Cause and effect of chemical pollutants dispersal in Batroun bay (North Lebanon).
Floating drogue technique.

• Milad Fakhri ^a, Marie Abboud Abi-Saab^a, Jean-Claude Romano^b
• ^a National Council for Scientific Research National Centre for Marine Sciences, P.O.Box 534, Batroun, Lebanon
  Email: milosman@hotmail.com
• ^b Centre d’Océanologie de Marseille, Station Marine d’Endoume, Rue Batterie des Lions F-13007, Marseille, France.
• The Regional Workshop on Marine Sciences & Natural Resources 25-26 May 2004.

Abstract

Two sources of excessive nutrient inflows of different natureÉ Al-Jaouz River and the chemical plant of Selaata were localized on the coast of Batroun city (North Lebanon). In order to study the dispersal and dilution effect of chemical inflows into the littoral zone of Batroun bay, a new hydrodynamic approach on marine environment was applied. A simple, easy handled and low budget technique represented by a floating drogue was adopted. The drogue was deployed at a coastal point situated at equal distance from both sources in April, June and October 2003 under different meteorological conditions. During each mission, the drogue was followed by a small fishing boat for 2 hours and positioned with a portable GPS. At each positioning point, measurements for temperature, salinity, orthophosphate and nitrate concentrations were carried out.

Results showed that during the 3 sampling missions, the movement of this floating device was intimately related to the direction and speed of the dominant wind. The dispersal of nitrate representing the river and that of orthophosphate representing the chemical plant has followed the same way of that of the drogue. This could deduce that the circulation in the bay of Batroun was the consequence of surface currents created by wind movements.