Mapping Oil Spills and Offshore Industrial Activities in the Northwest Atlantic for Marine Conservation and Management

ABSTRACT Anthropogenic activities such as oil pollution, vessel traffic and artificial light pose growing threats to marine ecosystems across Canada's Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) and adjacent Atlantic waters. Despite their importance, data describing the spatial and temporal distribution of these threats have remained fragmented or difficult to access. To address this gap, we developed a harmonized, high‐resolution geospatial dataset covering Canada's Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) and adjacent Atlantic waters. The dataset integrates multiple data sources—including the Integrated Satellite Tracking of Pollution (ISTOP), National Aerial Surveillance Program (NASP), National Environmental Emergency Centre (NEEC), Automatic Identification System (AIS) vessel tracking and VIIRS satellite observations—into a suite of threat layers representing petroleum pollution, offshore infrastructure, vessel activity and artificial light exposure. All layers were processed using reproducible workflows and standardized to a geographic grid in EPSG:4326 with an approximate 1‐km spatial resolution, and provided as monthly or annual products depending on the source data and threat type. The resulting products, delivered as Cloud Optimized GeoTIFFs (COGs), are openly available via Zenodo and accompanied by comprehensive metadata and processing documentation. The dataset is designed to support cumulative effects assessments, marine spatial planning, conservation prioritization and environmental response strategies. By providing consistent and reusable data on key marine stressors, this dataset supports cumulative risk assessment for at‐risk species, such as the globally threatened Leach's Storm‐Petrel (Hydrobates leucorhous), and broader marine management efforts under national and international policy frameworks.

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Publication Details

Journal
Geoscience Data Journal
Published
2026-09-09
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1002/gdj3.70100
Primary Topic
Oil Spill Detection and Mitigation
Type
article
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Mapping Oil Spills and Offshore Industrial Activities in the Northwest Atlantic for Marine Conservation and Management

Geoscience Data Journal
Oil Spill Detection and Mitigation
article

Mapping Oil Spills and Offshore Industrial Activities in the Northwest Atlantic for Marine Conservation and Management

article en

Abstract

ABSTRACT Anthropogenic activities such as oil pollution, vessel traffic and artificial light pose growing threats to marine ecosystems across Canada's Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) and adjacent Atlantic waters. Despite their importance, data describing the spatial and temporal distribution of these threats have remained fragmented or difficult to access. To address this gap, we developed a harmonized, high‐resolution geospatial dataset covering Canada's Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) and adjacent Atlantic waters. The dataset integrates multiple data sources—including the Integrated Satellite Tracking of Pollution (ISTOP), National Aerial Surveillance Program (NASP), National Environmental Emergency Centre (NEEC), Automatic Identification System (AIS) vessel tracking and VIIRS satellite observations—into a suite of threat layers representing petroleum pollution, offshore infrastructure, vessel activity and artificial light exposure. All layers were processed using reproducible workflows and standardized to a geographic grid in EPSG:4326 with an approximate 1‐km spatial resolution, and provided as monthly or annual products depending on the source data and threat type. The resulting products, delivered as Cloud Optimized GeoTIFFs (COGs), are openly available via Zenodo and accompanied by comprehensive metadata and processing documentation. The dataset is designed to support cumulative effects assessments, marine spatial planning, conservation prioritization and environmental response strategies. By providing consistent and reusable data on key marine stressors, this dataset supports cumulative risk assessment for at‐risk species, such as the globally threatened Leach's Storm‐Petrel (Hydrobates leucorhous), and broader marine management efforts under national and international policy frameworks.

Geoscience Data JournalVol. 13(4)
Environment and Climate Change Canada (CA), Quebec Automobile Insurance Corporation (CA)
Life below water
Openalex Percentile: Top 99%
Oil Spill Detection and Mitigation
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