Validation of statistical oil drift simulations for the Barents Sea using surface drifter data

The Norwegian Meteorological Institute (met.no) has a portfolio of ongoing research projects related to oil spill modelling at sea. These projects would benefit from improved integration. The NorSpill project (PETROMAKS) will give a new oil spill predict ion system for Norway, while OilWave (PETROMAKS) and BioWave (HavKyst) are focused on improving the understanding of the air-wave-ocean coupling and its importance for the so called Stokes drift and trajectory modelling at sea. SWIM (HavKyst) seeks to fur ther develop a method for statistical oil drift modelling. Finally, DrivBar is financed by the BarentsWatch programme (regjeringen.no) and will significantly increase the area of the operational oil drift model at met.no to include the entire North Atlant ic and Barents Sea between Greenland and Novaja Semlja. NorSpill and DrivBar are lead by Lars R. Hole. OilWave is lead by Gøran Brostrøm and BioWave by Kai H. Christensen. The projects have economical support from Oil companies Statoil and ENI and the Nor wegian Clean Seas Association for Operating Companies (NOFO) and involves close collaboration in institutions such as Sintef Marintek (OilWave and NorSpill) and the Institute of Marine Research (BioWave). Here we propose a student exchange at met.no wit h the Russian State Hydrometeorological University to enhance the integration of these projects. Surface drifter data from the Norwegian Sea (including Lofoten/Vesterålen) and Barents Sea collected during scientific cruises financed by BioWave, OilWave an d DrivBar will be compared with statistical oil drift simulations. Strengthened collaboration between Russia and Norway to improve methods for modelling environmental effects of oil activities in the Barents region is important for PETROMAKS and BarentsWa tch and is also mentioned as a goal in NorSpill.