Recent Results from Oil Spill Response Research

ABSTRACT Recent large oil spills from tankers have reaffirmed the need for continuing technology assessment and research to improve oil spill response capabilities. This paper discusses Minerals Management Service concerns, as reinforced by the acceleration of its research program in 1990. It briefly assesses current state-of-the-art technology for major aspects of spill response, including remote sensing, open-ocean containment and recovery, in-situ burning, use of chemical treating agents, beachline cleanup, and oil behavior. Specific research projects have begun to yield information that will improve detection and at-sea equipment performance; current projects, include the development of an airborne laser-fluorosensor to determine whether apparent slicks contain oil. Additional projects involve the development of improved strategies for responding to oil in broken-ice conditions, for gaining an improved understanding of the fate and behavior of spilled oil as it affects response strategies, and for defining the capabilities of available dispersants and development of improved formulations. Recently progress has been made on the development of safe and environmentally acceptable strategies to burn spilled oil in situ. The Ohmsett facility has been reopened and will be used to test prospective improvements in chemical treating agents and to develop standard procedures for testing and evaluating response equipment. Results of research published since the last Oil Spill Conference are discussed.

ABSTRACT This paper examines explosion hazards while recovering spilled oil utilizing oil spill recovery barges. The risk of static accumulation and discharge is well understood after thorough investigations of several incidents in the 1970s and 1980s involving explosions on tank barges and vessels during petroleum cargo loading and unloading operations. However, those lessons learned only partially apply to oil spill recovery operations due to the differences in liquid properties, crew training, and additional tasks required during an oil spill response. While regulatory standards have been enacted for petroleum tankers and barges involved in commercial transportation of oil and other hazardous materials, the utility of these standards for oil spill response vessels has not been fully considered. Inverviews were conducted with marine transporters and response organizations to understand the wide range of operational risks and mitigation proceedures currently in use. This paper outlines the four basic conditions that must be present to create a static discharge-induced explosion during liquid cargo operations. A review of explosion casualty history was completed for cargo operations and compared to operations that create similar hazards during oil spill recovery operations. Specific processes that create additional risk of static-induced explosions during response operations were studied to review mitigation actions. Finally, recommendations for continued training are provided to help guide the spill response community when preparing for and responding to oil spills.

ABSTRACT Oil spills may contaminate both mariculture facilities and livestock. Prevention of oiling should therefore be afforded a high priority. Given appropriate conditions, this may be achieved by the traditional spill response measures. However, a number of self-help response options are open to mariculturalists, that may avoid or limit the effects of spilled oil. These include the relocation of cages, transfer of stock, and early harvest, although such measures are only likely to be successful if a well-prepared contingency plan exists. The advantages and drawbacks of each of these approaches in the context of oil spill response are discussed.

ABSTRACT The Minerals Management Service (MMS), is the principal U.S. government agency funding offshore oil spill response research. The MMS, a bureau of the Department of the Interior, maintains a comprehensive Oil Spill Response Research program in support of oil spill prevention and response. Through funding provided by MMS, scientists and engineers from the public and private sectors worldwide are working to address outstanding gaps in information and technology concerning the cleanup of oil spills. Joint research projects with Environment Canada (EC) continue to focus on determining the physical and chemical properties of crude oil, the fate and behavior of spilled oil, remote sensing and mapping of oil slicks, chemical treating agents including dispersants, and innovative shoreline cleanup strategies. In joint projects with the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), MMS continues to assess the capabilities of in situ burning as an oil spill response tool. Also discussed is OHMSETT, the national Oil Spill Response Test Facility. OHMSETT is the only facility in the world where government agencies, universities, and private companies can conduct full-scale oil spill response equipment testing, research, and training with oil under controlled conditions.

ABSTRACT Freshwater marshes cover 4000 square kilometers of the Louisiana coastal zone and are the most abundant marsh habitat type. Many of these marshes actually float as organic mats on underlying water. Some estimates suggest as much as 70% of Louisiana's coastal freshwater marsh are of the floating variety. The slow flow of water characteristic of these environments generally transports very little sediment. As a result, the marsh substrate is composed of primarily live and dead organic matter (peat formation) rather than mineral sediments. Since floating marshes are structurally different than intertidal marsh habitats, many traditional oil spill response options are ineffective or inappropriate. Access to the marsh is often limited since there is no open water ingress and the marsh structure cannot support the weight of equipment. Oil spill response options are further complicated when the source of the oil is a pipeline leak located below the floating marsh mat; spilled oil is free to travel at the interface of the underlying water and mat. Protection booming is impossible. Oil impacts often result in the death of all the living plants that are integral to the formation and sustainability of the habitat. This paper reports on two oil spills in a floating marsh near Paradis, Louisiana that occurred eight years apart. Both spills were spatially close to each other, which provided an excellent comparison for assessing potential long-term impact from oil spills in floating marshes. During both oil spill responses, unique response techniques were developed to recover spilled oil and enhance marsh recovery. An effective technique was to rake away and remove the dead oil-contaminated surface plant debris from the site and employ sorbent recovery. Lessons learned from these responses were used to develop mitigation guidance for future responses.

