The Operational Oceanography Coastal Systems established within the Basque Country region, southeastern corner of the Bay of Biscay, are presented here. Observational data are compared with numerical modelling results derived from the Spanish Operational Oceanography System established within the ESEOO project. The aim of these systems is to provide tools in order to follow and control phenomena such as oil spills caused by the sinking of the Prestige. The main results show the fundamental role of the wind on currents at the upper layers of the water column, as well as the suitability of numerical models to explore the physics of coastal areas. In addition, it provides real time information about the variables that control oil dispersion.
The crisis caused by the sinking of the oil tanker Prestige, on the 19th November 2002 offshore of Cape Finisterre (Galicia), evidenced the absence of an efficient operational oceanography system to monitor the spatio-temporal evolution of the pollutant, at sea and on land. In order to avoid catastrophes such as the Prestige one, the present Spanish Operational Oceanography System within the ESEOO project was established, supported by the Ministerio de Ciencia y TecnologÍa of Spain (PIC Prestige, ref. VEM2003-20577-C14-09). The main objective of the system is to obtain organized and long-term routine measurements of the seas, oceans and atmosphere, and provide a rapid interpretation and dissemination (Dahlin et al., 2003; Flemming et al., 2002; Behrens et al., 1997). This information can be obtained with the use of measuring instruments (current meters, drifting buoys, oceanic and meteorological stations, etc.) and numerical tools (mainly hydrodynamic models feeding Eulerian or Lagrangian dispersion models). Among the products derived from the system, there are the following:
nowcasts. They provide the most usefully accurate description of the present state of the sea;
forecasts.
