Usage of AIS information in the Seatrack Web oil drift forecasting system for identification of ships illegally discharging oil into the sea (STW/AIS) (2005)

Background:

Today, Automatic Information System (AIS) information and oil spill drift are available in different systems. With all information available in one system, the possibility to identify the source ship of illegal oil spills will be much increased.

Aims:

The aim of the project is to improve the identification of the ships illegally discharging oil into the Baltic Sea. At present only a few ships that illegally discharge oil into the sea are identified. By combining ship tracks from the AIS and a backward calculation of the oil drift forecasting system, identification would be significantly improved, thus also increasing evidence to courts.

The aim of the project is to allow access to the AIS database via the Seatrack Web (STW). In STW it will then be possible to fetch and plot selected ship tracks, by choosing time period, ship type and the area of interest.

Actions:

1. To implement an AIS database query function in Seatrack Web, and

2. To implement plotting of ship tracks and oil spill trajectories simultaneously in Seatrack Web.

Contacts:

Project Manager: Cecilia Ambjörn
Swedish Meteorological and Hydrological Institute
SE-60 176 Norrköping
Sweden
Tel: +46 (11) 4958174
E-mail: cecilia.ambjorn@smhi.se