There is a greater probability of more frequent and/or larger oil spills in the Arctic region due to increased maritime shipping and natural resource development. Accordingly, there is an increasing need for effective spilled-oil computer modeling to help emergency oil spill response decision makers, especially in waters where sea ice is present. The National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Office of Response & Restoration (OR&R) provides scientific support to the U.S. Coast Guard Federal On-Scene Coordinator (FOSC) during oil spill response. OR&R’s modeling products must provide adequate spill trajectory predictions so that response efforts minimize economic, cultural, and ecologic impacts, including those to species, habitats, and food supplies. The Coastal Response Research Center is conducting a project entitled Oil Spill Modeling for Improved Response to Arctic Maritime Spills: The Path Forward, in conjunction with modelers, responders, and researchers. A goal of the project is to prioritize new investments in model and tool development to improve response effectiveness in the Arctic. The project delineated FOSC needs during Arctic maritime spill response and provided a solution communicating sources of uncertainty in model outputs using a Confidence Estimates of Oil Model Inputs and Outputs (CEOMIO) table. The table shows the level of confidence (high, medium, low) in a model’s trajectory prediction over scenario-specific time intervals and the contribution of different component inputs (e.g., temperature, wind, ice) to that result.

International experience of oil spill response in the sea defines the priority of coastal protection and the need to identify as most valuable in ecological terms and the most vulnerable areas. Methodological approaches to the assessing the vulnerability of Arctic coasts to oil spills based on international systems of Environmental Sensitivity Index (ESI) and geomorphological zoning are considered in the article. The comprehensive environmental and geomorphological approach allowed us to form the morphodynamic basis for the classification of seacoasts and try to adapt the international system of indexes to the shores of the Kara Sea taking into account the specific natural conditions. This work has improved the expert assessments of the vulnerability and resilience of the seacoasts.

The Baltic Sea is a unique and sensitive brackish-water ecosystem vulnerable to damage from shipping activities. Despite high levels of maritime safety in the area, there is a continued risk of oil spills and associated harmful environmental impacts. Achieving common situational awareness between oil spill response decision makers and other actors, such as merchant vessel and Vessel Traffic Service center operators, is an important step to minimizing detrimental effects. This paper presents the Next-Generation Smart Response Web (NG-SRW), a web-based application to aid decision making concerning oil spill response. This tool aims to provide, dynamically and interactively, relevant information on oil spills. By integrating the analysis and visualization of dynamic spill features with the sensitivity of environmental elements and value of human uses, the benefits of potential response actions can be compared, helping to develop an appropriate response strategy. The oil spill process simulation enables the response authorities to judge better the complexity and dynamic behavior of the systems and processes behind the potential environmental impact assessment and thereby better control the oil combat action.

Following the Deepwater Horizon oil spill of 2010, a substantial body of research has focused on the development of computational tools and analytical frameworks for modeling oil spill events. Much of this work is dedicated to deepening our understanding of the interactions between oil, fragile ecosystems, and the environment, as well as the impacts of oil on human settlements which are vulnerable to spill events. These advances in oil spill modeling and associated analytics have not only increased the efficiency of spill interdiction and mitigation efforts, they have also helped to nurture proactive, versus reactive, response strategies and plans for local and regional stakeholders. The purpose of this paper is to provide a progress report on the wide range of computational tools, analytical frameworks, and emerging technologies which are necessary inputs for a complete oil spill modeling package. Specifically, we explore the use of relatively mature tools, such as dedicated spill modeling packages, geographic information systems (GIS), and remote sensing, as well emerging technologies such as aerial and aquatic drones and other in-situ sensing technologies. The integration of these technologies and the advantages associated with using a geographic lens for oil spill modeling are discussed.

ABSTRACT As part of a joint program to use satellite-tracked drifters at accidental oil spills, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration deployed three drifters supplied by the Minerals Management Service during the barge Buffalo 292 spill in the Gulf of Mexico. The deployments complemented visual observations of the oil spill and provided data for calibrating the on-scene spill model. The data-rich environment of this particular spill response made it possible to calculate the vector correlation between the drifters and a hindcast of the oil movement and to estimate the wind-drift factors for the oil-tracking drifters.