title: Can a GIS toolbox assess the environmental risk of oil spills? Implementation for oil facilities in harbors.
abstract: Oil spills are one of the most widespread problems in port areas (loading/unloading of bulk liquid, fuel supply). Specific environmental risk analysis procedures for diffuse oil sources that are based on the evolution of oil in the marine environment are needed. Diffuse sources such as oil spills usually present a lack of information, which makes the use of numerical models an arduous and occasionally impossible task. For that reason, a tool that can assess the risk of oil spills in near-shore areas by using Geographical Information System (GIS) is presented. The SPILL Tool provides immediate results by automating the process without miscalculation errors. The tool was developed using the Python and ArcGIS scripting library to build a non-ambiguous geoprocessing workflow. The SPILL Tool was implemented for oil facilities at Tarragona Harbor (NE Spain) and validated showing a satisfactory correspondence (around 0.60 RSR error index) with the results obtained using a 2D calibrated oil transport numerical model.
authors.affiliation: Environmental Hydraulics Institute "IH Cantabria", Universidad de Cantabria, C/Isabel Torres N15, Parque Científico y Tecnológico de Cantabria, 39011 Santander, Spain. Electronic address: fernandezvp@unican.es.
authors.forename: Paloma F
authors.initials: PF
authors.lastname: Valdor
authors.affiliation: Environmental Hydraulics Institute "IH Cantabria", Universidad de Cantabria, C/Isabel Torres N15, Parque Científico y Tecnológico de Cantabria, 39011 Santander, Spain. Electronic address: aina.gomez@unican.es.
authors.forename: Aina G
authors.initials: AG
authors.lastname: Gómez
authors.affiliation: Environmental Hydraulics Institute "IH Cantabria", Universidad de Cantabria, C/Isabel Torres N15, Parque Científico y Tecnológico de Cantabria, 39011 Santander, Spain. Electronic address: victor.velarde@unican.es.
authors.forename: Víctor
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Velarde
authors.affiliation: Environmental Hydraulics Institute "IH Cantabria", Universidad de Cantabria, C/Isabel Torres N15, Parque Científico y Tecnológico de Cantabria, 39011 Santander, Spain. Electronic address: puentea@unican.es.
authors.forename: Araceli
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Puente
mesh_terms: D004784:Environmental Monitoring; D040362:Geographic Information Systems; D006801:Humans; D008522:Mediterranean Sea; D008962:Models, Theoretical; D059392:Petroleum Pollution; D018570:Risk Assessment; D013030:Spain
keywords: Affected areas; Diffuse source; Environmental risk analysis; Geographical Information System; Oil spill; Tarragona harbor