Oil reaching the coast: Is Brazil on the route of international oceanic dumping?

After the oil spill disaster occurred in 2019, various events of tar balls reaching the Brazilian coast and archipelagos have been reported. The hypothesis here is that the oil/waste dumped in international waters by ships on-route to Cape of Good Hope is reaching the Brazilian coast. On that accoun...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Marine pollution bulletin 2023-11, Vol.196, p.115624-115624, Article 115624
Main Authors: Zacharias, Daniel Constantino, Crespo, Natália Machado, da Silva, Natália Pillar, da Rocha, Rosmeri Porfirio, Gama, Carine Malagolini, Ribeiro e Silva, Sergio B.N., Harari, Joseph
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Ocean pollution
South Atlantic Ocean routes
Oil dumping
Oil spill
Spill, transport and fate model (STFM)
Tar balls
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Summary:After the oil spill disaster occurred in 2019, various events of tar balls reaching the Brazilian coast and archipelagos have been reported. The hypothesis here is that the oil/waste dumped in international waters by ships on-route to Cape of Good Hope is reaching the Brazilian coast. On that account, 30-year probabilistic simulations were used to estimate the probability of dumped oil residue reaching the Brazilian coast. The simulations considered three Zones following the South Atlantic route. The results have shown that up to 28.5 % of large ships could dump oil on-route. Inside the Brazilian Exclusive Economic Zone, the probability of dumped oil/waste reaching the coastline is about 62 % and quickly decreases for Dumping Zones 2 and 3. Equatorial and Northeast shores of Brazil are the most vulnerable to oceanic dumping when compared to other regions. [Display omitted] •Up to 28.5 % of large ships dump oil/waste on the South Atlantic route.•First oil spill climatological simulation for the South Atlantic Ocean.•30 years of HYCOM current data used in the probabilistic simulations.•City of Tokyo (VL Nichioh) tanker as a possible source of the 2019 oil spill affecting the Brazilian coast.
ISSN:0025-326X
1879-3363
DOI:10.1016/j.marpolbul.2023.115624