The eastern Mediterranean-Black Sea system with high oil spill risk

The Eastern Mediterranean and Black Seas along with Bosphours and Dardanelles Straits are located along a heavy oil traffic route between Middle East/Russia and Western Europe/USA, and therefore are faced with a continuing danger of oil spill. As oil spills are directly connected to flow and stratification characteristics, the basic oceanographic features of the region relevant to oil spill problems are briefly reviewed. Attention is then drawn to the increasing trend of oil tanker traffic, important accidents in recent decades, and the position of Turkey to responsed oil spills is presented.