROLOGICAL AND OCEANOGRAPHIC DATA
(Submitted by Ms Claudine Tiercelin, Mr Vincent Gouriou and Mr Fanch Cabioch from the
Centre de Documentation, de Recherche et d'Expérimentations sur les pollutions
accidentelles des Eaux (Cedre))
Summary and Purpose of Document
This document contains a brief report from the Centre de Documentation, de
Recherche et d'Expérimentations sur les pollutions accidentelles des Eaux (Cedre)
on the need for meteorological and oceanographic data in case of marine accidental
spill and floating objects at sea.
ACTION PROPOSED
The Expert Team on Marine Accident Emergency Support (ETMAES) is invited to note
and comment on the report as appropriate.
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ETMAES-I/Doc. 4.4(1), p. 2
DISCUSSION
1.
Background
1.1
French operational capacity in oil spill drift forecast is based on Météo-France and Centre
de Documentation, de Recherche et d'Expérimentations sur les pollutions accidentelles des
Eaux (Cedre) expertises. Drift forecasts rely on a pollutant drift model, named MOTHY, which
was developed by Météo-France. The system includes local area hydrodynamic coastal ocean
modelling with tidal and real-time atmospheric forcing from global meteorological models.
Pollutants can be oil or floating objects.
1.2
Cedre, acting as technical adviser for the French authorities since 1979, and also
providing assistance to private companies (oil and chemical industries and shipping companies),
has been working with Météo-France in the framework of a partnership for several years (joint
effort agreement in effect since 1996). One of the Cedre’s missions is to inform authorities
about oil slicks drifting in the ocean. Pollutant drift forecasts are made by Météo-France using
MOTHY on the basis of information furnished by Cedre.
1.3
During the Erika (December 1999) and the Prestige (November 2002) spill crisis in the
bay of Biscaye, MOTHY was used extensively. In order to improve response and try to take into
account all the data from the various sources during the Prestige crisis, the Ministry of the Sea
(Secretariat-General de la mer) decided to implement a technical committee, the Oil Drift
Monitoring Committee, gathering representatives from the French Navy, Météo-France, Cedre,
IFREMER (the French Sea Research Institute) and SHOM (Navy nautical charts department).
The committee operated in Cedre facilities and was in charge of providing daily, for several
months, the Maritime Prefect with coherent and relevant elements on the drift of the oil, both
observations and forecasts.
Example of situation report produced by the Oil Drift Monitoring Committee
during the Prestige spill crisis
ETMAES-I/Doc. 4.4(1), p. 3
2.
Planning response:
2.1
When a call comes into the Cedre response centre, the first thing to do is to try to gather
as much information as possible regarding the incident, accurate slick drift information being
essential to organize spill control at sea and to prepare the response on the coastline.
Immediately after the call, we enter into contact with Météo-France to get the meteorological and
oceanic data and the forecast for the following days and a drift forecast with MOTHY system. In
such a case, the following steps from the alert to the response are:
3.

Looking for data on the incident: location, time, type of product or package, type of
ship involved and type of leaking (instantaneous or continuous).

Contact Météo-France for meteorological / oceanographic data, weather forecast
and implementation of MOTHY.

Look for additional data on the environment (sensitive areas) and decide
immediately on the area of monitoring by nautical, aerial observation, satellite data
or by use of drifting buoys (equipped with the Argos system). The results of these
observations, especially when using remote sensors (radars or infra-red) and
satellites are directly linked to the visibility, sea state and period of the day. It’s
important to insist on the difficulties that a crisis can generate, requiring an extreme
vigilance of the actors implied in the flight observations.

Evaluate the behaviour of the product spilled or the package lost. The weathering
of a product (oil or chemical), is directly linked to its components but also to the
meteorological conditions (sea and air temperature) because e.g. wind and sea
state increase the spreading, evaporation, dispersion of a product. The behaviour
of a package is also dependent on the meteorological conditions. A package can
be floating, partially submerged or sinking. In each case, depending on its
buoyancy, its drift will be submitted to wind, currents and waves.

When all these data are available, the oil drift monitoring committee is able to
produce a synthesis on drift forecast charts and to provide the authorities with
coherent and relevant elements on the drift of the oil or package and to make
propositions for implementing the response.

Organization of the fighting operations: The various options for the response are
directly linked to the type of product or object and to the presence of sensitive
areas, but also to the meteorological and oceanographic conditions (i.e., sea state,
wind and currents).
Recent and ongoing improvements:
3.1
Meteorological and oceanographic conditions affect all aspects of a marine incident
involving dangerous goods (oil or chemicals) or objects lost at sea from planning to response.
Cedre and Météo-France have been working in conjunction for many years to develop and
improve MOTHY, both on drift trajectories (e.g.: the first attempt at integrating Mercator currents
was carried out during the Prestige) and behaviour of products spilled or “weathering” (physical
modelling of pollutant behaviour is possible in Cedre facilities, a flume tank and an
experimentation column where full scale simulation of real-life spills can be made on various
types of oil or chemicals) as well as behaviour of packages lost at sea. We have also been
working together on various national projects, funded by the French ministry of research and
industry, European research projects, projects in cooperation with ASA (Applied Sciences
Associates) on the drift and behaviour of chemicals spilled at sea. Other research projects
aiming at improving the real-time diffusion of information using an interactive Internet website are
ongoing such as ECUME (a mapping tool for sea emergency, developed by Cedre) and the
Spanish project ESEOO (Establecimiento Español de un sistema de Oceanografía
ETMAES-I/Doc. 4.4(1), p. 4
Operacional). These projects, using operational data coming from multiple data providers, are
characterized by interactions and exchanges with current and future projects.
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