ABSTRACT PAPER180s1.
The Norwegian Coastal Administration (NCA) together with the Arctic Council working group on Emergency Prevention, Preparedness and Response (EPPR), have initiated a pilot feasibility study for the implementation of the Shoreline – Circumpolar Oil Spill Response Viability Analysis (S-COSRVA) concept for the Svalbard archipelago. The S-COSRVA has applied the same oil spill response viability approach as in the COSRVA-portal (EPPR, 2017), but with focus on shoreline clean up measures.
The S-COSRVA pilot study has provided a web-based GIS decision support tool that provides science-based, location-specific information on the viability of shoreline oil spill countermeasures considering expected seasonal meteorological and oceanographic conditions, various oil types and local shoreline characteristics. The pilot has implemented data related to shoreline types (substrates), and other relevant factors such as shoreline access. S-COSRVA utilizes the existing Feasibility Analysis for Shoreline Treatment (FAST) Job Aid (www.fastshores.com) based on oil type, oil location (surface or subsurface sediments), and substrate material. The tool screens 22 shoreline treatment options from the Canadian Field Guide to Oil Spill Response on Marine Shorelines (Environment and Climate Change Canada, 2016). S-COSRVA further presents the viability for these shoreline treatment options in a high resolution 3x3 km grid for the entire Svalbard coastline based on 10-years of hindcast MetOcean data. Shoreline oil spill response viability is defined and presented as the percentage of time each month that conditions for each group of Operational Systems (Physical Treatment-Mechanical, Physical Treatment-Manual, Washing-Manual Shore-based, Washing-Mechanical Water based platform) are categorized as either Favourable, Marginal, or Not Favourable. In addition, the Svalbard pilot has assessed the accessibility from land, air and sea to perform shoreline clean-up operations.
The Svalbard archipelago was a well-suited area for the pilot study, with relevant MetOcean data, shoreline data, local knowledge etc. in place. The purpose of the pilot study was to assess and develop the S-COSRVA model/tool with regards to:
Key features and general functionality
Data platform and architecture
Input data and input data-preparation
Analysis and output data
Front-end application with Graphical User Interface
The paper presents the functional S-COSRVA pilot implementation on Svalbard with emphasis on the data structure, information flow and the GIS tool.